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Writing can become an extremely successful home business for you, if you take the “business” aspect seriously. Writers who do take it seriously earn six-figure incomes, because they know how valuable their writing skills are to the business community.

Considering your writing as a home BUSINESS is a mindset. Let’s look at how you can develop that mindset, and develop your writing into a thriving business.

I’ve chosen the following five tips because they’re essential, and they’re the things I see many of my writing students overlook.

1. Create a business plan

The first and best tip I can give you is to develop a business plan for your writing. You must know how much capital you have to invest in your business, how much money you will make in the first year, and how you will make that money.

If you’ve yet to make your first sale as a writer, make some sales first, so you get an idea of the marketplace. The writing profession is filled with hobbyist writers, who have no idea how to position themselves, price their services, and promote their services, so this tends to skew prices at the lower end of the market.

2. Treat your business as a business - work as hard for yourself as you would for a boss

Since you’re writing from home, your daily commute is the short trip to your home office, so you save commuting time, which will be at least an hour a day, even if you have a short commute.

You can spend that “free” hour or more in any way you choose, but it’s vital that you spend a solid eight hours writing and working in your business. So treat your writing as seriously as you would a job.

(This isn’t a problem for most home business writers, who tend to over-work, but that’s another story.)

3. Invest in your business - but don’t go into debt for your business

When your writing is your business, invest in it. Buy the computers, software, and the communications equipment you need. Invest in training, too. No training you do will ever be wasted, and it’s essential so you become a business person as well as a writer.

However, don’t go into debt. Fund your purchases from your writing sales.

4. Ask for a retainer from your writing clients - at least 50 per cent in advance

You must ask for a retainer - a payment up front - from your clients. Since magazines and newspapers fight this, writing for them should only be a minor part of your writing income, because you’re making them unsecured loans.

Businesses and Web sites expect to pay some portion of your fee in advance, so they’re your preferred clients. The up-front retainer is 50 per cent. On long projects, you can accept payment at specific milestones - a third up front, a third on delivery of half the project, and so on.

5. Keep your deadlines and over-deliver

The writing profession is an amazingly small world. Word gets around. So always keep your deadlines. The only possible excuse for missing a deadline is is that you’re in hospital.

So there you have five tips for turning your writing into a home business. As a professional writer, you have the potential to make an unlimited income: enjoy your writing, but treat it as the business it is too.

Are you looking for a new relationship? Where do you start to find the right partner?

Think of your quest for love as a real job. Just like when you finally got serious about a profession instead of just browsing the want ads, you have to commit to doing the work it takes to find a good partner.

Rule 1. Be seen in public. If you look for a partner in a bar, chances are much higher that you will find an alcoholic. You must be far more creative than that! Go for the hobbies and sports, religious events and charities, and the coffee houses and cafes. Take a book and plant yourself in the best lighting, smile and say “Hello” to everyone.

Rule 2. Imagine every detail about your perfect partner. Include what they wear, the places they frequent and the hobbies they enjoy. You should be able to literally draw the one for whom you are looking. We will certainly compromise on this later but for now get a picture of what qualities would truly make you happy in a great “catch.” Test yourself to see your strengths and weaknesses.

Rule 3. Odds are that you will get your heart broken 99 times out of a hundred encounters with the opposite sex. (That percentage is how often encyclopedia salesman figure their sales pitch will be successful, and is probably not really useful here.) The point is if you cannot take the heartbreak of rejection then you cannot really play the game wholeheartedly. Count on a week of torturous crying and three months of feeling rotten for every affair that ends badly because you did not want to break up yet. Practical men may grieve far less than the romantic ladies.

Rule 4. Reach up, not down. No matter how many times you have failed at love reach up for your match, not lower. A lowlife will break your heart even faster than someone who appears a little out of your league.

Rule 5. See each interaction with another person, no matter how brief, as a success not a failure. Keeping a great relationship is the hardest job in the world. Practice, practice, practice.

How many friends have approached you with excitement bubbling out of every pore in their body.

“…… you’ve GOT to take a look at this online business!!!!” All you’ve got to do is get TWO people who want to earn $1000 a week! You know two people don’t you!?!? Then they get two people into their online business, and THEY get two people and it just explodes and pretty soon you don’t have to do ANYTHING and you can quit your job and do nothing!!”

