I have exciting news if you want to stay home with your precious babies, but still need a weekly paycheck. If you think you can’t do both, I’m here to tell you that you can! The official word for what I’m talking about it “Telecommuting�, but it’s also known as a work at home job.

If you’re brand new to the concept let me tell you a quick overview of the meaning. Basically, a telecommuting job is much like a job outside the home. You work for an employer, you have assigned duties, you often make an hourly rate, receive a paycheck and do this all from home.

The differences from outside the home to inside is that you often do not receive any type of benefit such as you would outside the home. For instance, you won’t receive health insurance, paid holidays, paid sick leave or vacation time. The benefit you do receive is the luxury of working inside your home and being with your kids.

First Steps To Breaking Into This Field

If telecommuting does interest you there are some basic things you need to know in order to get started. First, you need to know where to find the legitimate jobs. The internet is filled with scams and it’s important that you know where to find the legitimate jobs. The following are just a few of the great resources online that provide many legitimate job listings.

FREE SITES:

www.WAHM.com

www.Craiglist.org

www.ABYZNewslinks.com

www.Workaholics4hire.com

FREE NEWSLETTERS:

www.TelecommutingAnswerLady.com (which is my weekly newsletter)

www.Workoptions.com

www.homejobstop.com

Paid Membership Sites

You certainly don’t have to pay to access legitimate job leads, but there are two websites that are legitimate and offer many leads and those are:

www.homejobstop.com

www.teleworkrecruiting.com

What Jobs and Pay You Can Expect

Often, I’m asked what types of jobs are available and what one can make at home. First, I’m excited to say that there are just as many types of positions available for telecommuters as those who work outside the home. Anything from customer service to sales to marketing to data entry to medical transcription and much more!

The pay is going to vary from position to position, but the average pay seems to range from $8.00-$14.00 an hour. There are exceptions to this and it will honestly depend on your experience in a particular field and what company you get into. And there are chances to move up in many telecommuting companies so keep that in mind as well.

Read This BEFORE Applying

It’s so important that you realize getting a job at home is not easy and will take time. Not only that, but your competition will be tough and you need to stand above the rest. Being professional with your cover letter and resume and any follow up is key.

Make sure you spell check like a maniac and tailor each and every cover letter and resume to that specific job you’re applying to.

I would highly recommend you have a professional résumé writer craft a winning cover letter and resume for you. You can find an affordable and creative resume writer at www.resumeasap.com.

And in a final note with this topic, please remember to always be professional in all correspondence. If you don’t happen to receive a job you applied for don’t email the employer angrily because you did not receive the position. I received this great tip from an employer on this topic. And believe it or not, this does happen all too often.

“Don’t burn bridges. When you receive a letter saying you didn’t get the job, send a polite reply asking that your information be kept on file and express your interest in being considered for future openings. There is nothing to be gained by voicing any anger or resentment at not being chosen.â€?

Linda Stacey

What Equipment Is Needed

Just like working outside the home you’ll need certain things to do the job. You often need either all or some of the following:

Home Office

Computer

Printer

High Speed Internet (in most cases)

2nd Phone Line (sometimes)

Fax Machine (sometimes)

Quiet Environment

Depending on the job you might need something that I didn’t list. For example, if you’re a transcriptionist you might need a foot pedal or something of that nature. And there are also instances in which you won’t need all of the equipment I mentioned. The one obvious thing you will need in all cases of legitimate employment is a computer and internet access.

Final Thoughts

Please keep in mind that it often takes much longer to find and get a telecommuting job then a job outside the home. The market is very competitive and although there are many more jobs now then a few years ago there is also much more competition. So please don’t think that you will get a job tomorrow as that is not likely to happen.

Persistence is the key. Don’t give up on this happening. I firmly believe that where there’s a will there’s a way. It could take months, but when you do receive the welcome letter to a great telecommuting position it will all be worth it!

