Do you enjoy buying and selling? Do you have a knack for finding great bargains at garage sales and thrift stores? If you enjoy shopping and bargain hunting you can turn your hobby into a money making business. You can start your own eBay business right from your kitchen table.

What is an eBay Business?

eBay is an auction site. People look for items they need and they bid on them. The highest bidder wins. As a seller you can sell items in your home. For example, you might sell that old leather jacket that you never wear anymore. You can also start an eBay store to sell goods. In this case you might choose to sell a specific type of product. For example, you might sell house wares in your eBay store. Or you might target a specific type of home product, Fiestaware for example.

Your job as an eBay business owner is to find products to sell. Then you sell them, hopefully for a profit. You then ship the product to the buyer. It’s as easy as that.

What Do You Need To Get Started?

To get started selling on eBay you’ll need a few things:

* A camera – to photograph your products.
* Products to sell – this is the fun part!
* An eBay store – you can set one up for less than twenty dollars a month.
* Knowledge – you’ll want to make sure you’re buying items that can be sold at a profit. In many instances this means having knowledge about the demand and value of your chosen products.
* You might also consider creating your own website, though you certainly don’t have to. An eBay store may be sufficient to reach your sales and profit goals.

Note: You can sell your own home made products on eBay too. Many people sell jewelry, handmade clothing, art and even food on eBay. You can also sell information products.

Tips for Marketing and Growing Your eBay Business

#1 Research your competition. Spend some time on eBay browsing through other stores. What stores do you like? What do they do well? Why do you like them? What stores don’t you like and why? This research session will help you create a store that meets your needs and those of your customers.

#2 Plan your store first. Before you create your store, plan it. Depending on the level of store you’ve purchased you’ll get:

* A “Home” page
* An “About Us” page
* Logo
* Store description
* Promotion boxes
* Search box
* Store categories
* Gallery view

Designing your store on paper will help you create a great online store.

#3 Use eBay’s marketing tools. The more you market your store and your business the more profits you’re likely to make. eBay offers a number of marketing tools including:

* Email marketing
* Keywords
* Advertising
* Print materials
* Cross promotion tools

If you enjoy buying and selling or you are skilled at making products consider setting up an eBay business. It’s simple, cost effective and easy to use. Create your plan and start making money today.

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Some home businesses appeal in a bad economy. A dog walking business may appeal to you.

Do you love dogs and enjoy being outdoors? If so, a dog walking business may be the perfect business for you. More people own dogs than ever before. And these very same people are often willing to spend a great deal to make sure their dogs are happy. Their busy lifestyles prevent them from giving a dog what it often wants most – time outside. You can help.

What is a Dog Walking Business?

As a dog walker you simply take people’s dogs for a walk. You might group your clients by neighborhood and walk several dogs at once. Or you might schedule appointments and walk dogs individually throughout the day. You can charge based on a per dog fee, a per walk fee or a package rate.

You might also offer to do other things for your clients. They might include feeding the dog, pet sitting while they are away or taking the dog to the veterinarian.

What You Need To Get Started

You need very little to get started as a dog walker. You will want to have:

• A love for dogs
• A business plan
• A few extra leashes
• A pooper scooper
• Good walking shoes
• A marketing plan/materials

You can start a dog walking business for less than a hundred dollars. In fact, much of your marketing may be done via word of mouth. You may also want to post flyers around town.

However, before you start marketing your business make sure you have a business plan. What are your business goals? How much do you want to make each month? Each year? How many clients do you need to reach your goal? What are your rates? Who is your competition? Who are your ideal clients?

Spend some time researching other dog walking businesses. Once you’ve created your business plan, then go out and market your business to your ideal clients.

Tips for Marketing and Growing Your Business

Consider creating a website for your business. This will help people learn more about you. Include an “About me” page on your website. This is important because people will have to trust you with their beloved pets. They want to know more about you. Also include a services page that lists what you offer and how much it costs. Consider including a policies and procedures page along with FAQs. You might also want to have downloadable forms on your website. Clients will fill out the form so you have all the information you need. For example it asks for the name, breed and age of the dog. It might leave room for the client to document any special needs their dog has.

