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J Hill is a mom of two teenage boys. She has worked for Corporate America since she was 15 and was determined to find a way to work from home.
She developed this Directory of Proven Work at Home Opportunities which has links to independently researched, legitimate, and proven work at home opportunities.
You can e-mail her at provenworkathomeopportunities@gmail.com for reprint permission, if you'd like to submit an article here or any questions you may have.

How to Choose
The Right Opportunity for You

With all the articles, blogs and websites about work at home opportunities using the internet, it is, at the very least, overwhelming to figure out which opportunity one should decide on. A little guidance would almost surely be appreciated. There are a gazillion sites out there that promise you wealth beyond your dreams, instant riches, automated systems that earn you money with little effort on your part, and on and on they go...But we are intelligent beings, and we all know you have to work to earn money, and it takes money to make money. But that doesn't mean it takes a LOT of money! Most opportunities require either money or effort or a combination of both. And it seems the most profitable and lucrative work at home opportunities are affiliate marketing, data entry, internet stores (such as e-bay) and filling out surveys, many of which are free, or have free trials so you can decide if it's right for YOU!

If you are not sure what program is right for you, there are several sites that can help you decide simply by filling out a small survey. They take your information and list work at home opportunities that match your interests, how much time you have to spend on your work at home income, and how much income you want to earn. These are great tools for beginners and those dipping their toes into the "work from home" waters for the first time. Most work at home opportunities are free or require a small investment. But be sure you are really careful...be wary of the "one time offers." There is even an "opportunity" that shows you how to sucker people into this strategy. I subscribed to one of these "This is a ONE TIME opportunity, ACT NOW as you will NEVER SEE THIS PAGE AGAIN" that charged me about $50, and neglected to tell me that in order for it to work, I had to subscribe to yet a different plan that will cost me almost $54,000 per year!!! Well, being an optimist, I always say 'Live and Learn'!

But there are also sites which not only give step by step instructions on how to create and develop a profitable affiliate marketing website, but also have a forum to ask questions, learn, and make comments on the program. These programs are great, because not only do you have one-on-one help and step by step instructions, but they give you a lifelong skill you can use in other aspects of your life. These you need to search for diligently, and make sure they tell you UP FRONT what the costs are. None can guarantee you a specific income, but they can ALL be truthful about the expense involved. The programs that offer help are the best, as they offer you a multitude of information, insight and knowledge. What can be better?

Most all of the legitimate opportunities on the internet are free, or require only a very small investment. The most important thing when choosing the right opportunity is to read between the lines. Don't just look at the promises, or the income that can be earned. Look at the value of what you are signing up for. If you are learning a lifelong skill, with a lot of help from people that know, wouldn't that be worth a small investment? Keep in mind it takes money to make money, so be sure the work at home opportunity offers you more than just promises. And remember that what is value to one, may not be value to another. Be true to your own heart, but take your time, research if need be, but most importantly listen to that little voice inside, whether it says "GO FOR IT" or "This is too good to be true."
Written 05-17-07
 

Abandoning Corporate America:
Is it the Right Choice for You

Can a home based business be the right choice for you? Why not? Considering all the downsizing companies are doing right now, it's probably one of the best decisions you can make. A desire to spend more time with family may be the motivation to start a work at home opportunity. Perhaps your job is a dead end, or your employer continually requires more work with less benefits. A home based business is the means of getting out of any of these predicaments. I for one have worked for others all my life, and have decided I want to run a home base business for all the reasons I listed. These and many, many other predicaments are excellent reasons to consider the potential of running your own home based business, and the benefits are outstanding.

Many people try to start a home-based business utilizing the skills they have learned at their previous jobs, such as bookkeeping, web design, sales, etc. These types of home based businesses can be lucrative, but they usually require a lot of work that most people don't have time for while already working a full time job for someone else. They also tend to incur huge start up costs, which most people also don't have. So what are your options?

There are many, many web sites dedicated to helping people find work from home opportunities which require little to no investment to start.  In a lot of cases, you will be able to use the skills you learned at previous jobs with a company that is already established that can help you generate income from home. For example, if you have worked in sales for years, you would then want to look into an agreement with an established company that allows you to market their site or sell from home. This type of home based business is easy to start up and will most certainly generate income. But you are still working for someone else!

Online work at home opportunity web sites are undoubtedly a great tool. Look mainly for directories that can point you to several work from home opportunities and ideas. There are several home based income opportunities currently. They can be anything from reviewing goods to writing catalog pieces, to setting up online stores, to doing data entry, to filling out surveys. These opportunities are for everyone that wants to improve their income, or make a living. You decide on how much time and effort you want to invest, and that will determine the income you generate.  Be sure to stay away from "get rich quick" schemes.  Most all legitimate and profitable work at home opportunities do require work!

