We’ve all grown up listening to instructions on how to live the American Dream: go to school to get a good education, get a good job working for someone else, and you will be taken care of, and have a nice retirement plan in your golden years. Is this ‘American Dream’ still in place?As of the Summer of 2010, unemployment rate has been just under 10% (though REAL unemployment is estimated 20%). The Obama Administration is stating that the 8.5 million jobs lost will probably never come back. Health care coverage is so bad that people actually want the government to run it! And Social Security is expected to run out by 2018.The following are statistics detailing the plight of the average American family:
• Taxes – for four months and a week, or 3 hours out of every 8-hour day, you’re working for Uncle Sam – (The average American family of four with a median income of $47,012 will pay $10,250 in federal taxes and another $6,110 in state and local taxes for a total “tax liability” of $16,36
• average childcare costs – $7000 per year
• higher standard of living – make more/spend more – Average American spends $1.22 for every dollar they earn
• gasoline – $1200 per year
• spend hundreds on dry cleaning and biz wardrobe
• eating out for lunches $2000
• auto insurance – $500
• costs of raising a child – (quarter million $ to raise child birth-17) ($17,000 for 1st yr)Does working for someone else equate to the American Dream or the American Nightmare? Due to these disturbing economic factors, more people are seeking different opportunities for generating income, and starting a home based business is a popular alternative. After all, why work to generate revenue for someone else when you could do this for yourself?According to IDC, a top national research firm, there are between 34.3 million and 36.6 million home office households in the United States alone generating over $427 billion dollars of revenue. To put this dollar amount into perspective, $427 billion is more than the medical industry, the food industry, and the medical drug industry combined. In fact, the Small Business Administration estimates that more than half the businesses being started in this economy are home based or online businesses. And this trend is expected to continue due to low start up costs and higher success rates.The following are some statistics about home based businesses:
• About 70% of home-based businesses will last over a three-year period, compared to 29% of other business ventures, according to the Home-Based Business Institute.
• 89% with household incomes greater than $80,000 have a home office compared to 14% of those with incomes below $25,000 (Find/SVP).
• According to IDC, home-based businesses create an estimated 8,500 new jobs daily, or one new business every 11 seconds
• Over 85% of small business owners still have their small business 3 years later, which is a much higher success rate than the traditional brick and mortar business.For some people, working from home may be a method of supplementing their ‘real-world’ income, and for others it may be the only way to work because of other responsibilities or lack of other opportunities. In any case, work-from-home jobs provide you the luxury of working at the time you like, while staying close to your loved ones.Online marketing is one of the most popular work-from-home jobs. A wide variety of products are sold online using different marketing techniques, such as online social media marketing and pay-per-click marketing. Online marketing is also one of the techniques that can help you earn enough to take care of your everyday needs, monthly bills and more.A word of advice: find a topic that you are passionate about, find out if the industry is successful, and focus on that item. For example, I have always enjoyed buying and selling gold and silver coins. Who doesn’t like collecting money?! The industry for numismatic coins is booming. The numismatic industry does more than $10 billion dollars of business in North America alone, and also that 9,023,500 American Silver Eagle coins were sold by the US Mint in the first three months of 2010. The worldwide numismatic business is well over $100 billion. Therefore, focusing on a rapidly growing industry that I have a passion for makes perfect sense and has lead to great financial success.The trick is for you to find out what your passion is and focus on that industry.