Publish a few articles or blog posts on your website as well. These can be articles you’ve written or have permission to reprint. They should be about the care and keeping of dogs. This information will be educational for your clients. It will also help boost your credibility as a care provider.

Make sure your dog walking website and business are listed with the local online search engines. For example, Google Places. Include your website on any marketing materials you print. Finally, consider asking local pet stores to display your brochure or flyer. Between your online efforts and a few strategic offline marketing efforts you’ll have a full dog walking schedule in no time.

Related articles

• What to Do in a Bad Economy? (therealowner.com)

Guest post from Michele PW (Michele Pariza Wacek) — your Ka-Ching! Marketing strategist. www.MichelePW.com   [Note: Although Michele is talking about making money as a writer, she could be talking about any "make money from home" business.]

Now that you’re ready to start making money as a writer, you’ll need a place to be a writer. Here are three steps to get you started.

1. Start with a desk. Actually you need more than a desk — you also need a place to work. While a separate room is ideal, I’ve seen people turn dining rooms, basements and even a corner of a master bedroom into an office (yours truly started out of her bedroom).

Wherever you decide to set up shop, you need enough room for both a computer and paper files (background information, magazines, client files, etc.) Let yourself spread out.

Don’t forget to make room for a bookshelf and file cabinets. You’ll need both.

What you DON’T want to do is share that space with something else. Believe me, it’s a real drag to put together and tear down an office every day because you need the kitchen table for dinner. It drains your energy and will keep you from being as productive as you could be.

2. Stock up on office supplies. Make sure you purchase the basics in advance so you won’t have to go running to Staples when you’re under deadline (talk about stress). Here’s a list to get you started:

• Paper (buy it in bulk — you’ll save money plus it will last you awhile)
• Pens
• Extra printer cartridges (very important, always have a couple on hand)
• Highlighters
• Staples and staplers (get a good stapler, you’ll thank yourself)
• File folders (don’t forget accordion file folders)
• Paper clips
• Post-it notes

3. Make sure your technology is working. Although being a writer is one of the less expensive businesses to set-up and maintain, there still are some things you really need to invest in. After all, you want to make it as easy as possible for your clients or editors to conduct business with you. If you don’t, there are many other writers who will. Some basic items to consider:

• Computer with Internet access. High-speed is best (again, you don’t want to be wasting time with dial-up).
• Fax machine. Yes, e-mail has taken over many of the functions of a fax machine, but if you do any copywriting, I guarantee you still need it. Fax machines have come down in price, you can get a pretty decent one for under $300. Make sure you get one that doubles as a copy machine — you don’t want to be running to a shop every time you need a copy.
• Dedicated fax line. A second phone line to hook up your fax doesn’t cost you that much and makes you look even more professional. Plus there will be times where you need that second line (or you need to receive and/or send a fax while on the phone).
• Voice mail on your primary line. No, not an answering machine. Get voice mail. That way, your clients, potential clients, editors, interviewees, etc. will never get a busy signal. Remember, you want to make it easy for people to do business with you.

On your computer, here are some basic software packages to look into:

Word processing (You’ll find many of your clients use Microsoft Word, so that’s probably the one to invest in)

• Accounting software (QuickBooks and MYOB are two good ones)
• A client-tracking software package (like ACT!)
• Tracking software for submissions (I’ve used Excel with success, but there are other dedicated ones out there if that’s more your style)
• Other packages to make you more compatible with your clients (I’ve found Excel and PowerPoint to be helpful).

One final tip — it’s best to get your office organized BEFORE the work starts rolling in. It can be very stressful to balance work with getting your office in order.

Michele PW (Michele Pariza Wacek) is your Ka-Ching! Marketing strategist and owns Creative Concepts and Copywriting LLC, a copywriting and marketing agency. She helps entrepreneurs become more successful at attracting more clients, selling more products and services and boosting their business. To find out how she can help you take your business to the next level, visit her site at www.MichelePW.com. Copyright © 2011 MichelePW all rights reserved.

