Sometimes, working from home can be a struggle. What? Did I just say that working from home can be a struggle? I must be out of my mind right? I mean, you don’t have to get up early, go to a job, take orders, work for a wage, deal with corporate politics, worry about employees, leave the house and miss out on your children growing up. There are a ton of perks and very few negatives about working from home. It has been a huge blessing to my family and I. We love it.

Let me share an example with you of something that can kill your work day progress. Her name is Macy. She is just over one year old, she loves her Dad and I love her, but she cries when she can’t have Dad. Also, I have Kyla and Saydee who are seven and five who also require Dad’s attention. Saydee is not in school yet and is a bored hyper little girl. She can only color, play Wii, play barbies, jump on the trampoline or ride her bike alone for so long before it isn’t fun anymore and she is back to being bored. Kyla gets home from school mid afternoon and is excited to be home and is ready to go do stuff. All of this is why I work from home, I love it. But, if I let it distract my work day, it can be very damaging to my success.

Now, for me, I have to designate a period of separation from my kids in order to be effective. I can’t be holding Macy and type on the computer at the same time. Some people may be able to pull this off. My wife is actually a very talented one hand typer and is probably faster one handed than I am with two. I just can’t do it.

So what we do, is we have an office. A room where I can escape from the kids for a few hours to work. We have established some rules around this office time so that the kids know that I am working and not to interrupt. We made it fun for the girls and helped them make a sign for my door. They know that when the sign is up, Dad is working. It’s kind of funny, I get reminded at least twice a day what the sign means when it is turned one way or the other. They take ownership in the rules. Now, does this work 100% of the time? No! But is sure does help.

I usually work from 2pm to 5 pm every day, Monday through Thursday. Fridays I work in the morning for about an hour. That’s it! The important thing is that my wife and children know when I start work and when I finish work. I have my DMO (Daily Method of Operation) established. There is no frustration of not getting that chance to get some work done because it is planned into my day. I don’t ever get to the end of my day thinking of all the things I have to get done because I never had the opportunity to do it that day. Three hours of focused, uninterrupted work is better than 8 hours of unfocused mediocre work.

If you are a single parent with children at home, plan to work around your lifestyle, not settling for excuses of why you can’t do it. Plan to do it. Work during nap time, before they wake up, after they go to sleep or while they are away at school. Make it a priority and it will happen. It just has to be planned in.

There are some days where all I require is my phone and people to talk to. Those days we are most likely out on the road living the lifestyle. Other days, I am marketing to find those people to talk to. Give and get!

Honestly, there is no comparison to the lifestyle I enjoy. No other business opportunity on the planet can even hold a candle to this. I love my life and have complete control over my time, whether with children or without. They are definetely not distractions, they are not a burden, they just love their Dad. Every time I go into my office, I go there because of them. I am always home while most Dads hardly ever are, and I will never take that for granted.

What other methods have you found effective in managing your home life while working from home. Your feedback is appreciated!

Thousands of people start a Home Based Business every single day! Thousands! Why? What makes a Home Based Business so attractive and where are all these people coming from?

Before getting too far into the perks of a Home Based Business, let’s do a quick analysis of the competition:

1. A J.O.B. – A job really doesn’t even hold a candle to a Home Based Business but people will actually choose a good paying job instead of a Home Business. Why? A false sense of security, a regular paycheck and much less risk. Don’t forget, you also get 2 weeks of paid vacation and a bonus check here and there.
2. A Franchise – Franchises are the closest thing to a Home Based Business in the fact that  they have a system already in place. The downfall to a franchise is the franchise rules, the large start-up costs, and the continued franchise fees. To start a McDonalds a person has to have a net worth of a million dollars with half of that being liquid. You can make 6 figures with a McD’s but must deal with employees, long hours, complaints, etc. You get the picture.
3. Brick and Mortar Business – For anyone who has no clue of what a brick and mortar business is, allow me to explain….it is any other regular mom and pop business. Clear? With these, there are no systems to follow, larger start-up costs, employees, etc. In order to have true success in these businesses, you must buy one that is already successful, have a great business plan or plenty of funding until you are profitable. Most mom and pop businesses are not profitable until 3 – 5 years after starting. 90% of all businesses fail within their 3rd year. It is a sad statistic I know, but true!
4. Work at home JOB – These are the transcripts, letter mailing, answering emails, taking surveys type of work. They are not your own business and the pay is minimal for the hours of work invested. You can make a little extra money though, enough to pay for an extra tank of gas or something of that nature!

Human nature is to flourish, excel, succeed and to live a life of luxury. A job definitely isn’t the answer nor a work at home job. Franchises and mom and pop businesses can provide this on a larger scale but at what cost? What would it take to get there? Is your family the one that has to pay for your success?

