Our Educational System Has It All Wrong

Before we can say what is wrong with our educational system, we should define the term.The purpose of the educational system is to:

Pass on Knowledge

Relate relevant issues to each other

Prepare individuals and groups for future situations

The passing on of knowledge is one of the oldest civilized functions. The passing on of knowledge was originally done in the form of stories told when people got together. Once languages were written, then came libraries which were repositories for knowledge.

The passion to record and relate all knowledge has remained a goal of scholars since the invention of libraries.There is no better example of that than the World Wide Web. It’s original intended purpose was provide a central access site where all knowledge could be retained and for related items to be linked to each other.

The need for cross transfer of information has long been recognized as a needed but thorny issue.The issue is thorny because of the difficulty in execution of a noble idea.

As was mentioned earlier, large well organized enterprises have developed systems, involving SMEs (subject matter experts), which are specifically designed to enhance cross transfer of new ideas and concepts within and without their organizations. As in all such situations, this is not a perfect solution, but it is practical.

The preparation of individuals and groups for future situations is the single most extensive function of our educational system This is as it should be. This preparation process has three components. The first is the educational system as a whole. The second component is technical education/training. The third component is vocational education/training.

The functions identified as numbers two and three can arguably be included in the first category. Because their more specialized characteristics, they have differences which need to be identified. The above classification was chosen as the way to do that.

Our Educational System also has three distinct components. They are University Educational Systems,
High School Educational Systems and Grade School
Educational Systems.

The University Educational System has several components. These are Graduate School, Undergraduate School and two year Associate Degree Programs.

Graduate Schools are responsible for the preparation of scholars who will perpetuate the present customs. They are responsible for basic research in both general and technical areas. They are responsible for technical qualification and training and for general managerial training and qualifications.

Undergraduate Schools are responsible for entry level technical and general training. This includes managerial training. Let us not forget the original reason for the establishment of Universities which is to spread the knowledge of social and philosophical disciplines.These are the “liberal arts”.

The “Junior” Colleges serve two purposes. The first is prepare students to enter Undergraduate Schools. The second purpose is to provide training for entry level positions in our enterprise system. This often includes vocational training.

High Schools are responsible to complete the basic educational training skills of math, reading, writing, science and history. They are responsible to make their graduates employable in the enterprise system.

Grade Schools are responsible for to teach the basic knowledge skills and to prepare its graduates for High School.

As is evident from the above description of the responsibilities of the various levels of education,its mission is both diverse and complex. Compounding the diversity issue, is the fact that both Graduate Schools and Undergraduate Schools are curriculum driven to train the next generation. These schools often do not look at all of their functional responsibilities in a balanced manner. Commonly, the matter of qualifying graduates for employment in our enterprise system is not given sufficient emphasis.

Certain disciplines are not covered in sufficient breadth and depth. For example courses in Production Management do not explain that all systems, production and administrative, are best modeled as an analog hydraulic system.This fact is of great impact for those entering the enterprise system. Because they would know that in hydraulic systems constraints limit throughput and that their elimination improves the flow. This then prepares the graduate to make improvements on the ways in which things are done within the organization for which they work.

A similar situation exists with the discipline of work measurement standards. The discipline was developed in the early part of the 20th century yet wide spread knowledge of its benefits do not exist. This is a problem of both the enterprise system and the educational system.

Simply stated, productivity improvement is key to our future economic growth. Increased productivity is achieved only by improved methods and procedures (better ways of doing things).The majority of enterprises have opportunities for systems and procedural improvements within their own organizations. Employees who have the proper knowledge can find and recommend improvements for those systems.

Knowing how to accomplish these programs makes an employee more valuable to the enterprise. The addition of the production facts and work measurement to a broader audience can be of great importance to our enterprise system in general.

At four levels of the educational system, the function of preparing graduates for employment was mentioned as existing. These levels are Graduate School, Undergraduate School, Junior College and High School.

Graduate schools often need to be more proactive with the members of the enterprise system to learn what employee requirements are for a Phd or a Masters Degree candidate.
They can also determine the blend of skills needed.

Undergraduate Schools can also benefit from being more proactive with members of the enterprise system. In this way, they can also determine the blend of skills most wanted by the enterprise system.

Because Junior Colleges often provide vocational training, they are often more aware of the realities of the work place than are other educational groupings. One of the needs of the Junior Colleges is to find out such information as how literate is computer literate? Does every one need to know how to use spread sheets? The source of this type of information is of course, the enterprise community.