With the unemployment rates what they are as of late, quite a few people are considering the concept of looking for a home based business opportunity. There are various things that you are able to do in your own home which are valid businesses, however you will also find plenty of people online looking to get you to fall for a scam.An effective way to avoid falling for the traps of scammers is always to keep in mind that you should never be forced to pay to work. Don’t ever in your life believe job adverts that assure you probably will make thousands of dollars a month but first needs you to submit a “starting up fee.” Scammers do this as their own full time job and try to make money off of trusting people who are only looking for methods to make money.You should never be required to spend money to begin with a job. There are a few genuine things that expect you to spend money up-front including inventory products, or to create website hosting and items like that. If you come across some form of advertisement for a home based business opportunity you must never ever need to mail them money. Not surprisingly, if it’s a genuine money-making opportunity, they wouldn’t demand your money.In case you are questioning precisely what it is that you’re able to do from home you will find options. First, you should consider what you love to do. To make it fairly simple, begin with creating a list of things you find irresistible to do and have the capabilities to undertake. Some examples of this can be writing, web design or managing an ecommerce internet site.Stuff like freelance writing or web design could be an extremely successful home based business opportunity which doesn’t demand any startup prices. If you have some capital to start out, you could possibly elect to acquire some inventory and commence selling it through your own web page or by utilizing online auction web sites or e-commerce websites that permit independent sellers.Prior to deciding to dig in too much make sure you ask yourself if perhaps you might be a excellent prospect to work from home. Working from your home takes a great sum of constraint, drive and focus. You simply won’t have an irritating supervisor ordering you around, and this can be incredibly nice, but it can certainly be challenging to stay focused on your job.If you have a tough time working hard without regular motivation it’s possible you have a hard time working in your own home. Being your own boss appears easy enough but that doesn’t always end up the way it is. However, should you be adamant about running a home business then by all means give it a try.You can definitely find that you take pleasure in carrying out something so much that it will not possibly seem like you’re working. That may be one of the finest approaches to earn money from your own property. The really hard part is identifying what you will really do at home to generate money. It’s actually a lot easier to keep a clear head when you find yourself creating wealth doing something that makes you happy.

Home based business success is being achieved by people all across the globe. It is fascinating to see folks of all different kinds of backgrounds beginning and running their very own successful home based business.It is thrilling to know that in spite of your present financial circumstances you can still be successful with your own home based business. It doesn’t matter how many years of schooling you have either.Gender does not seem to make very much difference. There are numerous examples of both women and men making as much money as they want with their own business and doing it at home.Single men and women are successful. Married people often work their business together. Some people do it part-time. Other folks do it full time. Even retired persons are now finding success with a home-based business.In this article we would like to discuss what I call the 3 P’s of home based business success. These are three things you need if you are planning to work at home and turn your business into a successful one.1. Product. What exactly are you going to sell? Thanks to the Internet there’s no end to the type of items you can sell on the web.Some Internet marketers choose to sell a service such as website design, blog writing, or being a virtual assistant. In this case the product is the service itself and you will never run out of Internet marketers who will pay you to do things for them.Information is very popular online right now. You can make money helping people solve their problems. You could make even more money should you help them save time.There are plenty of digital info products you can sell as an affiliate marketer by joining programs at Amazon and ClickBank to name two.Niche marketing is another way to be successful with your home business. One niche that never runs out of prospects is people looking to start their own home-based business.Offer home business opportunities to this niche and you can help a lot of individuals in addition to becoming successful yourself. There are lots of home based business opportunities such as this online.You may have a product of your own you want to promote. As long as there is a interest in what you’re selling you can make money and get it done from the comfort of your own home.2. Promotion. Marketing your product online stands out as the difference between succeeding and failing.You can have the greatest product in the world, but if no one knows about it you are not going to make any money. The quickest way to achieve this is to use the Internet for both paid and free advertising.Pay per click advertising is a quick way to be on page one of a search engine for keyword phrases regarding the theme of your business. Google AdWords and Yahoo Marketing are 2 of the leading PPC advertising programs.Ezine marketing is another method to reach a targeted audience with paid advertising. Doing social networking ads with sites such as Facebook remains one more approach to reach your target audience.There are plenty of methods to market on the internet if you have a budget. You do not even have to spend a lot of money when you first begin.You might want to look at free advertising techniques such as article marketing, blogging, and other forms of social media. Some people advertise their products through free classified ad sites.To get a much better idea of methods to promote online visit discussion forums such as the Warrior Forum and find out what’s working in today’s marketplace. This is a free discussion forum to join and offers lots of excellent information.3. Persistence. If you believe in the home based business product you are promoting you just need to stick with it. Success can be yours if you are prepared to consistently work at it and never give up.Follow these 3 P’s of home based business success and you may join thousands of other people who are already using the Internet to effectively work online from home.

