Home Based Personalized Letter Writing Business Overview
If you have children, then you’ve probably heard about personalized letters from Santa. But did you consider that this is a real, profitable business. And did you also realize that with a little creativitiy and imagination you could create a year-round home based personalized letter writing business that offers more than just letters from Santa during Christmas time?
In the spring you could offer personalized letters from the Easter Bunny. Now the Easter Bunny's been pretty quiet up until now, but thanks to the letter writing business, you can help bring him into the limelight and give him a voice.
Can you imagine how excited a child will be when they get a letter from the Easter Bunny? Kids love Easter! The candy, colored eggs, Easter egg hunts - most kids are very familiar with the Easter Bunny who secretly drops off their Easter Basket each year.
However you can create any type of letters for spring; they don’t have to be just from the Easter Bunny. You can pick any type of characters you want that you think kids are going to want to get a letter from. Getting a letter from the Tooth Fairy, congratulating a child on getting their "big" teeth would be fun for a child.
How do you think a child would feel when she recieves a letter from her favorite TV character or hero? Why not offer letters from Dora The Explorer, Batman or Spiderman, or how about a letter from Optimus Prime (transformer)? I don't have any young children any more, so I'm not sure who they're watching these days, but with some imagination and perhaps a little research, I'm sure you can come up with lots of ideas.
Getting Started
Starting your home based personalized letter writing business will cost you very little. You already have a computer, and probably a printer. You can purchase specialty paper and envelopes from your local stationary or office supply store, or even online. Then all you need to do is promote your new business.
Promotional Ideas
Daycares
Selling these letters can be a lot of fun. Visit your local daycare centers and see if you can send home a flyer with the kids. To help them to decide that this is a great idea, you can tell them the daycare will get $1 for each letter sold.
This is also a great way to advertise your business. A few children get letters from the Easter Bunny and of course they’re going to want to bring those letters to daycare to show all their friends. Those friends will go home and say how wonderful this was and how much they wish they had received a letter. You get the picture?
Hospitals
Is there a children’s hospital in your local area? One idea would be to start an Easter letter program where people pay for a letter to be donated to a child in the hospital. Hospital stays can be very long. Just imagine how nice it would be for hospitalized children to get a letter like this? Not only will the child feel good, but the person who donated a letter is going to feel very good too.
A great way to promote this idea would be to send out press releases to your local newspaper and TV news stations. You might even think about contacting your local talk radio shows about doing a show on this idea.
Churches
Some Churches publish a monthly newsletter. Advertising your Easter Letter to kids and adults would be a wonderful idea. Here you could offer Easter Bunny, Angel letters, or a general Easter Religious letter. This might even be something that could be put in the weekly bulletin.
A Fun And Rewarding Business
Making money with personalized Letters can really be a lot of fun and very rewarding too. It’s a great feeling when that first parent calls you to tell you how happy their son or daughter is because of the special letter they received in the mail. Christmas and Easter are just two of the holidays you can use to promote your letters. Halloween has pumpkins and witches. Letters from the tooth fairy, or a general letter to say “Hey, good job being helpful around the house and being nice to your sister,” are also great letter ideas for this business.
If you market your letters all year, when Christmas comes around you'll have a list of people who have already purchased from you. Then, when they want to buy that Santa letter, who else would they think of buying it from but you?
Well, there you go... today's home business idea. A home based personalized letter writing business would be so much fun to start and run... and isn't that one of the main goals of a home business: to have fun.
Be honest with yourself. Are you one of those people that believe that you just don’t have the time to get your home business up and running? You’re not alone. Many people I talk to claim they have too much to do and not enough time to do it. They wind up defeating themselves and their business looses momentum and suffers. Full time jobs, family obligations, maintaining health and too many other distractions are the main reasons for not building momentum for their business.
You can wind up feeling that your life is spent catering to every one else’s obligations. However, I have some good news! You can find and maximize time to build momentum for your home business. All you need is to find time and commit to using that time for your home business only.
Try the following strategies to make your home based business flourish:
Document Your Daily Routine
The first thing you will need to do find a quiet place and write down your schedule. Document the start and end time on events like getting ready for work, driving your kids to school, your commute to your day job, gym time and any other weekly commitments you have. Don’t forget to include weekends and family time (this is most important).