High Schools are last educational institution which most students ever see. This makes their role in our educational process a critical one. More students will have the need to know how to get a job and keep a job than will go to another higher educational level. If retention levels increase, the above will be even more the case. High Schools need to provide students with training which employers want to be present in their employees.In order to know what these requirements are, contacts with the enterprise system are needed.

Here are some thoughts about the drop out situation. Many of those out do so because they see no reason to continue school. Their belief is that school provides them with no skills which can get them a job. Further they have little knowledge of the importance of keeping a job. This says that it is super important for the High School to know what is expected of an enterprise system job applicant and teach those skills. This requires both the school board and the educators to become aware to the real student needs and to also know how the local enterprise system works.

Remember the Proactive approach taken by the large and well organized businesses. Similar systems need to be set up with in the academic community. The educational system needs to look at its responsibilities from a functional point of view. This includes taking the needs of the student into account as well as the needs of employers.

More emphasis has to be placed at all levels from High Schools on up to make graduates more employable. Such efforts at the High School level will tend to lower the dropout rates of the High Schools which participate.

The subject matter relating to improving productivity, is not presently being given enough emphasis in any part of the educational system. This is to the detriment of the potential employee.

Management in most enterprises is not aware of the productivity improvements which can and should be employed within the organization. The value and uses of the tools discussed here need to be brought to the attention of senior management at all levels of activity.

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How to Make Money From Home With an Affiliate Marketing Home Based Business

Have you ever dreamed of being financially independent? Free of the 9 to 5 job and the boss who is only looking for the bottom line?

If you answered yes, you are not alone. Many of us dream to be free to be on our own and set our own hours. We would like to be free of the demands our jobs place on us and of the feeling of being ineffective at making the money we deserve.

You, probably, long to be able to take vacations whenever you wish and to work the hours you would like so that you can spend more time with your family and on yourself for your hobbies. Like many of us you see this as something that is out of your reach and is only a pipe dream.

Why is that so? It is likely that you like many people, fear losing the stability and security of your job, even though you know that this is not true at any time. You also feel you do not have the money or the time to really give to start a business of your own. Additionally, there are the opinions of your family and friends that you will only fail if you begin your own business and you, like many others, do not want to fail, especially if you invested your time and money.

You would like to have the following question answered:

How can you make money from home?

The answer to this question is to start an affiliate marketing home based business. You will be surprised to know how easy it is to start your own affiliate marketing business without any money and without spending too much of your time doing it.

Why should you consider affiliate marketing for your home based business?

Consider the following advantages of affiliate marketing:

Requires little or no cash to start
Require little space to do your work. If you have desk, with some clear space, then you are able to do affiliate marketing.
It provides you with the opportunity to promote a product or a service.
Once you have succeeded with a campaign with a good product or service, you can repeat the process with another product or service.

What does it take to start an affiliate marketing home based business?

You will need the following to start an affiliate marketing home based business:

A computer of your own or access to a computer.
A reliable connection to the Internet for the computer you use.
A little space for you and the computer.
A phone line, which you probably already have. If you do not have a phone line you would like to use for the business, you can go to Google Voice and sign up for an invitation to Google Voice where you can have a dedicated phone line that you can have redirected to any phone by setting it to do so with your Google Voice account.
Time to do the work necessary for the business, which is not a lot once you get going.
The final thing you need is the patience to learn how to market. There a lot of resources on the Internet which can help you out as well as some books you can get at Amazon or Barnes and Noble.

When you decide to begin your affiliate marketing business, you can do the following methods in your campaign:

Design a mini website which promotes the single product with a sales page.
Design a Squeeze page. The Squeeze page is a much targeted sales letter designed to get an action, which is usually for building a list to which you can market more affiliate products or services in the future.
Design a Presell page. The Presell page is a like the mini website except that it appeals to people directly with a story that is more personal than what is used for a sales letter.

Each of these can be marketed in the following ways:

Listing the site with Yahoo! Publisher Network or Google AdSense network with Pay Per Click ads to get traffic.
Sending email marketing to your email list you
Writing articles for article directories related to the content on the website
Writing articles which are related to the content on the website
Writing posts to forums with links to your website.

The number of ways you can do your affiliate marketing campaigns are endless and limited only by your imagination.

You do not need much money or very much time to start your affiliate marketing home based business to make money from home. This business can be done while you are still working and can generate extra income at first. The one thing that an affiliate marketing home based business can do for you is to get you believing that you can have your dream of being financially independent and all of the advantages that accompany it.

