Jamaica Observer:
Following the sudden passing of pop superstar Michael Jackson, many people around the world are reminiscing about his music and mystique. However, as a financial advisor, I can’t help but focus my attention on Michael Jackson’s finances.

As the stories about his financial situation come to light, it appears that Jackson had serious money problems. Despite a lifetime of achievement, Jackson’s final curtain call revealed foreclosures, failed ventures and financial chaos. At the end of the day, the ‘King of Pop’ was just another person who suffered the consequences of ignoring the principles of money success.

After coaching hundreds of clients, I have discovered that whether you earn millions of dollars or minimum wages, once you break the rules that govern money, you’re going to pay a heavy price. Here are some of the lessons that have been highlighted in the Michael Jackson saga:

No matter how much you make, you can’t spend more than you earn
If I earned a hundred dollars every time I heard someone sincerely say, “If I got a million dollars today, I’d never be broke again,” I would be well on the way to creating a similar fortune for myself. The reality is that many people show an amazing propensity to increase their spending in excess of their income.

Unfortunately, Jackson was no different. Although his musical genius made him millions - his 1982 hit album Thriller is still the world’s best-selling album of all time - Jackson lived an excessive lifestyle that usurped his earning power. In a 2003 court case, it was revealed that Jackson was spending US$20 million to US$30 million more each year than he earned. (Take comfort if you’re only $10,000 over budget every month!)
Living within your means is a simple principle that is perfectly expressed by this ditty, “If your outgo is greater than your income, then your upkeep will be your downfall.”

You can’t borrow your way out of financial difficulties… read on.

TheDailyDust.co.uk:
A house featured on Grand Designs is to be given away to one lucky Twitterer.The ‘Underground’ house won plaudits when it featured on the TV series in 2007 but has failed to sell due to the detumescent property market, which is why owner Tim Bawtree, 38, hit upon the idea of giving it away on the popular micro-blogging website.

Rather than charge entrants to the competition, Mr Bawtree will direct them to a home page set up for the house, on which he hopes to sell space to advertisers.

The page is similar to the Million Dollar Homepage, which made student Alex Tew a fortune when advertisers bought squares on a giant grid.

Ninety per cent of the space will have to be sold in order to trigger the offer, but Mr Bawtree hopes to raise £820,000 to cover all costs and to make a donation to the Service’s charity ‘Help for Heroes’.

The software company boss said: “Similar things have been done, but there was no hook. The hook here is that people can win a house for free, which will drive traffic from Twitter to the home page.

“People have promoted house competitions on Twitter, but there was nothing where Twitterers exclusively could win.

One lucky winner will be picked at random, but this is not his first attempt at giving the house away.

Last year, Mr Bawtree organised a competition with a £25 entry fee, but the scheme was abandoned amid fears it would fall foul of gambling laws.

A new ’spot the frisbee’ competition was launched, but failed to take off.

Those interested in taking part should visit www.twitter.com/pixhome.

USA Today:
Here are some ways to grow, prudently:

Get bigger clients: One of the best ways to grow your business is to work with people and companies with more resources than those you work with now.

For instance, I know a real estate agent in Los Angeles who used to sell homes, but he didn’t start making the big bucks until he realized that for the same amount of time and effort, he could sell apartment houses that sold for five times what the houses sold for. He made the switch and yep, started making a lot more money.

Microsoft didn’t become Microsoft until Bill Gates sold the MS-DOS operating system to IBM for IBM’s new personal computer. The only problem was that Microsoft didn’t even own that operating system. After Gates got the contract, he went out and bought the system.

That is the value of getting big clients and big contracts – it allows you the resources to grow.

Find a partner: While partnerships can be tricky, partners can also bring a lot to the party – contacts, money, and extra pair of hands, and someone with whom to bounce off ideas. The whole can be greater than the sum of the parts.

