I spent many hard earned dollars trying to find a way to earn extra income in a home based business. I bought or invested in many at home possibilities and on-line opportunities. None of them panned out in the least. Maybe I am not a good, independent, home based business person, or a good salesperson. Or maybe my focus was on the wrong thing – - making money. Perhaps I had bad karma.I don’t know what the reason was, but home based business success eluded me. So I decided I needed to make a philosophical change. Instead of focusing on what my business could do for me, I made a shift to what can my business do for everybody else? Instead of helping just ourselves, let’s help others.Network marketing your home based business is all about connecting. In a broad overview, it means telling people you know, your network of friends, relatives and associates, about a product or service you’re trying to sell. And you should try to steadily grow your network of associates and friends as much as possible to expand your potential client base. The really big, successful, home network marketers have a huge network that they always manage to keep growing. Interestingly, they seem to focus it around other network marketers.Well, my idea is a little different. What happens if you don’t want the focus of your network to be other network marketers? Well, not unless they want to help other people who need support. Where there is big need, there are people who want to help – - and usually, lots of people. To me, that means there is a network of friends, family, co-workers or concerned, community people who want to make a difference. What a wonderful group of people! What a network! Wouldn’t it be great to to have those type of people in your home based business network and in your downstream?Our local Women’s Center, which also included the Rape Crisis Center, was always hurting for funds. Every year it was a fight to have enough to stay afloat, much less expand any services. I know there were plenty of supportive people within the community, but their contributions were like one time deals. With the MLM opportunities out there now, these local supporters could grow a strong network of residual income for their special organizations. Their help would continue for year after year and continue to grow. Do you know of any organizations that wouldn’t like that? They would not only have more revenue to keep operating, but would also be able to expand their programs. How cool is that?As for individuals, like wounded veterans or police-people or fire-people, the same would be true. These people’s family, friends, supporters could finally have a substantial, residual building way to help these local heros. There would be a realistic way to try and pay back their sacrifices for us. How? If there are easy, low cost, home based opportunities that use MLM to do the lion’s share of the work, then what a deal. Why not utilize those home based businesses in a new way? Let’s spread the success around and help our communities and heros at the same time.Change your karma. Generate new success in your home based business. Share the dream!
Finding Affordable Home Based Business Opportunities
Given the state of our economy everyday thousands of people are looking for a business opportunity they can affordably run from their home to either replace a lost income or to make sure they have enough money to live comfortably. Here’s some food for thought and a few ideas for you to think about for your business that you would like to run from home.Affordable Home Based Business Opportunities – Honest ObservationsAffordable business opportunities that can be run from home allow a person to try (test) a new system or program, without having to spend a ton of cash. Even though it would be wonderful if all of the business opportunities that you could run from home were immediately successful; the truth is, it doesn’t always work out that way.In fact, most don’t turn out to be a good fit without at least some experience. Some efforts can be quite successful but many will not be. Many times, it involves some trial and error to discover what works best for you. Business opportunities that are affordable and can be run from home allow entrepreneurs to try out a new program while not having to hand over massive amounts of money.Please don’t allow the honest observations to discourage you. Finding these type of business opportunities takes some research, time and a willingness to try new things in order to become successful. It’s totally doable with persistence as well as empowering yourself by learning as you go.Which affordable home based business opportunities should you try?That question is actually very personal since not every program is good for every person.Think about the things that interest you. Is there something you’re passionate about such as fly fishing gear, children’s education, a musical instrument etc? It will help you narrow your search for affordable home based business opportunities.To help you brain storm and further narrow your search here are a few ideas:Affiliate marketingSocial media marketingMulti-level marketingAuction salesThese and many other programs could be the right business for you and all are affordable. If you’re just starting out with online business, be sure to research each company, take your time, learn the program and apply what you’re learning to see if it’s the right thing for you.You just have to find a business that interests you, is affordable and can be run from your home. After conducting the necessary due diligence you then just have start working with that business opportunity. It does take some commitment on your part to consistently learn and grow your business, especially when you’re first getting started.Affordable Home Based Business Opportunities: The PotentialThere is amazing potential for your business that can be run from home and it’s not uncommon to make several thousand dollars a month from a business you can work at from your study, kitchen, or bedroom.If you’re truly interested in working from home, make a commitment to yourself and your business. There will be ups and downs as you’re learning. There will also be some frustration to work through.When you’re determined and if you treat this like a business and NOT a hobby you’ll be able to turn lots of affordable home based business opportunities into massive income generators and a richer, fuller life for you and your family.It does cost money to get started and you will need a marketing budget, but the barriers to entry are low. And it is possible to generate a significant amount of money with all of these. For these reasons, home based business opportunities are ideal for people that are short on money but long on determination, grit and focus.
The Finer Points of Internet Auctions
WHAT IS A PENNY AUCTION?
Penny auctions have exploded in popularity with the massive growth of the internet. However, few people know the true origins of penny auctions.Beginnings actually stretch back to the Great Depression. Those were hard times for everyone, but even harder for farmers. Farmers struggled to bring in steady income because of droughts and crops not selling as well as they had previously. As a result, the banks would foreclose on the farmers who couldn’t keep up with their mortgage payments.
The banks weren’t satisfied with just repossessing the house, they wanted to raise as much capital as possible, so they resorted to selling off the possessions of the owners of the repossessed houses. There was not much the farmers could do about it so they began bidding ridiculously low prices, pennies, on the items while threatening others who dared to bid higher than a few pennies.
The auctions of today hardly resemble their tremulous beginnings. Being part of a penny auction today is exhilarating, fun, and addictive. It combines the selling format of auctioning with a little bit of chance factored in.Auctions are a game of strategy but also a game of luck.
