When the opportunity presented itself it seemed only natural that Annette would embrace a home business that allowed her to combine her direct sales experience, her love of kids, and her desire to include her daughters in the family business. Annette kindly agreed to share a bit of her story and the Noah’s Ark Animal Workshop opportunity by answering a few questions for me.

First I asked her to briefly describe the company and opportunity to which Annette replied:
 
Noah’s Ark Workshops started in 2004 as the first ever traveling “Stuff N Fluff” workshop bringing make your own stuffed animal workshops to children’s events like birthday parties, scout troops, child learning centers and more. Our reps are event entertainers, helping the kids have the greatest time ever at their event and providing a great “friend” for them to bring home afterward. It’s a blast!

I then went on to ask the following questions.
 
How long have you been with the company? How long have you been in direct sales?
I started in direct sales many many years ago doing door to door back in the days when Avon Ladies walked the streets! After college when I was married and staying at home with my kids I started with my first company (Stampin’ Up!) doing the home party routine but when Noah’s Ark caught my eye in 2005 (still brand new) I jumped in right away.

What is your title or rank with the company and how long did it take you to achieve that rank?
I’m a “Senior Captain” which is the top level in our career plan. I reached that level early in my second year with the company.

Besides commissions and cash bonuses, what’s your favorite benefit or perk?
Oh wow, that would be hard to pinpoint I think. I can remember at my first company convention being SO nervous about speaking in front of the group during a panel discussion session that I thought I’d throw up and the thought of doing team conference calls gave me hives. Since then that part has gotten easier, though I do still get nervous but it has been a great way to force me out of my little comfort zone. Probably the best “perk” would be the friendships that I’ve made with women across the country through the business. I have some dear friends now that I would probably have never met had I not been in this business.

What’s your best selling or favorite product?
I’ve yet to meet a stuffed animal I don’t like but my favorite of our line is definitely Cubby Bear – our premium white polar bear. He’s so soft and there’s something about his nose that makes me smile. Our best selling product is the Mojo Monkey – both boys and girls just love him!

What support and/or training do you provide to lead your team members to success?
Working with my team is my favorite part of the business. I have a private team website, a training website and also send out a series of autoresponder training emails to help my team get started in their first month or so. I have recorded conference calls as well as screen capture videos to shorten the learning curve and I tell my direct team that I’m available to them pretty much 24/7 (although I prefer not to receive calls during the middle of the night!) That said, success is definitely defined differently for each person and I don’t force MY goals onto anyone. I try to come alongside and work with people at whatever level they are comfortable in our business.

Which one or two sales methods do you primarily use and teach?
Our business is pretty unique as far as direct sales goes. We don’t have home or catalog parties since we’re really more in the service business. The “sale” is made before the event actually happens. So most of our/my parties are birthday parties, child care centers, girl scout troops and even the occasional senior citizen center! The seniors love the animals almost as much … or maybe more … than the kids do!

What would you say is the key to success with this company?
Like any company, a willingness to work and a realistic picture of what it means to own your own business. This is not a “if I sign up the phone will start ringing” type of business. You have to get out there and market yourself so people know you’re in business. So if you can be consistent, persistent and patient, things will start happening.

I know your children have been directly involved in this business with you. Are they still involved? What have they gained from the experience (aside from monetary gains)? Do they talk about going into business for themselves in the future or are they thinking of other types of careers?
Yes, my girls are still involved somewhat. When we started this they were at the prime ages for this type of thing and when they would come along to our events the little kids just LOVED having older kids be their “teachers”. Both of my girls have used the experience in our business to find their own passions as far as their own business goes and are working on developing those businesses, so their involvement in this one with me has tapered off somewhat. Being involved in Noah’s Ark has helped them tremendously in their interactions with the kids, building business skills and discovering their own passion areas.

As Annette said, I’m sure success requires dedication and hard work, but to me, Noah’s Ark Animal Workshop sounds like a fun, rewarding opportunity. If you are interested in more detail about starting your own home business offering stuffed animal workshops at children’s events, contact Annette by visiting her Noah’s Ark Animal Workshop page in the InternetBasedMoms.com direct sales directory.