After completing this exercise you should have a good visual of what your work week looks like. You should see openings in your week.
Set Achieveable Goals
Make your goal easy. Try to find two hours you can commit to spending on your business. You should be able to re-prioritize some time. Before you decide whether a single goal fits into your goals program, you should work that goal through a process that can help determine whether you should be pursuing this goal at the current time. This can take considerable time but it can save you much time and frustration by eliminating goals that are not for you at this time and helping to identify what you need to focus on now.
1. Target in on your goal: Your goal must be specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and timely. Remember:
Some goals must be big and some goals must be long-range.
Significant goals must be broken down into smaller parts to ensure daily accountability. For example, if you want to lose 50 pounds this year, you can break that down to a goal of 4 pounds a month or 1 pound a week and then figure out how many calories you need to cut out or burn off to achieve that weekly weight loss.
2. Identify how you benefit from the goal: People often fail to reach their goals because they concentrate on the costs rather than the benefits. “If I lose the weight,” they reason, “I’ll have to give up this and do that.” Or “If I quit smoking, I know that I’ll gain weight and be miserable and difficult to get along with.”
Instead of concentrating on the negatives, think of the benefits that you’re going to enjoy. As you set goals, make a list of the tangible rewards that will be yours when you reach each goal. Each time you begin to ask yourself whether pursuing a goal is worth the effort, simply take out the list of benefits and read them aloud again.
3. List the obstacles that stand between you and your goal: You need to identify obstacles in order to be realistic and avoid being surprised. People have experienced many times that they had no idea that pursuing such-and-such a goal was going to be so demanding, require so much effort, take so long, and involve so many unexpected pitfalls. Careful planning in advance eliminates much of this disappointment, but you must understand that you can’t always see the roadblocks ahead. That’s why commitment, attitude, responsibility, and focus on the benefits remain constant necessities. Patience is also extremely important. Just remember that by keeping yourself focused on the goal, you can see the benefits and not just the obstacles.
Stay with the Schedule You Created and Re-Evaluate
The next thing you need to do is stick with your schedule. This can be tough because you are creating a new habit. Once you get the hang of your new routine, you should always re-evaluate your schedule. You may be able to find more time to spend on your home business.
Sticking with your schedule means you need to discipline yourself to work. This means that you have to find a way after work, after little league games, after dinner and after putting the kids to bed.
Don’t Forget Your Family.
Spending time with my family is always a top priority for most of us. I find that using the evening hours is best for me to spend on my home business. It seems to be the most quite part of the day. If you have to use your family time to spend on your business, make sure you communicate with your family so they have an expectation of what you are doing. However, I would recommend that you set a time limit so you can spend that time you want with your family. This will provide balance for you.
Embrace Distractions
As we all know life often throws us off schedule. Try your best to embrace that fact instead of fighting it. If your child stays up late, focus on helping your child quiet down and go to sleep. Try not to focus on what you could be doing. Don’t worry. The work will still be there when you are ready. If you have to stay late at your day job, then choose to work late. Usually, you’ll find that it is better just to focus on one thing at a time. You’ll be more efficient and effective.
Having a clear and guilt free mind while working on your business is most productive. To handle new ideas that can distract you while you are working, keep an MP3 Recorder handy so if an idea comes up you can record it or write down the idea in a notebook. You can always prioritize those thoughts at a later time. You will also find that you are using less energy dealing with distractions instead of fighting them.
So there is good news when it comes to finding time to work on your own business. Don’t despair and don’t get frustrated. Just remember that you have total control of your time and you alone can change your habits to build your business's momentum.
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That's it for today. I hope this article was helpful to you in your efforts to build a successful home business.
People love novelty and personalization... and everyone loves cookies. Combining these elements in a home based jumbo cookie business makes for a winning combination. If you love baking, are creative and have a flair for fun and decoration, owning a jumbo cookie business will be an enjoyable as well as profitable experience.
Everyone uses cakes as a celebratory food... we know this. However, there are so many that want to do something different. You can give these adventerous individuals an alternative to the same old thing. Instead of a birthday cake, you can offer jumbo birthday cookies. Instead of a cake for Mom's day, create a special jumbo cookie just for her. And... there are so many more choices for flavors, decorations and even sizes.