Isn’t that what you want? Your dreams coming true. Start marketing now and get clicking.

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Are You Ready For a Home-Based Business?

Are you thinking about opening a home-based business? Will it actually be a business or will you “just be working at home?” It’s important how you think of your business if you are working at home because of the traps you can fall into that can cause your endeavor to fail.First of all, consider whether you are you a good work-at-home type person. This is something that has to be taken into consideration. It doesn’t matter that you are a self-starter. It takes more than that. It’s a state of mind.1. Are You Going To Be A Business? For those of us who work at home, do we have a business, or are we sub-contractors, consultants, or what? Are you going to have a business or are you “just someone who works at home.”Of course you can be all of the above and still be a business. But it’s important for you to decide what you’re going to be. If you do not consider yourself a business, you may fall into the trap of “just working at home.” And many times when this happens, you are doomed for failure from the beginning.One of the problems of being “just someone who works at home” is that some of your friends may not be aware that they should pay if they ask you to do something that is related to your business. Making it clear that you are a business will make it more evident that you charge for the work that you do.2. Discipline: Operating a home-based business takes lots of self-discipline. Not only must you must be a self-starter, you must be able to set a schedule and stick to it. Even though you don’t have a boss tapping their foot if you are late in the morning, you have to have that mental image of someone waiting for you to begin your workday.I have set my office hours between 10:00 and 6:00. But I have set the time that I work from 6:00 to 6:00. I choose to do that because I like to take time off during the day. I feel as if I am late for work if I’m not at my desk by 6:00 every morning, and I don’t accomplish as much that day.3. Work on a schedule. Whatever you set your office hours to be, work on that schedule. You may only want to work part-time. That’s okay but decide what hours you’re going to work and be consistent.4. Family Responsibilities. If you let them, friends and family will be your worst enemies as far as getting anything done. It’s hard for other people to understand that we really do have a job or run a business. They think that because we work at home we have plenty of time to do other things-babysit for a friend, have long conversations on the phone, volunteer to chair a committee, take care of a friend’s, dog, etc.You have to make it clear to family and friends is that this is your job. If you don’t work it, you won’t make any money. They won’t treat it as a job if you don’t.As a home based business, I never say that I’m working at home. I say that I’m at the office. If I take a phone call on my cell phone when I’m outside the office, I don’t say that I’m not home now. I say I’m not at my office right now.Working at home can be both a joy and a curse. You have to work it and have other people understand that this is your business.

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Wow – Home Based Business Mom Finds Answers Online!

If you are anything like me, a home based business mom in the making, you are determined to do whatever it takes to prevent your children from going to daycare. Even before I had my four wonderful children, I knew that my kids would never set foot in a daycare. They were going to be raised by husband and myself. My motto is, “Where there is a will, there is a way!” So, what steps did I take to ensure this plan?Like many people, I always wanted to be my own boss so I could have a flexible schedule and work around my kids activities. After graduating from college, I formed an errands business. No similar business existed in my area to “model” so it was more like paving my own road.What is the most important factor when starting a traditional business today? Marketing! Three simple but creative marketing strategies on a shoestring budget are:1. Flyers/brochures–Use a computer to create a flyer or brochure advertising your business. For my errands business, I literally walked into retirement homes to tell the owners that I would transport their residents to doctors appointments and do their shopping for them. I walked downtown, going door-to-door handing out brochures to let everyone know that I started a business and could run their errands. The two main benefits to this method are saving money on postage and by personally handing out your business information, you can start to build relationships with individuals.2. Classified ads in community newspapers–Placing classified ads in your local small papers is much more affordable than the county newspapers but can be just as effective.3. Local Ad on Craig’s List–An ad on Craig’s List is free and can be viewed by a much wider audience. (Unfortunately, Craig’s List was not available when I started my business.)By using the brochures and community ads, this home based business mom was making it work. After a few years, I got married and two years after that, we had our 1st son. I was able to take my son with me on appointments so my plan was in motion.Two years later, my 2nd son came along. Transporting a senior citizen who walks with a cane or walker while caring for a toddler and an infant became a bit of a struggle. While driving, I would try to create conversation with my clients without too much success due to a screaming infant in the back seat. Needless to say, I started to scale back my appointments but I was missing my extra income.After 2 more children, family expenses were starting to increase. This home based business mom decided to become a consultant for Creative Memories, a scrap-booking company, to earn extra income. After many years, I found the home party industry to have its drawbacks as well. Some of the less desirable factors for the home party industry like Creative Memories are:1. The much needed evening and weekend home party times cuts into personal family time2. Small commissions–Average sales approximately $500-$700 earning $150-$210 in commissions3. Quarterly Quotas–$500 minimum requirement every 3 months. All Sales tax and shipping are pre-paid on the retail value of the product ordered.Given these less desirable factors, Creative Memories for me has been set on the back-burner because of its inability to generate significant income.Before I knew it, all 4 kids were in school. So, this home based business mom went back to the drawing board. I decided to work part-time to help a family member with his “brick and mortar” business. I really enjoyed the work and the social aspect of being around people and soon found myself working almost full-time for a “family discounted” hourly rate. Meanwhile, my own family quietly suffered because I was not home to put dinner on the table or run the kids to their sports practices. Feeling under-appreciated for the sacrifices I was making to help my family member with his business, we ended our working relationship.Once again, this home based business mom ended up back at the drawing board. Finally, I found the answer… online! As a seasoned online marketer, my husband recommended I work online too. The main benefits to working online are:1. It can be full or part-time with flexibility2. It is portable–work while on vacation or at the children’s sports practice3. Teamwork–husbands and wives can work together4. Unlimited income potential5. Home based so business expenses can be deducted on annual taxesIn my opinion, it would be well worth your time to research the various online opportunities.

