Dream Job - A Baby Sitter?

Someone recently sent me an email saying that their dream job was to be a babysitter in their own home.

Well there is absolutely NOTHING wrong with that!

As a Dream Job consultant I would have a lot of advice and tips for this person.

• First of all I would advise them to check out their own state's website to find out what the criteria is for people being able to take care of children in their own home. Sure you can provide babysitting services for a certain number of children without being considered illegal
  
  
• Secondly I would advise that this person look into operating as a official and licenced daycare business. Many grant recipients have received money to start their own daycare business. And some have even received grant funding to start their own daycare business in their home! I had one previous client who was looking for grant funding for her already licensed daycare business and I was able to find her over 10 pages worth of information about grant programs that her for-profit daycare business could apply for!
  
  
• There are so many other things that can be associated with operating a babysitting service that could generate additional revenues of income. You could start a babysitting blog or website and have a newsletter as well. Accept advertisers and sponsors who will pay to advertise on your online and offline sites! Join Adsense so that you can put ads on your online sites and start earning money when visitors to your online sites click on the adsense ads that appear on your site.

It's just like those wise old sages have said:

You are only limited by your imagination!

Please Remember To Have Some Fun!

Please do not be all work and no play!

Today is Saturday and I decided to have some fun with my computer! I'm going to enter one of Renderosity's Fractal Art contests. Here is a link to my "Fractal" site. Here is one of my fractal creations!



Even though I have decided to have fun today I still can't help but be in the working from home "mode" when I think about fractals. Everything is related - even my interest in creating fractals.

Here is a link to one of my past blog posts about fractals and how you could start your own business having to do with fractals. I did a quick google search and found that there is a business that creates fractal business cards!

You may not think so but you could start a business in almost ANY area that you could think of.

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.

Tips To Help You NOT Get Fired From Your Work At Home Job!

Here is a link to an online article about things that you should avoid when working from home.

Woman Starts Her Own Business

Here is a link to an online story about a woman who started her own toy rental business.

Usually this is a good success story about someone who was able to start their own business - however in this particular case she had some money from her other businesses to start her own business. So this is a lot different from the way I try to advise people who have little or no money to start their own business.

But there is a very interesting lesson to learn here. I, myself took a look at the article and what struck me as so interesting was the "comments" section below the article. It reminded me of the fact that no matter what kind of business you want to start there are going to be "naysayers" and those who are going to criticize you. I'm sure that this woman is laughing herself all the way to the bank!

Here is something for you to think about....

On my Grant Basics 101 Blog I currently have this widget at the bottom that currently says 215-MILLION people are currently on the Internet! If you think about that - that is a lot of people but more importantly that is the number of potential web traffic that YOU could have going to your website or blog.

I mention this because if you don't have one now, you really should have either a website or blog! There are many free webhosts and free blog sites around. I highly recommend that you start a free blog at Blogger.com. What is so great about Blogger.com is that you can create your own blog for free and you can also add adsense to your blog so that you can earn money when visitors to your blog click on the ads. Here is a link to a blog post about just how much money people have been making with Google's Adsense program.

Hopefully it will encourage to start your own website or blog.

Are You Good At Fixing Computers?

Then you might want to take a look at Fixya.com. As the name says it is a website that helps people with their computer problems. (They also provide assistance on other kinds of problems relating to other electronical and consumer equipment like refridgerator and washing machine repairs.) How it can help YOU is that they are offering you money if you become one of their "experts".

In their words:

"As a qualified Premium Assistance Expert, you'll have the opportunity to solve Premium Problems and participate in Premium Live Chats with other FixYa users - and earn cash for your solutions!".

You have to become a registered "expert" by registering with the site but so far it seems that registration is free.

Their payment process seems comparable to that of Adsense where your earnings are calculated over a 30 day period. You earn more by participating in live chats concerning computer (and other kinds of) repair. You can earn from $3 - $12 per "successful" (which means your solution has to be chosen) solution.

You can find out more about this by clicking here.

Are You Praying For A Financial Miracle?

I found this very interesting article about "Are You Praying For A Financial Miracle. I posted it on my Financial Basics blog.

So many people are looking and praying for a financial miracle. Sometimes it happens and sometimes it doesn't. Basically what this article is saying is that one should use their own talents to help achieve that "financial miracle" that they are looking for as opposed to just not doing nothing.

The article says that we all have gifts and talents of one sort or another and we should use them - spread our talents out to the world! And now with the Internet that is more possible than ever!

Take a good look at the article. Maybe it will help inspire and motivate you.

You Never Know Where More Money-Making Opportunities Will Come From

and I can use myself as an example of this.

As my profession I do a lot of grant research. I have participated in a lot of forums and message boards that have to do with grants, grant programs and just people seeking more information about grants and the grant process in general. This started me starting a blog called Grant Basics 101 - just because there were so many questions being asked about grant programs.