In fact, you can create jumbo cookies the size of cakes, even with layers. How about a chocolate cream filled double chocolate chip cookie. Or you can design a cookie the size of a pizza! Decorate it like a pizza, and box it like a pizza... but it's sooo much sweeter, and inarguably much more fun.
And don't forget that you can (and should) offer personalization and customization.
The more special attention and customization that you put into your work, the faster your reputation and business will grow. After only a few events you'll be known for the quality of your cookies, as well as their spectacular designs, flavours and uniquness. These cookies will always serve as a focal point of the party or event your clients' put together so you can quickly create client lists with little effort, as long as your finished product has been created with the utmost care and with your clients' needs and desires in mind.
Start-Up Costs
The cost of starting your own home based jumbo cookie business is a lot less than you might think, especially when compared to more traditional brick and mortar businesses. Since you're starting your business from your home you can save on overhead costs, such as rental space, larger equipment and of course, staff.
To start your business from home you will just need the essentials including basic equipment, baking supplies and of course elbow room! You should also designate an area that you use for your baking supplies.
Most people who are considering a home based business of this kind generally have most of what they need, so, again, the initial start-up cost should be low.
Getting Started
First and foremost, you'll need to have access to a lot of cookie recipes. If you don't have a good collection, you can find many, many good recipes online.
Next, you'll need to let the world know about your new business venture. I'd suggest offering your services at a discounted rate for the first little while, just so people get to know you and your cookies. I'd even provide cookies for local events, friends and neighbours free of charge. Just to get your business and products known.
Tools Of The Trade
If you bake regularly you probably already have most of the baking tools you're going to need in your kitchen already. However, if you don’t, rest assured that most of the baking supplies are relatively inexpensive, and some of them can be purchased at a later date whenever you receive a custom order that requires them since otherwise they aren’t used that often.
Here are the tools that you'll probably need in you home based jumbo cookie business:
1) The Obvious One, An Oven!
A regular oven is just fine, however, it should be a full-sized one since you're going to be baking jumbo cookies.
2) A Hands-Free Electric Mixer
A heavy-duty mixer is a must. This will quickly become your new best friend. It’s an essential piece of equipment for any baking, but especially for making cookies. Some cookie dough can get pretty hard to mix by hand or with a hand-held mixer (depending on the mixer of course).
3) Cake Turntable
Sturdy turntables are a necessity. Why? Because a cake turntable will make decorating and icing your cookies so much easier. There are several styles and designs available.
4) Cookie Sheets And Baking Pans
You can use your standard cookie sheets to make your jumbo cookies, but if you want your creations to be standard sizes, or if you're making a cream-filled type cookie, you'll want both the top and bottom cookie to be uniform and the same size. You can achieve this more easily by using either cake pans or pizza pans. As you add equipment buy the best quality pans you can afford. You're going to be using them a lot.
Buying good pans does make a difference. Don't buy the bargain versions if you plan on using them for a long time. Multiple sets of the sizes of cookies you'll be offering will allow you to bake in a shorter amount of time. One 12” pan must cool after baking before you can wash it, refill it and bake again. Your time is valuable. Two or more sets will allow you to use your time to a better advantage.
As your business grows you will probably want to even add more sets. You should have 4 sets of the round size pans that include sizes in 1-inch increments from 5 to 18 inch pans. Larger shapes are available but you must make sure that your oven will accommodate those sizes.
Versatile Shaped Pans - The ball, petite doll pan, horseshoe, and others can be used for many things. The ball pan can be used for all kinds of balls, soccer, basketball, baseballs, and etc. This little pan is very versatile.
5) Cooling Racks
Large heavy duty cooling racks are a necessity.
6) Angled spatula - For applying and smoothing icing.
7) Piping (or pastry) bags – For creating borders and other decorations.
8) Couviers - For changing tips easily.
9) Tips - Basic tips include those used for lettering and creating flower petals, leaves, and borders. Purchase others as needed.
10) Cookie Cutters
Although it's very unlikely you'll find cookie cutters in the sizes you'll need, you can use them to create shapes to add to your cookies, or combine shapes to make a large cookie, or a number of other possibilities. Use your imagination and I'm sure you'll come up with lots of ideas.
10) Digital Camera
A really good camera. Learn to take really good close up pictures of your cookies. When you're trying to establish yourself in your community these pictures will show your customers just what you can do.