Mothers Opting for Home Based Business

There is a significant increase in the number of mothers opting to have a home based business. This growing trend gives mothers an opportunity to manage their own time and allows flexibility in handling the demands in her family, children and other household obligations.Imagine a mother like anyone else has only 24 hours to juggle various tasks at the home plus her 9-5 office work, community, friends and a lot more. Apart from this, she has a husband and a personal life to pursue.And with a mother’s desire to spend more time with her kids, keeping a 9-5 full time job becomes a hurdle as it already stashes away half of her day. Hence, setting up a home based business becomes an alternative solution.Freeing yourself from a full time job means you will be able to support your son in his baseball game or your daughter’s first piano recital. Your children can count on your presence with confidence that you will be around until the program ends. No rush.Not slaving yourself from a 9-5 day time job leads to more quality time with your children, having energy to follow-up their school homework and more moments to waste time with them.Keeping a home based business is akin to continuing your 9-5 full time job except that you report to no one but to yourself. So mothers, who are ex-corporate lawyer, ex-sales executive and so on, can continue to exercise their expertise by starting a home based business on their knowledge and skill. Your skill from your previous job can be turned into an opportunity. Your services can be outsourced by any private firms or perhaps your previous employer or clients.Another factor that motivates mother to start their home based business is the financial freedom and security from the income generated. An income no matter how minimal is still an income which can augment your family’s financial resources.And with the advent of internet, the opportunity for home based business is vast. It’s your window to the world of opportunities.However, you need also to be realistic in being a home based entrepreneur. Be aware also of the possible investments you will be taking – time, money, skills, etc. Know your strength and weaknesses in your chosen home based business venture.Like any other business it entails hard work, planning and perseverance before your business will take off from the ground. Any successful business ventures didn’t come overnight. You have to toil the groundwork maybe weeks, months or years.In the end of the day, it is all about your choice and the reasons behind your choice for opting to a home based business

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Benefits of a Home Based Business In Lieu of Traditional Employment

In today’s uncertain economic climate, a growing number of people are looking to establish home businesses in lieu of looking for traditional employment under an already established but highly unstable business. Establishing your own home based business or start up is a relatively simple task; all that will be require of a potential entrepreneur is a solid, well thought out business idea and great care taken when executing the idea.The economic market is in a highly erratic position which leads those looking for a stable source of income to pursue self employment because it is a great way to avert a number of potential pit falls that today’s economy is littered with. Starting one’s own home based business also affords the owner absolute freedom to make their own executive decisions as to the well being of the business.Establishing your own home based business is a relatively simple process. The most important element to setting up a home based business is a solid and well constructed business model. Having a great business plan and effective form of executing your idea’s will benefit you in the long run. When working from home, you will mostly likely have a separate room or study which will be used as a dedicated home office; here you can effectively run your business at your own pace.It is easier to work at a pace you are comfortable with because it is your business; you are afforded a level of freedom you would not usually have in a traditional business. You are your own boss and you can run your business the way you see fit; there is no supervisor to report to, no strict work policies and absurd work hours. This new found freedom will significantly reduce your stress levels, while personally improving your skills as a leader and professional entrepreneur.Operating a home based business will effectively help you to grow as a professional, all while increasing your productivity. The time you spend working is directly proportionate to the money you will make in your home based business; this leads you to be more practical with time management and to utilize your skills and assets effectively. When working for yourself, you are not boxed in to one particular job with limited opportunities to branch out; in your own business, you are the CEO, marketer, accountant and secretary. You have a wide array of experiences.With the freedom that a Home Based Business allows, it is no surprise that people continue to establish their own businesses. The era of home based business start ups is only beginning.

