Guest Post: Jill Hart of CWAHM.com

We know what it’s like.  You have a great idea and are ready to begin building your business, but how do you know where to start? What are the first steps that you should take? Below are a few tips to get you started in the right direction.

Have a Plan & Work That Plan

The first step toward starting a business is to have a plan in place. Most successful businesses take the time to make sure they have a blueprint to success, a plan.  When you have a blueprint and a direction to go, you will be so much more successful.  There are many free resources across the Internet that can aid you in structuring and thinking through the writing of your business plan. Once you get the plan in place, follow it!

Don’t Try To Do It All Yourself

A wise business owner knows that they can’t do it alone. Even if you have a small budget to begin with, you can enlist the help of a virtual assistant or possibly volunteers or mentors.  Get more on board who have experience that can help you in your business.

Know Your Audience (and why they would be interested in your products or services)

Who are you trying to reach? Who needs your product or information? Take the time to do market research and list out who you are selling to and where you can find them – both online and offline. This will help you both when creating the product/service and in your marketing efforts.  Also, make sure you keep in touch with your audience and find out how they feel.  You can easily create surveys and find out valuable information about what they really think.

Be Clear On Your Rates

You must be clear not only with potential clients, but you must know for yourself what you need to earn.  Be brutally honest with yourself about how much you need to earn to keep your business afloat. Now set realistic goals and figure out how to make that happen.  Remember in setting your rates that often times you are selling the value of your services or products, and not necessarily the service or product itself.

You Gotta Want It

Someone asked me once why I thought some entrepreneurs succeeded while others, just as talented, failed. My answer? Those that succeeded wanted it bad enough to do whatever it took to make it happen. Running a business isn’t easy, especially in the beginning. There will be long hours, tough critics and disappointments that can’t be prepared for. The entrepreneur who works through the tough times is the one who succeeds in the end.

Get Busy

Don’t wait until you “have it all together” to take that first step – it will never happen. If you have a great idea and have done enough planning to know where you’re headed, go for it. Be prepared to learn some lessons. Be prepared to make changes along the way. But, if you never take the first step you’ll never know the joy of the journey.

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Jill Hart of Christian Work at Home Moms, CWAHM.com. and Diana Ennen of VirtualWordPublishing.com are the co-authors of So You Want To Be a Work-at-Home Mom. For more tips visit http://SoYouWantToBeaWAHM.com. This article is free for reprinting as long as the author box is unchanged.

Click on the book cover to be taken to amazon.com to purchase your own copy of “So You Want to be a Work at Home Mom”.

Need help starting your ohio home-based business?
Contact Stephanie at: buckeyeva (at) gmail (dot)com
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Work from Home Ohio: Start a Recipe Blog Business

Start a Recipe BlogDo you love to cook?

Are you looking for an internet based business idea? Combine the two!

I want to let you know about Just Add Sweat and a great eGuide they’ve released catering to people who are interested in cooking, recipes and making some money on the internet. .

JoAnne Wescott and Nicole Dean are two great business owners who are sick of the hype and just want to offer real information on making money using real business models.

There’s a quote on their website that really does a great job of defining their whole concept:
Genius is one per cent inspiration and ninety-nine per cent perspiration.” – Thomas A. Edison

After reviewing their ‘How to Start a Recipe Blog for Fun and Profit’ Guide I highly recommend it. It’s great for someone who’s interested in starting a business based on his or her love of cooking.

Of course, as with any JustAddSweat guide, the only thing you need to add is your own hard work and sweat!

What it covers:
· Definition of a blog.
· How you can make money blogging.
· How to choose your market and set up your blog.
· What to blog about.
· How to get traffic to your blog and make money.

Check it out for yourself, right here: Just Add Sweat Guide

Need help starting your ohio home-based business?
Contact Stephanie at: buckeyeva (at) gmail (dot)com
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Work from Home: Start a Review Blog Business


Start a Review Blog

How to Start a Review Blog for Fun and Profit

by JoAnne Westcott and Nicole Dean

Over and over again people start a home-based business looking for quick riches and profits. Their expectations fall short because they failed to get the right advice, and they were expecting too much, too soon. It’s important that when starting a business you get real about what you’re doing and have practical goals.

That’s why I love the advice offered over at Just Add Sweat.com through their easy to follow eGuides. One such guide is the ‘How to Start a Review Blog for Fun and Profit’. They don’t promote get rich quick but what they do provide is a clear plan of action. Then all you need to do is add the sweat (or work!).

The guide has everything in it to get someone started on building and promoting a review blog that gets people interested and willing to buy.

The creators of the guides, JoAnne and Nicole, are successful business owners who were sick of the hype and poor-quality business advice out there so they decided to create these guides.

What’s included:
· Ideas for types of review blogs to start.
· Definition of a blog.
· How to set up and use your blog.
· How you can make money blogging.
· How to choose your market.
· What to blog about.
· How to get traffic to your blog and make money.