Legal Requirements
Because your jumbo cookie business is food related, it's goverend by several governemental agencies and restrictions. However, don't let that deter you. You can apply (where necessary) for licensing and approval, or find alternative facilities.
The following is a list of things that may be required for your business.
City - Provincial/State License
Fed ID No for Tax record purposes and buying from the wholesalers.
Health Dept. Fee - City and Provincial/State
Physical House Requirements MAY include:
3 compartment sink with a grease trap installed
Hand sink and mop sink ( 2 separate sinks)
Lights covered (They make clear plastic tubes that cover the fluorescent bulbs)
Separate refrigerator, freezer, oven (with thermometers)
Separate Entrance
Storage for Equipment - pans, spatulas, bowls, etc.
No pets in work area
Approved Water source
All Ingredient containers must have covers and be labelled with contents and dated in refrigerators, freezers and cabinets
Heating and air conditioning may need to be separate from the house system
If your cookie baking area is to be a separate building from your house you'll probably be required to have a small rest room installed.
Helpful Tips
Once you've taken care of any legal issues, you can begin focusing on building your business. Here are a few tips to get you started:
1. Purchase wholesale sugar, flour (eggs if possible) chocolate chips, sprinkles, canides, and other decorations as well as packaging from a supplier such as Candy Plus or Sugar Craft. Buying wholesale will enable you to make greater profits.
2. Offer customers innovative flavoured of cookies by mixing in concentrated flavoring, from a brand such as LorAnn. Flavor combinations you can offer might include dark chocolate and orange, milk chocolate and strawberry, white chocolate and coconut, dark chocolate and raspberry and milk chocolate with coffee flavoring.
Just to name a few. Try to come up with a few "signature" cookies that can only come from you. I have my own shortbread cookie recipe that I've never shared with anyone. Every holiday season I get all kinds of requests for these cookies. If you have such a recipe, it'll give you an advantage.
3. Secure local venues to sell your jumbo cookies, such as farmers' markets, a mall kiosk, city fairs and festivals, flea markets or craft fairs. If you're selling online, set up an ecommerce site such as Foodzie or Etsy, or start your own jumbo cookie blog.
4. Ship internet purchases with cold packs, via two-day or overnight delivery. Some kinds of cookies can easily melt or spoil any time of year, but especially in the warmer months.
5. Consider offering seasonal cookies in shapes that coordinate with specific holidays, such as Valentine's Day, Easter, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Hanukkah and Christmas.
6. Develop different types of products aside from the standard jumbo cookie to bring in extra revenue year-round, such as jumbo cookie baskets, cookie gift jars, or go in the opposite direction and offer miniature wedding-favor cookie tins (decorative tin containers) etc.
Wrapping Things Up
After spending so much time creating your jumbo cookies, you'll have to package them. Here's where you can exercise your creativity as well. Visit your local craft supply store and check out all the different kinds of papers, plastics, ribbons, decorations, and who knows what else, you can use to package your cookies in. You could buy paper doilies to make wrappers for the cookies, or perhaps you might find small (affordable) decorative baskets or fancy boxes. The point is, once you start looking around, you never know what kind of great ideas you come up with.
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Don't forget, whether you're going to start a home based jumbo cookie business, or any other kind of home business, have fun and enjoy yourself.
According to Wikipdia, the free encyclopedia, a niche market is a focused, targetable portion (subset) of a market sector. Using this definition, niche marketing is the process of finding and serving market segments that are too small for big companies to serve them profitably. Every introductory level business class will teach you that market specialization is the key to distinguishing your business from the competition.
Niche marketing at its best helps to solve real problems that real people live with everyday. If you can come up with a product or service to promote in a niche market that will help people solve their problems then you will have a money making niche market website and can quickly build a long list of potential customers.
Getting Started
One person with a computer, an internet connection and a good idea can go into business for herself on the net and target the people who would be most interested in what she has to sell and do so on a very limited advertising budget. This is the beauty of niche marketing.
Finding the right niche for what you have to sell isn’t really all that difficult. Just think about whom the people are who would be most interested in what you have to sell. For example, if you have concocted a shampoo formula that will take chlorine out of a person’s hair, you can’t compete with giant companies that sell shampoo but you can narrow your market down to a niche and target sales to those who have swimming pools. You buy a domain, get a server, and build a website to advertise your product JUST to people who have swimming pools.
