There Are More Opportunities Out There Than You May Think!

On a previous post I talked about podcasting which involved recording your voice and then uploading it to your podcast so that it would be a part of your podcast.

Here is another related opportunity. You know that there are still open casting calls out there? News and information about open casting calls are on the internet too and if you know the right sites to go to then you can find out about the latest casting calls.

With the popularity of animated movies comes the opportunity for "voice" actors and I have seen open casting calls from film studios and productions sending notices about open casting calls for voice actors. Now some of these roles don't pay anything but some of them do!

The lastest casting call that I have seen was a paying, non-union role that is paying over $100 for a voice over actor. Sometimes the audition process can even involve you reading from an already made script and submitting your reading via email or their website. Once you have the information about the audition and have a copy of the script excerpt all you have to do is record yourself reading the script and then upload it per their instructions.

I know that it can be hard and sometimes even frustrating for those that want to go into show business but the more opportunities that you can take advantage of the more better for your and your career.

I also realize that this doesn't fall under the "working from home" category but it does fall under the "being able to make an income" category and lets face it - there are still a lot of people that want the security of being able to work for someone else rather than starting a business of their own.

That's not to say that actors can't have a business of their own. Many do! Big stars generate income from other sources besides their acting careers. The start clothing lines, create perfumes, they start their own production companies and they even write books.

So just because you have decided that you want to become an actor, that doesn't mean that acting could be your only source of income. Besides many actors have said that they themselves are the product and they look at it as a business - that they are in charge of - so in a way they are working for themselves.

How About Starting Your Own Podcast?

Starting your own podcast may be easier than you think!

For example, besides having my own Internet Station, I'm also working on creating my own podcast. Actually I have already created the basic podcast now what's left for me to do is to decide what kind of podcast I want to have and what kind of content that I want to put in it.

You can start your own podcast for free at a couple of websites that will let you upload, store and broadcast (or provide a link to your podcast) your podcast for free. There are also lots of sites where you can download content in mp3 format that you can add to your podcast. * - However there may be a problem if you want to add music that is copyrighted by someone else. On some of the free podcast sites you won't be able to do that but that still leaves a lot of content that you CAN add to your podcast!

Starting your own podcast can be as simple as recording what you want to say and converting that into a mp3 format. Most of the "free" content that is available for your podcast is already in mp3 format and even if it wasn't you can download one of the many conversion programs so you can convert your sound file to a mp3 format.

Using myself as an example, I have a sound program called Cool Edit Pro that lets me record and save that recording into a mp3 format. If you like you could try one of the free sound conversion programs that are available over the internet just in case you don't want to pay for the Cool Edit Pro program. However Cool Edit Pro was well worth the cost because I can do so many things with this program! I can do a lot of nice production work such as adding background music, adding sound effects and so much more.

After I have recorded my content into a mp3 format then its just a simple thing of uploading that file to my podcast page and storage area - and there you have it - your very own podcast!

Now getting back to you and how starting your own podcast can be a great way to start your own working from home business - just think of your podcast as your very own version of an audio blog! Whatever you can blog about you can probably podcast about.

How do you make money with your podcast? How about adding advertisements? That is exactly what radio stations (and tv stations for that matter) have been doing since they were started.

Let's say for example that you wanted to start a business using your very own podcast. Well what kind of business would you want to start in the first place? What is your passion? What is your dream job?

Let's say that you are a stay-at-home mom and you want to earn some extra money. In previous posts I have mentioned that one could start a newsletter specifically geared towards single mothers. Just think how much more better (and fun) it would be if you had a podcast! You could include interviews with other single mothers. You could add your own "words of wisdom" - sort of comparable to having your own column only it would be in the spoken word and not the written word. In fact it would be most beneficial to you if you do both - have both the podcast and the newsletter!

Next would be getting advertisers to advertise on your podcast. You will have to come up with a "rate" sheet and schedule so that you will know what to charge your advertisers. What kind of advertisers would be interested in advertising on your podcast? What about those advertisers whose products are specifically geared to stay-at-home moms?

You can also have a website version of your podcast so that you can add Google's Adsense ads to your site.

You could also do reviews of certain products - giving them the "thumbs up" or "thumbs down" review. What you can add to your podcast is only limited by your imagination!

Reviewing "Work At Home" Opportunities

I have been getting requests to review "work at home" opportunities and to be perfectly honest with all of you I haven't seen that many that I would even recommend let alone try for myself.

