More Jobs Than You Can Do From Home

There are businesses out there that let you work from home!

I found an online article about a woman who wanted to quit her coporate job so that she could work from home and she found a lot of work from home scams out there but she finally managed to find a legitimate company that hires people to work from their homes.

Within 2 years she was earning $2,000 a month working 30 - 35 hours per week!

There are still some legitimate businesses out there that enable you to work from home acting as customer service representatives. There is a list of companies that are hiring people to work from home.

Starting a web business was another recommendation - one that I have often blogged about many times before. You could take a hobby and turn it into a web business of your own!



Another very good suggestion is that you might want to consider becoming a mystery shopper BUT be very careful about this. Do some checking and some research online about how to become a mystery shopper so that you don't get involved in any kind of scams!

Another Business Idea

Do you like to play with pets? Housesitting, walking dogs, and taking care of animals is a very lucrative business for some.

What Is A Graphics Designer?

I found this definition online:

Graphic designers analyze, and create visual solutions to communications issues. They usetheir artistic talent to convey a message across in print, on the Web, electronically, and in film. Graphic designers use a variety of methods to create designs such as color, type, illustration, photography, animation, and various print and layout techniques.

According to an online article graphics designing is a growing and competitive field! Which means while there is a growing opportunity being a graphics designer there is also a lot of competition for it as well.

However I don't want this to discourage you because there are many opportunities for you to have a career as a graphics designer.

You can start small - by doing designing for businesses and organizations in your local area.

Now I realize that this isn't the kind of career for everybody and you may think that you aren't skilled enough to become a graphics designer. But what does a graphic designer do? Amongst other things they design graphics for both online and offline publications and this can include websites as well! And this is definitely a job that lets you be able to work from home.

Before I started getting involved in grant research I was a webpage designer and my very first client was a neighbor of mine! I designed his family's website! So you never know where your clients can come from!

The best way to get started at this is to become your own first client! Design a logo for your work at home business / career. The next thing to do is to put up a website or blog telling everyone about your business! But don't forget to do offline things as well - like creating a flyer telling about your business.

You can design logos and graphics using the most simplest of software! I have Microsoft Paint program that had already came with my computer and I could even use that to create logos and graphics! Most computers should come with the Microsoft Word program and that has even more options to help you create logos and graphics as well! There are lots of free software programs available online that can help you create and design graphics and logos as well!

There have been quite a few people who have begun their online career as a graphics design artist simply by starting with a website or a blog!

"I Want To Work From Home!"

I have been looking to work from home for a long time. I don't have money to put up front and finding something legitimate seems impossible. There are so many scams out there. Right now I just need to make money but I would eventually like to start my own mommy/twin business. Being a mother of twins childcare is outrageous and returning to the work world is going to cost me more than staying at home making nothing. Any ideas?

My email is...........................

Actually from reading your comment I have a few ideas yes!

Well if your first concern is being able to make money now then the best piece of advice that I have posted on my Consultation Page is to find a need and fill it. That simply means that if you can find a pressing need that needs to be filled then you may be able to make money sooner rather than later. What is a pressing need? Since one of your objectives is to stay at home have YOU considered opening up a childcare business? Goodness knows that there are a lot of grant and funding programs out there for child and daycare which I have posted about on both my Grant Basics 101 Blog and my Daycare Grants Related page! And you would be providing a very much needed need!

If this doesn't appeal to you then you might want to try Google's Adsense Program. I have talked about that many times when suggesting legitimate work at home opportunities! With Google's Adsense program you can put ads on your website or blog and you earn money when visitors to your site click on those ads!

Here is a link to a blog post about just how much money people have been making with the Adsense program

courtesty of The Adsense Consultant's Blog!

This also brings up the related idea of you maybe starting a blog and / or a website that talks about your experiences of being a mother of twins. You can think of it as having your own little newsletter and / or magazine and with that in mind you could solicit (and more better having potential advertisers come to YOU for more direct advertising - which pays much better!

You are right in that a lot of work from home "opportunities" are scams but people are looking for the fastest way to make money and this is not the way - simply because you WILL get scammed!

Are there places where you can work for someone else from your home? The answer is yes but you will have to do some searching to find the legitimate ones. But they are out there! I do in fact know of one program (that I have mentioned many times before) where a company hires those who are disabled and/or those that want to work from home and the people work as customer service representatives! I provide this information to those clients of mine who are looking for legitimate work at home opportunities working for a company.

The problem that I see in those that want to work from home is that it seems that they want to be able to make money right away - like yesterday! This is where fulfilling a need comes in! If you can find a need that has to be filled then you have the potential to earn money sooner rather than later. That is why doing work like child/day care, yard work or even running an errand service have been suggested as good starting businesses for someone that wants to work from home. Another popular business-starting idea is starting a dog-walking business - another need that people seem to need!