In essence, niche marketing is selling a product or service to those who want or need the product the most.
If you don't already have a product or service to offer, you'll first and foremost find one. The most profitable products are information products, and as I already mentioned, products that offer solutions, solve problems and generally make life easier, better, happier and more enjoyable.
Discovering Problems To Solve And Markets To Serve
Hang Out At Forums
A good way to find out what people consider a problem is to visit the online forums. People talk about anything and everything online. They discuss subjects that they wouldn’t talk about with their best friends for the simple reason that they can remain anonymous. They look for solutions online for the very same reason. By visiting forums and taking note of what people are most concerned about you can search the internet for products and services that will help them solve those problems. Gather the information about the topic. Write or have written for you articles, reports or ebooks about the topic. In this way you can find a topic and build a niche marketing business that helps with the problem you have identified and that will serve the needs of people.
An additional way to use forums to help you build your niche marketing business is to join a forum, identify the problem being most often discussed, post a question that will produce many responses and use those responses to write an informational product on the topic. The fact is that many people will buy an ebook or report that's filled with information they could actually gather for themselves. They'll also purchase ebooks that will tell them what other people with the same problem they have think about or are doing about their common problem.
Visit Bookshops
The day may come when people do all of their researching and reading online but it isn’t here yet. People buy 'how-to' books and books that are devoted to solving their problems and/or making their lives better every day. By identifying the hot market books that are being sold in bookshops (online and off) you can identify a hot niche marketing topic.
Go to the bookshops in your area and take note of the kinds of non-fiction books that are stocked. You should particularly note the ones that are self-help or how-to books. If you can, ask the stock boy which ones are selling the best. He’s the one who knows what is being restocked most often. That failing, ask a floor salesperson the same question. Asking the bookstore owner or manager is the last option. They're more likely to be pushing the books that aren’t selling well in order to make a sale. Learn by whatever means you can which self-help or how-to books are the hottest sellers.
Another option is the online bookstores. You can’t, of course, ask for information from a person but you can research the site and determine which of the nonfiction self-help or how-to books are highest in sales.
Finding out what books people are most often buying can give you some insight into what the hot market subjects are. Armed with this information, you can go about creating a niche marketing website that will have a better chance of becoming successful.
Magazines
You don't have to spend a lot of time with this, but just check out what types of magazines are most popular. You can do this while you're at the bookstore, or do it online. Just visit sites like Magazines.com and see what they're offering. If there's a magazine on the subject you're considering, chances are there's a niche market to go along with it.
Defining A Profitable Niche Online
Deciding on what product or service you will promote in a niche market should be based on a simple principle.
There should be a demand for your product or service. You want to offer something that people actually need, something that will make their lives better, make them feel better physically, make them look better, or help them solve a problem. And, one that's going to turn a profit for you.
Once you've chosen a product or service to market, researching to find the right niche for your product or service is the next most important part of beginning a niche marketing program. The things that you need to know are where they spend their time online, and what makes them tick from a personal and business point of view. There is niche marketing software out there that can help you learn these things about your potential niche market.
The most important and difficult task to do when starting niche marketing is doing site research. As with any business it's much easier to start with something that you're interested in and excited about. Since this is an internet home business, and most traffic (85%) to the websites will be determined by the big three search engines Google, Yahoo and MSN, it's a good place to start your research from. This research should focus on the following three aspects:
High demand: Using tools like Inventory Overture you'll be able to find out whether the product you have in mind is wanted. Type in your niche market term describing your product and you'll see how many searches for this term and other related terms were done in the past month. The number of searches per month will depend on the niche market, but in general look for terms that are lower than 20,000 a month.
Low supply: Take the selected terms and type in these terms in the search engines. The results will give you an estimation of how much competition there is or how many sites are available on the internet for these niche marketing terms. Ideally there should be a good balance between the number of searches and results a month. As a rule, you should look for terms that have less than 1,000,000 searches per month for Google, 400,000 for Yahoo and 250,000 for MSN. Based on the balance between demand and supply you could reduce the number of terms and narrow down your market niche.