10 Small Business Startup Tips

According to a recent Forbes.com article, over a half a million small businesses get started each month while more shut down than start-up. With this statistic, it’s not a surprise that some would be leery in joining the almost 30 million small businesses in the United States. It may also come as a surprise that over half of the working population works in a small business and that most small businesses are home-based. Why then do people start small businesses with these kinds of odds? Because many of us are still deciding what we want to be when we grow up. And once we’ve learned that, we choose to make a go of it on our own.Starting a small business or a home-based business is not something that should be entered into lightly. More often than not you’ll go through a long period languishing while trying to make your business viable. As with many big decisions in life, starting a business is a very big risk. There’s never an assurance of success. Rather, it is expected and statistically likely that you’ll fail. However, if you’re willing to work at beating the odds and fulfill a professional goal, this may still be the route for you.I’d worked in libraries for over a decade. I spent the majority of that time in library administration. I knew a good deal about how to run a small business because I’d essentially been doing so for quite some time. However, when you go out on your own there are many pitfalls that can be made in your businesses’ infancy. Contrary to the popular song lyrics, the best things in life aren’t free. Shortcuts will likely come back to haunt you and so too will not putting in the sweat equity needed to not only financially succeed, but to also feel emotionally and psychologically empowered.If you want to start a small business it has to be a deliberate process. However, it doesn’t have to be an expensive one. It doesn’t hurt for you to do some research. The Small Business Administration is a great free resource. So too are the books. Really, there are any number of tools to help you start-up or navigate the waters of small business. If you’re like the almost 75% of all U.S. business who are non-employers (self-employed with no additional payroll or employees), then you can be sure that there is plenty of information to help you achieve your goals.Running a small home-based business can be inexpensive, not cheap. Don’t scrimp on the stuff that can really make you appear more professional without breaking the budget. Here are a few startup tips for your business:1. Get a domain name.You may not need to register your business’s name with the state. The fact is, that process may be unnecessary and It can be costly depending on the nature of your business. However, it helps if you have a domain name so that you can have a traditional online storefront and presence. That isn’t to say that you need to sell products through your site, it just means that you have a place that you can send people to online to find out more information about you and your products and services.2. Use social media.No longer can people lament about how they don’t use Facebook or Twitter, being on social media also lends an air of credibility and savviness to your business. Using social media is inexpensive and easy. There are plenty of online tutorials on how to use social media and by getting yourself out there by using the social media networks, it opens you up to more clients and the ability to interact in real-time with them as well. Also, don’t simply have a presence on social media, depending on your demographic, there are still some people who simply aren’t using social media. Thus, you must also have an easily accessible webpage as well.3. It doesn’t hurt to use old school marketing tools.Professional business cards as well as marketing items are now nominal in cost. Don’t just settle for free cards, pay that little extra to brand your items. This way you can be fully in charge of the message you’re putting out there. Think about it, what did you think of the person who handed you a business card that were clearly free ones?!4. Use accounting software.Quickbooks, Freshbooks, Nutcache and the list goes on. You can even use Excel if you’re so inclined. Regardless, it’s imperative that you start consistent and accurate record keeping from the very start. Make sure that all of your transactions, big and small, are in a place that will make it easy for you come tax time.5. Work in the cloud and back it up.Cloud-based software is available for everything. It also doesn’t hurt to use free ones in this case. Google is the gold standard when it comes to free. However, document creation and retention aren’t the only things you can do in the cloud. Accounting software, website administration, almost anything you can think of can be done in the cloud. Plus, it makes your data accessible anywhere that has an Internet connection. And don’t forget to backup your work. If you’re saving your work to your computer or saving it to a virtual drive in the cloud, be sure that you have a backup. Redundancy is key and it can also be very economical. A good rule of thumb is to have a physical and virtual off-site backup because Murphy’s Law always happens.6. Be virtual.Depending on the type of services you offer, there are companies out there that can assist you in getting jobs/projects. Companies like Upwork provide you with a place to offer your services to others and provides you with an online workplace. Being a freelancer has never been so easy. As a freelancer, you don’t have to limit how and how many clients you have.7. You have to pay some to get some.Yes, you can start a new business with no cost, however, by investing just a little money upfront you’ll almost ensure a return on your investment. Pay for a virtual fax service, marketing materials and other little things that will go a long way in ensuring that your business isn’t like every other “mom and pop” business. Just be careful not to go all in too fast. Recurring costs, though small, can add up fast. If you have recurring costs it means that you have to earn at least that much money per month.8. Be tax savvy.You must be cognizant of what kind of tax impact there will be as a result of your business. It’s common, depending on the type of business you have and if you don’t have employees, for you to not withhold any taxes during your first year. Getting a baseline for what your business will be like is important, just don’t forget that Uncle Sam may hit you with a large tax bill at tax time. Visit the IRS website or speak to a tax professional to help you with getting this sorted out before it becomes a very expensive mistake.9. Make time for yourself.When you commit to owning a small business the one thing you’re guaranteed is that it’s going to be hard. Despite how challenging it is, you have to take time for yourself. It’s easy to work long hours and to forget that we aren’t machines. Even if it’s just a 15-minute walk each day or something else that will break up your workday, you must not forget that sometimes it’s best to literally walk away to clear your head. This will do wonders for your mood and your process.10. Be disciplined.Sure, we all think that working for ourselves would be the best job in the world. But it’s not until you’re actually doing it that you realize just how easy it is to be trapped by the pitfalls of having no other boss than yourself. That quick television break inevitably turns into a television marathon, sleeping in one day turns into not setting the right habits you need to be successful. It’s easy to say that you’re going be disciplined and fully devoted to the success of your business, but old habits do die hard.Each day brings challenges and uncertainties. You have to be willing to fail spectacularly. But you also have to be willing to love and nurture your business even on the days when you just don’t feel like it. If you don’t work, you don’t get paid. Despite that, the sky’s the limit and your earning potential is limitless when you’ve devoted yourself to doing what it is that you are passionate about. It’s important to remember that you’re not to give up when it gets hard. Those are the times you have to really dig in and remember why it is that you’re doing it in the first place.