As I have always said: the fastest way to make money is to find a need and fulfill it. But the BEST way to make money is to start doing something that you love and turn that into a business!

Your Mommy/twin business sounds like a very good idea to me but like with all new businesses it will take you some time to build it up and build its reputation up! You may want to consider looking into grants to help provide you with some start-up money for your business idea.

I realize that this may be something that you may not want to hear but it really does take time before you start to earn money regardless of whether you want to work for someone else or start your own business. Hopefully I have given you some food for thought to help you decide what you want to do.

Broadcasting?

I was reading online about how someone wanted to get into broadcasting and it made me remember my days in radio broadcasting. I was a DJ for about 10 years but since I worked at mostly smaller stations I did a lot of other jobs at the radio stations as well! I was even a receptionist at one time - I really hated that! But it was a stepping stone to my first DJ job.

I believe that radio stations and radio station broadcasting has changed a lot since the time that I was a DJ - although I do think that the more smaller markets still offer some great opportunities for those that want to be in broadcasting.

How did I start my DJ career? Well I went to broadcasting school for about 6 months. Then it took me about 2 years before I got my first radio job! In those 2 years I almost gave up hope but I got that first job because one of my co-students worked there and that's how I got the job there. Like I mentioned above, I started off as being the receptionist.

I kept saying that I wanted to be on the air and it took about a year before I finally did get on the air! There was a DJ that didn't show up and that is when they put me behind the mike! I had been a DJ ever since!

But like I said before, these were smaller radio stations and I did just about everything from producing commercials to repairing some of the equipment!

I mention this because I believe that the radio biz has changed a lot! When I was a DJ we could pick the music that we played as long as it stayed within the realms of the format. I have worked at stations playing everything from gospel/christian music to classic rock 'n roll! Nowadays a lot of the major stations work from a playlist or - more worse - work from a satallite feed from somewhere else! The last radio station that I worked for fired about 90% of its air staff (including me) to broadcast a feed from Califorinia.

I miss those broadcasting days but am reminded that one can be their own broadcaster on the Internet!

If this is something that interests you, it may be more easier to do than you think! I have had an Internet radio station and while it was not free it did cost about $100 a year and if you can "swing" that then you might want to take a look at Live365.com.

You could also start your own podcast which would be like having your own talk show! There are some good (and free) podcast hosting sites online. Just do a search for them and you should find some good links to get you started!

Having a podcast is like having your own talkshow and you could also consider it comparable to having your own audio blog as well.

You never know who may be listening or where that next big (and profitable) opportunity may come from!

Thinking About Grantwriting As A Career?

Thinking About GrantWriting As A Career?

Please be sure to read my blog post about it:

Thinking About GrantWriting As A Career?

Blog Template Designer?

I saw someone posting asking for someone to help them design a custom made blog - the kind of design they wanted was one that no one else has done before!

Of course my "Dream Job Consultant mode took over and I thought that I would post about this here.

Don't you find it interesting that with all the different websites out there that offer different blog layouts and different blog templates that there would be someone who was still requesting a custom-made blog template? (This just goes to show you that there seems to be a marketplace for almost anything!)

Now designing and creating custom-made templates isn't all that easy - at least to some of us. For those of you that know how to do this it isn't that hard!

So there may be a market for something that you might not think that there is a market for!

"Your Sign Here"

Since I am a 3D Beginner, I am a member of Renderosity.com which is a site for graphic artists (and even webdesign artists) of all kinds. I was looking throught their "free stuff" and saw a picture similar to the one above. (I couldn't use their actual photo without permission so that's why I didn't post it here - I made one of my own)

What came to my mind is that advertisers are ALWAYS looking for a place to advertise and why not online. I have read that online advertising is popular and becoming more and more popular!

Offline I remember I was watching a movie yesterday and during one of the scenes - which was a chase scene - I saw this great big Pepsi truck and I just knew that Pepsi paid a lot of money to have a truck with their logo in the movie! I have read about this type of thing in the newspaper - companies paying big bucks to advertise their products in the movies!

Online there have been people who have auctioned off theirself as advertising displays on Ebay! For instance one guy auctioned off his forehead as advertising space and he got over $37,000! for his efforts! The winning bid for advertising on his forehead was over $37,000 and the winning bidder was a company that makes some sort of snoring-related product.

If you're into graphics of any kind you could simply put a graphic such as this on your website as an invitation for advertisers who might want to advertise on your site!