There are also sites where you can fill out a survey and they will find the right opportunities that are compatible with your wants and skills. Find the work at home directories, which have many opportunities listed and you will probably find an online work at home opportunity that is just perfect for you and your lifestyle (or the lifestyle you want to have!) Take the time and search out a few of these directory sites and start making notes of which opportunities are right for you.
Written 05-23-07

Principles for Successful
Work-at-Home Opportunities
Aren’t they all the same, only the price is different, right?  So if you can find the opportunity that requires the least upfront capital and effort, and the most profit, you win, right?  A big fat NO!  There is a lot to understand about what makes a work at home opportunity successful and if you don’t…good luck at succeeding and making your dreams of a home business that will bring you enough income that will be able to sustain you and your family a reality. 

 Work-at-Home Opportunities AREN’T all the same…below are some of the main principles that MUST be understood in order to make any work at home opportunity successful:

The most important principle: WORK.
Work is involved!  Most opportunities promise little to no effort…unfortunately not true (if you want them to work!)  So, when you are looking for work at home opportunities that can supplement your income, or better yet, replace your income so you can stay at home and leave the “rat race”, remember it will take work, probably a little capital, and many other factors (especially dedication!)  Below are some more principles to help you understand what will help make an online work at home opportunity successful for you.


Be sure the opportunity you pick is part of an organization that is reputable and has a track record.
Don’t just automatically believe the ads you see.  Just because an ad SAYS the person is an “Internet Guru” doesn’t mean they are.  I myself have ordered a lot of products that I have resale rights to.  Just because I bought these products, does that mean you can trust me?  Make sure you are comfortable with the organization, its track record, how long the organization been in business, that it meets all government laws, standards and qualifications in the countries they operate, who owns the organization, or who is in charge (remember, you can always “Google” them!) that the individual has a good business and track record, that (she is well respected, that the organization is well respected, delivers on their promises, doesn’t make unsubstantiated claims, has established a loyal customer base, and finally that the organization offers a refund policy.

I (stupidly) ordered one “opportunity” that failed to mention (before I bought it) that in order to make it work, I would have to spend $53,000 a year to get it up and running!  Remember that the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, so if the ad is omitting information, why would you want to be part of that organization?  You will lose all credibility with your customers, and we all know about word of mouth!

VERY IMPORTANT:  IF the opportunity you choose involves ANY kind of marketing or selling, it MUST have growth potential that can grow exponentially and has a support system to help you.
Whatever opportunity you decide on, it MUST have growth potential. Why would anyone put their efforts into a stagnant or dying market?   If you choose to market anything at all, the products) must be able to supply people with something that can quench their desires, whatever they may be.  Think of your potential customer…Maybe moms that yearn for the days where moms stayed at home.  Maybe dads that just want to give up Corporate America and trying to climb the Corporate Ladder...especially men that are in their 40’s or so, that see all the downsizing and are worried about losing their job to a younger college graduate that won’t insist on as much pay.  Or retired people that have a limited income...these people are more willing to invest a small amount of cash, or maybe even a big chunk of cash, to make their lives better…they are the best consumer group to target.  And be sure there is some kind of support system to assist you in making YOUR business successful.

Learn to read the market and rely on it.
Why would anyone invest in an online opportunity?  How about…to spend more time with their family (rather than spend hours on the job and in a commute)…to break free from Corporate America and “The Rat Race” (and lower their blood pressure and stress)…to have more financial security (when working for others there is NO guarantee!)…to save money on gas! (who knows how high THOSE prices will get?)…to guarantee retirement (who knows when the next downsize will come?)…to insure continuing health.

But in order to achieve these goals, one would have to find a work at home opportunity that can pretty much secure the success of those goals…so the opportunity MUST be something that has an increasing and significant potential future.  This is a bit tricky to accomplish, but researching a product/service can help guide you.

Lastly, you reap what you sow.
If you choose an opportunity that involves a down line, KEEP IN CONTACT.  Help the person that joined after you.  The worst mistake an affiliate can make is to ignore and not help that person succeed.  Remember that HIS efforts are making you money.  It is a small price to pay to help that person succeed and make you money.  Remember the support system, it really works!  You wanted help at the beginning (if not later) do you really think the person that joined after you does not need the same help?  If you are unable to help, go to your up line.  We were all there at one point.  Don’t be afraid to ASK FOR HELP no matter how high on the ladder you are!!!!