In addition to helping her team succeed, Annette shares her direct sales and homeschooling expertise through a number of different resources which you can find through AnnetteYen.com

One of the most frequently asked questions about starting a home business or Internet business is whether a business license is required. And unfortunately, there’s not a simple yes or no answer.

It’s important to start and operate your business under the proper licenses and other legal requirements. It may cost a bit in the beginning, but the penalties for not following the law may be much more costly. Free help is available from consumer organizations and government offices, however I suggest consulting professionals such as an attorney and an accountant to make sure you not only follow the law, but that your business operates in a manner that best suits your personal circumstances.

In the United States, there are different business requirements at the federal, state, city or town and county levels. Even your local zoning laws may address business license requirements in addition to regulating the type of business you can operate from home. If you are doing business under an assumed or business name, you may need to register as a corporation or partnership, or file a a DBA (Doing Business As).

The Small Business Administration (www.sba.gov) provides a good deal of information on licensing (and many other aspects of starting a business). Other good sources of information include your state’s official website, your Secretary of State’s office, your city’s official website, and your local county clerk or town clerk.

In addition to licensing you may be required to collect and remit state and local sales taxes. You’ll also need to know how to report your business income for your state and federal tax returns.

Making the effort to start your business legally takes a little time and effort, and probably a little cash, but it’s well worth it in the long run.

[Image courtesy of ifindkarma].

These three teenage girls prove that with a little creativity, a good business plan, and a lot of hard work, it’s possible to launch a home business during summer vacation. In just weeks they went from their idea to their first party. And they have me convinced this could be hugely successful.

 
Good luck Opal, Aqua, and Saphire. With your entrepreneurial spirit and creativity you surely have a successful future with this, or any other business endeavor you pursue.

[Thank you, The Dunwoody Crier, where I first read about the Mermaids of Dunwoody]

Starting your first home business doesn’t have to be too difficult or overwhelming. Here are six relatively easy and inexpensive home businesses for beginner entrepreneurs.

1. Become an independent consultant for a direct sales company. One of the biggest advantages to starting out as a direct sales consultant is that most companies provide training and support to help you succeed. Additionally, it’s relatively inexpensive to get started, you won’t have to stock a lot of inventory, and the company usually offers sales and promotional materials at a reasonable cost.

When looking for a company to join be aware that while there are hundreds of legitimate, worthwhile companies to join, there are also others that are more interested in parting you from your money than in helping you make money. Take your time, do your research, and ask lots of questions before joining any company.

2. Turn your craft into a business. There are many ways to sell your crafts both in your local community and online. If you are a creative person and your friends and family always say “you should sell these,” you might want to consider selling at local craft shows and fairs, through consignment shops, or online through sites like eBay and Etsy.

Keep in mind that your business will be limited to the number of items you can make and sell so you may not be able to make a full-time income selling your items. If your crafts are well received you can expand your business by selling kits and instructions or conducting classes.

3. Clean out your house and sell what you don’t need. While this is just a temporary income, you might be surprised at how much you can make by having a yard sale or selling through online auction sites like eBay or other marketplaces like Amazon. If you find you have a knack for organizing and running a yard sale, you can start a business providing the service for others.

4. Sell a service locally. Your neighbors and others in your community are always looking for someone to perform all kinds of services including lawn mowing and other landscape services, home repair, painting, dog walking and dog sitting, organizing, and tutoring. Anything that requires special skills or that will save people time is marketable.

The hardest part of getting started is finding your first few customers. Consider offering a neighbor a free hour or two in return for a reference. Once you do good work for a couple of people, you’ll like get referred to others and word-of-mouth will become your best advertising.

5. Sell a service online. Many people make a living as a virtual assistant providing all kinds of administrative and marketing help to other business owners. Some of the most in-demand online services are writing and technical help.

Learning to market yourself online is the biggest challenge you will face so be sure to do a little research to see what it takes to get noticed before you take the leap to an online service provider.