Profitability potential: Once you have the reduced list of niche market terms, you also need to know much advertisers would like to pay for each term. Use for example Google Adwords, and select for the last time based on the results terms with the highest pay per click.
With these definitive niche market terms in mind, you can optimize your website for two or three of terms, by adding relevant content to your site, concentrating around these terms. Because the chosen terms (and related product) have been selected based on three criteria which are typical for a niche market and your research conducted with the three big search engines, you have already all the conditions to be successful with you niche marketing business.
How to Make Money from Your Niche Marketing Business
Niche Marketing with Content Sites
Starting any online business will consist of a few basic steps to get a website up and running. The tasks involved may look a bit daunting in the beginning but the initial steps are really pretty simple. In order to set up a website for any purpose you must:
1. Buy a domain. You'll need to go to a site like GoDaddy and purchase and register a domain name. Since there can't be two names the same, you must choose something that's original. These sites have a place for you to type in your choices and find out what is available. The cost is under $10 per year for a domain name.
2. You'll need to get a host for your website. There are thousands of companies on the internet that provide web hosting services. In general terms there are three types of servers. There are shared host servers, dedicated servers and your own servers. You must do some research and find the one that is right for you.
3. You'll have to build (or hire someone to build) the web pages that will make up your web site. In earlier times you had to know HTML code and how to use it to build a website but that’s no longer the case. You can find WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) programs that you can use to build your website without needing to know anything about HTML.
Niche Marketing With Content Sites
The above are just the basic steps to setting up a website for any purpose. Now here’s the part about setting up a content rich niche marketing website.
The first thing to do is to narrow your topic down as far as you can take it. The more narrow the topic, the better your chances are for succeeding. What is meant by narrowing down your topic is this: dogs – small dogs – Poodles – Toy Poodles – Tiny Toy Poodles – Caring for a Tiny Toy Poodle. By making the topic of your website as narrow as possible you will have an audience (potential customers) who are most interested in what you are offering.
Many websites consist of only 1 or 2 web pages. A content rich website will consist of many many pages. The key word here is ‘content’. The content must be directly related to the topic of your website. It must be timely and relevant. If your website is about ‘Caring for Tiny Toy Poodles’ there shouldn’t be any content about anything else.
The content must be organized in such a way that no page is more than three clicks away from the main page.
The information needs to be categorized. Staying with the ‘Caring for Tiny Toy Poodles’ theme, the information can be categorized into sections such as; Feeding, Special Needs, Grooming, Pedigrees, Training, etc. Content can consist of written information like articles or ebooks or it can consist of audio or video products.
The products that you advertise or recommend on your content rich niche marketing website should always be directly related to the topic of your website.
Finally, a content rich niche marketing website should supply a message board or blog as a service to their customers. Customers like to be involved in a website they believe in and buy from. They want an opportunity to share their knowledge and exchange information with others.
Niche Marketing In The Info Product Business
Informational niche marketing websites are the easiest and least risky way for aspiring entrepreneur to build a business without fear of being dwarfed by big business and giant corporations. And the internet has given those with the ability to produce an informational product a big edge. They can find what the giants are too big to care about and make a great living online.
Here are the steps needed to establish an informational niche market website on the Internet:
1. The first thing to do is to choose a topic, a subject that your product will be concerned with. The trick here is to get the topic narrowed down as far as it will go. Go from the general topic of dogs down to small dogs down to poodles down to toy poodles, right down to how to groom a toy poodle, for example. The more specific the topic, the better it will perform.
Choose a topic that will help people solve a problem, make their lives better, and make them look better or feel better or give them specialized information that they need. Choose several narrow topics, though it's not necessary, choose ones you're interested in yourself if possible.
2. Research the market available for the topics you have chosen. Some of these methods were already discussed.
Ask questions. Visit websites with topics that are similar to the topics you have chosen. Read articles. Learn everything you can before beginning the construction of your informational product.
3. Once you're satisfied with your topic, have completed the research and determined that there is a viable market for your idea, the next step is to choose a domain name and buy it (discussed above). Choosing a name is usually done by the process of elimination. Make a list of acceptable domain names that describe the topic of your website. Start with the one with the least number of letters (less than 20 is best).