People are turning towards a Home Based Business because:

1. There is a system to follow. No guesswork is involved.
2. The compensation in specific business models is unparalleled in any other type of business opportunity.
3. The initial investment to start a home based business is extremely low for the income potential.
4. Complete control over your work schedule. Work when you want!
5. A Home Based Business is mobile. Take it with you on vacation and make money while gone or just work from home!
6. No stocking, warehousing or pre-purchasing products or inventory.
7. Direct mentoring from other successful Home Based Business Entrepreneurs.
8. Residual and passive income streams!
9. Most have a proven track history of success.
10. Freedom and complete control of your time as an Entrepreneur.

Little else compares to having your own Home Based Business. It all just depends on what you’re looking for in your life…..time freedom with the income, just the income, or neither. I think the choice is obvious!

How many of you, starting out in 2009, are thinking that a wage, 60 hour work weeks and two weeks of paid vacation sounds like a pretty good deal? Let’s say that your wage would be around $80k US, or even $100k US! Does that sound pretty good? You get all of that for only 60 hours a week at work and let’s say they even throw in a company car for you so that you don’t even have to pay for your own commuting, which by the way is going to be an extra 2 hours round trip! So all together, you are spending only about 70 hours a week working and getting all the perks! What a deal right?! All I have to say to that is, “Good luck with that!”

Let me tell you of a business opportunity that can make you more money working less than a third of the time. Yes, you named it. It is a Home Based Business that has such a simple system designed so much leverage that it only requires around 20 hours a week, tops, to make a multiple 6 figure income. Oh, and by the way, you get to work from home, so take out the commuting. You get at least 6 months of paid vacation time, at least I do! I can take my business with me to Acapulco this March.

Oh, and I almost forgot about passive income, living your dreams, assisting others in doing the same, and being part of a community of self-made millionaires, all of whom are personally vested in your success.

If you would like to become nothing more in this world than a doctor, what would you do? You would go learn from other doctors at school, in the field, on the side and would do all that you could to surround yourself with other professionals in the medical field.

So, if you would like to work 20 hours a week or less, travel every other month, earn a multiple 6 to a 7 figure income, spend more time with the ones you love most, get your freedom back, take control of your financial future and ultimately achieve your dreams, what would you do?

The answer is simple! I have been and am doing that. Stop settling and start living your life! Contact me now!

Looking to start a home based business? Is this your first time or have you tried something in the past?
Did it work for you? If so, what happened and why are you looking again? How do you know if you have found a home based business that is going to be profitable for you? How do you know if it is actually going to work before you jump into it? How can you know that you will do all that it takes to create the success you desire through this new home business of yours?

Here is an interesting fact: Thousands of people start a home based business every single day! Thousands! That is a huge number. How many of them actually experience the success they desire? How many of them can actually make a living at what they do? To tell you the truth, I have no idea what the actual stats are, but I can tell you that most home business owners are not able to support themselves without some other source of income. Many people quit before they even get into profit and this isn’t just true for a home based business, this is true for all businesses.

The only way to fail, in a home based business, is to quit. Why, because you can do it on your own time. You can work the business around your schedule until you are profitable. But, there are traits to look for in finding a successful home based business opportunity to start. Allow me give you some guidance:

1. Who is paid first, you or the wholesale company? Make sure it is you!
2. Do you have to stock inventory or pre-purchase your product? Make sure this one is a big fat no! There are home businesses out there that will ship, stock, do customer service for you and all you do is collect the profit!
3. Is it MLM? Now this is up to you, but know this, those you assist in signing up into the business will never make as much money as you do. Normally, the commissions are small, you have to stock and warehouse products and you have monthly quotas to meet. However, they are residual.
4. Are you choosing your home business to have the product or to make some money? Please, please, please say to make money! You go into business to make money. The product is the way to make money and most products are outstanding. Keep your focus!
5. Large commissions! Do you want to sell your product to half the world before you are profitable or would you like to do less work, sell a few, and make more money. Enough said!
6. SYSTEM! Is there a turnkey system in place that you can follow? This is a must. More people fail when there is no system to follow!
7. Look for the success the business opportunity has had. This is a big one. If you are looking for fault, you are sure to find it, even in paradise! Every, I repeat, every successful business has someone talking negative about it or trying to get a freebie. I mean Walmart is sued every half hour! DO NOT base your decision to get started in or not to get started in a business because of what people say in negativity forums. There are two classes of people who fail, those who fail and blame others and those who fail and take personal responsibility for their own actions. The ones who blame others are the comments you read on forums! The ones who take personal responsibility will one day succeed and the ones who are successful, are the ones still working their home business. Talk to two or more of them and ignore the failures.
8. Go on your “gut feeling.” The best way to make a decision is by following your heart! The head will just get in the way. Starting a business is about chance, confidence in yourself, and risk. You can’t rely on logic for that. It is about you! Can you succeed? Do your research and jump in with both feet!