Your gut instinct tells you this online business sounds unbelievably good (you don’t know how right you are) but you sign up anyway. With that comes a monthly autoship of $100-$300, but who cares? Pretty soon you’ll be making three times that in a week!

6 months later, you’re disillusioned, your online business is severely in the red from your once-in-a-lifetime-opportunity and you’ve only signed up 6 people into your business and 5 have left as quick as they came.

Been there, done that … I’m slightly ashamed to say, except I didn’t even sign up anywhere near 6 people in my online business!!

What is opportunity? How do you recognise it? What separates reality from fake? When does that gut instinct tell you it’s real?

What most people don’t realise is that all the things they’ve been taught for their online business do work to a degree. It’s just that most of us will NEVER master the skills required to do them effectively. That is what separates real opportunity from fake opportunity, now listen carefully;

* REAL opportunity is something YOU can do.
* FAKE opportunity is something a very talented, skilled person with an amazing skillset can do … you can’t right now, or rather, not you until you’ve spent years mastering those skills.

Some of the things people try and make money through an online business are:

* writing their own ebook and selling it online.
* network marketing, travel, health, fuel, and more health…
* selling other peoples products as an affiliate marketer.
* stuffing envelopes (don’t even go there)
* selling things on ebay.
* creating a product and selling it online, eg: a boardgame etc…
* and many other minors

Here’s the other side of the online business coin:

* there are thousands of ebooks out there, great ebooks that aren’t being sold because the writer doesn’t have the marketing knowledge to do so.
* 98% of network marketers fail due to been taught a system which the companies KNOW doesn’t work, but it sounds much easier than REAL network marketing.
* 95% of affiliate sales are made by 5% of the affiliate market, a staggering 95% failure rate.
* Money from envelopes? You’re kidding right?
* A recent survey showed that over half of the 3,500 products surveyed on ebay had no bids on them at all! Only 175 items out of the 3,500 had more than 1 bid on them. Not as hot as what people make it out to be is it?
* creating physical products takes thousands of dollars in design, production costs, advertising, you have to have reasonable capital to even THINK this is a good road to travel down.

I’ve written writing ebooks, I’ve been involved in network marketing, I’ve tried being an affiliate marketer, stuffing envelopes, selling on ebay, never tried creating my own product though, knew that would be too expensive.

NONE of those online businesses worked.

Why?

Because each of those online businesses required SKILLS. Skills that take YEARS to master, and those that have mastered them become extremely wealthy. I’ve spent well over $20,000 on courses and some of the top training courses around and learnt ALOT! But what I eventually realised was the time taken to master these skills is immense!

The fact of the matter is that most people in their 30s, 40s, 50s and 60s don’t have the TIME or the MENTAL ENERGY to sit down and learn how to write a sales letter that people just HAVE to buy off if they read it. That takes YEARS to learn and many more years to master.

Many many people are ALMOST successful, because they are good, they are brilliant, they are talented, but they just fall short. The reason why is they CANNOT get other people to do what they do in their online business. Not happening…

The vast majority of people don’t have the required skills to be successful, skills like:

* knowing where and how to find the right prospects.
* writing great sales letters that make your prospects foam at the mouth to get to your product.
* designing a website that ‘draws’ a person into wanting to know more.
* setting up autoresponder emails, sequences, and timings.
* closing people on your product, knowing what to say when they say no, or are not sure it they want to buy it.
* knowing how to upload information onto websites.
* buying and registering domain names, then setting up killer websites under that specific domain.
* Writing articles, press releases, and blogging effectively.
* the expensive and ever-changing Pay Per Click Advertising.
* where do I stop?

The time taken to learn all these skills is incredible, the cost … more than a little, and the effort … huge!

People don’t know how to do ALL those things I just listed! A select few do, and they reap the golden rewards. But for joe and joette average - no way!

People are different, some people can do some things really well, others they fail at miserably. A great webdesigner is often TERRIBLE at selling things. A great salesperson has NO CLUE how to set up an autoresponder sequence. Your online business requires ALL of those skills.

What would work best for people is a system! This system would do EVERYTHING that I’ve talked about, it would free you up to just point people in the direction of it through techniques that are simple, proven and effective. This system would need to have a good track record. It would have to have statistics and conversion rates backing it up, and it would need to do everything by itself.