4. The next step is to get a host for your website. (Discussed above)
5. Other than your own informational product you need to choose related content for your website. There are many places on the internet to find content for a website dedicated to almost every topic under the sun. Some content is free for the taking…some must be bought. You can write or record (audio or video) your own website content. You can have content written by others. Content is the backbone of your website and this isn’t the place to cut corners. All content needs to be relevant to your topic. It's best that it be original, as well.
6. Find and sign up for affiliate programs for products and services that are related to the theme of your informational product.
7. Build your website. (Discussed above)
8. Advertise your informational product. There are many ways to do that but the most common way is by using Google Adwords to get started. However, if you're limited to a very, very slim advertising budget, try using article marketing. Write and submit articles relating to your topic to the article directories such as EzineArticles or Go Articles.
Why Niche Marketing Is The Way To Go
Niche marketing is the last great frontier for the small business entrepreneur. Out there in the ‘real’ world, small businesses don’t have a half fair chance of competing against the giant international corporations of the world.
The internet has somewhat evened the playing field for small business. The net has created an almost equal opportunity for those who are willing to use it. There are several different ways to make use of niche marketing and succeed. All of the ways require getting a domain and a webhost, building web pages and adding content.
Those are just the basic basics of internet marketing in any form. Then there are the choices of how to go about building a successful niche marketing site that will provide you with a profit.
Quick Income Overview
1. You can create an informational product. An informational product can be articles, reports, and columns, audio or video, or other things. These can be sold as stand-alone products or used for advertising or promotional
efforts.
2. You can build a content rich web site that will be so interesting it will draw potential customers again and again.
3. You can publish newsletters and ezines that are so full of pertinent information that people will happily pay for subscriptions to them.
All of the above listed ways can be used to create a home based niche marketing business that has the capacity to make money. There are two things that all of these methods have in common.
1. The topic must be one that helps people solve a problem, makes them healthier or happier, or provides them with information that they want or need in some way.
2. The content of the website, no matter the topic, must be relevant, timely and interesting to the people who are reading it and the website must be easily navigated.
Okay ladies and gents, that's today's home based business idea/overview. I hope it gave you some ideas. And don't forget, whatever business you choose, have fun with it.
If you are looking for an interesting and challenging home based business, an information researcher business might be just up your alley. If you have a way of searching the internet and finding information that most people cannot find, this type of work would be just perfect for you. Many companies and private clients are looking for people with good researching skills to do many types of researching.
The typical researcher looks up information for clients according to their individual specifications. This may include genealogy research. This type of research requires the knowledge of using some of the genealogy sites on the Internet and researching public records in your city or surrounding community. This type of research work is fascinating and can pay very well for the correct information.
Another type of research work needed by companies is deed searching. This job requires a laptop computer and transportation to the local courthouse. Deed researchers look up information about deed holders according to specifications given by the research company or client. Because many public records are not available online, you may have to be located in a specific area to offer this type of research service. You can make good money doing this type of work if you can type fast and have a laptop that you can take with you.
Companies looking for websites similar to their own sites need researchers. They have positions for finding relevant sites that and collecting information about the websites. This might include email addresses for the owner, page ranks and type of content that the website displays. There are many of these positions offered every day and you can make money supplying this information. Most companies prefer documentation with Microsoft Excel.
Why Would Someone Hire You?
Why do people pay for researchers when they could easily do this type of work themselves? Most companies or private clients do not have the time they need to do their own research. Some also have no idea how to start looking for specific information. They prefer to outsource the work and have it done correctly. This is why home research assistants are in such high demand.
As for the genealogy researchers, many companies that do family history researchers need to outsource the work that they have because they have so much work and cannot do all the research themselves. They do some of the research, but they rely on outsourcing to collect the information and have their staff compile all the information into a readable family history. You may be asked to search census records, marriage records, newspaper clippings and even obituaries to find relevant information. Once you have the information, the company uses this information to trace someone's family as far back as specified.
The nice thing about becoming a home based researcher is that you can work on your own schedule and anywhere you have an Internet connection. A typical day for a research assistant is spending all day on the Internet looking through many of the genealogy websites online. This is a very fascinating job with better than average pay. You could make more money in one day if you have the ability to search such sites as Ancestry.com and other such sites.
Realtors that look for homes on the internet that have been recently listed, use researchers. This type of researcher scours the real estate pages looking for new homes for sale in areas specified by the client. These positions pay nicely for every listing found and documented.
