Work At Home Business Opportunities Weblog
From the Lansing State Journal
Battle Creek woman’s business goes to the dogs - on purpose
BATTLE CREEK - Krista Howard loves to bake almost as much as she loves her dogs.
So it seemed a risk worth taking, almost a year ago, when she quit her job and decided to combine the two interests.
Now the owner of Doggylicious Delights Barkery, Howard works from one of two kitchens in her Battle Creek home, baking all-natural and organic canine confections.
“These guys were my inspiration,” she said, petting her dogs, Franky and Izabel. “I wanted to work from home, but I needed to find something I could be passionate about, something I cared about.
“I’m trying to live a more healthy lifestyle,” Howard continued, explaining that she and her husband eat a lot of organic foods for their health benefit. “I thought it would be a good idea to offer those kinds of things for people’s pets.”
Howard moved to the Cereal City in 1988, shortly after graduating from Western Michigan University. Trained as an occupational therapist, she spent several years as a traveling therapist for a national health care company.
“I enjoyed my job; I got to travel all around the country,” she said, “but I was ready for a change ready to try something new.”
Howard said she researched several at-home business options on the Internet and took some preparatory classes offered by the local chamber of commerce.
She also said her initial investment was minimal.
“There haven’t been a lot of startup expenses,” she said.
“I’ve done just about everything myself.”
In fact, Howard said she has personally researched every ingredient that goes into every dog treat she makes - such as peanut butter, pumpkin and blueberries - assuring that the finished products are completely natural and/or organic.
“I took some of my core recipes from the Internet, but have made them my own,” she said. “I’m still not sure there’s a huge market for organic dog treats, but my brother is a vegan and he’s telling me to hang in there, they’re out there.”
Read more
If you want to serve the pet market but don’t have the time to create a whole line of products, this company may provide additional products to “round out” your offerings… HealthyPetNet.com
Don Alm is one of the most proflic “idea generators” in the home business field.
Here’s an idea for a home based business that gives free planning books to folks planning their wedding.
The promoter’s money comes from ad placements.
Enjoy!
From Sowpub…
I thought I’d toss in “another” one of my “Sales Discoveries”. “Money-Making IDeas” are ALL AROUND us…all we have to do is “be aware” of WHAT is going on. (It STILL amazes me when people send me emails wanting to know if I have any “money-making ideas” for THEM. THEY can’t think of any ways to make some extra income)
Here’s my latest example;
A friend’s grandson is getting married. A few weeks ago, I happened to get in on a “planning” discussion of how they were going to set up the wedding…what the costs were going to be and who was responsible for what.
They were looking at a booklet called a “Wedding Planner”. This was a booklet with all kinds of handy info for people planning weddings. I asked where they got this booklet. They told me they got it from the Bridal Gown store and it cost $20.
Because I’ve TRAINED MY MIND to be aware of “advertising or money-making products” I come across….I INSTANTLY thought; “Wow!” This would make a GREAT “Ad Media”. Instead of charging for the thing…why not give it away FREE and let local businesses pay for advertising in it. With weddings costing $7,000 to $15,000 in my area (Photogs alone are charging $2500 per wedding) I thought there’d be a LOT of businesses that could benefit from letting future brides know about their services.
And, I was right. Just in my little town (pop 20,000) there are;
4 Banquet Halls
4 “Fancy” restaurants
6 Caterers
12 Motels (for guests)
4 Wedding Chapels (especially for weddings)
3 Beauty Salons (specializing in Brides)
4 Nail Salons
2 Health Clubs
6 Florists
2 Cake Makers
4 Invitation Makers
4 Gift Shops
2 Bridal Registries
2 Honeymoon Sites
3 Real Estate Management Firms
14 Realtors
5 Jewelers
3 Bands that do weddings
8 Photographers
3 Videographers
2 Limo Services
1 Tux Rental
3 Bridal Gown stores
2 Weddings Consultants
plus…other businesses that would like to reach “New Couples”.
I thought that these businesses would be willing to pay “around $1,000″ for an ad in the “Wedding Planner” I put together….and I was right. (With some of these businesses, just 1 sale and their ad is paid for)
I put together a “mock-up” and went out and “sold ad spaces” and I could not believe how easy it was to get orders for this thing ($28,000 worth of ads in 2 1/2 weeks)
I just checked 2 other larger towns near me and for some reason there is NO “Wedding Planner” program like mine (There soon WILL BE)
So…once again…I’ve PROVED…”Money-Making Ideas” are ALL AROUND…ya just gotta be “aware”!
AND…ya gotta be willing and able to “SELL” your idea to others…which means prying yourself from your keyboard and…picking up your phone and making calls to go SHOW potential customers your product and ask them to take an ad. It’s like “picking up $1,000 dollar bills off the street”. Ya gotta go outside…get in yer car and go see prospects.
