Five Things They Don’t Teach You About Working from Home

Guest Post by: Steve W.

I’ve been working full-time as an Internet Marketer for a little over a year now. In that time, I have learned that it takes a little bit more than knowing the methods of Internet Marketing to be successful.

Here are just a few of my observations that most other people either don’t want to talk about, or they simply forget to tell you about.

1. You become your own boss.

When you start a career at home for yourself, you don’t really have anyone to answer to. You need to force yourself to work. Sure, you aren’t going to get fired if you don’t do your work, but you also won’t make the money required to pay your bills.

A lot of people think anything goes when you work from home, but you should treat it no different than working a full time office job. When I first started at home full time, I figured out the time of day I was the most productive and set a work schedule for myself. Most days, I work from 10AM to 4PM with a break for lunch. I try and stay as productive as possible during those hours and limit the work I do outside of that schedule.

To stay focused and on track, create a to-do list for each day. Outline tasks you’d like to have accomplished by the end of your work day. The feeling of accomplishment you get when you cross of an item will keep you motivated all day long

If you need inspiration for an idea or just need to take a break, get away from the computer. Nearly every good money making idea I’ve had, I didn’t think of while staring at a screen. I’ve never had success by trying to force an idea and believe me, I’ve tried that.

2. Your home is now your office.

Create a dedicated workspace for yourself. Slouching on your couch in front of the TV with your feet up on the coffee table while using a laptop does not count as a workspace. Get yourself a real desk and keep it organized. If you ever have to stop working to investigate a strange smell, your workspace has become a distraction. Keep it clean.

Eliminate distractions before you start working. Finish up whatever small chores you need to do for the day so you don’t have to take care of them when you’re on a roll. Only do work related tasks while on your work schedule.

You also have the ability to grab a laptop and go work outside on nice days. Do this as often as you can but don’t brag about it to people who work in offices. They will resent you.

3. You need to take care of yourself.

For starters, take sick days. You’re human and you need time off to rest, just like everybody else. If you don’t feel well, grab a blanket, make your favorite soup, and nap on the couch all day. You may be capable of sitting up, but that does not mean you need to be working. Take time to rest your mind and body.

Speaking of staying healthy, you need to exercise. It’s easy to let yourself go when your only commute is from your bed to your computer chair. Take care of yourself and get a gym membership or at the very least spend some time walking outside. I like to try to workout in the mornings before starting my work day. It keeps me in shape and allows me to stay focused and energized all day.

One of the hardest adjustments I had to make when starting to work full time at home was dealing with being alone for extended periods of time. You need to find ways to stay social. Working alone can get depressing and having a social outlet is a vital part of success.

Try and find someone local who is also working from home to meet with every now and then for lunch or to discuss ideas. At the very least, invest in a web cam and keep in touch with your friends and family through Skype. If all else fails, get an animal friend. They make the day less boring and yes, you will start to talk to your pets.

4. You do not have to work 24 hours a day.

You may have merged where you work with where you live, but you need to find a way to still keep these lives separate.

I’ve spoken to a lot of people who try to start careers from home. For some reason, most people think they can dedicate 12 to 14 hours per day, 7 days a week to working online since they now have nothing else to do. There’s no easier way to burn out than trying to work all waking hours. You simply can’t stay productive after these long hours.

You need to respect the weekends and take time off on holidays. It’s okay to let an email wait until the morning or a phone call to go to voicemail. It’s okay to have a personal life. You do not have to always be readily available.

5. You get to live an awesome life.

If you reach a point in your work at home career where you can work full time at home for yourself, that is amazing. It’s a very big accomplishment that very few people can achieve.

I can’t tell you how often people tell me they envy my lifestyle. I’m usually very modest when it comes to talking about my career path, but it is seriously awesome. I live with my girlfriend who works 10-hour days in an office building and she often comes home stressed about her job, boss, deadlines, salary, or any number of things that accompany an office job. She’s even limited to the amount of sick days she’s allowed to take! I’m forever grateful that I don’t have to deal with any of that.

If you have a chance to start a work at home career, definitely seize the opportunity. It will be challenging at first, but there’s nothing that can match the feeling of running a successful business from home.

So, these were just a few things I’ve learned over the past year. I’m sure you have things to add to my list and I’d love to hear them.

