Guide To Help People Start A Freelance Business

If you are anything like me, you count on homework time to give you a couple of extra hours to get some work done. However there are sometimes days when the teacher seems not to be on your side and decides to let the kids go home without having any homework assignments. Now before you panic and just write that time off, here are some suggestions of things that you can do to keep your kids occupied when they don’t have any homework to do that day.

Chores- I am not advocating child labor here. But there is nothing wrong with them cleaning up their room or folding up their clothes. This is especially useful if one child has homework and the other one doesn’t.

Television – I know you hate the idea of having the tv babysit your kids. However, sometimes it does become a necessary evil sometimes. Especially when you have a tight deadline to finish. Explain to your kids that you have important work to finish and promise that you will spend some time with them when you can take a break.

Let them play outside – If you have a big backyard and another adult to supervise, kick them out of the house for a few hours. Let them run around and use up all of that energy. They’ll get to exercise and you’ll get hem out of your hair for a few hours so you can get some work done.

Let them play some games on the computer. Once again, I know some of you may be reluctant to allow your kids to play video games, but this is one great way to keep them occupied. If you are worried about the games being too violent, just make sure the games they play are age appropriate. One good classic game for kids to play is solitaire. You can get to the solitaire game by clicking on the word solitaire on this post. You can find more kids games by clicking on the phrase kids games in this post.

I know most of you chose to work from home so you could spend more time with your kids. That is a great goal and you can certainly do that. I just wanted to give you some tips to help you on those days when you can’t break away from the computer as easily as you would like. It is important to be able to spend time with your kids, but you have to be able to get something done on a timely manner as well. Just something to think about.

What LeBron James and the Cavs Can Teach Small Business Owners About Multiple Streams of Income

LeBron James, the leading scorer for The Cleveland Cavaliers, decided that he was going to leave the team and go play for the Miami Heat when he came up for free agency. This left a lot of fans upset and bitter. Also, a lot of local small business owners were upset as well. You see, a lot of the small business owners in Cleveland just placed their businesses on the way to the arena expecting that they would stay profitable just because they were close to the arena. Also, the team itself placed all their championship bets on how well LeBron James performed. I know you are thinking that this is a nice history lesson, but what does this have to do with my small business. A lot of business owners rely on one stream of income. They rely on one service or one product to bring in revenue. The rest of this article will explain why this is not a good idea and what you can do to avoid becoming like the Cleveland Cavs if your “star player” (your main source of income) decides to leave town.

Many entrepreneurs are service providers. They are writers, virtual assistants, speakers, or coaches. They specialize in being good at the main service they provide. While it is good to specialize, here is the problem. What happens if you get sick and can’t perform whatever task it is you have decided to specialize in? Your income vanishes. Your “LeBron James” of income generation just left your city for another one. Now what can you do to avoid this scenario? I am so glad you asked that question. To avoid this scenario, you must build other sources of income while you are building your main income stream. The next section will give you a few ideas on how to do that.

You must have additional income streams to survive any economy. If you are a service provider, consider creating an infoproduct related to your service. If you are a virtual assistant, maybe you could create a guide on how to outsource. If you are a speaker, you could do a teleseminar, record it, transcribe it, and offer that as a product. If you are a coach, you could create a membership site where you would offer group coaching to the people that paid for a membership. You could also find affiliate products related to your niche and sell those. This is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to creating additional streams of income for your business.

Relying on one source of income is a bad idea. That product could stop selling. The advertising network that is serving your ads could go out of business. Your main client could find someone cheaper. While it is difficult to manage multiple projects, always be on the lookout for additional revenue streams. Look for things that can be easily integrated into what you are already doing.

Even the best writer gets a little brain dead sometimes.  Between clients and family, we all need a little break.  I know sometimes you get so wrapped up in a project that you barely have time to eat, let alone take a real break involving getting up from the computer.  So what should you do?  I know most people scoff at the idea of playing video games on the computer, but it is actually a good way to relax. Sometimes I even come up with ideas for articles while I am playing video games.  Now I know what you’re probably wondering. Where on earth can I go to find some good games to play? I am so glad you asked that question.  For starters, you can always find some interesting games on Facebook. My personal faves are Farmville and NightClub City.