Nell Taliercio is the owner and founder of http://www.TelecommutingMoms.com – which is a leading resource website with work at home jobs and everything a telecommuting mom would need. Come visit us today!

Ironically, most of us got into the home based business world because we wanted to have more time with family. So how is it that we sometimes have less time? Let’s take a look and see what can be done about it.

The promise of having more time with family is one of the major attractions for a home based business, but time has to be carefully managed and guarded. If you are in a regular job working at least 40 hours per week, it can be tough. One thing that must be communicated to your family is that there has to be a short term pain for a long term gain.

You have a finite amount of hours available to you, but here are some suggestions. If you have children at home and it becomes chaos as soon as you get home, then one possible strategy is to stay at work an extra hour later. You can return quite a few phone calls in an hour and it would probably be uninterrupted. A home based business can have a remote office!

Another strategy is to take mass transit if you normally drive. It may allow you an extra 30-60 minutes per day to organize contacts, return phone calls, or listen to training materials with your mp3 player. If your company has training or motivational phone calls that are at a bad time for you, it is possible to record them (check with local laws on it).

I have recorded many calls to a $39 digital voice recorder with a $15 connector that goes from my phone to the recorder (available from Radio Shack). You are then free to listen to the calls on your time.

I make it a priority to spend time with my kids when they come home from school. I work from home full time, so I take a break mid-afternoon to see how their school day was and enjoy a snack together. I then head back to my home office until dinner time.

I also have less need for sleep than the rest of my family so I frequently take an hour or two at night or early morning. This can be extremely productive time for a home based business, but unfortunately does not usually allow you to return phone calls. I used my lunch time at my old workplace for that using a cell phone – my investment in the large minute plan was worth it.

The exact solution for you has to be determined by you for your particular home based business. However, my advice is to plan ahead and block out the family time. Make sure you clearly communicate with all family members about what time you are blocking out for your business activity. As long as you communicate well, you should be able to spend anxiety-free time on your business.

With some good planning, you can be successful in being good to your family and your home based business.

Ron LeBlanc, PE spent 20 years in science and engineering when woke up to his true potential and began working from home. He lives in Boulder, CO and works out of his home. He enjoys helping other people learn to do home based businesses. Get his tip-filled newsletter and some special offers at http://www.be-do-have.com

“How do you DO it?!” If I had a dime for every time I heard that, I would be able to quit my home business.

Just kidding.

Seriously, time management is a serious issue for work from home Moms. You want your home business to be a success, but you don’t want the rest of your responsibilities to fall by the wayside… especially your children, who are the reason you chose to work from home in the first place.

While you’re probably already doing some of the obvious things like taking advantage of naptimes and bedtime, I hope you find some additional ideas from the following time management tips to make things easier for you while working from home and caring for young children.

Time Management for your Home Business

Have a clear purpose when you go online

Whenever you go to your computer, have a definite purpose in mind. It helps to keep a notebook by your computer always with your goals and to-do lists in it, all in once place. This helps prevent you from aimlessly checking email or surfing the net and getting lost. Know what you need to accomplish, write it down, do it, and move on to the next activity.

Outsource as many tasks as you can afford Consider hiring a virtual assistant if you have a lot of administrative tasks. Or pay your kids to do things for you that are age appropriate. This can even be a tax deductible expense. Check with your accountant.

Analyze your activities

Think about the steps you engage yourself in with your business and see if those tasks are really paying off for you. A lot of work at home Moms do things like join safelists, traffic exchanges and other activities that most internet marketing experts agree are not the best use of your time. Ask people who are where you want to be in your business how they manage their time. Just because something is free doesn’t mean you should be spending time doing it.

The best $20 you can spend on your business

That may be the money you spend hiring a Mommy’s helper to come over and play with your children for several hours. It’s amazing what you can get done during that time. Plus, your kids usually get worn out from all the fun and take longer naps. Everybody wins!

