Archive for March, 2011
7 Tips For Starting Your Home Based Business Online
So, you’ve decided to start a home based business online.
Congratulations! and welcome to the fast-paced world of the internet and entrepreneurship. While there is a lot to learn, your effort will be worth it.
The thrill of growing your home based business online, the freedom and flexibility to set your own hours, and the possibilities of ever-increasing financial rewards are all wonderful reasons to start your home based business.
Now that you’ve decided to start your business, you might be wondering “How can I get it off to the strongest possible start?” These seven tips will help:
TIP 1…
Set up a separate working space in your home. It doesn’t matter if this is a small bedroom, one part of the garage, or a corner of the living room.
The important thing is to have some space that you can designate as your working area. This will give you the space and room you need to craft your dream.
TIP2…
Stock your working space with materials. This sounds basic, perhaps, but one underlying element of success is that you have easy access to the tools, materials, and other resources you need.
Gathering everything close by also keeps you from wasting time searching for it, so this step can be considered a time management strategy, too.
TIP 3…
Speaking of time management, your third step is to define the parameters of your business. What days and hours will you work? When will you market? When will you provide services or products to clients? How will you keep all of this straight?
TIP 4…
Balance action with planning. One of the most common pitfalls to successful entrepreneurship is getting too caught up in action without enough planning.
Stated another way, this means that you confuse “being busy” with “working on important projects.” The best approach is to plan your next couple of goals and then work backwards to create step by step action plans to reach them. Once you have the plan, then it’s time to take the
action.
TIP 5…
Network like crazy. One of the fastest ways to grow any home based business online is to make connections with other people. Be sure to share your passion and enthusiasm with others at every opportunity. Let people know who you are and what you offer. Remember, people can’t buy if they don’t know you’re selling.
TIP 6…
Present a professional image. If you want to be treated professionally, present a professional image. Set up a separate bank account for your business. Install a separate phone and fax line.
Create professional marketing materials. Be courteous and pleasant in all your customer facing interactions. Basically, be someone people want to do business with.
TIP 7…
Automate your online business as much as possible. Granted, you are just one person (right now) and might have a lot of extra time to take care of all the details.
This might work for now, but won’t work into the future as you get busier and busier. It’s best to set up automatic systems and processes right from the start to free up your time to concentrate on the most profitable activities.
These seven tips will get your online business started (and growing) in the right direction.
Written by tasurun
Educator
Tips For Setting up a Good Home Network
Home networks are becoming more and more a part of life as we progress further into the computer age. Kids are using computers to do their school works, parents for running the home and doing business, and the entire family for social networking, media management, email, and surfing the net.
A home network comes in handy because it allows multiple computers to share a printer, use a single Internet connection, and freely send files between them. If you’re considering installing a home network, here are some tips to make yours the best it can be.
Choice of Router
Unlike a business network, a home network doesn’t have a central server off which all the other computers work as terminals. Rather, each individual computer is its own entity. Therefore, to connect them and make them all available on the internet, you’ll need a router.
Choose a router with enough wired jacks to meet your needs. Most come with four or five, which should be more than enough. You’ll also want one that accepts wireless connections as well.
Router Placement
Your router will connect to your modem for access to the outside world. Hopefully, whether you use dial-up accesses, DSL, or digital cable broadband, the modem is located in a central place. Set your router fairly close to the modem so there’s no long cable between them.
Wired Connections
To connect stationary computers it’s best to use an Ethernet cables. For computers in separate rooms, you can run the cable through the floor, along the joists underneath, and back up into the room where your router is. To make life really easy, drop your line down next to an electrical outlet. Following the electrical lines makes running the cable easy.
Plug your main computer into the number one port of your router. Your printer should also be attached to this computer. All other computers access the printer as a network printer. Consult your OS documentation on this process.
Wireless Connections
To insure the strongest wireless link, the router should be placed in a position where its antennae are not blocked. For an unusually large house, an aluminium salad bowl placed behind the antennae like a satellite will improve reception.
Wireless connections require some sort of encryption in order to remain secure. WEP encryption is one of the oldest and easiest types of encryption, but it can be hacked with enough time and a pass phrase cracker. You can use WEP in areas where security risks are low.
For greater security, use WPA-PSK. This encryption is exponentially more secure because it works with a changing pass phrase and handshake. The only difficulty with WPA-PSK is that all wireless cards don’t support it. And or the ones that do, usability is sketchy from computer to computer.
Finally, as an added security measure you can turn off your router’s ESSID broadcast. In this case you’ll be operating what’s called a hidden network. When combined with WPA-PSK, a hidden network is virtually impregnable.
Written by igoradiya