As I stated before I participate in a lot of forums and message boards that relate to people asking questions about grants. One such forum I have been particpating in for a few years now. Out of the blue I decided to visit this forum and there was a message in my inbox from one of the moderators of the forum who wanted to introduce a concept to some of the people that were actively participating and providing valuable and good advice (I'm flattered that they thought that I was doing so).

It is another potential good income source for me.

But I wanted to make the point that I never thought of this forum as a possible income or money-making source. Just goes to show you that you never know where an income or money opportunity will be coming from.

Do You Still Want To Be Able To Work From Home?

When I first started this blog about working from home there were not a lot of legitimate companies that were hiring people to work from home. I only knew of 2 such companies and I recommended them to my clients all the time!

However there is now an increasing number of companies (legitimate companies) that are looking for and hiring people who will work from their own home.

Some of these work at home opportunities consist of:

• you providing customer service for a company that is representing a number of legitimate businesses
  
  
• working as agents in sales, technical support and customer service
  
  
• working as virtual assistants who perform a variety of administrative and other business tasks from your home for clients

Please be aware that if you are seriously considering working from home, you should prepare yourself! You should research a company before you apply for a position to ensure it's legitimate. A little homework can help you avoid the many scams out there.

You also should make sure that you have the right computer equipment. Some of the things that you should consider adding to your home office include having a high-speed Internet connection, mobile phone, printer and other related items.

If you would like a listing of these "Work At Home" companies you can submit a $20 payment via the "Buy Now" button on the side of this blog.

Please specify that you want to pay for the "Working From Home" company list!

What Is Your Wealth Potential?

Here is an interesting little quiz that I found on the Internet. It is a quiz to find out what your wealth potential is.

I took it and here is my result:

Smiles, winks, anything of that nature is what puts extra bucks in your bank account. Take life and its knocks with style and you will see a payoff. You can make more money using your sense of fun than you can with any other skill you develop. Keep in mind that you do need skills; we all need skills. However, you do not have to make a big display about what you can do. Go after situations that will make you look good.

It seems like its saying that my "flirting" is my way to success!

10 Ways To Make Money On The Internet!

I have to give credit to this site for reminding me of what I wanted to blog about today. The blog talks about 10 different ways that you can make money online. I was particularly interested in "sell your expertise".

Have you ever heard of Dr. Wayne Dyer? He gives very inspirational talks and one of the things that I remember him saying is that one should "sell their expertise". Almost everyone is good at something. You may not think that you have any talents but more than likely you do have something that you are an expert at! The story that I like to cite most often is the story about two guys who used to mooch off of people. When they ran out of people to mooch off of they wrote a book about how to mooch off of other people. Now they have their own beachhouse!

Can You Make A Living As A Poet?

This was a reply to someone who was looking for work as a poet.

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A "company that needs a poet"? Have you tried greeting card companies? You should also think about investing in a copy of "The Writer's Market Handbook" - it lists publishers and what they are looking for in the way of submissions.

Have you considered songwriting? That is related to poetry and artists are always looking for good material.

If you are looking for a way to "commercialize" your poetry you might want to take a look at this blog.

Here is a quick excerpt that I got off the internet:

"Let me give you the upshot of this book in a quick thumbnail. Yes, it is possible to make a living as a poet, no matter what your mother told you. But you must remember two important points if you want to make a living as a poet: first, you will not make a living at writing poetry. Second, you must do something no one has ever done before.

This book is full of examples of people who make a living (or part of a living) as poets, and the ways they do so. And none of them make their living by sitting in their garrets inscribing verse. They all find ways to get out into the community and sell themselves, AS POETS, as a commodity that people are willing to buy. "

"Baby Sleep Consultant"

This is the first time that I have ever heard of this term. But it also reminds me that that there is almost no limit to the kinds of skills that a person can have. A baby sleep consultant helps babies sleep more better, more comfortably and through the night. This is a welcomed benefit to new parents who have babies who cry throughout the night. And apparently this service is more popular than I thought!

This is but yet another example of one's skill(s). People have talents that they probably never thought of as such. I read somewhere that if you can't make a living doing what you love to do then you are doing it wrong!

You may have a skill and/or talent but you probably never thought of it as a skill or talent. There are still people that make furniture by hand even though we have furniture that is massed produced and these individual furniture makers are making enough of an income to live on and beyond! Let's say that you have a talent for making furniture and you want to be able to make a living doing that. It may be hard to believe but there are still a lot of people (and potential clients) that are out there who still buy furniture from independent furniture makers. The more popular your work gets the more "word of mouth" spreads and the more potential customers you will have.

But you can do even more! You could write a book about furniture making, you could create a newsletter about furniture making and you could even start a podcast about furniture-making. You could teach a class about furniture making too! There are a lot of possible income opportunities other than the most obvious.

You may not think that you have a skill or talent- but you probably do!

Other Sources Of Money?

I have just posted to my Unclaimed Money Blog about how the state of Louisiana has over $300 million in unclaimed money! They are working hard to process as many claims as possible because they want as many people to have the additional money for the holiday season. It's not just the fact that they would like as much people that are eligible to claim this money be able to claim the money but more money spent in the state means more money that is paid in state taxes - so everybody benefits!