Constructing the above graphic took me all of 5 minutes and that's not even including other kinds of ways that I could have enhanced the above graphic. I could have made the graphic animated, given it different kinds of colors and just so many other different kinds of ways that I could make it look more better.

Of course you would need a website but if you already have one then you could start there. If you don't have a website you can get one free because there are a lot of free webhosting sites that are out there. The reason why they are free?

Because they accept advertising!

I hope you are getting the hint here! That hint being that if other sites can solicit for advertisers - why can't you do the same thing?

Podcasting!

Well I am just all over the internet today! I'm visiting blogs and reading newsgroup threads...............posting to my AOL Journal.....and so on................

One of the things that I am currently working on is one of my podcasts for my local area.

This podcast of mine is relatively new and I'm still learning it. However I have some things already included on it so far. I have a public service announcement that I produced about my area's local firehouse. There are also a couple of other public service announcements that I got online and added to my podcast as well. I'm also working on adding music to my podcast but here is where you have to be careful! Unlike Live365 where you can add any music, my podcast's host doesn't allow just any type of music to be added - it has to do with copyright issues. But there is a site where you can download certain music and add it to your podcast.

I'm treating this podcast like my own little radio community talk show! It's like having your own talk show and being the host of your very own talk show!

Just think of the things that YOU could do with your very own talk show! Money and income-wise you could get advertsing and sponsorship for your show and since its YOUR show - you have control over what goes into it!

Now you may be thinking that it might just be too hard to produce and have your own podcast but to that I say just think of the possibilities that you could do!

My podcast (so far) consists of me recording to my computer and simply uploading the file to my podcast host site.

If you have had a chance to listen to podcasts on the Internet then you know that there is a whole lot of possibilites there!

So far hosting my podcast is not costing me a thing - except for my Internet access. And since I'm doing my income taxes now and having to report my Adsense income its also making me think of the possibilities of adding my podcast(s) as part of my self-employment business. When I do so there will be a lot of deductions that I will be able to take as part of this business!

So really think about starting your own podcast!

Want To Work From Home? Have You Thought Of Giving Ebay A Try?

There was a segment on my local news about a woman who runs a MILLION DOLLAR business selling on Ebay. What I found most interesting about her story is that she never thought that it would turn into such a profitable business!

Not only does she sell her own items but she sells other peoples' items as well. Of course she charges a percentage of what the item brings in and as well as she should because she is doing the work!

But this would be a very good idea for someone who wants to be able to work from home.

It doesn't take too much to belong to Ebay so that you can start selling on it. There are a few fees involved and you should find out more about them by going to the Ebay site.

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!

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!

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?

Quick Ways For College Students To Make Money

This is a blog post that I can't take credit for but it is a very good blog post about some good (and legitimate) ways that college students can make some quick money.

While I do a lot of grant reasearch and I do know that there are also a lot of scholarship programs out there for those that are looking for ways to help them financially while they try to continue their studies. There has been a lot of information in the news lately about student loans and how much they are and how much they cost. Some students find that they aren't able to pay their student loans once they graduate college. Other students have had to rely on student loan consolidation companies that help them with paying back their student loans.

So any way that a student can find to be able to legitimately make money both online and off is definitely information one should keep!

Some of the suggestions may surprise you. They are not "get rich quick" or "make money online" scams. They are legitimate ways that one can make money online.

Becoming A Model

I don't think it is an unrealistic goal to want to become a model. There are plus sized models and models shorter than 5 feet 4 inches tall. There are male models, older models and even disabled models.

You can even be a model if you are underaged as long as your parents give their permission.

Even though a lot of models have gotten their start by going to New York have you ever considered starting your modeling career in your own home town? You could model for clothing designers in your own home town. I have seen quite a few fashion shows on TV for my own local area so who is to say that there aren't any of these kinds of fashion shows in your own area? Do some checking around. Find the companies that are hiring models and check them out to see if they are legitimate. There is always at least one good lead that can lead you to a start in your modeling career.

If you can't find any modeling opportunities then MAKD YOUR OWN MODELING OPPORTUNITIES! What do I mean by that? Well do you have a webcam? Do you have a website? If you said yes to both of these questions then you could start your own modeling agency with yourself being the model. Take pictures of yourself modeling clothes and put those pictures online. You may not think that that is too much of a start but it is a start!

Treat your modeling agency as a professional modeling agency. Create business cards, flyers and other promotional materials - treat it professionally!

A Parent Having To Stay Home To Take Care Of Their Sick Child?

I saw a post from a woman who was asking about work at home opportunities so that she could work from home so she could be home to take care of her sick child. There are only a few legitimate work from home companies that I know of and I give that information to my clients when they are looking for such companies.