6. Write an online blog. If you like to write and are well-versed enough on a topic, blogging can be fun and profitable. You can start for free, but I recommend making a small investment for your own domain and web hosting.

There is a technical learning curve to get started, but there are plenty of tutorials and lots of help from the blogging community.

When you’re ready to start a home business try one of these ideas, or use them as a springboard to come up with your own idea. With a little creativity you can turn almost any skill or interest into a product or service people want to buy.

Need more help deciding which direct sales company to join? Grab your free guide to choosing your opportunity.

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Get a free reprint version of this article.

You’ve decided to start a home business, but now the big question looms in front of you. What kind of business should I start?

1. Do what you know. Turn your skills and experience into a successful business. There are hundreds of direct sales companies to choose from and you’ll certainly be able to find one that matches your interests whether it’s food and cooking, candles, home decorating, jewelry, scrapbooking, or almost anything else.

The same applies if you’re starting your own company. If you have spent twenty years writing and editing company marketing materials or you love to groom and care for your many pets, consider how you can take your experience and turn it into a successful business.

2. Do what you love. Success will be an unhappy struggle if you don’t enjoy what you’re doing. Many people try to choose the business that will make them rich and end up regretting it. You may get rich running your own business but if you’re not enjoying what you do you’ll likely be stressed and unhappy.

Note: Many people will advise you to “follow your passion” when choosing a direct sales company or starting your own company. That’s not what I’m saying here. Your passion may be extremely difficult to turn into a profitable business. And trying to turn it into one can completely ruin your passion for it. What I’m suggesting is that you should do something you enjoy enough, and that you know enough about, that you can do it everyday for the long term.

3. It’s okay to do what other people are doing. You may often see direct sales consultants advising you to “get in on the ground floor” of a new company or to join a company where the market isn’t “saturated” in your community. It’s not necessary to be amoung the first consultants to be successful. In fact, selling a well-known and trusted brand may be easier than selling something no one has heard of before.

If you are starting your own company, consider what you want to do, evaluate your competition, and investigate what you can do differently or better than they do. Maybe you want to own an online store that sells camping equipment. Well there a numerous stores that do that already. Is there a market that you can focus on? A niche? Maybe you can sell camping equipment designed for the physically challenged or a camping store just for women.

4. Focus on a niche. The last tip leads right into this one. You can market a popular product in a different way or to a group of people others may be neglecting. Many businesses have gone broke trying to be all things to all people. Try to identify a niche that you would enjoy working in and think about starting a business therein. If you love to work outdoors, consider starting a landscaping business or joining a garden supply direct sales company. Be a specialty shop, not a big box store. Focus on a niche and become an expert in your field.

If you make wise choices in the beginning you’ll be much more likely to follow through to success.

Image courtesy of Sarah_Ackerman.

It’s the middle of July. Am I really suggesting you start a Santa Letter business now?! Yes I am!

I’m not going to suggest you start advertising your Santa letter business now, but it’s a great time to plan and prepare so that you’re ready to launch your business and take orders the minute the holiday selling season starts. The article below will help you get started.

Start a Santa Letter Business for the Holidays

With the uncertainty surrounding the economy these days, many women are trying to think of ideas to make money from home. You don’t want to fall for a scam but you do want something that is easy to do and still have time for your families. Starting a Santa letter business may be the answer you’re looking for.What Exactly is a Santa Letter Business?

Each year thousands of children write letters to Santa Claus and never get a response, but your Santa letter business can change all that. By owning your own Santa letter business, you can give children something to cherish for years to come. A parent pays for a “letter from Santa” for their child and you write a personalized letter in response.

What Type of Equipment and Supplies are Needed?

There aren’t a lot of equipment needs for this business. In fact, you can get started with nothing more than a computer, Christmas stationery, a printer, and a way for parents to contact you. You may want to consider getting a post office box for your business so you won’t have people sending letters to your personal address.

What Skills and Attributes Will You Need?

A good command of the English language and the ability to type are all the skills you’ll really need. If you love children and can relate to them, you’ll do well in this business.

How Do You Decide What to Charge?

