Deserve More Out of Life? Get More Now!

In our lives, we are faced with many challenges and obstacles. We have the pressures of maintaining our families, our homes, and of course, our jobs. It seems like the more we seek after a change from the norm, the more things remain the same. Oftentimes, we want and deserve the best things in life but usually those things aren't free and take some effort, time and money to obtain. Thankfully, more and more people are breaking out of their daily routines and beginning to reward themselves in some way, form or fashion.

So how do you break the cycle? I am so glad you asked.

First of all, you have to have a burning desire to want more out of your life. Nothing will change for the better until you believe there is more to life than meets the eye. You have to be passionate and zealous about turning your situation into a more rewarding one. You must do the things that are necessary in order to get what you are seeking.

Secondly, there is much more that can be acheived when a person is willing to listen to wise counsel. In other words, you have to be teachable and have a desire to want to learn as much as you can. There are people who have already been where you are trying to go, so absorb their information like a sponge. You are that much closer to what you deserve when your ears are tuned in to those with the knowledge and expertise.

Last, but not least, please know and understand that absolutely nothing will change until you have a willingness to work smart for it. Notice that the emphasis is put on working smart and not hard. The reason for this is because many people have worked hard and still remained unfulfilled. It is one thing to work diligently towards a rewarding life, but you have to make sure that you are willing to follow the best method possible.

Now that you know how to break the cycle, the next step is to put all of this into action. A wise man once said that knowing a plan and not following the plan will get you no where fast. Of course, the road that leads to success is a very challenging one, but when you have a burning desire, the ability to follow wise instruction, and a willingness to work smart, there is nothing in life that you can not acheive. Make a conscious effort to turn your situation around for your good. Go ahead reward yourself . . . You Deserve It!!!

5 Legitimate Work-From-Home Jobs

We live in tough times. Those who are not unemployed are under-employed. Many people agonize between taking a second job and family time. My goal is to share with you some legitimate work-from-home jobs that will allow you to earn extra income for your family from the comfort of your own home on your schedule.
Many of these examples I have personally used to add extra income to my household when needed. I am not going to focus on starting an online business in this post (although, for the diligent there is money to be made in blogging, Adsense, creating your own products, selling on Ebay, and affiliate sales.) Instead, I want to introduce to you a few reputable work-from-home companies that will pay you for your work. All of these will send 1099’s for tax purposes.

If you are looking to find your own freelance writing jobs sites like Elance and Odesk have thousands of writing jobs posted. Or if you decide to stick with the corporate world, here are some job sites to help you find a job.

 1. Demand Studios

They have many different employment opportunities that range from Writers, Editors, Title Editors, Filmmakers, and more. They are usually hiring for certain positions at certain times so you have to keep your eyes peeled. I have made several thousand dollars in article writing and title editing. I even got my wife into doing title editing and earning extra spending money. As a writer you can make between $7.50-$20.00 per 150-500 word article. I usually write about two articles an hour (that’s $30.00 an hour at $15.00 an article). You do not have to be a prolific writer or have a background in writing to get accepted. Most articles are in a “How to” format. So, if you are the type that enjoys learning something new and then explaining it to someone else then this could be a fun work for you. Most of their content goes on eHow.com or LiveStrong.com.

Let’s say you have a trip you want to take in a month. Just decide how many articles you would have to write a day to reach your goal. They pay by Paypal every Wednesday and Friday. There is no payment threshold that you have to meet either. If you have money in your account, you will get paid. They currently have thousands of titles to choose from in the system and you can reserve up to ten at a time.

2. Live Work

This is mostly like a running projects board for a company called LiveOps (which I will discuss later on). Live Work has many different projects that you can bid on. Many are data entry and task-oriented. You work as much as you want. I once worked on a Dictonary.com project and was paid for every definition and source that I put in the system. There really is a wide-variety of work available there.

3. Leapforce

They are a vendor for Google. Once you are accepted in the program you log-in to the Google interface and rate websites. Google wants their searches to be relevant. They use human raters to rate whether the content is worthy or spam. At the time of this writing, they pay $11.50 an hour.

4. Textbroker

This is a great place to earn extra income if you want to write on simple projects. They pay is much less, but the projects are easy to write on. I once wrote several 150 word articles for someone that was creating an Extreme Sports website. The work was fun. I simply wrote a short bio about different professional athletes.

5. Liveops

If you want more human interaction, then you might want to consider LiveOps. LiveOps is an at home call service that you dial into while in the comfort of your own home. You will have to make a weekly schedule, but you will never have to commute anywhere. All calls are inbound from people responding to infomercials and you basically take their ordering information while being logged into the LiveOps system. They pay is around $9.50 but you do earn commission for different products sold.

24 Legitimate Home-Based Business Ideas & Opportunities

If you are like many, the thought of starting a home-based business has probably crossed your mind at some point. With the economy being what it is, layoffs all around us, and an increasing desire for many to escape the rat race and work from home, many are trying to start a home-based business. Working from home not only offers independence and freedom but there are also some great home-based business tax deductions as well.

For my business  it didn't take a long time before I started making any money blogging, let alone enough to pay the bills each month. I didn’t really know anything when I started and still feel like I do a whole lot more wrong than right, but the one thing I have had going for me is that I have been persistent. Great ideas and business degrees only go so far. It is persistence and determination that, I believe, are the true sources of success for most businesses.
I put together a list of legitimate home-based business opportunities below. But they are just ideas, hopefully they will spark some inspiration, but you have to apply all the diligence and hard work to turn it into something.