It would need:

* great sales letters.
* fascinating and informative websites.
* a masterful follow up system.
* a way to close people without being pushy or using cunning sales tactics.
* an easy system of attracting people to these websites and sales letters that doesn’t involve talking to people or hassling your friends and family.

That would a REAL opportunity because EVERYONE could do it, right? It’s not an opportunity that looks great but the skills required to be successful in it are incredibly difficult to master, that’s a FAKE opportunity, when something is NOT what it appears to be. Don’t be fooled…

Groomers do more than just trim hair and toenails. The observant groomer can detect changes in skin condition, hair/coat condition, he/she will notice changes in temperament and reactions to stimulus. The groomer naturally is exposed to many different conditions of many animals and with the gained knowledge has an ability to consider and compare conditions.

Starting with hair condition, numerous circumstances can create a lack of luster and sheen that doesn’t appear normal. This can be caused by nutrition, fleas and lice, allergies, parasites, hair cleaning products (shampoo) or even environmental problems. An experienced groomer can often detect the cause of a dry or blotchy skin, based on previous grooming examinations. The groomer may ask if the pet’s diet has been changed or inquire about other possible factors such as age and take these into consideration before recommending possible solutions. Importantly an experienced groomer also knows when a veterinarian’s advice is needed.

Responsible groomers have a close relationship to local veterinarians which they can call upon for advice and help when needed. They also keep records of all pet visits to compare ongoing variations of a pet’s condition and for grooming requirements.

Another important health issue observed by groomers is ears. Dogs have deep canals subject to ticks, parasites and other issues such as wax buildup, dirt and so forth that can cause infections. Cats ears have smaller canals, but are subject to many of the same problems. Ear cleaning compounds are available commercially for pet parents to care for their pet’s ears.

Proper toe nail trimming is necessary and most groomers have had extensive experience with it. Problems can arise from too close trimming (drawing blood), This normally will heal naturally, but infections can evolve so watch closely.

Observing eyes for clarity and excess tearing is important to determine if there are problems or conditions that need attention. Pets can develop cataracts and retinal problems similar to humans.

There are just a few of the observations to which concerned groomers pay attention. Their expertise and abilities combined with experience can prevent many problems and create a happy and healthy environment for you and especially your pets.

Be sure to interview and/or get recommendations before choosing a groomer. Anyone can start a grooming business, but few possess the determination, experience and concern that is required to be a first rate groomer/care giver.

Your pet’s health is as important as your health is to you.

How do you communicate your product or services to your market? How do you reach your customers? How will customers reach you?

The most basic among the telecommunications goods and services is the telephone. Although, some would contest that the telephone is no longer the primary service of the industry, the phone system is still a significant tool to get in touch with customers. Sure, the Internet has taken over a large proportion of the telecommunications industry, but for corporations, business phone systems is the easiest way to directly communicate with customers since inquiries are still mostly done by calling.

Business phone systems should be organized because every minute counts for a corporation. There are many fishes in the water so that customers have the luxury to be picky on who to deal with. Customers would like easy access and easy access means being able to call you; not just to call but to talk to someone on the other line. Your accessibility can create first impressions for the caller and the last thing you would like to happen is for your callers to go elsewhere because your business can’t be reached.

The telephone is a common household appliance but business phone systems require more than the ordinary telephone at home. These phones are specifically geared to handle a large volume of calls from customers. Many telecommunications company offer variety of telephones that will fit your business. Sometimes due to many varieties, you might get overwhelmed with these telephone products. The key is to review your phone system needs, after doing so, you now choose what telephone is most fitting for you business.

Remember, bad phone systems can account for lost calls because of insufficient lines and equipment and losing these calls may mean losing potential revenue for the company. Businesses today, use traffic studies to make sure they get to update their phone systems to maximize their availability for their customer. Not only this, traffic studies will also help the company predict future traffic or call volume. Because whether a business is small or medium to big market enterprise, business phone systems are undeniably important.

HYIP stands for High Yield Investment Programs and is a get rich quick scheme. HYIP’s promise from 1% up to 200% a day of the total invested amount. If you invested in the 200% a day program 1$ you would get 2$ the next day, 4$ the second, 8$ on the third and so on… if you left all your money in the program without taking anything out. This method is called compounding. Of course this just doesn’t work as well as written and advertised. We can categorize HYIP’s into three categories:

a) Scams 80%
b) Games 15%
c) Legit 5%

SCAMS

These HYIP’s are run by people who’s only intention is to steal your money. Most of these scams are Ponzi schemes. Every day hundreds of new ones appear across the globe. A very famous online scam was profits4investing.com, happened in 2005. During the time of the internet fraud, their conduct resulted in $684,388.74 in losses to 9,756 victims. Money never was invested, but same as in the Ponzi scheme was used for personal use and some to pay the first investors from the money of later ones to create a false belief that the program is legitimate.