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Home Based Business: 3 Excellent Home Based Business Ideas for Part-Timers

In today’s economic turmoil, people are now more receptive to the idea of building a business and are looking for home based business ideas. With all the massive layoffs that have taken place and the unprecedented high unemployment rates, it is smart today for people to have other streams of income other than the primary income stream from the not so reliable JOB. Building a home based business is an excellent method for people to supplement income and/or replace existing income. The following home business ideas can be done part-time while working a full-time job. All of these business opportunities have the potential to earn a real significant income to change a person’s lifestyle:

1. Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate Marketing is one of the many popular home based business ideas available to people. The concept is simple where you the marketer is promoting products via the internet for companies while earning commissions for each sale. Typically you will find a niche and market for the company by placing an advertisement such as banner ads, graphics, or text links to drive the consumer to buy the product. This will earn you a commission on the sales or clicks that the advertisement generates. In this business model of home business ideas, you can also build a list of a targeted market which will allow you to market via email marketing and makes sales over time and growing your home based business.

2. Network Marketing

Network Marketing is another one of the many very popular home based business ideas. The concept is similar to affiliate marketing. You as the independent representative are promoting products and services for companies while earning commissions for bringing a sale. You also have the option to promote the home business opportunities to other people. Promoting the business opportunity allows you to build a sales force and override commissions within the sales team. As your sales team and customer base grows in your home based business, the commissions and residual income grow proportionately. This business model is a very lucrative business model considering the other home business ideas because of residual income.

3. E-commerce

E-commerce is a great option for home based business ideas. The concept behind E-commerce is composed of setting up a website where you can sell products from vendors in any particular niche all across the world. Think of E-commerce as online retailing where you would sell products in any particular niche you wish. For example a variety of pet nutritional products could be sold on your website or online retail store. Another form of E-commerce, is setting up an eBay or Amazon account and selling your own products or products from companies that allow you buy bulk at wholesale pricing.