Home based businesses are creating millionaires and there is no difference between you and those who have  already done it. Well, I guess there is one, time!

Can you generate a significant amount of leads with blogging?

The answer to that questions is a definite YES! Blogging is one of the best ways to generate the most targeted traffic that in turn will produce the highest quality of leads you will ever have.

I built this website to educate Entrepreneurs through Personal Development and to find those who are looking for a Business Opportunity to teach them how to become successful. I have my static pages that provide general information about the opportunity but have a blog as well.

So how do you connect your blog to your opportunity and what do you blog about?

Your blog is the GIVE. Your static pages and lead capture forms are the TAKE! So in your blog posts give your thoughts, your advice, your expertise, what you have learned, strategies, results, polls, etc. In order to be effective at blogging for leads you must have great content. Content that brings value to your readers yet enticing them to want to learn more. For example: I wrote a blog post called Top 3 Ways How I Make Money. In that post I speak of ways that someone looking to generate an income doing something similar to what I am doing can gain from my content. So I offer free advice. There is no reason to hide my knowledge from anyone. Chances are, if they read the post and want to know what I do, they will contact me. Bingo, there’s a lead. It seems as the more open I am with my results and my expertise as an Entrepreneur, the more traffic I get and the more leads come in. Give and Get!

Also, if I have a blog post that I feel is good article content, I will submit it to article submission sites such as Ezine Articles and Article Base. Most article submission sites allow you to add links into your text that point back to your site. Find the appropriate keywords that fit your blog post and link it back to that post or a post with similar content on your blog. They will visit your blog and chances are, will get curious and look around your site a bit. If you have a contact form or lead capture form that is visible and user friendly, they just might fill that sucker out. Also, you have your author bio and your authors box just below your articles with links pointing back to your site.

So where do I put my contact forms and lead capture forms you ask? I have a contact form directly under each individual blog post, right before my Adsense ads. How simple have I made it for my readers to fill out the form? I also have forms in the sidebar of almost every static page I have. Also, I have a “Contact Us” page with a link for that page in my header. If someones interest is spiked, they feel they would like to learn more, it is very simple for them to request more info.

The easier your blog is to navigate, the more user friendly it is, the more leads you will get. Some visitors get overwhelmed with content and will leave the site within seconds. So make your blog content visible, legible, free of errors, and with value and after some time and consistency your blog will be a lead generating fool!

Well here it is. I have decided to give you all an inside look at how I make money. Well, at least the top 3 things that produce the most income and one or two ways that will become more profitable for me in the future.

There are a ton of ways to make money working from home and regardless of when you start, who you are or what your results have been in the past, you can do it as well. It just takes action, one step in front of the other and a strong ambition or vision of what you want.

So here we go:

1. My Home Based Business – The biggest money maker for me throughout the last 4 years has been the home based business opportunity I promote on this website. It has been the reason I created this site. Initially I make money when someone purchases a product with the potential to generate anywhere from $1,000 to $14,000 per customer. Residual and passive income are also mingled into the compensation that pays me add-on sales as I assist others in creating the same kind of success that I have. So it is a win-win situation. I make money only when others create success! It is a highly lucrative business and continues to be my main focus.
2. Adsense -  For anyone who has done research into making money with Adsense then you know the potential of this one. You always see checks being cut by Google to Probloggers and marketers all around the world for multiple 5 figures and 6 figure checks for one months worth of clicks. If you think about it, Google is a multi-billion dollar cookie. There is plenty of money to be made with Adsense. I, however, have not hit the multiple 5-figure checks as of yet but my revenue is ever increasing with Adsense. As my blog grows, so will my traffic and every source of income will also increase.
3. Text Link Ads – This is a service that allows other marketers to place an in-text link on your site for a certain price. How much money you make is dependent on the traffic to your site, your page rank and a few other factors. Not all sites are accepted but you can always apply. Some say that text link ads hurt your search engine rankings with Google while others say that Google can’t tell the difference. So this one is up to you.

So these are the top 3 ways that I generate income with the first being bar far the most lucrative of them all! I also earn commission from other affiliate programs such as Amazon and may list those is a future post as their income increases.

The cool thing about making money, is that there are a ton of ways to do it. The one factor that will determine your success, is what you give you attention and focus to. Right now, my focus is with my Home Based Business and teaching others how to create wealth the same way I have. If I spread my focus too thin between many different ways of generating income, they will all suffer and it won’t be a profitable.

So if you plan on having multiple streams of income, I recommend that you find things that work with each other. For instance, I created this site for my Home Based Business. I started this blog to teach others about my industry, educate them on Entrepreneuralism and assist them is creating success in their lives, so I put Adsense and text link ads in the mix. They all go together and they don’t take my focus away from number one! Make sense?

In what ways do you generate an income? If it is online, be sure fill in the space asking for your website.