For instance, after Chester Carlson invented a process to electronically copy documents, he was unable to sell it to the likes of GE, RCA, and IBM. Finally, Carlson met the man who would become his business partner – Joe Wilson. Wilson had the money, contacts, and business know-how that the inventor Carlson lacked. Wilson invested in the dream and eventually renamed Carlson’s process, and his company… to Xerox.

Continue reading How To Boost Your Biz On The Cheap

PowerHomeBiz.com:
1. Food business. Food is one business that remains strong during a recession. People still need to eat and drink no matter how bad the economy, though many are cutting on dining out and instead are staying at home and cook! People still line up in groceries to get their fresh bread supplies. Brides still need their wedding cakes, and so do children celebrating birthdays. The key is to customize your products to fit in your buyers’ shrinking budget. Sales of chocolates are also up as consumers treat themselves to smaller (and cheaper) indulgences that they can do from the comforts of their homes.

However, do check out your county’s laws regarding cooking and preparing food for commercial purposes from your home kitchen.

2. Financial advisor home business. In times of confusion and fear — shrinking retirement funds, increasing debt, downhill investments, etc — there’s a huge number of people who need guidance on the steps they need to take. Small business owners are looking for advice on how to deal with unexpected financial constraints. Families and individuals may be looking for advice on how to manage their finances given their new budget reality. Investors, particularly retirees, need help in protecting their nest eggs and finding any opportunities in a down market.

3. Home staging. With the real estate hardest hit by the recession, home sellers need all the help they can get to increase the appeal of their properties and find buyers. The real estate market has increasingly turned to home staging experts, who prepares the property for showing from furniture arrangement, landscaping, even removing funky smells in the house. Banks handling foreclosures and real estate agents are in need of home stagers to get their properties sold more quickly. This is one recession resistant home business that interior-decorating aficionados and those with a keen eye for design can seriously consider.

4. Auto Repair and Maintenance. People tend to forego buying new cars when money becomes hard to come by and cheap credit is not as easy to get. Instead, they’re more likely to keep their cars, which entail spending money on car maintenance. As such, there is a big opportunity for this business when the market goes down. An auto repair business has a lot of opportunities in a recession. You can opt to go with an automobile franchise, or find a troubled shop with potential to buy at a bargain price.

5. “Green” Home Businesses. Every industry is turning green, from manufacturing to fashion designing. Helping the environment is starting to seep into the mindset of the consumers, as more and more are turning to products and services that protect the environment. There are huge opportunities in a “green” home business, such as business opportunities offering environment-friendly gardening practices through organic products. Business waste consulting is also a growing field where home based entrepreneurs can advice businesses on how to efficiently deal with waste disposal, trim down their waste disposal costs and realize extraordinary savings.

More ideas here.

MyFox Austin:
Small business bookkeeping software is a powerful tool. Are you moving up from a manual system or maybe you’re ready to begin doing the bookkeeping yourself rather than having it done outside. Maybe you’re setting up a bookkeeping business yourself. In any of these cases, the software you choose can help your business grow. Here are 5 tips for choosing wisely.

1. Know what you want?
Any accounting software will perform the core accounting functions of general ledger, accounts receivable, accounts payable and the cash functions. But often you need more, depending on your industry. So the best investment you can make for picking software is to define what your needs are. Do you want payroll software or will you get payroll done outside? Do you need job cost records? Also what reports will help you? Spend the time to define your requirements.

2. The price is more than what it costs!
By that I mean that “free” software isn’t free. Learning software is often a bigger cost in time and effort than the initial cost. Don’t forget the training costs too if you have staff. Pick the wrong software and you may get to go through all that again soon too. There are no “free” puppies and there is no “free” software!

3. Where’s The Help?
You’ll need some help to learn the software and you’ll likely need on-going support too. Now hopefully not very much, but somebody must work through whatever problems arise. Is the only help just a manual? Is it through a toll free number? Maybe you can get local help? Often local accounting firms are experts on the major software products. Plan ahead for inevitable problems.

More tips here.