Did you know you can make money as an assistant from your kitchen table? With the internet and basic technology you can provide a valuable service to clients around the world. Best of all, you can be online and working in just a few short days. You can become a virtual assistant.

What is a Virtual Assistant?

A virtual assistant is someone who provides administrative help. Instead of working in an office environment, they provide the work online. As a virtual assistant you might communicate with your clients via email or a project management system.

You can specialize in a specific task, for example, managing a forum or an affiliate team. Or you can offer a variety of administrative services. You can also specialize in an industry.

What Do You Need to Get Started as a Virtual Assistant?

* Computer with internet connection
* Software to support your administrative services
* Telephone and related equipment like a headset so you can talk hands free
* Website to market your services
* Business Plan – Your plan will your business goals, marketing strategy, audience, services, policies and procedures and so on.
* Contact information – Email account/telephone number

Most of the home office essentials you probably already have and the rest of it can be acquired or created. The one thing you probably don’t have is a website. A one page website is all you need to get started. Once you have customers you can expand your website. You can add content and grow your business.

Making Money as a Virtual Assistant

Most virtual assistants charge by the hour. You might also consider charging by the project. Another option is to charge by the minute, word, or post depending on what service you’re providing. For example, if you’re offering transcription you might charge by the audio minute.

Marketing Your Administrative Business

Like many other businesses, it can be beneficial to specialize. For example you might market yourself as the 24-hour transcriptionist – turning around any transcription order in less than twenty four hours. You might specialize in managing affiliates, scheduling or managing customer service. You might also specialize in an industry. For example, you might focus on offering research for information marketers.

Your website will be your primary marketing tool. It’ll be where people can research your services, rates and view your work if you have any samples or testimonials.

Partnering with another service provider can be a great way to promote your business. For example, you might partner with a website designer who specializes in the same industry you do.

Social networking, advertising, and content marketing all help to build awareness too. Finally, some virtual assistants find great success by offering memberships. For example, you might offer five, ten and fifteen hour memberships. Members get a discount for committing to regular work. And you get regular work.

If you have an interest in offering administrative services and you want to work from home, from your kitchen table, you can do it. Create a plan. Build your one-page website and start making money today.

To your Kitchen Table Business success!

Kate Williams, Simply Home Business

P.S. If you’re just getting started and don’t know which tools you need, check out our Home Business Shop for ideas!

Do you have a special skill or talent? Can you make things that people value? Are you crafty? If you are, you can make good money. You can turn your hobby into a business.

For example, if you knit, you can create an online store. Sell products that you’ve knitted and take orders. It’s a wonderful way to make money doing something you love.

What is a Craft Business?

A craft business is a business you can operate online and off. You can create your own website and store. You can also use services like etsy.com and eBay.com to sell your products. In fact, many people sell handmade jewelry, candles, clothing, accessories and home goods. There’s a growing demand for unique, handmade products. If you have the skills, you can make good money.

What Do You Need to Get Started?

Getting started is fairly simple. You’ll need:

• A computer – so you can communicate with customers and market your product
• A camera – to photograph your items.
• Product – you’ll want a few items for your inventory and to photograph for your website or store.
• A business plan – how much do you want to make? What expenses do you have? Who is your audience? How will you market your business? How much will your products cost?
• A website or store – Check out services like Etsy and eBay. eBay is an auction site however you can sell handmade goods at a fixed price. Etsy focuses on selling vintage and handmade items. It’s the perfect place to sell your handmade items. At both sites you can create a store. There’s a monthly membership fee but it’s generally less than twenty dollars each month. Both have a built in shopping cart system and payment and fulfillment system.

Tips for Marketing and Growing Your Business

#1 Research other craft businesses. Get online at Etsy and eBay and review their stores and websites. What works? What doesn’t? Before you create your store or website, plan it on paper.