Think Assembly Line

In other words, group similar activities together. Don’t check your email all day, check it two or 3 times a day (at most) and answer all the emails at the same time. When you want to make changes to your website, list them all and wait until you need to make several changes at once. When one child asks for a story gather them all around. Same thing for snacks. Run all your errands at once.

Utilize Technology

Get wireless internet and a laptop if at all possible. This can make a drastic improvement in your ability to work online around your children. You can sit on the front porch and work on your website while your kids play in the yard. Or you can drop them off at a friend’s house and head to Starbucks and get online!

Use autoresponders, mailing lists and other resources to automate your business. If you find yourself typing out answers to the same questions over and over again, add pages to your website or create an ecourse or downloadable report that addresses those topics and refer your customers or downline or whomever to those.

Household time management

Simplify meal preparation and shopping

That doesn’t mean you spend a lot of extra money on convenience foods that aren’t good for you. But do make simple meals that even your children can help you prepare. Use your crock pot. Collect recipes that require few ingredients and no elaborate preparation.

Have a good routine for making menus and shopping. In the long run, extra trips to the store for that missing ingredient is costing you time and money. Most families eat the same 10 or so favorite dishes over and over. Enlist the help of your family to figure out what those favorites are, print up the ingredients into a shopping list, and take that to the store. Have the list posted on the fridge to mark things off as they’re used up.

Get your kids to help out around the house more. Here are more work from home Mom house cleaning tips

General Mom time management tips

Identify time wasters in your day

It’s a different thing for everyone. Maybe it’s the TV, maybe it’s friends calling to chat in the middle of the day. Maybe it’s activities that seem necessary but that really aren’t productive, like posting a lot in message forums. Whatever it is, identify it and eliminate it if possible, or at least manage it. Use your voicemail, and call people back when it’s a better time for you. Figure out if watching Oprah or the Apprentice is really adding value to your life or just wasting your time.

Make a timer your best friend

A timer has so many uses. You can set it to tell your child when you’ll be available for them. Young children have difficulty comprehending time, and the timer will set them at ease so they won’t bug for you that entire period.

It also keeps you on track and helps you finish up tasks more quickly. Use it when you’re reading email, cleaning house, whenever you want to accomplish something fast.

Have a Routine

Having a routine for your household chores and business activities can really help Moms with time management. When you have a good routine, you can do things without thinking, and they always take up less time that way. Keep your routines written down until they’re memorized. Use an organizing calender or digital system…whatever works best for you. Make sure everyone else in your household knows the basics of your routine so that things flow more smoothly.

Set limits

No one person can do everything. Your time and energy is valuable and you need to be firm in setting limits on how you spend it. Don’t commit to things that you can’t reasonably accomplish. Get enough rest. Learn to say No. Avoid negative people who like to whine.

As Moms we’re constantly working on time management, but with creativity and good routines, we can have a thriving business and a balanced life.

Carrie Lauth publishes a “no fluff” newsletter for work from home Moms. Get your free copy plus extra subscriber goodies at:
http://www.business-moms-expo.com/newsletter.html

Starting from the Fundamentals and doing it right, often builds confidence and motivates us to reach our goal much sooner and enjoy the fruits of our labor. Similarly as an Internet Home Based Business Entrepreneur, there are certain Fundamental steps you should take and organize your daily work schedule to succeed.

By following these steps you can avoid health problems and other conditions such as stress, depression, fatigue and loneliness. In other words, you will remain motivated, energetic, healthy and enjoy a happy family life. Above all you will be on your way to fulfilling your dream of being a successful Internet Home Based Business Entrepreneur.

Organizing your Home office:

The first thing you should do is to organize your home office. It could be anywhere. In the bed room, in the attic, in the basement or any other place where you could sit and concentrate on your work without hindrance. Set it up so that all the necessary paraphernalia required for your Internet Business are available to you right there as in any other external place of work. Create an environment that will please the eye soothe the nerves and inspire you to work at home.