DEFINING THE HOME BASED BUSINESS

The home based business can be defined as a business whose primary office is in the owner’s home. The business can be any size or any type, as long as the office itself is located in a home.

In the USA, there are about 6.6 million home based businesses that generate at least 50% of the owner’s household income.(a)

“If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams and endeavors to live the life he has imagined, he will meet with success unimagined in common hours.” – Thoreau

ESTIMATES OF THE TOTAL SIZE OF HOME BASED BUSINESS

“One study has estimated that the total number of people who run or are employed by home based businesses in South East England is in excess of 250,000 people, equivalent to 7% of the working population of the region.(c)

“While the average home entrepreneur business has two employees (including the owner), 39% have between two and five employees, and 10% have more than five. Using these average employment numbers, Emergent Research estimates that home entrepreneur businesses currently employ roughly 13.2 million Americans, including the owner.(a)

“To put these figures in perspective, let’s compare them to U.S. employment generated by two important industrial segments: venture-backed firms and the oil and gas industry. Analysis by the National Venture Capital Association shows that companies that received venture capital backing including such corporate giants as Intel, Microsoft, and Apple – employed 10.4 million in 2006.”(a)

THE IMPACT OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE INTERNET ON THE ECONOMY AND HOME BASED BUSINESS

The development of the internet has been and will be the big driving force in the development of the internet related home based business. Let us have a closer look at these developments. The following information is extracts from the McKinsey report.(b)

Two billion people are connected to the internet. This number is increasing by about 200 million per annum.
Almost $8 trillion exchange hands each year through e-commerce.
About one-third of small and medium-sized businesses extensively use web technologies.
The web has made possible new waves of business models and entrepreneurship. It has transformed industries.
The internet accounts for 3.4% of the GDP of the 13 countries that was part of the study. These countries represent 70% of the world GDP. The total contribution of the internet to the world economy is $1 672 billion or 2.9% of the total GDP.
The internet accounts for 6% of the GDP of countries like Sweden and the UK.
Over the past 5 years, the internet has contributed 21% of the GDP growth of the 13 countries that were studied. These countries represent 70% of the total GDP of the world.
This is a reflection of the small and medium-sized enterprises receiving a performance boost through the internet. These companies with a strong web presence grew more than twice as quickly than those with a minimal or no web presence.
The internet has become a very significant factor in the world economy and the growth of the economy. More specifically in jobs and wealth creation.
Online marketing represents 15% of total marketing worldwide.
The search requests by individuals on hard-to-find items or information was a total of 1 trillion requests during 2009.
In the USA, web surfers made purchases worth $250 billion in 2009; in the UK, it was $63 billion or 2.9% of the GDP. The average online shopper in the USA has spent $1 773 during the year. In the UK, $2 535 was spent on average.
The study concludes that the influence of the internet on the economic growth in the world, on job creation and generating wealth, is becoming more important and stronger.
For individual companies the internet lowers costs and increases revenue, productivity and profits. The internet helps these companies to accelerate growth in the export markets and to have access to new markets.
The introduction of broadband stimulates the development of the internet in those countries where it is being introduced. The internet stimulates growth in GDP, in job creation, wealth, and increases productivity.
In France, the internet has created a total of 700 000 jobs during the past 15 years.
The research of McKinsey indicates the growth in people connected to the internet, the importance of doing business via the internet, and the big influence that these new technologies have on the GDP of the world economies.