#2 Prosper with partnerships. As a craft business owner you might even partner with other business owner to support each other’s success. For example, if you know someone who makes hand blown glass holiday ornaments and you make hand knitted holiday stockings you might band together to promote each other.

#3 Consider choosing a niche or specialty. It’s easier to find an audience if you have a specialty. For example, if you’re a painter you might enjoy painting a variety of scenes and using a variety of mediums. However, if you specialize you will have an easier time marketing your products. You might specialize in watercolors of fish or painting people’s pets. Specialization makes you the go to person for a specific type of product.

If you are a skilled artist or crafter you can make money with your hobby. Research your audience. Choose a specialty and set up your store. With a small investment you can begin making money right from your kitchen table.

Being a successful event planner can really be a dream come true. Does your ideal business day include dreaming up fantastic events and turning them into reality? Event planning can bring in a very good income while you meet many interesting people.

How do you become a successful event planner? Here are a few tips.

Pick a Specialty or Clientele

The most successful event planners focus on one specialty, especially when marketing the business. That specialty might be large conferences, large parties, corporate trainings or industry trade shows – make a choice. What will you choose as your flagship service?

Once you’ve chosen your flagship service, when you’re asked what you do, it will attract more customers if you can say: “I help Fortune 500 companies win fame and fortune at conferences” (or something that describes who you work with and how you help them). You’re much more likely to get referrals than if you tell them: “I’m an event planner.” Be more specific; give people a much more solid idea of what you do; focus on the problem you solve or the need you fulfill.

Start now–make a list of the people you’d most like to work with and the problem they have that you solve (or need you fulfill) with your work. In a third column, list the outcome or primary benefit your client receives when they work with you.

Establish Contacts and a Track Record

Get some experience in the event planning industry. You will land more and better clients if you’ve participated in planning an event before you start marketing yourself as an event planner.

Start out by working for another event planning company. Volunteer at other events in your spare time. Establish contacts with organizers and event hosts. If you can’t work with them–interview them.

Planning an event requires that you have contacts in a wide variety of areas. For example, to run a successful conference you need a trusted sound team, a great volunteer organizer, interior designers familiar with conference design, and so on.

Your contacts in the industry will help you land clients. In the beginning, ease into the industry and develop the contacts you need to do a top notch job and to land your ideal clients.

Get at least six to twelve months of experience by working with existing events before you try to market yourself as an event planner. If your flagship service is aimed at smaller-scale events (like birthday parties), you can cut the initial learning and networking time down significantly.

Create Your Portfolio

What does an event planner’s portfolio look like?

• Pictures of packed events.
• Pictures of smiling event speakers.
• Testimonials from event hosts about how amazing and easy you made the whole event.

You want to create a portfolio to show prospective clients the benefits and outcomes of working with you.

Start collecting testimonials, pictures and even videos as early in your career as possible.

Jump In Feet First

Finally, the most important thing is that you jump in feet first. The only way to really learn how to be a successful event planner is to just jump into the industry and learn. You’ll often find that people are more than happy to teach you what you need to know.

Related articles

• 10 Top Events Planning Articles (eventsblogger.wordpress.com)
• 5 Must Ask Questions Before Hiring an Event Planner (mceonsite.com)
• Find Your Professional Self (preparetheaffair.wordpress.com)
• What Brides (and Event/Wedding Planners) can Learn from Extreme Cage Fighting (mylittleflowershop.wordpress.com)

Do you have what it takes? The entrepreneurial abilities needed to start your own small business?

Being an entrepreneur isn’t easy. Have you got what it takes to really make it on your own? Here are some of the most important attributes an entrepreneur needs to possess in order to succeed.

Ability to Listen to Advice, While Making Your Own Decisions

An entrepreneur needs to be able to listen to people who have more experience, from their peers and from their customers. An entrepreneur needs to fully and deeply understand their market, their customers, their current situation, their problems and their potential solutions.

That said, no matter how much experience your advisors have, you ultimately have to be the one to make the decision. An entrepreneur must be willing to call their own shots, sometimes even if it goes against what their advisors with more experience suggest – if that’s what your gut tells you to do.