Don Alm
Roseburg, Oregon
Property ownership is the foundation of a stable community.
Communities of “renters” may be nice people who keep things as nice and neat as homeowners do, but
in general, home ownership produces legitimate pride and a sense of investment in a community
that yields other tangible and intangible benefits later.
Even the government recognizes this and housing authorities once known for building large unsightly “projects” are being directed to promote local home ownership- not permanent project dwelling!
But in many parts of the country, home ownership is beyond the means of average families.
For that reason, I’d like to promote this private sector response to the need for redevelopment that helps
eliminate the tax funded strategies.
Ameridream.org helps low and moderate income folks participate in the American dream by providing downpayment gifts of up to 10% of the home’s value along with service to help folks who’ve fallen on hard times keep their home.
Here’s the Queen’s story (family portrayed above)…
Beverly Queen
Fort Washington, MD
“We lived in a place with a lot of violence. Our oldest son is 20 and when he got into trouble, I realized that we could not raise the rest of our children in that environment. We started looking in June but we did not have any money saved. In fact, we didn’t even have $100 in the bank. We prayed that we would find something, some way. Our real estate agent told us about the AmeriDream Downpayment Gift Program and two months later we bought our first home.
We have a half-acre lot and it is fenced. We border an agricultural area and cows come up to the fence. The children have never been that close to a cow. We see deer and birds; I saw a woodpecker the other day. I can let my children go outside to play. They are not on the streets, they are in their own yard and they are away from the violence. They love it here. This is not heaven, but it’s close. It eases my mind. I want my co-workers, church members and especially my family and friends to know about your program.”
From Robert Abalos’ ezine…
I love to bash MONEY magazine in this newsletter because quite frankly the advice this general personal finance publication offers is usually behind the curve and pretty bad. Instead of alerting readers of a trend to come that has real investment value, the magazine often urges them to join a trend which everyone has known about for years and is running out of steam. Think championing tech stocks in mid-1999 or pre-construction condo flipping last month in August 2005. Understand what I mean?
But just like the proverbial broken clock that is right twice a day, MONEY has published an excellent article in their October 2005 issue available on newsstands right now.
This article is called “A Tale of Two Yields” and is written by author Stephen Gandel who NAILS the wide disparity between the yield on the Standard & Poor 500-stock index, a reflection of U.S. economic growth,
and the Real Estate Investment Trust (”REIT”) markets, an indication of real estate valuations and cash flow projections on rental properties.
Put another way, this article makes two points I’ve been making in this newsletter for months extraordinarily clear.
Real estate prices are extremely overvalued, both historically and according to every business model you can think of, and that large cap stocks are undervalued relative to their historic yields and classic
valuation models.
The analysis in this article is right on target and the author deserves credit for not only getting his conclusions right but also for aligning a large number of facts to support them.
My only gripe is that the three large cap stocks listed in the article as REIT substitutes are lousy stocks. Bristol-Myers Squibb (ticker symbol BMY), Citigroup (C), and Verizon (VZ) in my opinion are all
dogs with fleas. BMY is too expensive relative to its peers and has many patent expiration issues. When interest rates are rising you don’t invest in companies like C that make most of their money on interest rate spreads. And VZ is being decimated by VOIP and cable companies offering telephone services. Running a telephone company is a terrible business model these days. It’s a commodity product with competitors everywhere and more arriving almost daily.
You can read this article in the paper version of the magazine, available everywhere and for free at libraries and doctor’s offices everywhere. Or you can read the online version if you are a MONEY subscriber. The article is not available online. If it was I’d give you a link. But it is worth reading for the analysis and not the
stock tips.
Just another indication that real estate prices are way too high and destined for a fall, or what athematicians would call a “regression to the mean historic averages.”
Robert J. Abalos, Esq.
www.investinginland.com
www.reinvestormagazine.com
robert@investinginland.com
You can sign up for Robert Abalos’ free ezine here…
High gas prices are frequently being cited as a factor in favor of telecommuting. Now the federal government is stepping up efforts to encourage the practice.
From the Hagerstown, MD Herald-Mail
For a limited time, federal employees tired of long commutes and soaring gas prices can telecommute for free at the Hagerstown Telework Center as part of an initiative by the federal Government Services Administration.
“They just need to call up and we’ll schedule them in,” said Michael Pellegrino, director of the Hagerstown Telework Center. “They would, obviously, need the OK from their supervisor, but they can call us from our main number.”
The Hagerstown center is one of 14 within the Washington metropolitan area funded by the GSA, which covers the operational costs for the telework center and bills government agencies based on the number of days their employees work from the center. Through Dec. 31, federal agencies can send their workers to the telework center for free. Use of the center normally costs $25 per day, Pellegrino said.
