Monthly Archives: February 2009

Starting a Scrapbook Business

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Starting a scrapbook business can be a unique business idea if you enjoy scrapbooking and would like to turn your hobby into a home based business and extra way to earn money.

Like all businesses, a scrapbooking business requires a little planning and learning to be successful, but it is not any more difficult than starting any other business.

Here are some things to consider before starting a scrapbook business:

What Services Will You Provide: There are many potential services you can offer in a scrap booking business. You can sell scrapbook supplies and host scrapbooking parties, you can create custom made scrapbooks for others to give as gifts, or you can teach others how to scrapbook. Think about what you would need as someone who scrapbooks, or what others have asked you for help with – those are all potential ideas for the services you can provide others with your own scrapbook business.

The Demand For Your Services: People may not know that they need your services, or there may be so many people that need your services that you will have no problem finding customers for your scrapbook business. Do some research both online and off on realistically how many customers you can expect.

How You Will Market Yourself: How will you spread the word that you have started a scrapbooking business? You can do this through a variety of ways, both online and off. Creating a website, networking with others, and even well researched advertisements can help you spread the word and market yourself and your services.

What Are Your Start Up Costs: Every new business has start up costs. You will need to calculate everything it will cost you to get started, including scrapbooking supplies, marketing materials, and any other expenses. Don’t forget you will also want to check with your local laws on starting a business to make sure you have done all of the necessary steps in starting your own home based business.

How Will You Sell Your Products and Services: You can sell your products and services online and off. You can sell products on sites such as eBay and others or create your own. To sell your products off line, you will need to decide how you will go about contacting and managing customers and orders.

All of these questions will help you create a business plan for your scrapbooking business. A business plan may seem like a pain, but it is essential in starting your home based business in an organized manner and making sure that it is the right decision for you before you incur any start up costs or invest time into it. Once you have done some careful planning and research, you may be ready for a step by step book such as this ebook you can purchase with a 30 day risk free trial here.

If you prefer a “real book”, Amazon has several that may be of interest to you:

The Scrapbooker’s Guide to Business: This guide gives you a variety of different scrapbooking business plans you can use to model your own, as well as many resources and different ways for promoting yourself. Read Reviews

Scrapbooking for Profit: Cashing in on Retail, Home-Based and Internet Opportunities: This book gives you a variety of different ideas and gives you all the information you need to know for starting your own home based business. It is slightly outdated, but covers the basics you need to know. Read all reviews.

Secrets of Scrapbooking Success : Making Money, Making Memories: This book gives you the information you need to know for starting a scrapbook business, as well as many real life stories from successful scrapbook business owners. Read Reviews…

There are many other books available that cover all the aspects to starting and running a scrapbook business – click here to see them all.

Know of any other resources for starting a scrapbook business? Share them in the comments below!

Becoming a Virtual Assistant

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Becoming a virtual assistant is a great stay at home work opportunity for moms or anyone else who wants to be able to run their own business from home. After including it in my list of WAHM jobs, I decided I would write a post dedicated to becoming a virtual assistant to help anyone interested in this home based business get started on the right foot.

There are several ways to go about becoming a virtual assistant, but probably the best way to make the most money is to work for yourself. There are a few companies that are already established that hire virtual assistants on a contractual basis, but if you don’t mind doing a little leg work you may find working for yourself is the most rewarding. There are basically three steps to becoming a virtual assistant – preparing your business and plan, marketing yourself and getting clients, and then naturally doing the virtual assistant work and follow up itself.

Before You Start Your Virtual Assistant Home Based Business
Before you get started, there are some things you will need to consider:

1. What services will you offer?: This is one of the most important things to decide on, since it is why people will hire you. Will you offer typing services? Database entry? Desktop publishing? Writing press releases? Proofreading? Scheduling and event coordination? Bookkeeping? Make sure that whatever services you offer you are qualified to do them well.

2. What Will You Charge?: Pricing is important, too – you want to make sure you charge enough that it is worth your time, but at the same time if you charge too much some business professionals may not hire you. Do research to see what other virtual assistants are charging and price competitively.

3. What Supplies Do You Need?: At the very least, you will need a computer and a telephone. You may also want to consider a fax machine or you can sign up to Get a MyFax Number which allows you to receive faxes by email.

4. Determine Your Target Market and How You Will Reach Them: Make a list of all the businesses or professionals who may need or use your service. You will also need to make a plan on how you will reach them, since if no one knows about you they won’t be able to hire you as a virtual assistant! Planning this before you actually start marketing can save a lot of time before becoming a virtual assistant!