Parents want their children to be happy and to encourage the magic of Christmas as long as they can. It’s not unusual for Santa letter businesses to charge as much as $10 per letter. Of course, you may be able to find them cheaper online, but the quality of the letter leaves much to be desired. Deliver great quality and command a better price.

Think about what you would be willing to spend to have a personalized letter sent to your child from “Santa” and that will give you a good starting point for the price. Factor in your costs – stationary, postage, and printer ink – then add a little to the price of the letter to help pay for those items.

Use Creative Marketing Ideas.

Don’t wait too long to start advertising your new business. In fact, if you haven’t started by the first week of November, it may be too late. Sell letters from Santa on auction sites. You can also create order forms that can be given to schools and preschools to send home to parents.

Consider creating a website and advertise there, send out postcards to people in your hometown, or put up fliers in local businesses. Set up your computer in a booth at a Christmas craft show and have letters made on the spot for parents and grandparents to take with them.

To Learn More:

Setting up a Santa letter business is a fun and lucrative business to start with a minimum of money and equipment. Get step-by-step help, download letter templates and more, by grabbing your “Just Add Sweat Guide to Start a Santa Letter Business”

If you’re looking for a direct sales party plan company with a proven track record, Watkins, Inc. may be the perfect choice. Founded in 1868, the “J.R. Watkins Medical Company” originally sold health “remedies.” While the company still sells it’s premier Red Liniment pain reliever, the product line now also includes gourmet food products, natural cleaning products, personal care products, and more.

In addition to their commitment to providing natural products for its customers, the company works hard to protect the environment through responsible manufacturing and recycling programs, and they help the community through charitable programs.

Some of the benefits of becoming a Watkins, Inc. Associate are:

• You’ll be joining a proven, well-known company.
• Consumers are more and more interested in natural products.
• Selling consumable products makes it easier to gain repeat customers.
• You can get started for under $50.
• The company offers rewards and bonus programs.

For more information and to contact a consultant who will help you get started, visit the Watkins, Inc. page in the InternetBasedMoms.com direct sales directory.

Image courtesy of dan taylor.

Summer is here and many people are looking for temporary work, including teachers, high school students, and college students. Depending on where you live, a summer job may be next to impossible to find. An alternative may be to start your own summer business offering a service. Here are some summer business ideas.

There are always the standard summer services including:

• Lawn mowing and landscaping – competitive pricing and professional service are the keys to success.
• Child care – many parents need babysitting or mother’s helper services for school-aged children during summer vacation.
• Car washing – consider going mobile; wash cars at owners’ homes or place of business.
• House sitting – many people go on vacation and having a house sitter adds some security in addition to keeping the plants watered.
• Pet sitting – an added house sitting service.
• Painting – indoors and out.

If you have a particular skill perhaps you can put it to use for the summer:
• Photography service – take pictures at family reunions, beach parties, and other summer parties and events.
• Tutoring – many parents look for help for their kids to catch up or get ahead during the summer.

Here are a few ideas that aren’t as common:
• Yard sale organizer – many homeowners would welcome the help to set up and run a yard sale.
• Window washer – while many people keep the inside of their windows clean, outside window washing is often a job that homeowners put off.
• Specialty cleaning services – think about specific items that could use a special cleaning like home computers and laptops, collectibles, all the framed artwork and photos hanging in the home.
• Specialty organization service – organize pantries and kitchen cabinets or collections of CDs and DVDs or books.
• Mover – many people move during the summer and need help packing and loading the truck. Or offer your services to help students move in and out of the dorms.
• Party helper – offer your services to help set up, serve guests, and clean up for summer parties.

With a little creativity and advertising you may find yourself very busy and well-paid all summer. Sometimes all it takes is finding that first job and word-of-mouth gets you booked for the rest of the summer. And if nothing else, it’s a great time to clean your own home and sell your unused items at your own yard sale or using an online auction site such as eBay.

Are you running a summer business? Leave a comment to let us know what you’re doing and how it’s going.

by Kelly McCausey

Do you realize that most local brick and mortar business owners feel lost and overwhelmed by the idea of marketing themselves on the internet? It’s true.