Adsense is a great way to be able to make money from home but one of the things that you have to understand about adsense is that you just can not make a site or blog, put adsense ads on it and expect to make a lot of money without putting in the work on your site. Are there adsense "millionaires" out there? Here is a link to a blog post about just how much money people have been making with adsense.

There are a couple of other affiliated-programs out there that look promising as well. But just like with adsense you just can't "slap" together a website or blog and then expect the money to just come rolling in!

I also had the chance to check out a few "survey" programs - where you get paid for answering surveys online. With the except of one online survey program, I haven't found any others worth mentioning!

There are a few companies that employ people to work from their homes that I consider to be quite legitimate. But like any other job where you work for someone else, the income that you earn will be limited.

Suffice it to say that I am a big advocate of one starting their own business that they can work from home. Almost everyone has a talent that they could put to good use to start a business that they can do working from home.

Email Consultant

I saw this term and just had to investigate it further.

Here is a job opening for an email consultant:

Description


This consultant will be a member of the team managing the Commonwealths email environment. The consultants primary responsibilities include on-going administration of the MS Exchange Environment, Tier 2 support, backups and tape rotation. Additional Comments * The position requires the consultant to work both first and second shift on a two-week rotation. Must live within commuting distance of Harrisburg. Active Directory + MS Exchange combined experience. MS Windows Server/MCSE 2003 big bonus as they are upgrading the environment. Candidate will be joining an Elite MS Professional team supporting.

Requirements:

The required skills and background are: MCSE 2000 or 2003. Minimum of 5 years of IT experience. Two years of experience in administering large Active Directory environment with multiple sites using Windows 2000 or 2003 Server. Two years of hands-on experience in administering large Exchange 2000 or 2003 environments. Experience with DNS and WINS in large environments. Additional beneficial skills include: Experience in MOM, Commvault, Sybaris Antigen and Blackberry. Experience with IBM and Dell server hardware and configuration.

Of course being an email consultant doesn't have to be so complicated as the above "duties" state. You could simply be the one in charge of answering a company's (or individual's) email.

A lot of websites have built up a subsribers' list and simply have more subscribers than they can handle and they need someone to take over the responsibility. I also saw some information about how an email consultant was needed to help go through a site's email inblox just to be able to distinguish their spam mail from legitimate business mail.

It just goes to show you that there are all types of opportunities out there for people.

Live365 Is Hiring!

I have posted before about my internet radio station - LaMott Radio which is hosted on Live365.ocm

They now have a number of positions open and you can read more about it by going to their site!

A Very Scary Thing!

It may be a very scary thing to think that one could actually be able to work from home and earn a living from it. Yet people are doing it everyday!

What makes it even more "scary" is that one can be able to work from home legitimately!

If you have a product or service to sell and you set up a website or blog then that is the start of your business!

The next hurdle is being able to find a way to be able to receive your payments. One of the most easiest ways is to use Paypal. However be advised that you have to have a bank account in order to be able receive payments via Paypal. There is also a limit on how much money you can receive if you use the "personal" Paypal option. When you upgrade your Paypal account you will then be able to access your full payments. Paypal does charge additional fees when you upgrade to this option.

Now what if you don't have a bank account (or you don't want to give your bank information) then there is still the option of being able to receive your payments by regular check. The one thing that I would suggest though is that you get a professional address for your business so that you don't have to give out your home address.

There are some auctions on Ebay where the option to pay is in check form and there are still people that receive their payments using only this option.

Of course there are "third-party" payment options that are also available but you have to check out these options very carefully. Make sure that they are legitimate and if you have your doubts about them then don't use them!

Yes, being able to work from home can seem to be a very scary thing to someone who has not done it before but you have to realize that people are doing it everyday!

Are You A Woman Who Has A Dream About Starting Your Own Business?

If you are a woman over the age of 21 and have a dream of starting your own business, then you should visit my Grant Basics 101 Blog about another grant program. This one is specifically geared towards women who have their own dream of starting their own business.

The grant award is $50,000 and the deadline to apply is December 2007!

Starting Your Own Resume Typing Business?

I had previously posted about the possibility of starting one's own resume typing business but I was reminded of it again yesterday when one of my previous clients was in a pinch!

You see they wanted to apply for a job opening that they had heard about but the problem was that they could only apply for the position at the company's website. Unfortunately this job applicant didn't have a computer of their own and even then they weren't that proficient with using one. So this person was kind of in a bind.

They had their resume typed up and took it to a printing shop to have copies made of it. However the person needed to submit their resume online and that was a service that the printing shop did not provide.