Honed Instincts You Can Trust, Especially with People and Deals

A business person needs to be able to trust their instincts. The two most important instincts they need to possess and be able to rely on are their instincts about people and about business deals.

Ever get the sense that you just can’t trust someone? Or the sense that you genuinely want to do business with someone? Do you trust these instincts?

When a business proposition is presented to you, do you have a strong internal compass that tells you “yes” or “no”? Can you trust these gut instincts?

The best business decisions are not made just on numbers and projections. Although those are important, the real decision often comes down to whether or not your instincts tell you go forward. Your instincts will usually be right.

An Orientation towards Action

Great entrepreneurs are action oriented. “Ready, fire, aim” rather than “ready, aim, fire.”

Instead of spending two years writing a business plan and conducting market research, a real entrepreneur just goes for it. They sketch out a plan. They get into action. They take the results they get from the real world, rework their plan in real time and keep moving forward.

MBA-types who study businesses hypothetically without actually building businesses tend to think about business a lot. Entrepreneurs on the other hand are much more apt to just do something and see what the results are.

In order to really create business results in the world, you’ve got to be strongly action oriented.

Be Willing to Take Risks, Sometimes Really Big Risks

Are you willing to risk everything you have on your ideas? Sometimes that’s what’s really necessary in order to get your venture launched off the ground.

Many entrepreneurs have had to sell their homes to fund their businesses. Some have had to leverage enough of their corporate equity that they’d lose control of their own company if anything went wrong, in order to fund the next stage of their growth.

To really succeed in running your own business, you’ve got to be willing to take risks. Sometimes those risks will feel humongous, but you’ve got to be willing to take them anyway.

These are some of the most important aspects of succeeding as an entrepreneur. Do you have what it takes? If you think the answer is yes, then you’ve got an incredibly exciting and potentially highly lucrative career ahead of you.

Related articles

• Some Entrepreneurs are Too Busy to Get Results (startupprofessionals.com)
• 5 Traits That Make a Successful Entrepreneur (bellwort.wordpress.com)
• Advice on Starting a Small Business (thinkup.waldenu.edu)

=> Comparison Shop for Electronics

Use websites like Pricewatch.com and NewEgg.com to comparison shop for electronics. You’re almost guaranteed to get cheaper products than if you were shopping in local retail shops.

Also try shopping on sites like Overstock.com, which sells leftover products from other wholesalers.

=> Buy in Bulk at Costco or Sam’s Club

These consumer-oriented wholesalers often sell products like paper, ink cartridges and other office supplies at much lower prices than you’d get at Best Buy or Office Depot.

Shop around a bit before making your purchases. You’ll usually find that wholesalers have lower prices than retail shops.

=> Try eBay

EBay is great for buying all kinds of products. That’s especially true for non-electronics.

Buying things like computers or hard drives on eBay can be more risky because you don’t actually get to physically touch the product and make sure it’s okay.

That said, in the last few years eBay’s really made strides to make electronic sales more secure. Make sure you’re buying from sellers with solid feedback and thousands of sales and you’ll be fine.

=> Get Used Furniture

Don’t buy furniture new. New furniture is incredibly expensive and can really cut into an office budget.

Instead, get high-quality used furniture. One great place to find used furniture is Craigslist. There’s often free furniture listed as well as lower-cost used furniture. You’ll often be able to find some very nice pieces if you have the patience to go through listings and wait a week or two as you shop around.

Also check out the various used furniture stores in your area. Goodwill is one such store in almost every major city, though Goodwill furniture tends to be of lower quality.

Spend some time shopping around for furniture. Buy it used. You can get very high-quality pieces at very low prices this way – sometimes even free!

=> Don’t Buy Things You Don’t Need

Do you really need a fax machine? Or can you replace it with an online fax service that will receive faxes and email them to you?

Do you really need a Xerox printer, or can you just get a $25 printer from Costco? Do you really need new ink cartridges for $30, or can you just refill your old cartridges for $6?