Keep in mind there may be a lot of work at home opportunities that are scams.  If you do enough research, and follow the guidelines above, you will become more and more adept at “sniffing out” the best opportunities available on the web.
 Written 06/12/07

Top Free Web-Site Advertising Strategies
A work at home based business is a great idea, and most require some sort of web site.  Regardless how intriguing your internet site may be, how fantastic your offers are or how professional it looks,  if no one is aware of your site, and thus unable to visit your site, your site might as well not exist.  Hopefully you are already aware that the single most important thing your web site needs to survive is traffic.  Visitors are the single and sole thing that sustains an internet site or work at home based business.  But how do you promote your site so you can get a lot of traffic and visitors?  We all know you can pay a search engine to promote your site, and there are other means of paid advertising but there is also free promotion. Free advertising takes a lot more work, but you will save money.  The best thing is to try both ways to get traffic. This article is to help you learn a few costless and effective strategies to get people to your web site.  Article writing and marketing, newsletter publishing, forum posting, blog posting and word of mouth are all powerful, free traffic generating strategies you can use to increase traffic to your site.  Even if you are using other traffic generating tools, start using the methods listed below and you will be amazed at the results.
 

Article Writing
Writing articles is perhaps the best way to gain free traffic.  This strategy does take time, and many of the article directories take a long time to approve your article.  Be sure to set up an alternate e-mail specifically for article directory owners to contact you.  They will let you know if your article is approved or rejected.  Most articles that are rejected are given a reason why, and you can go back to the site and correct whatever the errors are.  Aside from gaining visitors, this strategy helps with search engine ranking as well, which will gain you even more visitors!  Unfortunately, there is a catch with the search engine ranking.  The most important thing with this method is to be consistent when submitting articles.  If you post two a week, then ten the next week, then don't post any at all for a month, and back to two a week, this will hurt you more than it will help.  Be sure to write articles that are informative and have useful advice to readers.  Include a link to your web site in the resource portion of the article. Those who find your article interesting will click your link and visit your site.  It is a good bet if you have a reputable offer and it is something that is related to your article, they will be interested in purchasing your wares.  Post your article in as many high traffic article directories as you can.  Article writing and marketing is a free strategy that top webmasters have been doing for some time, and it is still a top performing tool for gaining free traffic.

Newsletters
Offer a free newsletter.  It doesn't need to be fancy or of a professional nature.  Your newsletter needs only to offer content related articles and materials as well as links to your site and offers that may tempt your readers. When people are intrigued by what you say in the newsletter, they will visit your site (free traffic!) and probably tell their friends about it which will in-turn gain you more subscribers and more free traffic.  Start publishing a regular newsletter and make an opt-in box for your newsletter on your site as well.  If you already have an e-mail list, send out your first newsletter with an offer for your list to continue to receive the newsletters, or to opt-out.  Always remember, spam is a big no-no.

Forum Posting
Make a habit of joining and posting in various forums. The forums you choose don't necessarily need to be about what your work at home based business is, or about your website.  This strategy is to hopefully help you learn more about subjects you are interested in, but as a bonus you will be posting your web site link all over the internet.  You need to make quality posts, don't talk about your specific site or sound like an advertisement, and post regularly.  You undoubtedly have fine reputable offers and by targeting the right people, they will most likely be enticed by your product, so be sure to have a compelling and unique signature line with a link to your site, which will get you even more visitors.  Show expertise in your written content and soon you will probably be able to create a forum of your own, or at the very least, a following of people that want to hear more about what you have to say.  This is yet another excellent way to help with your search engine rankings as well. 

The Most Crucial Parenting Techniques

No matter who we are, or what we do in life, most of us have kids.  And there are numerous theories floating around regarding parenting. The two I have found that are crucial above all else: teaching my kids that everything but love, shelter, clothes, schooling and food are privileges, not rights, and more importantly is to be consistent with them.

It is imperative that you are consistent with EVERYTHING starting when the child is very small. Sounds easy, but it's very hard to do. We all get caught up in our lives, get frustrated or angry and threaten things we don't mean, are too tired to deal with keeping our word, or don't have the strength for the temper tantrums and begging. Besides, those little buggers are so darn cute when they plead for something, and have a unique way of melting your heart at the most inopportune times. How do we resist caving in?  It's not easy! But having two boys 13 and 15, I can tell you it only gets worse. Because if you aren't consistent in the beginning, they learn you will cave, that you don't follow through and if they wait it out long enough, beg or plead enough, you'll give in. As an example, I have been telling my oldest for years to raise his grades or he won't be allowed to get his driving permit. He blew me off, but when he turned 15 1/2 (the driving permit age in California) I refused to let him get it. He was floored. He thought for sure I would cave, but I didn't. We'll see if his grades improve now or not.