Although the three home based business ideas are conceptually simple, building any of these three mentioned home based business models is not simple and requires an investment of time, money, and commitment. Be weary of any programs promoting easy road to riches or promises of fast easy money. This is not the case with any legitimate home business opportunity. Remember there is always a learning curve to master. Anyone promoting thousands of dollars in days, weeks, even months can very well be illegitimate and should not be considered with the other home business ideas. The key to finding legitimate business opportunities is to find a company with a good track record, good product base, a fair to excellent compensation plan, and/ or excellent margins for a home based business.

Online Classified Advertising – Better Substitute for Ordinary Advertising Methods

People use many advertising media such as television, radio, news paper and magazines. These are traditional advertising media people who use for decades. But at present business people are seeking for different kind of advertising media. As a better solution, internet advertising or online advertising is doing a great job.

Now there are lots of online advertising websites available in the internet and people have the opportunity to publish their classified ads such as vehicles, electronic items, laptops, cameras, mobile phones as well as can advertise hotels, holiday resorts, spa, rent a car services, lands, houses, commercial buildings, apartments and many more.

These online advertising websites work the same with other media and sometimes they provide more features than those ordinary sources.

There are several advantages of online classified advertising. Mainly most of the barriers that affect to other media such as geographical and legal barriers will not affect to online promotions. Also advertisers can target huge potential customer by advertising online because your advertisement can be accessed from anywhere of the world.

Another advantage of this is it can be published within a short time period and it can be done for lower cost than print or other media.

Because of the advantages of online advertising, most of the news papers are also maintaining their online editions. Also most of the small & medium size enterprises advertise online because they have the opportunity to target wide range of customers for cheaper prices.

Also in the near future, people will not have time to read newspapers or watch televisions for long time period because of their busy life style. Hence they will addict to the internet much more because it will help them to find what they need within a short time period even at their office or at bedroom.

Another advantage of online classified advertising is it will allow to present ads with various audio and visual combination. As an example, if we take a paper advertisement, we can use only still images or visual contents and audio or animations cannot be used. These kinds of limitations are there in other promotional media as well. But in online advertising, we have the opportunity to use audio, visual and animating contents.

Also there are time lags in other advertising media but online advertisement will be available in the internet during 24 hours a day for long time period.

Likewise there are lots of advantages in online classified advertising and it will become the number one advertising option for business people in near future.

The Finer Points of Internet Auctions

WHAT IS A PENNY AUCTION?

Penny auctions have exploded in popularity with the massive growth of the internet. However, few people know the true origins of penny auctions.Beginnings actually stretch back to the Great Depression. Those were hard times for everyone, but even harder for farmers. Farmers struggled to bring in steady income because of droughts and crops not selling as well as they had previously. As a result, the banks would foreclose on the farmers who couldn’t keep up with their mortgage payments.

The banks weren’t satisfied with just repossessing the house, they wanted to raise as much capital as possible, so they resorted to selling off the possessions of the owners of the repossessed houses. There was not much the farmers could do about it so they began bidding ridiculously low prices, pennies, on the items while threatening others who dared to bid higher than a few pennies.

The auctions of today hardly resemble their tremulous beginnings. Being part of a penny auction today is exhilarating, fun, and addictive. It combines the selling format of auctioning with a little bit of chance factored in.Auctions are a game of strategy but also a game of luck.

The premise behind penny auctions is giving people the chance to win an item at a drastically reduced price.Auctions make that possible by spreading out the cost of the product among multiple bidders. In order for a person to take part in an auction, they must pay a set price for each bid. For example, if a person wanted to bid on a fifty dollar Amazon gift card then he would spend a dollar for each time a bid placed. If he ended up winning the gift card, then he would only have spent a few dollars for a fifty dollar gift card. Usually penny auctions sell bids in packages.

HOW PENNY AUCTIONS WORK!

The main foundation of penny auctions is the pay-per-bid format. It is the key that allows bidders to win items at the fraction of their retail value and allows the auction owners to keep their site profitable. Most y auction sites run on the same premise: people pay a set amount for each bid, whenever a person places a bid within the closing seconds of the auction time will be added, the last person left with a unique bid after the clocks runs out will win the item. There are a large variety of items that can be won, but they tend to be popular electronics or gift cards to popular stores.