GAMES

In the United States a Ponzi Scheme is illegal, but that does not go for all the countries of the world. So some people are placing Ponzi Games to play with investors. Their explanation of the Game is accurate and promises high paying figures, but closes when a certain percentage of payouts has been reached. Usually this is about 90%. The remaining 10% go into the pockets of program owner. This means if the total invested amount into such a game is 10.000 dollars and 9.000 dollars already were paid to the previous investors the program will close. First investors will leave with a profit, those who come too late with a loss. It all is part of the game. Usually when such a period ends, a new game starts all over again.

LEGIT

Some HYIP’s are legitimate, but the thing is you almost never will know and recognize whether the program is real or not. High profits in such legitimate HYIP’s are possible because of forex or stocks trading, real estate, paper trading or any other means of investment with high ROI (return on investment).

SUMMARY

Growth of HYIP’s is supported by human greed. Every HYIP promises a percentage or actual sum of money for each new customer you refer to the program. This creates a sea of affiliates who are trying to get a huge underline of new referrals. At such a high amount of offered HYIP’s today it is quite hard to get people interested in the program you advertise, so some have decided to split 50/50 of the percentage to their each individual referral. For example if you refer somebody who invests 100$ in the program and the administrator promises 10% for each investment of your direct referral, you get 10$. You split this 10$ in half with your referral, so you get 5$ and your referral partner the other 5$. This makes joining a new HYIP program even more tempting and getting referrals easier.

Some people join games as well as scams regardless of the results or ethics of such behavior. They play by going in and out quickly, hoping they will get a profit before the HYIP program is over. Some do succeed and make constant profit at playing such games, however by doing so, they are actually taking money from other investors and at the same time support scammers to make new HYIP schemes. As such they are no better than the scammers themselves, as they are aware to be part of the scam and still continue investing and supporting it for their own short time profit.

Wherever you got to travel the first thing that has to plan is the luggage that is to be carried. Luggage is something that has to be given a primary attention whenever you plan an outing. Depending on the tenure for which you are traveling and the place you are traveling an appropriate luggage bag is to be selected. The type of luggage bag also has to be decided by the person who has to carry the luggage. Kids aged between ten and fifteen cannot carry luggage, but they can easily pull it. The kid luggage has to be light weighted and easy to carry.

If your kids are planning an outing and if you are supposed to pack their luggage then you must make sure that the luggage is easily cartable. The weight of the luggage should not be much and the bag that you select should have wheels so that it can be easily pulled. There are different luggage manufacturers who are providing special luggage bags for kids. With the help of the luggage baggage provided by these luggage bag manufacturers you can type the appropriate bags for the person who has to carry the luggage.

If you are planning to buy a luggage bag for your kids then you must keep in mind that they are not very bulky. It is always advisable to carry more number of small bags than to opt for one huge and bulky bag. You can check out the different varieties and models of these bags that are meant for kid’s usage. There are a number of websites that carry the information on the different bags that are available in the market. You can go for a good brand when buying a bag so as to make sure that the quality of bag is good.

When we want to purchase a vehicle we usually go browsing the local vehicle sale lots and spend days and hours looking for a bargain and don’t ever consider that there is an easier and more affordable way such as purchasing through an auction. Why is it a good idea to buy vehicles from public, or police seized auctions? There are a number of reasons

§ The prices of these vehicles can be greatly reduced according to the actual retail value.

§ These cars need to be sold quickly for the need of cash, usually spurned from the fact that there are more cars than buyers and limited amounts of space to store vehicles also storing vehicles is expensive, especially in the case of police seized or government vehicle auctions.

§ A person can make a lot of money just from buying these vehicles and selling them for a profit.

§ These auctions are started at very low bids to ensure immediate sales.