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Starting a Home-Based Business

Even though I wasn’t making very much at the time, when I got laid off a couple years ago I was very happy that I had started a side business that was another source of income. Even if you don’t have aspirations of working full-time from home, having a little supplemental income would be nice – wouldn’t it?
Below are a bunch of home-based business ideas that you can peruse to see if any would work for you. Oh, and also as an aside, I am defining a home-based business as one that can be run from home, not necessarily a business that you would work from home all the time.

Top Home-Based Business Ideas

1. Sell a product online

A friend of mine had a baby and didn’t like the style/design of any of the baby products at the stores,  so she started making her own. After getting some compliments, she realized that she could turn her idea into a business that she could run from home (with the babies). She just created an online store and sold all of her products via her website.

2. Freelance writing

Since I started blogging a few years ago, I have seen the freelance market explode. There is a huge demand for content and so there are a lot of ways to make money writing it. Jonathan wrote a great article about a few legitimate work from home jobs – most of which were freelance writing.

3. Goodwill/Garage sale reseller

There are a lot of items that can be purchased very inexpensively at garage sales or thrift stores and sold for higher prices elsewhere. A few years ago I discovered that I could purchase good hardcover books at my local thrift shop for $1 or less. I realized that some of them could be sold on Amazon.com for $15-$20, which turns out to be a pretty decent profit. Find and sell enough items and you have a fun home business.

4. Blogging

I find a lot of people are interested in the idea of blogging as a business. You really can make some money blogging, but it is hard work. Not hard like digging ditches, but hard like it requires so many different skill sets and requires a lot of creativity and mental energy. It also is kind of the opposite of get-rich-quick. I only made $5,000 my first 4 months of blogging, but now I make a living doing it.

5. Ebay Business

A few years ago I started an Ebay business kind of as an experiment, just to see if it were something I could do if I needed cash. I wrote step-by-step instructions about starting an Ebay business if you are interested. Ebay is a pretty crowded market, but it still is one of the most popular home-based businesses.

6. Wedding Planning

Isn’t this every girls dream? People will always be getting married, so in theory they will always need wedding planners. If you love all-things-weddings and can handle the pressure from the brides, this might be a fun one.

7. Car Mechanic

Do you know how difficult it is to find a good and trustworthy mechanic? Maybe it is just me, but I feel like I have had way too many experiences with mechanics not be truthful with me that I would gladly pay more and give all my business to an honest one.  If you know your way around a car and have a few tools, this could be a great business idea for you.

8. Mobile Oil Changes

Building off the previous idea, what if you offered a service where you came to the customer’s house and changed the oil in the street? I would pay to do that – and would be willing to pay more since I didn’t even have to do anything but make a phone call.

9. Home Inspector

This one will require certification, find out more about getting certified here.

10. Medical claims billing

This industry is one of the most popular work-from-home businesses. You can find training courses online at places like eLearners.com

11. Real Estate Agent

This one isn’t technically a home-based business, but with the flexibility it allows you would be able to likely do a lot of work from home. Find out about getting your real estate license.

12.Tutoring Students

What subjects do you have a good working knowledge of? Math, Science, History, Baseball, Soccer? Parents will often pay to see Johnnie or Sally excel at _______. If you can help, then it sounds like a business.

13. Handy-man service

If you are handy, there are lots of little old ladies who are willing to pay someone to do odd jobs around the house. There are even franchise opportunities available with certain companies.

14. Home-Based Daycare

I have seen many stay-at-home moms start simple businesses just by babysitting a few of the neighborhood kids after school or during the summers.

15. Lawn Care

Don’t forget good ‘ol lawncare or landscaping. As we become more and more acquainted to the air-conditioned lifestyle more people are going to want to pay someone to do landscaping. If you like to sweat this one may be for you.

16. Photography

Because I am just a little bit techie, I get asked to video record weddings all the time. If video or photography are up your alley, starting a wedding photography business could be a great idea for you.

17. Virtual Assitant

Virtual Assistants are just like a secretary in another part of the world. This industry is growing very quickly. Check this out to find out more about being a virtual assistant.

18. Window Cleaning Business

A lot of businesses (and homeowners) need windows cleaned. If you are not afraid of heights, cleaning windows could be a decent side or full-time gig.

19. Candle-making

A few years ago I started making my own beeswax candles – because they were so stinking expensive to buy. In the process of learning, I found that there are a lot of people who use candle-making as a home business. You can sell to your products online at places like Etsy.com or Ebay.com.

20. Massage Therapy

“The massage therapy business has been growing by leaps and bounds in the last decade, tripling in volume. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Occupational Outlook Handbook, it should grow by an additional 20% through 2016, meaning this home business has strong potential for growth. And, because all in-home massage services are necessarily local in nature, it’s work that can’t be outsourced to another country.”

21. Web Design

I feel like I have people ask me to build them a website all the time. If you have skill in this area there is a lot of opportunity from small business owners. Check out Elance.com or Odesk.com for opportunities.

22. Professional Pooper Scooper

Maybe not the most glamourous work, but in recent years I have seen many dog waste removal companies pop up, so there must be some money to be made.

23. Senior Care Services

More and more seniors are wanting to avoid nursing homes in lieu of staying in their own homes. Offering nonmedical home care by assisting the elderly with regular daily tasks could be rewarding and profitable.

24. House Cleaning

I have known a few women carved out a flexible home-based business by cleaning homes. You probably already have the skills you need, now you just need to get the word out.