There are two types of auctions: lowest unique bid auction and highest unique bid auction. Lowest unique auction sounds confusing but it is actually quite simple. A unique bid is when only one person has a bid at a certain price. Bids usually start at one penny, a bidder can then place a bid at two pennies. Until another bidder places a higher bid, the most recent bidder will be the lowest unique bid because that was the only bid at two cents and nobody bid higher. However, penny auctions generally don’t stop at one penny. It is not uncommon to find auctions that end up at a couple hundred dollars based on the popularity of the item being auctioned. However, the same principles apply for those auctions. Highest unique bid auctions follow the more traditional auction format such as eBay. The person with the highest bid at the end of the auction wins the item.

Auction site owners turn a profit by selling bids. Say twenty people are bidding on a ten dollar gift card at one dollar per bid, at the end of the auction if there were twenty bids placed in total then the site owner would have made twenty dollars with a ten dollar profit.Auctions do seem like a win-win situation:The site owner makes money while the bidder gets an item for dirt cheap. However, not everyone wins in penny auctions. The people who paid one dollar each bid but left with nothing to show for their investments will not be so happy.

HOW TO WIN!

Penny auction has a lot of chance mixed into it, but one can incorporate strategy that will help raise the chances of winning. Playing smart can make all the difference between gambling and auctioning.

The first crucial tip to winning penny auctions is to know how to manage your bids. Your goal should be to win as much as possible without spending a ton of money buying bids. Managing your bids means that you should already know how much you are willing to risk in order to win an item. The amount of capital you are willing to risk will determine how many bids you can use. Once you know how many bids you have to spend on an item, then you will be better able to manage how and when you place a bid. That will keep you from blowing away all of your bids in the first few seconds of the auction.

The next tip is to practice time management. When fighting in the trenches of penny auctions, you have two enemies: other bidders and time. Knowing when to bid is a must if you want to have success. Placing a bid when there is a lot of time left on the clock is never a good idea. You have to remember that the key to winning a penny auction is being the last one standing when the clock runs out and that each bid increases the amount of time left. It would be a good practice to wait until the last few minutes of the auction before you begin to bid.

The final tip for successful auctioning is to keep your emotions under control.Auctions have a lot of similarities to gambling, and just like gambling, your spending can get out of control. If you keep your emotions level, it will keep you from making rash decisions and blowing loads of cash. Keep your mind clear so that you can gage the behavior of the other bidders and outsmart them.

HOW TO AVOID SCAM SITES!

Penny auctions are a great addition to the web whether you want to win an item that otherwise you wouldn’t be able to afford or if you simply enjoy the thrill that comes with bidding in auctions. Unfortunately, scam sites have tarnished the reputation of the legitimate penny auction sites. However, there are ways that you can protect yourself from scamers and enjoy your auctioning without having to worry about losing your money due to dishonesty.

Checking the reputation of the auction site before you start spending your hard earned money is always a good idea. Chances are other people have tried the site before you and some of them have left reviews. The reviews are your way to gage whether a auction site is trustworthy or not. If a site is getting overwhelmingly negative reviews, then that is a clear indication that you should steer your business elsewhere.

Another tool you can use to protect yourself is checking the Alexia ranks of the auction sites. Alexia rank will give a solid view of how much traffic the auction is getting. If you see a huge difference in the amount of traffic Alexia is projecting and the amount of active bidders on the site, then warning signals should be ringing in your head. Some auction sites have been known to set up robots that automatically bid on projects in order to keep the auction going and inflate the price. That is known as shill bidding. You can sniff out those sites by comparing the traffic the site should be getting to the amount of users using this site.

CONCLUSION!

New legislation may come out later down the road that will officially make penny auctions gambling, but until then, it is a fun, exciting auction that allows one to win the item they’ve always wanted but couldn’t afford.Auctions are also quite lucrative for the site owners because of the pay-per-bid strategy they’ve incorporated. Penny auctions had humble beginnings with farmers who just wanted to get back at the banks who kicked them out of their house. More recently, auctions have enjoyed an explosion in popularity with the rise of the internet.

There are two main formats fora auctions, lowest and highest unique auction, however they both run on the same premise where the last unique bid wins the item. Winning a penny auction will require a certain amount of mental tactic and a bit of luck. However, you can increase your odds of winning by practicing certain techniques such as managing your bids wisely, learning how to work with the time, and keeping a level head and your emotions under control. When you combine those three strategies to your bidding plan, you will find that you win a lot more often.

It is important that you do your due diligence to protect yourself when participating in auctions. Not every auction is run by honest and trustworthy people. There are people out there who just want to take your money. You can protect yourself by ensuring that you only bid on sites that already have a very positive reputation from real users.

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