Pellegrino said about 22 federal workers from 15 agencies telecommute from the center at least one day a week. The center is equipped with 25 work stations and includes Internet access, printing and fax machines, voice-mail service and a conference room.
GSA spokeswoman Viki Reath said the administration made the offer in the face of rising concerns about gas prices, although it is too early to tell how many government agencies will take advantage of the opportunity.
Pellegrino said he believes more and more companies, in the private and public sectors, will begin to explore options such as telecommuting as gas prices climb and congestion issues intensify, particularly along Interstates 70 and 81.
More…
My friend Tom Schreiter aka “Big Al” has for many years written one of the most insightful newsletters available for network marketers.
It focuses exclusively on generic marketing and sponsoring ideas for folks in the MLM industry.
It’s ethical, entertaining, and well worth the price.
I first met Tom in person at one of his “Power Marketing & Promotions” weekends in the 90’s.
It was a fast paced workshop that covered how to market an MLM business (or any business really).
By Sunday night, I had a headache and my mind was reeling with the amazing insights Tom gave.
One of the lessons we learned revovled around this marketing issue:
“Somebody already found your best prospects, now what are you going to do?”
How you answer that question will make your life much harder or much easier.
Download the free back issue and read Tom’s answer. It may transform your marketing!
BobVila.com, StartupNation, Overstock.com and Microsoft team up to offer a S.O.S. (Small Office Support) Home Office Giveaway.
If your home office is selected a “home office makeover” worth up to $5,000 may be yours!
From Arrive.net…
To enter the SOS Home Office Giveaway, simply sign-up for the BobVila.com newsletter at www.bobvila.com. This will automatically enter you in the contest and ensure that you receive information throughout the year. As a BobVila.com newsletter subscriber, you will get free home-improvement articles, project tips, streaming videos, TV show updates, special product offers and exclusive contest offers delivered via e-mail.
On November 15, 2005, one randomly-picked winner will receive:
- Up to $1,000.00 of small business coaching from Jeff and Rich Sloan, America’s leading entrepreneurial experts and hosts of the nationally-syndicated StartupNation Radio program, to get the specific advice necessary to succeed;
- A free, one-year membership to the Overstock.com Wholesale Club (a wholesale membership club for small business owners, entrepreneurs, and budget-minded bulk shoppers), plus a $3,000 gift certificate to spend on Overstock.com’s Wholesale Club;
- Up to $1,000 in Microsoft business productivity software from Microsoft Small Business, such as Microsoft Office 2003 Small Business Edition and Microsoft Windows XP Professional, to find the perfect business solution.
A recent Computerworld article noted that employees given laptops log an extra 7 hours of work per week more than employees assigned to desktop computers.
They become “work at home” employees whether it’s company policy or not.
Evidently the proximity of work and the computer blurs the boundaries of work and leisure.
This is good for the companies as productivity rises, but can be bard on the family and - if the worker is salaried - decrease their compensation when viewed in hourly terms.
Home based workers may not only help companies retain skilled workers while reducing the costs of “brick and mortar”, they also serve a crucial role in corporate disaster back up planning.
From SearchSecurity.com:
Paul Kurtz has spent years in the upper levels of government working on ways to protect America’s physical and digital infrastructure. He has served as special assistant to the president and as a member of the White House’s Homeland Security Council (HSC) and National Security Council (NSC). In this Q&A, the Cybersecurity Industry Alliance’s executive director explains why enterprises should consider telework as a way to survive a physical or online disaster, and why CEOs should be more worried about data manipulation.
Interviewer:You’ve advocated teleworking as a way to stay running in the face of a disaster. How would it help?
Kurtz: The attacks on the London transportation system this summer showed we need to think about our working environment. We need to plan for disasters of different types. It could be a natural disaster or the threat of a terrorist attack where you have an unwillingness of people to move if needed and you have a situation where people can’t get to work. But our IT infrastructure gives us the ability to be far more resilient and live and plan in an environment where we can reconstitute ourselves in an attack.
The idea is that in the event of a disaster, or even the threat of one, you don’t have to bring everything to a screeching halt. With telework, you can keep business flowing before, during and after an incident because you’re not shutting everything down during a threat to move people around. After the London bombings, there was the problem of people getting to their physical work locations with the underground shut down. The vulnerability is that people can’t get to their job. What if something happened and it became very difficult for people to get into Washington D.C.?
Michael Ross offered this challenge on the SowPub.com forum.
Can you answer this question… The best business to be in when you don’t have time to be in business is…
And can you give reasons for your answer.
Michael Ross
Read the thread for some options others gave.
Busy? Here’s his answer…
If you have a second though, I wonder how YOU’D answer the question… so leave a comment please!
