As gas prices rise, and your wages don't, you're probably looking with increasing envy at those who work from home in their pajamas with the new online economy: creating websites, writing ebooks, selling things on eBay, participating in MLM, even blogging for cash. The truth is, they are no different from you, except in one respect: they have a plan they've committed to that has helped them reshape their lives.
So, before gas raises another dollar or so per gallon, stop being envious and start committing to a plan to work from home at an online job instead, creating your own niche business in the growing world of the Web. Here's one step-by-step plan for how to do it:
1. Decide what you do very well that other people will pay to learn, or that you can make money with otherwise. Everyone has a special talent, a skill that they can do better than most other people. An experienced RN can find virtual employment as an online triage nurse. A woman who's nursed her parents through Alzheimer's understands the roadblocks others may have to deal with as they begin their journey. A teen is funding his college education by purchasing old computers on Craig's List, refurbishing them, and selling them for a good profit on eBay. Artists are selling their original works on eBay, and talented writers are creating nonfiction for others, or serial fiction, or original novels, all sold online. What's your niche?
2. Get a computer and broadband connection and learn how to use them well. While you should ideally have a minimum 1.7 gHz processor computer, you can do quite well with a ten-year-old computer and a good Internet connection. The critical part is it must work for you. And here's a secret: while most people immediately turn to commercial software, almost anything you need to do in your virtual career can be done with free or inexpensive software you can download to your computer. (One major hint: learn how to use a word processor very well, and learn how to do simple coding in HTML. Both these skills are critical.)
3. Create a blog and/or website. The heart of your online business is promoting yourself and your skills. You can do this most effectively, when starting out, with a simple blog, just sharing your knowledge with others on a daily basis. Later, when you've grown comfortable with the Internet, you can set up your own website to share information and sell products.
4. Build an audience. This is the hardest part of your job. You'll need to look at each new fan or follower as a valuable commodity. These are the people who will buy your products, support your site, tell other people about you, and read your paid advertisements. Take it slow; build your community one person at a time, and learn how to use RSS feeds, opt-in email newsletters, and forum or commenting tools to keep your fans coming back to you.
5. Sell advertising and start with affiliate sales. Once you've reached a critical audience point of a thousand or so customers, it's time to start making some money. Start by selling advertising through Google Adsense, and look into doing affiliate sales for people who have products you believe in and think your fans would like. Your bank account will start growing, but you're just getting started.
6. Create and sell your own information products. Over time, you've created quite an inventory of information. It's time to mine this wealth of information, creating ebooks, reports, and even videos with your data. How-to guides sell very well, and proven moneymaking or money-saving techniques also do well. Look at your data and see what you can monetize.
7. Learn how to track sales, advertise, and build your customer base. Your customers need nurturing, just like a garden. Learn how to identify new customers, build on your old ones, and track where your sales are going (as well as where they are not). Over time, you'll develop a sense for what promotions work, what items sell, and what your fans really want, and this will save you time wasted on things that don't work.
8. If you're not making enough money, consider consulting for others. You've developed some valuable skills: blogging, writing, selling, marketing online. These are all commodities that are valuable to other people. Set up another website and sell your expertise writing sales pages, creating web sites, or writing blogs for other people. Don't let it distract you from your main line of money, but use it as a second valuable source of income.
9. Quit your job! Once you've accumulated a nest egg from your home based work and have a fairly regular income from your online ventures, it's time to tear up the gas card, burn the suit, and tell your boss what he can do with his job - in whatever colorful method you want. This is the vision you want to hold onto as you walk the difficult path to financial freedom with your online career, and the moment that will make everything so very worth the work.
It often seems like making money online is going to be easy - because of all of the advertisements that you see each and every day, proclaiming that you can make thousands of dollars each day by doing things like paid surveys. In fact, you very well can make money with paid surveys, but it is important that you do your research first, to make sure that you are actually going to be making money, and not losing money with your paid surveys.
If you want to make money with paid surveys, all it takes is the ability to discover the right opportunities. If you can discover the right opportunities, and avoid the things that aren't going to make you money, you'll find that you will indeed be able to make money doing paid surveys online.
First of all, it is important to know that while there are indeed plenty of opportunities out there to make money with paid surveys. Therefore, you need to be able to recognize the great opportunities and ignore the false ones. There are several tips to use so that you can find real chances to make money.
First, remember that sometimes it is important to pay for the good things that you have. Some paid survey sites have memberships, and once you pay the membership fees you will get trained in how to do the surveys. This can be much better than trying to figure out how to make money with the surveys without any training. Learning how to make money can be important, so membership fees can help make sure that you have the right training.
Next, membership sites are often going to allow you to have access to all of the great surveys and marketing sites that you need. You might spend hours looking on the internet for good opportunities, but if you have a paid membership you will have access to these great opportunities without having to worry about finding them for yourself. This can be the best way that you have to make sure that you make the money you need to make with paid surveys.
Make sure that you read all of the fine print when you sign up for a survey site, so that you can avoid being scammed, and then use an online payment method, such as PayPal, or a credit card. It is always a good idea to protect yourself when you are working online.
Next, you want to wade through the various offers until you find one that seems reasonable. A good rule of thumb is to ignore the offers that seem too good to be true. If the company claims that you can work one hour a day and make a thousand dollars a week, this is probably not going to be true. Remember that often paid surveys don't pay that much, so stick to companies that offer you something that seems reasonable. Think about the amount of work that they are asking you to do, and make sure that the amount you are being paid is equal to that amount, at least in your mind.
Lastly, you want to be sure that you stick with the companies that will pay you. A good way to test this is to try out several companies, and then do only a few surveys before your payday. Make sure that you get paid, and make sure that the payment amount equals what you have expected. If a company doesn't pay you, or pays you less than you have earned - no matter what reason they site for it - you should ditch that company. Never spend an entire week or pay period working hard to make as much money as possible until you know that company is going to pay you as they have said.
Remember, paying for a membership is often very important. This will help you to save time in searching for ways to make money, and it will also help you make sure that you are able to get the training that you need to do the surveys quickly and make money from them. A lifetime membership, with a one time fee, is usually a minimal amount for the trouble it will save you and can help you make sure that you will earn the money you absolutely need.
You can expect to make a little bit of money with online paid surveys, if you take your time and find companies that will pay you for your work. However, you can also expect to spend a lot of time getting these companies set up and making sure that they are legit. This should be something that you do to supplement your own income. So by finding a reputable company that can help you wade through the paid survey waters, you can focus on making the money instead of researching the best opportunities then trying to figure out what to do on your own.
posted by HomeNetPro
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