5. Check Out Your State’s Requirements: Every country and state has different requirements for how to start a business. You may be okay to just work under your social security number and name without registering, but in some areas you may even need a license. You may also want to check into liability insurance. Make sure to check with your local business bureau to make sure you’ll be covered.

How to Get Clients as a Virtual Assistant
You need clients in order to have a business, here are some ways to help you find them:

1. Create a Website: A website is a 24/7 business card and commercial for your services. Remember that your website will represent you and your image as a virtual assistant, so the more professional it looks, the better.

2. List Your Services Online: There are many places online where you can list your services. Some are free, others are rather expensive (such as a Yellow Pages Ad). Hopefully by doing your target market you will know which ones would be suitable for attracting potential clients to you.

3. Join Professional Organizations: Your local chamber of commerce, networking groups near you (check out meetup.com for some that are free/low cost) and virtual assistant associations can help you spread the word about your business.

4. Advertise: Advertising can be hit or miss, but if you’ve researched your target market carefully you will have a good idea as to where the most effective places to advertise are. One place that is free to try that may bring you clients instantly is Craigslist. You can even use Craigslist ad creators to make your ad stand out and seem more professional.

5. Contact Your Target Market: Depending on who your target market is, you can often call or visit them to introduce yourself and your services. People do not really like being “sold to”, but if you have something of value to offer them that can save them time and maybe even make them more money, they will likely be interested. Small local businesses or local professionals may be a good place to start.

Once Your Business is Running
Once you’ve started your business, it is up to you to run it smoothly.

1. Produce Quality Results: The better quality results you have, the more satisfied clients you will have. Satisfied clients = future jobs and referrals.

2. Deliver Fantastic Customer Service: People love it when their calls are returned and work is completed quickly. The better customer service you have for your home based business, the more happier your clients will be and they will come back for more and more and depend on you.

3. Continue Marketing Until You Have Enough Repeat Business: Marketing isn’t something to stop once you have 1-2 clients. If you plan on making this a full-time business, you will have to continually have to market yourself until you have enough steady clients. Once you have enough clients that you start worrying about if you have too many, then you can begin thinking about hiring a second virtual assistant to help you or ease off on your marketing efforts.

4. Keep Records: You will need to keep records when it is time to file your taxes. Make sure you track all of your expenses as well as earnings you make so that when you go to file it is not a major nightmare. (It’s actually pretty easy if you’re organized!)

Becoming a virtual assistant takes a lot of effort to get started, but once you have steady clients and work you may find it to be very rewarding. Have any other tips on becoming a virtual assistant? Share them in the comments below.

WAHM Jobs: Work at Home Opportunities For Moms

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More and more moms today are finding many opportunities to work at home as a stay at home mom. There are many benefits to being a work at home mom – you don’t have to worry about dropping kids off at daycare (though sometimes you might still want to consider it!) or having to buy expensive clothes to wear to work.

Some ways to make money from home are good for pocket cash – others can eventually replace your full-time work income if you work hard enough at it. Below are some of our favorite ways for moms to earn some extra cash:

1. Become a Full-Time Writer: There are many places on the web where people can submit articles they write and get paid for it! My favorite is Associated Content, where I’ve published several articles. They pay upfront for well written articles as well as pay performance payments based on how many pageviews your articles get. I’ve managed to make a nice residual $60 a month so far from writing for them!

2. Join MyLot: MyLot was the first place I ever earned money online. It is a discussion forum where you can meet some great people, as well as learn about many other ways to make money online. The things I’ve learned from other MyLot members about earning money online as a stay at home mom has been worth more than the site has paid me! You can join MyLot Here and I will automatically become your first friend!

3. Start a Blog: Blogging is a great way to make money online, though it takes a lot of time and patience to start seeing results. Basically, you set up a blog, write outstanding content, get traffic to your site, and before long you can begin earning money through advertisements and affiliate programs.

4. Start an eBay Business: You can earn money on eBay by selling items, either things you don’t want/need from around your house, or you can partner with drop shippers who can hold and ship items for you. People sell all kinds of crazy things on eBay for insane amounts of money – and you can too! If you need some ideas on where to get started, this eBay Millionaire ebook has it all outlined step by step how you can make a full time income on eBay.

5. Make Crafts and Sell Them: Many crafty moms out there have found a fun way to earn money by making crafts and then selling them both online and offline. You can join sites such as Etsy.com and sell your stuff, or you can create your own website.

6. Virtual Assistant: There are many professionals out there who need someone who is good at typing or doing other administrative type of jobs from home. All you need is a few steady clients and computer knowledge to run a successful virtual assistant wahm job. Our article on becoming a virtual assistant has what you need to know to get started in this line of work.

Know of any other good WAHM jobs for moms who want to work from home? Share them in the comments below!