Read more and get free stuff and more tips here

The Two Biggest Reasons Why Most People Will Never Make a Full-Time Income Online...

It all starts when some well-meaning (yet misdirected) person encourages a budding internet entrepreneur to "start in a niche they know alot about", or base their business around "something they're passionate about"...

As horrible as it may sound - they've unknowingly sent the hopeful entrepreneur down a path of false expectations, poor results and eventually - failure. In fact, the myth of "do what you love and the money will follow" has been responsible for more failure than likely any other influence - perhaps even more so than laziness or a lack of perseverance.

Because the simple truth of the matter is that the only way you're going to make real money on the net is if your business is based around two crucial things:

1) Large Demand

2) Buyers

In other words - you aren't going to get rich selling a $15 ebook about growing square watermelons - even though that might be a great passion of yours.

The demand just isn't there. Maybe there's a few searches a day on Google for the topic, and perhaps there's some interest in the online "gardening enthusiast" communities - but you'd be hard-pressed to make even a few hundred dollars a month from ebook sales.

Similarly, you also aren't going to have a particularly easy time getting rich by building websites about some seemingly "popular" topics like humor, jokes, funny pictures and so on. And while there are a few ways to "monetize" your site (with AdSense, CPA Offers, CPM Banners, etc.), it takes literally millions of website visitors to make even just a few thousand dollars in markets like that.

The demand is huge - but the visitor value is extremely low...

Instead, if you want to make it big online - pulling down an impressive six-figure income - you need to tap into markets with tons of demand, where the majority of the visitors are valuable.

You need to capture tons of traffic that wants to buy something. If you take this approach, you'd practically have to hijack your own order links (or affiliate links) not to make a sizeable income.

In fact - did you know that some affiliates make several thousand dollars daily just by promoting a single product in hot markets? (Just imagine what the merchant is making...)

In some markets there's actually so much demand that the vendors are quite literally selling over a thousand units - or more - per day. Digital products, with practically zero overhead/delivery cost.

But it all comes back to tapping into valuable demand. In most cases, it takes no extra effort or "skill" to market to a valuable market than it does to struggle along with something you're passionate about.

These two factors - demand and buying traffic - are what seperate the "wannabe" marketers from the millionaires. Because there's no real secret - you just need to sell what thousands of people are already buying.

The ball is now officially in your court. Are you tapping into markets with massive, valuable demand?

Or are you struggling to simply make a few dollars occasionally with a business that's based on your own passionate interests?

Can You Get Paid for Online Surveys?

I would have to say that the question of whether or not you can get paid to fill out a survey ranks right up there in the top ten most asked questions by onine income seekers.

You'll find a lot of people out there that say yes, and a lot of people that say no. Not what you wanted to hear I suspect. So, I'm just going to give you my opinion on the matter. Or actually - my own personal experience with online surveys.

But let me start by saying.....YES, I have gotten checks from companies for taking surveys, watching DVDs and watching commercials.

There are many survey membership sites out there these days. Two years ago - there were hardly any and the whole surveys for rewards and cash craze wasn't like it is today. So I opted in for one of the paid membership sites. It helped me immensely by doing the survey hunting for me. I still have my membership with Survey Scout today - but typically I hunt around for my own surveys. I don't recommend paying for a list if you've got the time to hunt yourself. Why pay a dime, when you truly can find these companies free.

And now....speaking of free....
These are the companies I am currently earning the most from. They are all FREE to sign up. Do not sell yourself short and just sign up for one company. That's silly!! Sign up for all of them - that way you have more than one check coming in and more than one way to earn! This is the key to working at home and having total control over your hours. Just get a free email address and use it as your survey account. This can be Yahoo, Gmail or Hotmail.
Armed with your notebook and your free email account set aside just for your survey work - you'll be on your way to CASH and Rewards!

Just today I took a survey from ePoll. I was paid $10 for answering questions all about the TV show The View. I watch it, so I was able to answer their questions. I have completed over 75 surveys for them over the last few years. And it's been worth it. I've cashed in my points for a $30 gift card Red Lobster, a $25 Best Buy gift card, several $25 Blockbuster gift cards, tickets to movies and several $10 Starbucks cards! I just cashed in some points today for a $25 Target gift card and a $10 Target gift card, so that I can get a new bedspread!! These rewards all for answering questions about TV shows, movies and commercials. Not hard at ALL!!