QSR magazine:
* Check that existing business continuity contingency plans address long-term absenteeism rates. In particular, check to see if core business activities can be sustained over several weeks with only a minimal workforce available.

* Identify your company’s essential functions, which might include accounting, payroll, and information technology, and the individuals who perform them. The absence of these individuals could seriously impair business continuity. Cross-train employees to perform essential functions to ensure resiliency.

* Plan for interruptions of essential government services like sanitation, water, power, and transportation, or disruptions to the food supply. For example, employees may need back-up plans for car pools in case mass transit is interrupted.

* Determine which outside activities are critical to maintain operations and develop alternatives in case they cannot function normally. For example, what transportation systems are needed to provide essential materials? Does the business operate on ‘just in time’ inventory or is there typically some in reserve?

* Update sick leave and family and medical leave policies and communicate with employees about the importance of staying away from the workplace if they become ill.

* Establish or expand policies and tools that enable employees to work from home with appropriate security and network access to applications.

* Collaborate with insurers, health plans, and major healthcare facilities to share your pandemic contingency plans and to learn about their capabilities and plans.

* Maintain a healthy work environment. Ensure adequate air circulation. Post tips on how to stop the spread of germs at work. Promote hand and respiratory hygiene. Ensure wide and easy availability of alcohol-based hand sanitizer products.

Tell your employees about the threat of pandemic flu and the steps the company is taking to prepare for it. Establish an emergency communications plan and revise periodically. The plan should include key contacts (with back-ups), a chain of communications (including suppliers and customers), and the processes for communicating pandemic status and actions to employees, vendors, suppliers, and customers inside and outside the worksite in a consistent and timely way.

BlogMix.Info:
One key in gaining success in advertising online is the entrepreneur’s creativity in making and designing his advertisement. Advertising does not rely much on quantity but quality. It needs to attract attention of those who are potential customers of your business.

Being creative online also means saving a lot of money in advertising. There are free online tools that you can use in advertising your business without any charge if you are creative enough. Social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace can give you sites to promote your business.

These sites give you a free account that enables you to post anything that you want, without having to pay for anything. These sites are also great hubs to find potential clients. All you have to do is set up your account page and start inviting friends. Get to know them and build a trustworthy relationship with them. If you have already captured their trust, you can now introduce your business to them.

Most often, online users get the impression of your business from what your website looks like.

Entrepreneurs who want to do online advertising indeed needs to be creative enough in making their sites more interesting and enticing for the viewers.

Carry on reading…

Entrepreneur Online:
1. Take a break
Have you ever been overwhelmed and feel you can’t stop for fear you will fall further behind? When you’re in a high-stress situation, your thinking is often cluttered making you less productive. Michele Dortch, The Integrated Mother, suggests that you take a break when you become stressed. Whether you choose a 15-minute nature walk or a full day doing activities you love, stopping can actually provide amazing clarity and help you complete your tasks on time. This may seem counterproductive, but it really works!
To prevent going on overload, try the following tips on a regular basis…

2. Take time out to socialize each week
Alice Seba of Mom Masterminds advises taking time out is invaluable to the Mom Entrepreneur. Alice makes a point to have a few opportunities to socialize each week with girlfriends, her partner, or to just have some time alone. It revives her and makes her more focused when she comes back to being a mom or a businessperson. Alice says, ‘All work and no play not only makes you a dull mama, but it makes you a stressed out and ineffective one, too!’

3. Take a few ‘Mommy Minutes’ as often as possible
Ponn Sabra, author of Empowering Women to Power Network, puts herself on ‘time out’ and takes ‘Mommy Minutes’ as often as possible. Ponn sits in a self-made sauna in the bathroom with the hot shower running or enjoys a favorite goodie (she sometimes hides special ice cream sandwiches in back corner of her freezer where no one, even her husband, can find them.) More tips here.

Ecommerce Journal:
If you are new to the Internet business and money making online, you can try to set up an AdSense niche blog with a comfort at your home to gain extra income. Here are four simple steps in implement it.