Organizing your Work Schedule:

The tendency to get disorganized is one of the major problems faced when you work at home due to distraction by the kids, family members, visitors, telephone calls etc. Making up for lost time on the other hand leads to overwork and stress. This situation can be avoided by planning out your whole days work in advance. Have a master list prepared every day and prioritize your work and also structure it in such a manner that you do the most difficult part of the assignment at the time you are most alert and active. Ensure that you start and end your tasks on time everyday. Since you are the Boss you can be flexible and accommodate any change of circumstances as and when the need arises.

Posture and Lighting:

Working at the computer for several hours a day can create quite a few problems unless you do the things the right way. The correct table for the computer and the chair for you to sit and work long hours are absolutely essential. Negligence of this aspect can lead to neck and back pain and other complications. In addition to this your place of work has to be properly illuminated to avoid straining your eyes.

Regular Breaks:

Working continuously for a few hours at the computer can be strenuous for the eyes and also cause mental fatigue. Regular breaks after every hour or two is an absolute necessity. A few minutes of relaxing, stretching and inhaling of fresh air by going outdoors will do you a world of good.

Regular Meal Time:

Never sticking to regular meal times and missing a meal due to pressure of work are problems often associated with Home Based Business workers. This can lead to malnutrition, stomach ulcers and other gastric disorders. This situation must be avoided by having a proper work schedule with planned breaks for meals and meticulously sticking to it.

Family Time:

Improper planning of your work schedule or over enthusiasm in your Home Based Business creates situations where the spouse and kids can get neglected. One of the main attractions of working from home is to spend more time with the family. It is here that your skills in organizing your work schedule will be tested. You will need to find the time to spend with the family everyday. Your spouse and kids should reap the benefits of your presence at home. So it is up to you to ensure that this happens for happiness at home will definitely reflect in the progress you make in your Internet Business and boost your morale.

Meet Friends and Socialize:

Working day in and day out within the confines of your home and with your computer as your sole companion can to some extent create loneliness and depression. The fun of meeting your workmates and enjoying their company is one thing that you will surely miss. Hence it is imperative that you go out regularly meet friends and socialize. Add a little spice by reading jokes daily, sharing jokes with friends and watching humorous videos. This will keep you in circulation among your friends and also give you the necessary inspiration to do more work.

It will not be long before you will repeat the words of Emile Coue “Every day, in every way, I am getting better and better”

Yes, organize your work at home and soon you will enjoy the fruits of your labor and succeed in your Internet Home Based Business.

Copyright © 2005 Kanaga Siva.

Kanaga Siva has a wealth of experience in Marketing and also running his own Home Based Business. He now operates his Internet Marketing Business. Visit his website http://www.business-fromhome.com for Articles, Resources, Ideas and Advise to start a Home Based Business and for other recommended Programs.

Time to hit the books!

Just like a Doctor or Lawyer has to study to be successful in their field, a person looking to be successful in a home business must do the same.

If you do not treat your business as exactly that, it will be hard to be very successful.

The closer you get to being an expert in all realms of a home based business, the more success you will achieve.

Remember… you are accountable for your business. Do not rely on others to do things for you. Get out and make things happen for yourself.

Here are some great ways to help yourself become an expert:

Forums

When you find the business that is right for you, use the forums as a place to go for advice, ideas, etc. There are a ton of posts here that have been really helpful to myself and many others. Learn from what other people are doing.

Books

There is a ton of literature out there, so I wont even begin to make a list. But, keep this in mind when trying to pick out a book. To be highly successful, you need to be well rounded. You will want literature on all things from getting yourself into the right mindset to learning how to market. This takes time, but the knowledge gained will pay off in the end.

Do What They Do!

Simply put… find others in your business, or that are having the type of success you want to have and do what they do. This may be the best advice I ever received. If you align yourself with the right people, or study the processes of those you want to be like, success comes so much easier.