Fusion Cash is another great opportunity. It's been around for 2 years and has a very good reputation. I equate Fusion Cash with an awesome data entry job that I can do right from home! They offer some of the highest payouts I have ever seen for filling out forms! Incredible - you just have to be able to have basic typing skills! You can be paid anywhere form .50 to $25 or more for just filling out forms for trial offers. The KEY to doing this type of work - buy a cheapy notebook and write down every offer you fill out. When you filled it out, how long the trial offer is for etc. Do not make this harder than it is. You're being paid BIG money to try products and offers. This will be another nice monthly check for you. Want to know more about Fusion Cash - click here.

Project Payday is a good one. I kept seeing ads for it, so I thought I'd check it out. Similar to Fusion Cash, this site pays in a timely fashion and I've earned cold hard cash from them. Also - if you decide to do any of the offers that require shipping and handling be paid, the Project Payday rebates them double the fee within 24 hours via PayPal or check. In this case the user actually makes anywhere from $2 to $10 profit just for signing up. Incredible! This one is a no-brainer for me. Find out more about Project Payday.

You can start to see where signing up for all of these starts to add up into real cash. Just make the decision to sign up and

These are three other sites that I definitely recommend. Survey Adventure is a new site that I just love. It was brought to my attention by a MoneyMakingMommy long time visitor. I must say - I'm impressed! And it's totally FREE!!

SurveySavvy.com sends me surveys frequently. Not as many surveys, but the are listed with the BBB and in good standing. Be sure to fill out your profile FULLY! It will determine how many surveys you get.
UPDATE: I earned a total of $1586 for 2007 with SurveySavvy!!! This site is totally legit and worth the time to join and fill out your profile. I took eight surveys one month - and got paid $62 for taking them. Keep your profile updated and refer others. It does pay off!

LOVE this survey site -- I get to watch movies, TV shows and take surveys about TV and music. Greenfield

If you're interested - I referred a lot of people here....
You DO get free movie tickets....so if you're thinking you'd like 4 free movies tickets and some refreshments - this is SO worth it. You can earn other rewards as well - so don't worry - it's worth more than just the free movie tickets! Get a free night at the movies here

Whatever you decide about surveys, I can honestly say - there is $$ to be made. I get checks every month from work like this, and I have for over 6 years! Sure...some companies come and go - but there are so many out there. That's why a program like Survey Scout is good for the beginner. But I've heard a lot of good buzz about Express Paid Surveys. They have a very low refund rate - which tells me they must offer something pretty legit.

Just be a grown up about what offers you're filling out, where you're going online - just like you do all the time when you're on the internet. There is truly some serious cash to be made by doing surveys and signing up for trial offers. The other night, my son and I watched a Nickelodeon TV movie on DVD for a survey company! I actually earned $20 for watching it with my 12 year old and then having him fill out the survey. He and I split the $20 and went to Atlanta Bread Company for lunch and smoothies!! (And we got to spend time together!)

Don't sell this type of earning online short! You'll only cheat yourself!

TAKE THE TIME! Just think how much time you waste on the internet right now! Why not spend it signing up with a few survey companies?

More Info On Profitable Online Jobs Anyone Can Do Here!

Legit Online Jobs Review

So I just recently fell onto Legit Online Jobs, which is an online program. I signed-up for the program in the ultimate goal of reviewing it. Although, it announced itself as a data entry job online, I quickly realised it was an AdWords program.

It contains information you can get if you search the internet a LONG time. Most of the information it gave me took me years to find out. It is possible to get all this information for free, but this program offers you to pay for the information and get it all in a very short period of time.

Although this site presents itself as a data entry job, it's contents are quite different. You are going to have to use the website wisely. You need to take the information they give you and use it skillfully. If you were looking for a job where you would be paid hourly entering data, you have got another thing coming.

What this program really does is teach you how to use AdWords and how to make money from it. I know from experience AdWords can give you some money and you can earn an honest predictable income from it, as I do this myself.

This is not a get rich quick scheme. You are going to make money according to the time and investment you put into this. At first you start small, then grow big, like any other business. I recommend this product if you have already got the Beating AdWords or The Rich Jerk ebooks.

Read more here!