Louisiana isn't the only state that has unclaimed money. My own state of Pennsylvania publishes a listing of people that are due unclaimed money. The last time this list was over 10 pages long!

What is unclaimed money? It is simply that - money that hasn't been claimed. For example forgotten bank accounts, insurance payments and payments to heirs are just a few of the different types of unclaimed money out there.

If you think that you may not be eligible to claim any of this "free" money then you should know that in Louisiana for example every 1 in 6 people have unclaimed money waiting for them to claim!

The Wealthiest Man In The World Is................

The wealthiest man in the world is the Bill Gates, cofounder of Microsoft, who, it is estimated, has over one hundred billion dollars. Bill started by writing versions of the programming language BASIC for home computers. If he distributed his wealth among all Americans, we'd each get over $400. If Bill saw a $100 bill on the floor, it would not be worth his time to pick it up. Better to stay focused on business because Bill makes $523 per second.

Here Is Another Thing That A 3D Artist Can Do!

I have mentioned before about how much I like 3d graphics and creating them. I was visiting one of my 3d graphics-related sites and there was a post about a 3d artist that designs album and CD covers for grammy-winning artists!

Of course the question comes up as to how one can get such work and the answer is that you have to let them (your potential clients) know that you are out there and open and ready for business.

How do you do that? You set up a website and show off your work! Add pictures of your 3d work onto your website. Now there are some people that are concerned about others "stealing" their artwork and quite honestly speaking the advice is that if you don't want your work "stolen" then you shouldn't put it online at all. There are some precautions that you can take. You could watermark your image before you put it online or you could put up some generic copies of your work.

But the most important thing is to get started!

The sooner you get started the sooner more people will know about you and your work!

And of course it goes without saying this is the kind of work that you can do from home!

Is It Still Possible To Become A WebPage Designer Professionally?

Yes it is still possible!

Here are some simple steps that you can take

• Consider yourself your first webdesign client and design a webpage for yourself so that you can let the world know that you are out there and open for busines!
  
  
• Always keep honing your skills
  
  
• Enter some design competitions
  
  
• Do some webdesign work for free - so that you can get the experience and add to your webdesign resume

Hopefully these steps will help you get started on the road to having paid webdesign clients!

Movie Review - Beauty Shop

I saw this movie for the first time last week. Here is a link to more information about the movie itself.

What I was particularly interested in was how she got the money to start her own beauty shop.

First I should tell you a little bit about the movie in case you haven't seen it yet. Queen Latifa plays a woman who works at a hair salon who gets fed up with her boss (and his ways) and quits.

I do like the lines when she's saying how she wants to work for herself and not for someone else.

So she quits her job and then goes to the bank to get a business loan. Of course she doesn't qualify to get a loan. And as in real life in order to get a business loan you do have to have some type of collateral. And according to the movie you also have to have a good credit rating as well. I won't give the whole story away but she does manage to get a small business loan and she gets a shop using a smaller amount of money. Then comes the work of fixing up her shop and dealing with the people that work for her. (Another intersting thing as far as beauty shops are concerned is that as the owner you can "rent" out your booths to stylists).

Of course one of the things I found quite interesting about the movie was her having to deal with the inspections guy which you will have to deal with in real life when you are starting a business that has to do with opening a shop and adhering to the rules of licenses and inspections.

Of course the fact that she does know her job she get clients. Some of her clents were from her old job and she got new clients as well.

Personally I liked the movie and was very surprised by Alica Silverstone!

But how does this compare in real life?

Many people are fed up with their bosses and there are many people that want to start their own business. Looking at this movie will show you that number one it does involve a lot of work - not to mention staying up on code with licenses and inspections. I also liked the scene where she was applying for a business loan. To me it showed that a lot of people just don't know what they have to have BEFORE they go to a bank to apply for a busines loan. (So if you are thinking about applying for a business loan you should do some homework beforehand before you actually go to a bank to apply for a business loan.)

The movie also showed that there is a lot of work involved in starting your own business especially when you are starting your business outside your home. There are lots of things (and expenses) that you have to consider - It is called "overhead"

In the end her beauty shop was still going strong!

Blog Turned Into A Book!

Here is just another good example of never knowing where opportunities lie........

Another blog has been turned into a book and the book is now selling on Amazon.com. The author of the blog (and now the book) has appeared on TV!

This is just yet another example of how you never know where your financial opportunities will come from!

I'm sure that most of you are familiar with what blogs are and some of you may have an online blog of your own!

Simply speaking the blog that was mentioned above was a simple blog that a woman started and it started to become very popular. With that popularity came a book deal and now another blogger has been added to the list of "published" authors!

The general practice of a book deal involves you getting an advance for your book which is a financial benefit that was associated with having a blog.

Of course I'm sure this person started her blog without even thinking that she could possibly get a book deal out of it but it just goes to show you that you never know where your financial opportunities may be coming from!