Take advantage of training calls

This is a close second for me to the one above. Sometimes they are even one in the same. Those that are doing the training calls for your business are most likely having great success. They are offering a great service to you. They are teaching you to do what they do without you even having to ask. You should be on every training call you can with your business. You never know when they will drop the next tip or idea that sets your business off.

Live and taped seminars

Live seminars can be costly, but the rewards could be huge for you. It’s just another way that you can learn from the best and do what they do. A great substitute for live conferences are tapes/dvd’s/cd’s, etc. There are a ton of valuable audio programs out. One speaker that I always love to listen to and that has great ideas is Jim Rohn.

Magazines/publications

Like books, there are many. A few that I enjoy are:

“Home Business Advertiser” “The Network Marketing Business Journal” “Networking Times”

There are always great articles in these that can help with your personal and business development.

A few things to keep in mind:

- Be responsible for your own business. Don’t expect anyone to do anything for you. Go get the things you want. Studying success will bring you closer to achieving success.

- Set goals and outlines of what you want to do daily and do them. At the end of the day, evaluate what you did and did not do. This keeps you accountable for your business.

- Acquiring knowledge is an ongoing process. Add tools, books, time, etc into your time and financial plans and continue to feed your mind with all things that will take you forward.

- Remember that any knowledge you gain through your studies is worthless unless you put it into action. All the knowledge in the world will not make you successful. Implementing this knowledge into a game plan will.

Thanks for taking the time to read this and I hope that it has helped you in some way.

Get out there and make success happen!

Copyright © Nick Bramble has been marketing home business programs successfully for 8 years. He enjoys spending time helping others learn to work from home and realize their financial dreams. For more information on Nick and his success, please visit: http://www.nickbramble.com

Working for the comfort of your own home sounds like an ideal situation. But there are some things to think about before trying it.

First of all, WHY do you want to have your own business? Do you think it will be fun? Do you need the money? Or do you just want a new challenge? Your answer to that question will determine your focus.

A lot of newcomers to Internet marketing don’t enter into it as a business. If you’re just doing it for fun, that’s okay. But, if you really want to earn make it a success, you must treat it as a business.

It will be difficult. You will not only be the boss, but you will be the accountant, the assistant, and the administrator. You’ll be doing it all, at least in the beginning.

The next step is to determine if you have the qualities that you need to work from home; some people do not. You must have the following qualities:

1. You must have the self discipline to do the work that is necessary. That means not allowing yourself to watch television, read a novel, or take a swim in the pool while there are still tasks left undone for your business. Of course, those tasks are never-ending, but treat your work day just as if you were working outside the home: 8-5 or 9-5.

2. You should be able to totally focus on a problem from beginning to end to determine the best way to solve it. Problem solving is a big issue because problems will come up – count on it!

3. Organization is also important to a business. You should have the ability to organize your “office” space, whether it be an actual office or just a desk in another room. Paper and information will accumulate and you’ll need a system to handle all the filing storage and information management.

4. You will also need to be able to communicate with other people. You’ll have to be able to explain both problems that you are having but answer customers’ questions about your own products.

5. And finally, you must be able to work hard. If you think that working for yourself will be a lot easier than working for someone else, you’re in for an education! No matter what business niche you decide to go into, you will have “bosses” – someone will always be asking you to do something for them.

There are two more important tasks that MUST be done to make sure your business succeeds.

The first is to have a plan. Set goals and write a task list to help you reach those goals.

And most important: Take ACTION! You can plan all you want but if you don’t take action, the planning won’t ever yield any results.

If you’ve decided that you DO have the qualities that you need to have to succeed in owning your own business, then go for it! Have faith in yourself and your decision. Have the courage to keep on going when those inevitable problems arise. And be DETERMINED to make your business a success. Faith, courage and determination will lead to your success.

Jude Wright is a Webmaster, Internet Marketer and Graphic Designer. She welcomes you to her websites at http://aboutaffiliates.com, http://designsbyjude.com and http://nutritious-cooking.com