The first step is to get a niche. You should be focused on a sub topic that is more specific so that you can achieve a higher ranking on the search engine results and thus to bring more targeted traffic to your Adsense niche blog easier. By concentrating on a niche you can lower the competition against other internet marketers and it is less hassle in making money online.

The second step is, upon deciding a niche for your blog, you need to do a keyword research. You should select 2 to 4 long tailed keyword phrases and search for the number of competitions from the major search engines. A competition of less than 1 million is preferred as it is much easier for you to optimize your blog.

Next, you search for the amount of money that the advertisers are likely to pay for that keyword phrases.

This is important as you are going to earn from the clicks that you receive from your visitors. So, the higher rate per click ads being display on your blog, the more money you can make.

The third step is setting your Adsense niche blog by registering with a free blog provider such as blogger and wordpress. These blog providers have a feature where you can insert your Adsense ads automatically on your blog.

However, before you can insert your Adsense ads, you need to complete this final step first which is to register with Google Adsense account and get your unique Google Adsense Publisher ID.

Read more.

ContestBlogger:
1. Niche blogging - Niche blogging is fast growing and has become a very lucrative means of using the internet to make money. Become a niche blogger with quality content that will attract interested readers and bingo, you’re making money for writing about stuff you like to talk about.

2. Articles - Submit articles to thousands of article directories for free to market whatever product, service, website that you want to write about. Everyone is up for a good read. As long as you produce thoughtful, quality articles, you will get noticed.

3. Join a GPT site - GPT (get paid to) sites pay their members to complete free surveys and offers. Similar to blogging and article writing, GPT programs have skyrocketed to the top as an free option for stay at home moms to enjoy earning revenue.

Squidoo.com:
Chores - have them do some extra chores around the house for pay (I wouldn’t recommend paying them for the chores they are already supposed to be doing, unless that’s part of your current allowance system)

Babysitting - hey, no matter how technical our world gets, we will always need good babysitters, and this is still a great way for kids to learn responsibility

Mowing lawns, shoveling snow, raking leaves - it’s much cheaper to hire a kid than an expensive lawn service, so this method of earning money will always be around

Dog walking, and pet sitting - we live in such a busy society that our pets get left at home for long time periods, so this is a great way for kids to earn extra money and for Fido to get the exercise and companionship he needs

Blogging - with free blogging platforms like blogspot.com, wordpress.org, squidoo, myspace and other web 2.0 sites, kids of any age can start earning money by writing about things they like.

eBay - sell old toys, clothes, CDs and video games online, especially at Christmas time. what a great way to get your kids to clean their room and to earn money at the same time!

Creating websites or MySpace logos or graphics - kids are tech savvy and creative, so who better to create websites, graphics, logos and avatars for other kids? There’s huge demand for these products and services and since more and more kids have their own money, there are paying customers aplenty.

When it comes to making money online, don’t underestimate your kids. They know computers and the Internet better than many adults, and they are creative and unafraid to take risks. I expect the number of kids businesses to keep growing as kids realize the potential of their computer and internet skills.

The New York Times:
Seeking to ease the credit freeze for small businesses, the Obama administration will inject $15 billion into the industry, buying up securities that are linked to small-business loans.

In announcing the latest cylinder of his government’s economic recovery effort, President Obama said the infusion was needed because “small business owners are really struggling” because their credit lines had been pulled.

“This is still just going to be a first step in what is going to be a continuing effort to make sure that people get credit out there,” Mr. Obama said in an appearance in the East Room of the White House.

Administration officials said that by the end of March the Treasury Department would begin making direct purchases of securities backed by loans guaranteed by the Small Business Administration, and would purchase new securities. Even small businesses with good credit histories have seen lending dry up, the White House said in a news release that announced the new initiatives.

Photo: Doug Mills / The New York Times.