I also link to some games on my forum.  You can see the link to my forum in the links section of this blog. Those are just some free games that I found the code for online and decided to add to my site so my visitors can have something to do.  They don’t have any real theme to them.
However, if you are into Ben10 games, then you should definitely click on the words Ben 10 games in this post for a wide variety of Ben10 related games.  I had to restrain myself from playing those games myself.  I did, really.  I actually love that show. I could have sat around for hours playing those games, but I digress.

Female gamers, I didn’t forget about you.  There are also some really neat girl games available on the same site that has the Ben 10 games.  Just click on the words girl games in this post to play those games.  If you need to get your “Swiper no swiping” fix on, you can also play some games related to the Dora the Explorer show.  To find the Dora games, just click on the words Dora games in this post.  Those should be enough games to get you started.

Everyone needs a chance to release their inner child. It can be easy to get sucked into the games and not get your to do list done.  I suggest setting an alarm clock so that you don’t spend too much time playing games.  I don’t want you to lose clients because you spent too much time playing games and not enough time writing. Have fun, but in moderation!

When people think of networking they often stop at collecting a person’s business card or connecting with them on twitter. Remember that a little bit can go a long way. What do I mean by that? Well when you connect with someone whether it be virtually or in real life, remember to keep in touch with that person. I realize that it is hard to keep up with people if you have a big network of people. Just make a goal to connect with one person a day. That can really go a long way in growing your business. You never know which of your business associates will lead you to that next big deal or that next client.

Ebooks are a must have tool in a freelance writer’s toolbox. No I don’t mean the kind you read, I mean those that you write. When you write an ebook, you gain credibility in your niche. You also have a product that you can either give away to build your own opt in list (you are building an optin list, right) or charge money for. Here are some ideas to help you find great topics to write your ebook about. Enjoy.

I’ve always been impressed with those who seem to always be
ahead of the pack when it comes to new ideas.

When I first started publishing information products
online, I thought that certain people had a crystal ball
they gazed into. Or some top-secret contact who was
providing them with inside information.

Over time, I realized that it wasn’t magic that allowed
these people to come up with red-hot ideas on demand. It
was simply that they knew where to look.

I soon discovered many places where ideas seemed to always
be found. I call these places “idea hangouts”. Here are
three of my favorites where you can find ideas for your
next ebook anytime you want. Almost like a genie granting
you three wishes…

1. GOOGLE.COM.

Google is the ultimate “idea hangout”. There are so many
ways to mine the gold in Google’s amazing search database
that it would take another article to graze the surface of
this enormous iceberg.

What I want to mention are just two quick ways to find
ideas by searching Google.

- Identify Listings.

Search for a broad topic related to your area of interest
or expertise. (I.E. “Tennis”, “Weight loss”,
“Homeschooling”.) Look at all of the web sites listed in
the index of returned results. You’ll likely find some
ideas for information products right there in the first
couple of pages.

- Identify Advertisers.

You’ll probably notice small ads either at the top of the
page or to the right of the page (or both!). These
advertisers represent your competition. They also
represent your thermometer for taking the temperature of
your market and gauging interest in specific topics.
Chances are, what they’re selling you should be selling.

In both of these examples, you can click through to the web
pages of the sites listed and study their respective sales
pages. Look specifically at the “bullet points”. Each of
these represents a potential idea for your next ebook.

2. AMAZON.COM.

From the world’s largest search engine we move to the
world’s largest bookstore. At Amazon.com you’ll really get
your creative juices fired up.

Again, you’ll want to search the listings by entering a
keyword or keyphrase into the search box on the main page
at Amazon.com.

You’ll get a returned listing of numerous books, courses
and other periodicals. Search these listed items for ideas
for your own ebook.

— Example —

If you were to search for “Homeschooling”, you’d find a
variety of ideas just waiting in the listing of books
available, including: homeschooling for special needs
children, getting starting in homeschooling, choosing
curriculum, homeschooling field trips, homeschooling
support groups, homeschooling for various ages (I.E. Pre-K,
Elementary, Junior High, High School, etc.), homeschooling
for Christians, etc.)