Every make and model is available and every sale is a motivated sale making the internet a very easy and convenient method where one can find quality vehicles at prices that are really low, however its sometimes hard to find some good auction sites as the good ones are imitated and copied hundreds of times over, making it extremely long to sift through to find the few gems that are out there in internet land but with perseverance one can find really great sites that have easy site navigation and can set you on the path to obtaining a great bargain. There are thousands of vehicles out there and plenty of bargains to be found.

Here is your third installment of a new column called ‘Top 10 Things In Sports’, a new weekly thing that I will do. Here is your list of the Top 10 things in sports that we think are way underrated and want more people to pay attention to.

#10 Arena Football
I am definitely not arguing that Arena Football should become as mainstream as the No Fun League and college football, but it’s still a good substitute in the spring and a fun sport to watch. There is tons of scoring and it’s very easy to understand, other than a few strange rules.

#9 Minor League Baseball
If you are a Red Sox or Yankee fan than you have permission to skip this one, but not all you fans of the twenty MLB teams that alway suck. Sometimes it is good to get away from your lousy Kansas City Royals and go watch some good baseball. Minor League baseball games are cheap and usually pretty entertaining; maybe you’ll even see a future MLB superstar, or you know, Roger Clemens.

#8 The Winter Olympics
From what I have looked at, the difference in television ratings between the winter and summer olympics is kind of staggering. The 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece reached over 3.9 billion people while the 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino, Italy reached a measly 200,000. Even if that first number is a little high and the second, a little low, that is still quite a big hole in between them. During the 2010 Winter Games at least check out curling in the middle of the day; it’s kind of like icy shuffleboard without the old people smell.

#7 ESPN’s Feel Good Stories
I know it may seem cheesy, but sometimes it’s good to read something outside of the world of competitive sports. E-Ticket, an ESPN weekly feature, features stories about different people around the sports world and most of the stories are very creative and fresh. One of my favorite’s features the journey of a North Alaskan high school football team.

#6 Outside of America - Every Sport Other Than Soccer
I only know a few people outside of the United States, but from what I have talked to them about soccer, it really is the phenomenon that everyone thinks it is. If you are a big sports fan in the U.S. than just take a second to think about how much time you spend either playing sports or watching sports in a week; chances are that time is divided between more than one sport. The rest of the world loves sports too, but the difference is that they spend all of that same time on one sport, soccer. It’s encouraging to see the NFL, MLB, and NBA go international and hopefully that will continue.

#5 Falling Asleep To Golf
Don’t get me wrong, golf is great game, but if you are ever looking for a Sunday nap just turn some golf on TV. Golf is a great bonding thing for father and sons to do, but you also have to admit that it’s not the most exciting thing to watch either. If you are feeling a little pekid next Sunday take a nap with some golf. It’ll do the body good.

#4 Fantasy Sports
To outsiders fantasy sports seem nerdy and pointless, but I really think that case can be made for just about anything in life. If you are a big sports buff, and never been in a fantasy sports league, the least you can do is try it out. Pick your favorite sport and if you really put some work into your team it will open up an entirely different side of sports to you.

#3 Crowd Brawls
When I think of crowd brawls the first thing that comes to mind is the infamous ‘Malice in the Palace’ involving Ron Artest, the Indiana Pacers, and the Detroit Pistons. Personally, I think as long as no one dies or gets seriously injured, they are pretty funny. The fact that athletes like Artest, who are getting paid millions of dollars, can’t keep their cool when fans are talking shit about their momma is a pretty curious thing. And the face of the fan who is about to get pummeled by a completely-built athlete, that’s pretty funny too.

#2 X Games
I would hardly consider myself a skater or a punk, but many people associate the X Games with those two terms. Let me just tell you, if you fall into that category than you are definitely missing out. Some of the stuff those guys like Shaun White throw down is just amazing and seems to defy gravity. When I go through my mid-life crisis I am going to make sure to try out for the X Games; or at least ride a dirt-bike or something.

#1 Rushing The Court/Field
People don’t realize it, but when they are watching a college basketball game like Kansas State play #1 Kansas at Kansas State, they just want to see the crowd rush the court at the end of the game. A college team can completely suck, but if they pull off an amazing upset at home and the crowd gets to rush the basketball court or football field than the season is suddenly a success. Or at least should be cause of the awesomeness of it. Which is why I think rushing the court and rushing the field should be introduced in pro sports. How awesome would that be? I’ll tell you, it’d be like being in college for life.