I have not been very consistent with my boys while they were growing up. I tried, I tried very hard, but I work full time, I have health issues, I had my boys in my thirties, and I'm just plum worn out! They know from past experience if they play me right, I will go ahead and reverse my previous decisions regarding grounding, etc. Add to the fact that I am not home half of the time they are, because I'm working, I am not home to enforce anything. This makes being consistent extremely difficult. But it is do-able. I've learned with my youngest I have to go to the extremes. He got in trouble for not doing his homework, so I told him no X-Box privileges till he raised his grades and I didn't get notes on his report card that say "missing assignments." In order to keep that restriction, I had to actually take the X-box console to work with me! Sounds extreme, but it was the only way I could enforce my rule. He got very mad at me, but we all need to remember that we are their parents, not their friends.  We are here to produce happy, contributing citizens to our communities.  I tell my boys all the time "I'm not as worried about your happiness as I am for your safety."  We as parents have to make priorities, and our kids should be our number one priority, not how tired we are or anything else.  I just wish I had reminded myself of that more while they were growing up.

My oldest came home with a marijuana pipe with his name on it not too long ago, and I found out he was skipping school, too. Of course I got every excuse in the book..."It's not mine, I made it for a friend and it broke so I have it to fix for him" etc. etc. blah blah blah.  So I went and bought a drug test and told him if he did either again I would kick him out of the house. His response was "Fine, I'll go to Grama's." My reply was "Grama was a school teacher. Do you really think she would allow a flunking student, school ditching drug user in her house?" Sounds harsh, but he hasn't done either since.  If I could go back to when they were smaller, I would change the way I raised them and would have MADE the effort to be more consistent, no matter how worn out I was.  Because as they get older, so do I, and I find myself more and more tired each year.  I am lucky that they turned out to be relatively good kids.  They have their good days and bad days, but all in all I am very proud of them.

Read all the parenting books you want, but I can tell you from experience that the major thing to have happy kids that behave well is consistency with boundaries, limits and rules. And the best thing to teach them to respect things is to teach them the difference between privileges and rights. If you follow those words of advice, you will have happy, well behaved children. Let them speak their minds if they need to, but be sure they do it respectfully. I am not one to censor children, but it better be said with respect! Being consistent with them will also help teach them respect for you. 
 Written 11-17-07

No matter what your passions are, whether they be gardening, gambling, crafts, pets, wine, relationships, staying at home with the kids...they could all be enjoyed better with a little more income to spend on them!  Why not get some extra income by selling your junk (remember, always another man's treasures!) on E-Bay, or filling out surveys in your spare time, or any one (or more) of the numerous other money making opportunities available on the internet today?

Ok, so this sounds good to you, but where do you start?  Can you type?  There are many data entry jobs available!  Do you have opinions?  There are multiple survey opportunities on the Internet.  Do you enjoy watching movies at home or playing video games?  There are even sites out there that you can join a club, receive discounts on these products and in addition MAKE MONEY!  There are even programs where you just answer phone calls and make money!  And get this...there are programs out there where all you do is answer e-mails and make money for it!  They of course are hoping that you take advantage of some of the offers, but you get paid none the less!

There are also several opportunities to make large amounts of income if you work hard at it, to where you could stay home and quit your current job!  Now wouldn't THAT be worth the effort of just looking into these programs?  There are endless possibilities to make money in your spare time, or full time if you wanted, that the list is endless!  The most important thing to remember, though, is they are work at home programs, not get rich quick schemes.

People are making fortunes on E-Bay (just take a peek at how many E-Bay Stores there are!)  But how would you get started with that venture?  There are several programs that show you just how to get started, profit, and make a living, just by selling on E-Bay!  There are even stores you can join on-line that will sell you top items at a discounted price to sell on E-Bay.  Not only that, but they keep all the inventory and do all the shipping!  You just sit in the comfort of your home!  Sound interesting?  Why not unload that storage space you are paying monthly fees for things you don't even use?

Okay, so how do you find these fantastic on-line opportunities?  You could go to Google and enter "data entry" or "secrets of selling on e-bay" and get thousands of links in response.  But how do you know which ones are legitimate?  How do you know you won't get scammed?  Tough call.  You would need to do a lot of research to find which programs are legitimate. 

But there's good news!  There are a lot of sites that are work at home directories, not all of which are totally legitimate either, but these would still be your best bet.  The majority of them have numerous opportunities listed, so they have done all the research for you.  And, utilizing one of these directories, you can "shop" until you find what you think might suit you and your interests without the hassle of having to do a gazillion web searches.

Not all of these directories offer the same opportunities, so you may want to find a few and browse them at your leisure.  After all, you sit and surf the web anyway, why not look into getting paid for being on the Internet?  Who out of all of us couldn't use a little more money, or better yet, a LOT more money? 
 Written 11-30-07

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