Emediawire:
An online programme leading to the award of a Master of Laws in Chinese Business Law by the Open University of Hong Kong (OUHK) is available for global enrollment. Holders of a Master’s degree recognized by the University may complete the programme within 12 months.

Commencing in April this year, the programme is the first of its kind presented in English. It was designed to cater for the needs of business professionals engaged in Chinese-foreign joint ventures, and managers and proprietors of non-government organizations as well as small and medium-sized enterprises.

The programme covers a broad range of topics, such as Chinese civil law, contract law, intellectual property protection law and financial law, providing students with fundamental knowledge of the legal frameworks underpinning commercial operations within and outside China. It emphasizes practical applications of Chinese business law from cross-border and comparative perspectives. A large number of case studies will be used for discussion to help students better understand the actual business environment in mainland China.

Without the limitations of geographical boundaries, the programme capitalises on the flexibility of e-learning and is particularly suitable for people on the move and who want to learn at their own pace. There will be online course materials, synchronized presentations/tutorials, video-taped seminars, an e-library and reference resources from the University’s online learning platform. Students can also attend real-time online lectures and take part in discussion forums and video-conferencing to share their learning experiences, enjoying the people interaction typical of face-to-face study. Read more.

Zimbabwe Young Entrepreneurs:
1. Restlessness - Job hopping and a general discontentment about making money for someone else.

2. Business-minded - You like to read about entrepreneurs and how much money they are making; you automatically calculate how much business companies are doing.

3. Risk-taker - You dabble in the stock market and are open to taking calculated risks. You are always looking for ways to leverage your capital.

4. Self- help - When you read, you are drawn to biographies about successful entrepreneurs, motivational business books and finance. You think that reading fiction is waste of brain cells.

5. Rally - If possible, you like to surround yourself with rich and successful people. Talking about business all day with them is a pleasure.

6. Thinking big - You are known for your lofty ideas and day dreams. You regale your friends and partners with your exciting business strategies.

7. Planner - On your desk are your goals for the week, month, year and the next five years. You have your life planned to the minute.

8. Walk the talk - You get things done. Sometimes, you are known to be impatient.

9. Fired up - Optimism and enthusiasm define you. The word “no” does not exist in your vocabulary.

10. Confident - You are brimming with self-belief and have complete and utter faith in your own capabilities. Naysayers be damned!

La Voz Nueva:
If you don’t have a Social Security number but still owe Uncle Sam a tax return, Tri Tax Income Tax Service will prepare a W-7 form for you at no charge. That’s right — free!

“For many hardworking people without a Social Security number, the process of obtaining an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN) is confusing and expensive,” says Tri Tax Founder and CEO Carlos Marquez. “Tri Tax makes this overwhelming process effortless by preparing a W-7 form for as many ITINs as requested. Other tax preparers charge up to $100 per W-7 application, but we offer this service absolutely free. We’re committed to the Latino community, and this is just one way we can demonstrate that commitment.”

An ITIN is an official tax processing number issued by the Internal Revenue Service for people without a Social Security number, and it’s available regardless of an individual’s immigration status. A W-7 is an application form to request an ITIN.

Marquez says that many Spanish-speaking people run into a language barrier when trying to work with other tax preparation companies, and, in defeat, fail to file tax forms. “But at Tri Tax, we literally speak their language, and with the free W-7 service, we help people fulfill their obligation to the government in a stress-free environment.”

Even if individuals have a Social Security number of their own, Marquez says some people seek ITINs for family members in Mexico. “Many taxpayers have relatives that they support in Mexico, and by obtaining an ITIN and claiming them on their tax return, they could be entitled to a larger tax refund. With the current economy, every little bit counts, so I encourage people to stop in to Tri Tax today and learn about how our free W-7 service could help them.”

Milwaukee Small Business Times:
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act was signed into law by President Barack Obama on Feb. 16, 2009. It is massive, not only in dollar amount ($787 billion), but also in length (781 pages, single-spaced).
The legislation represents about $1 billion of tax and appropriation benefits per page.