Any of these listings (and the dozens of others listed)
would be great ideas for the topic of your next ebook.

— Example —

Pay particular attention to the first page of the listing.
Amazon ranks their listings based on popularity of actual
sales volume. In other words, #1 is a better seller than
#50. This is a ready-made indicator of demand!

3. MAGAZINES.COM.

After visiting the world’s largest search engine and the
world’s largest bookstore, it’s time to take a quick stop
at the world’s largest periodical store, Magazines.com.

You’ll find every imaginable magazine listed at this site.
The interesting part (and useful to you as a research tool)
is this: you’ll also find the COVER of usually a recent
copy of each magazine.

That is, you can search for “Parenting” and the engine will
return a listing of magazines related to that topic. You
can then click on the image of the magazine cover and
you’ll be shown a larger copy of that cover where you can
read the contents. (I.E. “How To Raise A Stubborn Child”,
“27 Ways Discipline In Public” and “The Real Key To Your
Child Getting Better Grades”.)

Each of these “cover stories” represents an idea for your
next ebook.

The best part about it is this: the publishers of these
magazines have done the research for you! They’ve measured
the level of interest for these ideas and found it high
enough to warrant not only writing content about them, but
referencing that content on the cover of the magazine!

That’s your hint. People want this information.

So, there you have it, 3 “idea hangouts” where you can find
ready-made, in-demand, red-hot topics for your next ebook.

Happy hunting!

As a freelancer, you should be building your own mailing list. It’s always a good idea to have a list of people that you can contact and promote things to whenever you want. Read on for more info about something that can make this process easier.

Can A Listbuilding System Be TOTALLY Automated?

I know we’re all a bit sick and tired of promises of “automated software” that will make us rich before dinner.

And I’m always the first to be skeptical of these kinds of outrageous claims.

But today I may have to actually eat my words.

Because I just picked up a listbuildilng system that really is incredibly fast…,

And the traffic actually does keeps flow in on auto-pilot.

It’s a pretty new tactic on the scene that I’ve heard of.

But I never really knew how to implement it.

Then I found this:

Free Plug N Play Listbuilding System

At that link 7 figure marketer Bill McRea is GIVING AWAY this listbuilding system totally free…

It’s his way of getting some buzz going for his upcoming product launch (apparently he’s go another system up his sleeve that’s even better than this)

In any case..

I went and got this myself and it’s totally legit.

There’s nothing scammy about it all.
It’s just a way to instantly create a win-win offer that potential JV partners can’t refuse.

Bill hand you EVERYTHING you need to make it work. And I mean EVERYTHING.

So if you know the power of having a mailing list..

Do yourself a favor and go get this.

Do it now: Free Plug N Play Listbuilding System

I mean…you can’t beat the price, right?

P.S. There is one catch to this…you’ll have to help spread the word. But that’s easy for me because I’ve seen this strategy in action and know that it works.
You should get Free Plug N Play Listbuilding System now!

I just wanted to share this with you. I purchased this ebook, Writing Content For Sale earlier this week. It was pretty decent. It lists sites that will pay you for your articles. Check this book out today by clicking on the words Writing Content For Sale. Yes, this is my affiliate link.

Here’s an article I came across about article writing by Murray Lynn I thought you might enjoy. It discusses ways that you can earn money with your articles. You can get to the article by clicking on the words article writing in this post. Enjoy!

I know you have probably seen people advertising dozens of giveaway events before. This one is different at least in my opinion. The purpose of this giveaway is to raise money to help children who need life saving operations. To find out more about this event and to join as a contributor click the following link:
http://www.learnsmallbusiness.com/suggests/nams4kids/
Do it now!

It’s the first day of school here in Georgia, so today’s post will be a brief one. When you’re networking, be sure to connect with your potential clients on more than one platform. If you meet them on twitter, connect with them on Facebook. Ask your new friend where else they hang out at online. Visit and subscribe to her blog. You don’t want to only have one way to connect with your new friend. What if that site goes down or you get locked out of your account? This does take time. The best way to get this done is to ask as soon as you accept a new friend request. That’s my tip for today. Get out there and start making those connections.