As a long time internet marketer, I have a good understanding of how the web works. I can create a website that attracts relevant traffic and makes a profit. I realized a few years ago that I could take this knowledge and apply it to serving a local market – offering my services as a website creator and marketer.

There’s no lack of providers out there offering to help the local business owner take their business online, but the sheer volume of options is confusing and the price point is often far outside of the small business budget. So when I opened my doors to provide affordable services from a local source, I found clients who were hungry for what I had to offer.

I used the knowledge I have about building a simple website to set up a WordPress blog for a local consignment shop. We publish pictures of some of her new products and pipe the RSS Feed into a Facebook fan page. These are just some simple promotion strategies that come as easy as pie to you and me – but to her, it was like magic!

Imagine her delight when a lady walked into her shop with overflowing bags of great product to consign, saying ‘I found you on the internet and decided to bring my things in!’. The cool part? The lady drove almost an HOUR to get to her shop – passing many other similar stores along the way.
My client is now totally sold on the power of the internet to accomplish her marketing goals.

Before she met me, she was scared stiff to even think about doing something online. Most local small business are and that’s why they need YOU!

When you focus on a local business community, you have home field advantage. If you’re good at what you do and deliver real world results, word of mouth travels fast among these business owners who regular network together.

A phone call came in to my office a few weeks ago. So and so had mentioned me to so and so and now another so and so wanted to meet to discuss a project. I setup a time and looked forward to learning about their needs. I admit my jaw dropped a tiny bit when I learned the client was a famous food brand that has its home here in northern Michigan. (Of course I quickly hid my surprise and pretended that I consulted on major brands every day of the week.

When local people ask me what I do, I say that I do web design and consulting. If the conversation progresses, I go on to tell them about how I help businesses develop powerful, interactive websites with simple tools that help them attract more clients and customers.

It all sounds very professional, right? And of course it is – but the reality is that I work from my home, usually in my slippers. I rarely meet clients face to face and I choose my own work hours. I love what I do and thoroughly enjoy seeing how my skills benefit my clients.

If you have even some of the skills that I do: If you understand how search engines work, how to create a website with WordPress, how to set up a simple mailing list, a Twitter account and a Facebook page; you could be running your own consulting business.

Even if you lack some of these skills, if you delegate well and enjoy serving as a project manager, you can outsource the work that falls outside of your expertise and still provide all of the necessary services to your clients.

The needs exists. Local business owners know they should be taking advantage of the internet. They just need you to show them how to make it happen.

Kelly McCausey shows you step by step how to create, launch and grow a local business consulting business at Become a Blog Consultant.

Article printed from LadyPens: http://www.ladypens.com

Image courtesy of sidewalk flying.

As the school year comes to a close, parents and teens begin looking for ways for the kids to occupy their time off. For many teens a summer job would be ideal, but there are probably very few jobs available. If your teen has the maturity and independence required, a summer business may be the perfect solution to a productive summer.

There are traditional choices such as lawn mowing, car washing, and pet sitting and many other choices for self-starters. Here are some of our previous posts containing business ideas that might work for your teen.

• Teen Business Idea
• Ways Teens Can Make Money Online
• Starting an In-home Pet Sitting Business
• All summer will you be hearing “Mom, I’m bored!” or…”

Some businesses involve a good deal of responsibility, so be sure your teen can handle what they are taking on before allowing him or her to proceed. There may be some risk involved as well, whether risk of physical injury from the tools being used or some “stranger danger” when going to others home to perform work. Be sure your teen understands the risks, knows how to avoid danger, and knows what to do if they are in danger or get injured.

Earning money is just one of the rewards of a summer business. In addition to learning valuable business skills, additional benefits including building self-confidence, gaining more independence, and enjoying a sense of accomplishment.

With a little entrepreneurial spirit, some imagination, and a lot of hard work, the summer can be profitable for a teenager.

Are you a teen (or parent of a teen) with a business or a plan to start one this summer? Please post a comment and tell us about it.