But when I saw this woman's post (I did reply to her with the same information that I'm putting here) I thought of some things that she could do so that she could be able to work from home.

My first thought was that she should start a blog and talk about how she has to stay at home and take care of a sick child. How many other parents are in the same position as her? Wouldn't they like to know about others that are in the same predicament as they are? If she started a blog about her experiences with having to take care of a sick child she could add adsense ads to her blog in order to be able to make some money with her blog. Now you may think of this as commercializing one's bad situation but why not take a bad situation and turn it into a better situation? The "power" of blogs is growing and there are so many different types of blogs out there on so many different topics and subjects. Just think about it. Here you have someone who wants to (if not has to) stay at home and be able to look after their sick child. What better a way to work at home then to start a business about the one thing that you are passionate about and in this case that is being able to take care of your sick child.

First of all having a blog will let people from all around the world be able to see it and of those that do see it there may be some that are faced with the same situation that she is going through. You can start a free blog at Blogger.com. Start writing (or should I say typing) in it. Once you have a few entries in your blog you can then apply for adsense - which is also free. Once your blog is approved by adsense you can then get the codes to put on your blog so that you can start making money when visitors to your blog click on the ads. But more than that you will have an outlet for what it is you are trying to do. Of course besides starting a blog ANY parent should look for and find any grant programs that may be able to help them. But in the meantime with the blog you will at least be starting to earn an income if you have adsense ads on them. If you need help with your blog or help with trying to start one or help with trying to optimize your blog for more adsense earnings, I suggest that you take a look at The Adsense Consultant's Blog.

Having a blog can branch you out into other opportunities as well that are directly related to your blog. A lot of people have gotten book deals because of their blogs. Some have gotten direct advertisers for their blog who will pay a lot more than adsense to advertise on your blog. This parent could blog about the difficulties there are in having to have to stay home and take care of a sick child. They can write about the lack of available help for other parents in this type of situation. She can even branch her blog out and start to create her own newsletter about parents who have to take care of a sick child. She could accept advertising for this newsletter. She could charge a fee to subscribe to the newsletter. She could also print out hard copies of her newsletter to give to people who don't have access to a computer. - Thus a career (and business) is born!

Have You Ever Thought Of Starting Your Own Music Label?

I got an email from an aspiring singer who wanted help in spreading the word about her music. She does have a myspace page. But it did get me to thinking about how one could start their own record label.

Many of the famous rap stars have started their own labels and they do it from the comfort of their own home! Now you may not have to the money to buy sophisticated equipment but you have some good tools right in front of you if your computer is relative new. You could record your songs and put them to CD and distribute/sell those CDs. Besides being a singer or musician you would also be a producer. You could get an internet radio station like mine and promote your own music! You could also create your own podcast for free and promote your own music.

Your Daycare Business

I do a lot of research work finding grant programs that clients are eligible to apply for and it just occurred to me that they can be so much more involved in running your own daycare business.

Did you know that lots of daycare businesses have a website? Why would they need a website? The better question is why doesn't YOUR daycare have a website? If anything it is good PR for your daycare business. Even if you just have the most basic information on your website that's a good start. You can sign up for a free webpage at one of the free webhosting sites. Add simple things like an email address and you have the means for visitors to your site to send you email. Include your website address on your business cards and on all of your daycare business-related literature - including your invoices. I saw one daycare business that has a website and that website includes webcam pictures of the children at play. Think of how comforting it would be for parents if they could go online and see how their children are doing!

Golf?

I just got finished posting on my Grant Basics 101 blog about a grant program for non-profit organizations that help encourage the sport of playing golf. If you don't know it the golfing industry is a billion dollar industry! But it got me to thinking about this blog.

If you have an interest in golf you can turn that into a career too! The most obvious way is to start a blog about your golfing interests. Add Adsense ads to your blog and accept ads from various golf-related advertisers. You can also start your own podcast - just like having your own golf talk show - and add golf-related advertisers. You can supplement this by having an offline newsletter relating to golf and you can have an online version of your offline newsletter - or visa versa!

I want to repeat that the golf industry is a billion dollar industry and if you can tap into that you are well on your way!

105 Service Businesses to Start Today

Another piece of information that I can't take credit for but it is a very, very good blog post!

Some of the businesses on this list are ones that I have often recommended like starting your own pet service where you either pet-sit for other people's pets or provide a dog-walking service. I even remember seeing an ad in my local paper for a pet pooper scooper service!

A lot of other businesses on this list have to do with providing repairs on different types of things - like starting a sewing alteration business or providing repairs for household items.

If you take a good look at the list you may find something that you are very good at - good enough at to start your business with!