The premise behind penny auctions is giving people the chance to win an item at a drastically reduced price.Auctions make that possible by spreading out the cost of the product among multiple bidders. In order for a person to take part in an auction, they must pay a set price for each bid. For example, if a person wanted to bid on a fifty dollar Amazon gift card then he would spend a dollar for each time a bid placed. If he ended up winning the gift card, then he would only have spent a few dollars for a fifty dollar gift card. Usually penny auctions sell bids in packages.
HOW PENNY AUCTIONS WORK!
The main foundation of penny auctions is the pay-per-bid format. It is the key that allows bidders to win items at the fraction of their retail value and allows the auction owners to keep their site profitable. Most y auction sites run on the same premise: people pay a set amount for each bid, whenever a person places a bid within the closing seconds of the auction time will be added, the last person left with a unique bid after the clocks runs out will win the item. There are a large variety of items that can be won, but they tend to be popular electronics or gift cards to popular stores.
There are two types of auctions: lowest unique bid auction and highest unique bid auction. Lowest unique auction sounds confusing but it is actually quite simple. A unique bid is when only one person has a bid at a certain price. Bids usually start at one penny, a bidder can then place a bid at two pennies. Until another bidder places a higher bid, the most recent bidder will be the lowest unique bid because that was the only bid at two cents and nobody bid higher. However, penny auctions generally don’t stop at one penny. It is not uncommon to find auctions that end up at a couple hundred dollars based on the popularity of the item being auctioned. However, the same principles apply for those auctions. Highest unique bid auctions follow the more traditional auction format such as eBay. The person with the highest bid at the end of the auction wins the item.
Auction site owners turn a profit by selling bids. Say twenty people are bidding on a ten dollar gift card at one dollar per bid, at the end of the auction if there were twenty bids placed in total then the site owner would have made twenty dollars with a ten dollar profit.Auctions do seem like a win-win situation:The site owner makes money while the bidder gets an item for dirt cheap. However, not everyone wins in penny auctions. The people who paid one dollar each bid but left with nothing to show for their investments will not be so happy.
HOW TO WIN!
Penny auction has a lot of chance mixed into it, but one can incorporate strategy that will help raise the chances of winning. Playing smart can make all the difference between gambling and auctioning.
The first crucial tip to winning penny auctions is to know how to manage your bids. Your goal should be to win as much as possible without spending a ton of money buying bids. Managing your bids means that you should already know how much you are willing to risk in order to win an item. The amount of capital you are willing to risk will determine how many bids you can use. Once you know how many bids you have to spend on an item, then you will be better able to manage how and when you place a bid. That will keep you from blowing away all of your bids in the first few seconds of the auction.
The next tip is to practice time management. When fighting in the trenches of penny auctions, you have two enemies: other bidders and time. Knowing when to bid is a must if you want to have success. Placing a bid when there is a lot of time left on the clock is never a good idea. You have to remember that the key to winning a penny auction is being the last one standing when the clock runs out and that each bid increases the amount of time left. It would be a good practice to wait until the last few minutes of the auction before you begin to bid.
The final tip for successful auctioning is to keep your emotions under control.Auctions have a lot of similarities to gambling, and just like gambling, your spending can get out of control. If you keep your emotions level, it will keep you from making rash decisions and blowing loads of cash. Keep your mind clear so that you can gage the behavior of the other bidders and outsmart them.
HOW TO AVOID SCAM SITES!
Penny auctions are a great addition to the web whether you want to win an item that otherwise you wouldn’t be able to afford or if you simply enjoy the thrill that comes with bidding in auctions. Unfortunately, scam sites have tarnished the reputation of the legitimate penny auction sites. However, there are ways that you can protect yourself from scamers and enjoy your auctioning without having to worry about losing your money due to dishonesty.
Checking the reputation of the auction site before you start spending your hard earned money is always a good idea. Chances are other people have tried the site before you and some of them have left reviews. The reviews are your way to gage whether a auction site is trustworthy or not. If a site is getting overwhelmingly negative reviews, then that is a clear indication that you should steer your business elsewhere.
Another tool you can use to protect yourself is checking the Alexia ranks of the auction sites. Alexia rank will give a solid view of how much traffic the auction is getting. If you see a huge difference in the amount of traffic Alexia is projecting and the amount of active bidders on the site, then warning signals should be ringing in your head. Some auction sites have been known to set up robots that automatically bid on projects in order to keep the auction going and inflate the price. That is known as shill bidding. You can sniff out those sites by comparing the traffic the site should be getting to the amount of users using this site.
CONCLUSION!
New legislation may come out later down the road that will officially make penny auctions gambling, but until then, it is a fun, exciting auction that allows one to win the item they’ve always wanted but couldn’t afford.Auctions are also quite lucrative for the site owners because of the pay-per-bid strategy they’ve incorporated. Penny auctions had humble beginnings with farmers who just wanted to get back at the banks who kicked them out of their house. More recently, auctions have enjoyed an explosion in popularity with the rise of the internet.
There are two main formats fora auctions, lowest and highest unique auction, however they both run on the same premise where the last unique bid wins the item. Winning a penny auction will require a certain amount of mental tactic and a bit of luck. However, you can increase your odds of winning by practicing certain techniques such as managing your bids wisely, learning how to work with the time, and keeping a level head and your emotions under control. When you combine those three strategies to your bidding plan, you will find that you win a lot more often.
It is important that you do your due diligence to protect yourself when participating in auctions. Not every auction is run by honest and trustworthy people. There are people out there who just want to take your money. You can protect yourself by ensuring that you only bid on sites that already have a very positive reputation from real users.