So what I did was that I had to type the resume all over again because the company's website only provided for transferring the resume (actually it involved uploading the resume) to their site and I had to get this person's resume into my computer before I could transfer it to the company's website. (Personally I just think that this makes it so much more complicated than just being able to submit your resume in person).

So as I was typing the resume it occurred to me that there is still a need for such a service. You have to remember that not everyone has a computer and even then while some people do have their own computer they either don't want to be bothered with typing their own resume or they just don't know how - and that is where you and your business come in!

If you have never typed a resume before (possible thinking that you couldn't start this kind of business because you never did it before) you can always learn! If your computer has such a program like Microsoft Word or WordPerfect already installed then you can open those programs and use one of their resume-like templates. There are even books in the library and other software programs dedicated especially to resumes!

Clients - Let's Face It! Some Of Them Are Cheap!

I could tell you a lot of stories from personal experience about so-called clients that wanted me to do work for them for less than what I charge! But I'm going to use that experience to warn you!

I once heard Suze Orman say "Don't Put Yourself On Sale!" She was talking about this in a seminar where she talked about how women would be so accomodating by providing free work. Now this isn't just limited to women - it is for anyone thinking about starting a business of their own - whether you want to work from home or start your own business period!

Number 1 - whether you are providing a service or a product do some research online and find out what similar people are charging. That way you will know that the amount that you are charging for your product or services is a fair amount to charge - no matter what a potential client tries to say to convince you otherwise.

There is the question of when one is just starting out that shouldn't they do some work on a volunteer or reduced-price kind of thing. To get your foot in the door you may want to start off doing it this way because it does provide you with publicity and good practice skills but don't do it to the point of being taken advantage of.

It just comes down to stating your price and remaining firm!

A Person Of Many Talents...................

Doing grant research involves doing a lot of detailed work. So it's nice to be able to do something else as well. Here you see a render of myself (sort-of-LOL!) that I made myself using DazStudio! It's a pretty good likeness of me except I haven't included my glasses but the hair is just about right! I have taken this render of myself and have used it as my avatar on a lot of other sites that I belong to. Its just a good enough picture to be not of me exactly but very close! A lot of people would like to have the same kind of picture of themselves so that they can use them as avatars or on their website.

I was thinking that this would be a very good business to go into. Now I'm not an expert at 3d design but I do have an interest in it and I'm still learning more about it by doing it.

Did you know that the program that I made this render with was a free download! If I would have bought the program it would cost over $200! And even then if I had bought the program and was able to get some clients who wanted me to do renders of them - I could deduct the cost of the software because I used it in my work.

I also talk about on my consultation page about how you can take programs that are already installed on your computer and start a business of your own using the program(s).

There are many people that have more than one talent and you may be one of them. Something that is of interest to you but you don't think that you could start a business with - you would be sadly mistaken!

Just take note of what I was talking about above. Do you think that that is a good picture? Do you think that others would be interested in having a 3D render of themselves that they could use for..........whatever? Do you think enough people would be interested so that one could start their own business just doing this? And who would be able to start a business like this? That would be someone - maybe even a student - who was interested in 3d design and is doing it now but didn't think that they could earn money from doing it.

This applies to you too? Is there a talent that you have?

Have You Ever Been Jealous Of Someone's Lifestyle Or Career?

Have you ever been jealous of someone else's lifestyle or career? Are you jealous of Bill Gates and his wealth? Are you jealous of Oprah Winfrey and her wealth?

I read a very informative article that says that you should turn this jealousy into inspiration and motivation!

I was watching this tv segment with Tyler Perry who has become very successful at writing and producing movies. I also saw his beautiful house. He says he shows his house not to brag but to show how its possible to achieve one's own dreams!

Kimora Lee Simmons of "Life In The Fab Lane" has also said the same thing in that she hopes that others see her success and hope that they get inspired by it.

I'm looking at television and seeing all the promos and commercials and the thing that is going through my mind is that these people are doing things that they love to do! You have Martha Stewart doing a segment on weddings and I remember the beginnings of Martha Stewart's career - she has a love of home-making and all things related to it......

So the next time you see someone else's career or lifestyle and start to get jealous of them - Don't! Get Inspired! Get Motivated! And Get Started On Making Your Own Career And Live The Life that YOU want!

Does Your Job Feed Your Soul?

Does Your Job Feed Your Soul?

Here is a link to a quiz that someone else suggested. I took it myself and got a favorable result! Which means that I do like my job and it does feed my soul!

It would be a good quiz for you to take too.