Here are 10 of the surprising, little known opportunities for businesses buried within this massive legislation:

1. Extension of bonus depreciation. The federal stimulus package extends last year’s 50-percent write-off of the cost of depreciable property for capital expenditures. Wisconsin businesses can extend this temporary benefit for capital expenditure incurred in 2009.

2. New Market Tax Credits. Available New Markets Tax Credits are increased to $5 billion for 2009 and 2010. Wisconsin developers, who have the opportunity to receive allocations for qualified projects, will enjoy an economic boost to projects during the current challenging economy.

3. Creation of renewable energy grants. In recognition of the recent constriction in the market for production and investment tax credits, Congress is allowing for-profit taxpayers that place in service a wide variety of renewable energy facilities to receive a grant from the Treasury Department in lieu of claiming a production or investment tax credit for those facilities. The grant will be equal to a percentage of the taxpayer’s basis in depreciable tangible personal and real property (not including buildings) that is used as an integral part of the facility. This grant opportunity should serve to provide a significant financial boost to qualified renewable energy projects in Wisconsin.

4. Creation of credit for investment in advanced energy property. Congress authorized $2.3 billion in tax credits for certain advanced energy property. The credit will be equal to 30 percent of a taxpayer’s basis in certain depreciable tangible personal or real property (excluding buildings) related to any project that re-equips, expands or establishes a manufacturing facility for the production related to various identified renewable energy resources. This represents an exciting opportunity for Wisconsin suppliers of component parts for renewable energy products.

5. Increase in the amount of energy conservation bonds from $2.4 billion to $3.2 billion. This increase in a financing source should serve to mitigate the current restrictive lending practices that apply to qualified energy projects.

More here.

Examiner.com:
The economy may be suffering, but for a host of business owners and entrepreneurs out there, there are no excuses.

This is a time for innovation, progress and hard work - even if they are college students.

Greeley is becoming a hotbed of business ideas as students try their hands at the business world, be it opening bars, running Web sites, painting houses, or simply finding a niche in an otherwise stagnant market. More important, students are learning to navigate a business world in some of the worst economic times, making their own way rather than counting on someone else to do it.

“I don’t want to work for an hourly wage,” said Greg Farnsworth, a senior at the University of Colorado who recently opened the long-awaited Patrick’s Irish Pub in downtown Greeley. “You have all these business ideas and never start them.

“Finally, I said I have to stop making excuses. I’ve got to do this.”

College is the perfect time for students to try their hands at business, said Dave Thomas, an assistant professor of management at the Monfort College of Business at the University of Northern Colorado. The college offers an entrepreneurship certificate to its business majors, but it will soon offer an entrepreneurship minor for all students at UNC - the first in the state to do so.

“The beauty of doing it in college is you’re not risking a lot,” Thomas said. “They use the coursework to learn how to start a business. They’re using the time to start out their idea. The point is, the idea is tested in a college setting, where there was not much risk, they have access to great resources and a platform to connect with (the business) network… A lot of students don’t want to go to work for a big corporation and get laid off when they’re 40.”

Sara Rigney, a freshman at UNC, is starting early. For her, the learning starts now while she’s working through her general studies. She recently signed on with College Works, a franchised house painting network, in which she’ll operate her own house painting business during the summer. She hopes to create a $60,000 business, organizing crews to paint houses throughout Arvada, her home town.

This story continues here.

What Works For Business:
1. Get the right software. Don’t even think about keeping your books manually or with spreadsheets. Low-cost, easy-to-use financial software for small business such as QuickBooks, or the free version QuickBooks Simple Start (both at www.intuit.com) are perfect for keeping everything in order. New web-based solutions such as Netbooks are also great.

2. Automate your invoicing. Online billing services that can effortlessly issue your invoices and keep track of everything are one of the most helpful web-based small business services to appear recently. Check ‘em out, and put ‘em to work for your business. Look at Bill.com and FreshBooks.com in particular. The services are cheap and can help clean up a billing mess in an instant.