THE INFLUENCE THESE DEVELOPMENTS HAVE ON MY HOME BASED BUSINESS

Accurate research information is not available about the expected growth in the online home based business industry. I want to make some estimates based on the information discussed above:

The annual growth in people connecting to the internet is growing with about 10%.
The ability of the internet to:
Create new jobs. Give people an extra income stream. Have their own home based business and being self-employed. These changes create many new business opportunity.
The new technologies related to the internet will create new business models that will stimulate opportunities.
More and more trading and marketing is being done via the internet due to the development of new systems and technologies.
The improved communication systems and technology makes it cheaper, less risky, and more attractive to start a home based business.
The influence of the development of the internet on the growth in the GDP of the countries in the McKinsey study has been higher during the last five years than during the previous fifteen years. The trend is upwards. Many of the conclusions in this study indicate that the influence on economic growth in the future will be higher than in the past. Some developed countries like the UK have a more people using the internet than others, for example the USA. That indicates growth in many of the developed countries.
Due to the development and introduction of broadband in the less developed countries of the world, new trading and business opportunities will become available.
There is a trend that more people who want to work from home, as indicated by the following quote: “Nevertheless, home based business owners are much more satisfied with their quality of life than other small business owners. However, the majority of home based business owners do not appear to have made a financial trade-off in order to secure this quality of life.”(c)

These new technological developments, the changes in the economic environment and changes in the social needs of people will result in a higher growth rate in internet related businesses, as well as in online home based businesses, than the 10% annual increase in people becoming connected to the internet during the next few years. If one takes into consideration that the average growth in the GDP of the world is expected to be much less than 10% per annum during this period, then there has to be good business opportunities here.

This expected growth in GDP due to internet related business activities creates many online business opportunities for the online home based business owner.

A fast changing economic, business, and technological environment needs quick and big action. The opportunity of today might have disappeared tomorrow. This is the environment in which to dream-it-plan-it-do-it big. Our team wants to support like-minded people who want to join us on this journey. Take action. Do not postpone in this business environment.

Which type of advertising should you use for your business?

Many business owners will tell me, “Advertising doesn’t work!”

I hear this frustration a lot from clients and prospects. So why is it that the majority of advertising doesn’t work?

There are two types of advertising

Type 1: Is image advertising
Type 2: Is direct response advertising

What is the difference?

Image advertising is what you are most likely seeing when you see advertising. It’s the lone Beer can that say’s the brand name across the bottom of the page, or something else trying to be clever in the ad.

Image advertising is the beautiful woman holding the shower gel trying to make you think, “If you use it, she will come to a shower near you.”

Image advertising is all about getting the product out in front of you to make an impression. You may hear an advertising rep tell you that you will get 30,000 impressions per month when you advertise with their company.

Wow! 30,000 impressions, that’s awesome you think to yourself. That’s a great number if you just want potential clients to hear, or see the name of your company.

Image advertising is the main type of ads you see big companies run to get their name in front of you, and hopefully get “Top of Mind” awareness for their product when you’re shopping.

This is OK I guess, if your marketing budget allows you to put millions of dollars into ads without any real accountability to know if the ad is working for you.
Your Problem

If you own a small business, you may not have millions of dollars to put into advertising. Especially if you don’t know if it’s working for you.

How much money do you and your company make based on an impression?

I’ll let you decide on that number.

The number I would encourage you to become friends with, is how many impressions convert into paying clients?

So I bet you’re wondering about type two advertising, direct response, aren’t you?

This type of advertising has some call to action, or “Direct Response” when your target audience see’s the ad.

This could be as simple as “Call for our free report”, or “Click here to download the Top 10 Reasons your husband is a slug.”

Go and do a search on examples of advertising and direct response ads. Then look at the samples and guess which one is all about the image, and which is asking for you to take action.

If you see an order form on any ad, you know they are asking you to take some kind of action.

When you see only the company name in an ad, this a classic example of image ads.

What does the company want you to do when you see this ad?

If you hear someone say something to the effect of, “I want them to think of us the next time they are shopping”, it’s most likely an image ad.

Are you ready to take action on your ads?

Here’s what I want you to do (I’m giving you your action step).

Any time you decide to do advertising, ask yourself the following question.

“When people see your advertising, what action do you want them to take after seeing it?”

It should be an action that you can track to measure how much business did your advertising generate for you. This is how you make your marketing plan work.

Measure the results of your advertising, and it will start working for you. If it doesn’t, you will know to stop running the ad.