One thing that’s great about this guide is the step by step instructions, audio and videos that guide you through setting up your first blog. As you’re reading through you can have your first blog set up in a very short period of time by following what’s been laid out for you. There are audio and video portions to go with these blog setup instructions too, so you learn by your preferred method.

One thing I would really like to see is more information on writing a good review. Someone who’s really interested in starting this type of blog but is unsure of how to write a good review would really benefit from a guide on how to make that review sound fantastic.

In the appendix section there is a list that includes everything you need for setting up your business and blog, which is great for people just starting out as well.

People are ALWAYS shopping online so I’m sure you can see the value of providing them with good reviews and information on where to purchase, all while you make a little profit from your recommendations!

Visit JustAddSweat.com to learn more now:

Need help starting your ohio home-based business?
Contact Stephanie at: buckeyeva (at) gmail (dot)com
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Work from Home: Start Your Own Craft Blog Business

Share Your Crafts & Make Money with Your Own Craft Blog

Are you a crafty person who enjoys making other people happy by creating beautiful things? Do you like sharing how you do this with others? Then an online crafting blog might be perfect for you!

Blogs are like online journals and they can be set up easily in minutes via the use of such free applications like Blogger.com or WordPress.org. By choosing an adaptable and colorful template (and this Just Add Sweat guide will show you exactly how to do it), a craft blog can be used to display:

· Pictures. Post plenty of clear pictures of the items you make to show others what you can do. You may want to include “before and after” pictures if you are using common household things or re-purposing other items to make your crafts. Use a high quality camera to capture the true beauty of your crafts.

· Descriptions. Explain to your blog readers what they are looking at, what materials were used and where they can get more information about the crafts. Use names for the materials used, colors, sizes and shapes. This helps your readers duplicate the crafts more easily and give search engines more opportunity to send visitors to your site as people may search for the various words you mention.

· How to. It’s always a wonderful idea to include a “How to” for some of your more popular or intricate crafts. This allows others to learn how they can make their own version of the crafts you have on display, for personal enjoyment or gift-giving. If you have a craft that’s uniquely yours, you can even patent it and sell the instructions at a small cost to the reader.

· Materials Needed. Include a list of what materials were used to make the crafts on your blog. That tells the viewer what went into the crafting of each piece, what they will need to make their own and where they can find the materials to do so. Be sure to give a thorough description of each material, amounts needed and measurements.

· Selling crafts. One of the best ways to see a return on your time investment with crafting is to offer certain items for sale on your blog. Why not offer custom made items to others? Holidays and birthdays are great times for others to purchase your crafts. You can sell them directly on the blog or include a link to outside auction sites like eBay.com or Etsy.com. You can also sell patterns, advertising space on your website and more.

Taking the time to do crafting takes a lot of time, patience and talent, but blogging about it will help you take it to the next level by increasing awareness of what you can do. Be sure to do this by creating a blog and letting the rest of the world know!

Recommended Additional Resource:

To learn the step-by-step details of how to set up your blog and to get advice on creating a craft blog that people love, talk about and come back to over and over again, grab Just Add Sweat Guide to Start a Craft Blog. You’ll also learn how to get traffic to your blog and make money doing something you enjoy.

Need help starting your ohio home-based business?
Contact Stephanie at: buckeyeva (at) gmail (dot)com
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5 Tips on Setting Up Your Holiday Craft Show

5 tips on Holiday craft show sales5 Tips for Holiday Craft Shows

Attending craft show can be a profitable experience if you use the following tips:

1. Show off your best products

Have an eye catching product? Don’t leave it at home! They may not sell, but they’ll bring more to your table. Make sure what you are showing off is an item you sell, and not just a prop.

2. Keep your table simple

Flashy lights, decorations, and tons of shelves are not needed. Keep your focus on your products.

3. Talk to your customers

While walking around we noticed not a lot of vendors were talking with their customer and encouraging them to buy. You don’t have to be pushy, but ask them what they are looking for. You might have what they want, but they may not see it right away!

4. Have nice brochures

This is something free they can take home to look at later, so you want to make sure it outlines your business and products well. If your company brochures are expensive, design simple ones at home to print and take to your show. Keep the company brochures to include with orders.

5. Smile!

More than just interacting with your customers, be friendly as well. A smile can go a long way!

Craft show may take time to get use to and profit from, but once you do they can be your best friend. As the old saying goes, “practice makes perfect”, but with these tips you will have a good jump start!

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Kara Kelso and Anita DeFrank, owners of DirectSalesHelpers.com strive to help women succeed in direct sales. With their kit Make More Sales with Offline Events you’ll learn how to increase your sales at your next event and stay organized too.

Need help starting your ohio home-based business?
Contact Stephanie at: buckeyeva (at) gmail (dot)com
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