3. Keep it simple and consistent. Bookkeeping is all about columns, and by keeping the same column headings all the time, you will avoid the frustration of mismatches. And if you avoid over-categorizing income and expenses, you’ll also save yourself time. Often it’s just not necessary to break things down into great detail.

4. Use a payroll service if you have employees. Once your business has employees, your finances take a quantum leap in complexity. Outsourcing to a payroll service such as Paychex, Sure Payroll or ADP places the recordkeeping burden on them, and makes your end vastly easier.

5. Be pro-active with your accountant. One reason you need to keep good books is so you can provide accurate and timely information to an accountant to prepare your business taxes. Get their advice on how best to set up your books and organize your financial information. You might also ask them to periodically check your books, adjust entries or prepare financial reports for your review.

More ways here.

BharatBhasha.com:
Having a home based job is probably the best thing that could happen in your life. This changes your lifestyle to the highest level and in a positive way. It also takes you away from all the hassle that you may encounter with a normal day job out from your home. Your expenses would be cut down and you still get to feel the comfort that your home brings, anytime of the day. So, here are some of the top home jobs that a modern entrepreneur like you may want to get into.

Webmastering
Webmasters are Internet specialists responsible for all the aspects of a Web site. If you feel like venturing in this kind of job, then you have a great future ahead of you. You could assist businesses in areas like web site designing, logo creation, graphic or banner design, e-commerce, web hosting, internet web programming, marketing, scripts, security, mailing list management, copy writing, web site maintenance, and a lot more other areas.

Being a web master is not a static job as most people see it as only sitting in front of the computer for countless of hours. In fact, this kind of job is very dynamic because it requires you flexibility, creativity and good managerial skills to pull off this kind of position. Another beauty here is that it pays big, even if you’ll be working from your home or anywhere else that you please.

Self-publishing
This kind of job would involve creation, production, and selling of information products. If you do not know what Information products are, these are basically goods that convey information to other people. They may come in the form of booklets, books, audio cassettes, videos, compact disks (CDs), files, electronic books, private websites, databases, and the like.

However, the thing here is that you do not only sell these products, but you would have to be the one to make it yourself too! Hence, you’ll be creating you own book or instructional manual of some sort. The beauty here is that the Info products that you’ll be selling are unique, since you were the one who created it. Thus, you also get ownership and exclusive control over these products of yours.

Instant Publishing
If you don’t think that you have what it takes to create your own media and Informational products, then you could always go for instant publishing. Being an instant publisher, you would be selling information products that were created by someone else who would grant you reprint or even resale rights. More often than not, self-publishers usually sell their products to other people so that it could complement their original information products.

International Trading
This kind of home job would involve importing and exporting. If you’re not familiar with this, then importing is basically buying goods or services from vendors that are in another country. On the other hand, exporting would be selling goods or services to people that are in another country. The fun part here is that you get to do all your transactions over the Internet. The currency that you’ll be using would also usually be US Dollars, which is an advantage to your part.

U.S. News & World Report:
1. Take a chance. The riskiest decision you make can be the most rewarding and gratifying.

2. There’s no crystal ball. Take big leaps to learn about yourself as an entrepreneur and a decision-maker.

3. Once you make a decision, be confident with it and move forward. Don’t look back.

4. Stop worrying. You can’t take risks confidently if you’re constantly worrying about the outcome or the future.

5. Remember that there are no mistakes. If you fail after taking a risk, the lessons learned are invaluable.

6. Ask yourself, what’s the worst that can happen?

7. Keep stepping out of your comfort zone. The more success you experience through your risk-taking, the more you’ll allow yourself to branch out.

8. Don’t let perfectionism get in the way of taking risks. Accept that as an entrepreneur, learning is never-ending.

9. Evaluate what you’re really risking. It might not be as scary as you originally thought.

10. Don’t stress about coming up with that “big idea.” Big ideas don’t come easily–a small idea may actually be the big prize.