Lower the cost of stocking a home office by just buying less stuff. Make sure everything you buy are things you really need.

Stocking a home office doesn’t need to be expensive. Use sites like eBay, Pricewatch, NewEgg and Overstock to find products cheap. Buy from Costco or Sam’s Club rather than retail stores to save money on products you need to buy in person. Cut back on product purchases. When you combine all of these money-saving habits, you’ll quickly find your home office stocked – Without having to spend tons of money.

Here’s how.

=> Be Undyingly Dedicated to Customer Satisfaction

The best and most successful companies in the world are companies that care deeply about the customer experience.

Amazon.com was not the first company to sell books online. In fact, they were number four or five to come on the market. The reason Amazon dominated the market was because they had a customer-satisfaction focus. They made sure that everyone who came to Amazon was satisfied. Today, they boost a conversion rate of over 12% as a result of the brand they built up.

The same can be said of PayPal. PayPal was also not the first to launch an online payment system. Many competitors came into the space after PayPal – including eBay, which launched their own competing payment system.

People kept coming back to PayPal time and again because PayPal had an incredible focus on making the customer experience smooth and easy. They kept the amount of steps you needed to take to a bare minimum and adapted to customer demands, while other competitors failed to do so.

Eventually eBay had to shut down their version of the company and acquire PayPal, because it was just so clear that PayPal had so much customer loyalty that they couldn’t compete.

These are just two examples. An unerring focus on customer satisfaction and the customer experience is the number one most important thing for building customer loyalty.

=> Ask for Feedback in Multiple Media

Asking for feedback is integral to providing a great customer experience. You need to know what your customers like and don’t like about their experience in order to innovate.

Ask for your customer’s feedback in many different media. The most basic method is to ask for feedback via online surveys. But don’t stop there. Ask for their feedback by phone and in person. Watch your customers use your product and see where they get stuck.

Ask for feedback from people who bought, from people who might buy but haven’t and from people who decidedly didn’t buy. Get feedback from everyone.

Only with diligent feedback can you build a really great company.

The bottom line is this: Building a great company means building a brand and a product that customers love. In order to do that, you need to pour all your energy into the customer experience. Everything else, including marketing, comes second to building a brand and product that customers can feel proud to be associated with.

Do you have what it takes to really succeed as a social media virtual assistant? What are the most important skills and qualities you need to succeed at the job? Read on.

=> Comfort with a Variety of Social Networks

Each of your clients will have different needs and different social networks. In order to be successful, you need to be fluent with at least Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn and YouTube.

Furthermore, specific clients will have more specific needs. For example, some clients might get a lot of traffic from StumbleUpon and need you to manage their account and relationships with other stumblers there.

In order to succeed as a social media virtual assistant, you need to be fluent in all the major social networks and be able to learn the smaller networks quickly.

=> Ability to Write in a Variety of Voices

You may have one client who’ll require you to manage his LinkedIn profile in a professional and courteous voice. Simultaneously, you may have a client who needs you to manage his reddit and Digg accounts in a crass and satirical manner.

One of the most valuable skills you could have as a social media specialist is the ability to write in the voice that your clients want.

Remember that when you’re representing someone in a social network, you’re basically representing them and their brand. Their readers expect to hear from the brand in a certain voice. If you’re able to adapt to and take on that voice, you’ll become incredible valuable for your clients.

=> Consistency and Organization

Finally, being a social media virtual assistant requires being very organized and very consistent.

For example, one client might ask that you do certain tasks every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Other clients might ask that you make certain posts on certain dates. Other clients will ask you to handle certain basic tasks every single day.

It’ll be on your shoulders to make sure you manage all these tasks properly and don’t let any balls drop.

Furthermore, you’ll need to be keeping tabs on all the different accounts and passwords of your clients, in addition to important relationships.

In short, you need to have organizational systems that work for you. You need to be able to keep track of notes, tasks, relationships, logins and more.

If you’re fluent in social networks, you’re organized and consistent and you can write in a variety of voices, then you may have the makings of a very successful social media virtual assistant.