This type of business takes some time to do, but does not need a quiet place to work or a stationary desk. You can work anywhere you can connect to the net. If you spend a lot of time surfing the web, like learning and uncovering new information, a home reasercher business would be a great idea for you.
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That's today's home business idea. Hope it gave you some inspiration and ideas.
Breeding Koi can be both fun and worthwhile especially when money is involved. Who doesn’t love extra cash, right? With a lot of time, money, patience and dedication, you could very well be on your way to creating your own personal gold mine. There are some critical steps involved in breeding Koi, and for the average person it may be a turn-off, but for someone who understands the full financial gain, this is only a small sacrifice to score the “big win”.
It would be ideal to keep in mind the saying that, “Nothing happens overnight”. This is so true. Like with most things, breeding Koi is going to take real time and real dedication. This is definitely not one of those projects you want to jump into headfirst, not if you still want your head at the end anyway. Set realistic goals, so at the end, whether the result be good or bad, you are not left totally disappointed.
Money, money, money and plenty of it. The goal here is to make money, but when starting a business venture, a lot of times you have to put out a substantial amount of money in order to get a huge return later and this also applies to breeding Koi. Koi, unlike the usual fish we hear about are very expensive to breed. You want to ask yourself questions like: Can I really afford to breed Koi?, If so, how many?, What colors will I breed, What do I want them to look like, About how big will I want them to get, and if you don’t already have a Koi pond or don’t feel the one you have is big enough then another question may be “Where will I store them?” If you can answer these questions, then very soon you will be in business. Be well prepared financially to bank roll this idea because between purchasing the mating Koi, Koi’s food and equipment, you very well may be on the road to shutting down your business before it ever gets off the ground.
Do research. You probably didn’t get up one morning and decide you want to breed Koi. There are plenty of other people who are breeding Koi or will do so in the future, so read about breeding Koi from others like yourself who are either already doing it, or may know someone who has done it; this will prevent some major mistakes on your part and save some of that money that breeding is supposed to bring in for you. Practice and studying does make perfect. You might even want to frequent Koi breeding forums on the internet. As computer savvy as you are, I am sure you will find everything you are looking for right on the internet.
Technical Koi Information
Let us get technical about breeding koi! Koi was first identified in Japan, to be a multi colored fish in the carp ethnicity. Its special or most dominant feature is in its outer skins vibrant colored spots that give impression of decorated fish. And the name Koi stands for friendship in Japan and may be it is the reason for most of Japanese people to cultivate koi around their household. In Japan koi stands for friendship and love!
With dates back to eighteenth century, koi breeding got the popularity in Japan. Later this fish was spread thru out the world and except the Polar Regions, koi fishes are every where. This fish is adored by all the civilizations around the world. Their huge growth rates have worked as a boon for any koi breeder, economically and socially. The huge growth potential from single parenting koi fish is something a trend that took away the world in the beginning of last century. Even, there are records that too much koi fishes have vastly affected major water ways in different countries. There growth rate holds the economic prospect for any breeder.
Though the breeding started when some ancient farmers noticed the stunning colors in their rice fields, now they are more or less staying in the ponds or tanks. Those farmers took few of them, got some taste and start to think about cultivating them. They have later identified ways to manipulate the colors on these koi fishes. Especially the Kohaku, Sanke, Showa, Tancho, Asagi, Shushi, Bekko, Goshiki, Ogon, Koromo, Butterfly Koi and Ghost Koi are greatly praised round the globe. Their coloring, patterns, scaling are different and distinguishable to each other.
The reproduction process of koi fish is similar to that of other fishes. The female koi fish hatches numerous numbers of eggs, and then it becomes the duty of male koi fish to fertilize them. The female koi fish lays eggs in numbers of hundred thousands. So it is a crowd going to fill any pond likely in few months time. Baby koi fishes are referred as fry. When these hatched eggs are cultivated, fertilized and nurtured, hundred and thousands of fries fill the pond or incubating tanks. This is the reason why some water ways got blocked for koi fish. Think of a two generation cycles from single parenting koi fish.
You get a minimum of hundred thousand koi fishes in few months. Then these hundred thousands fishes will lay eggs reaching their maturity to hundred thousand times to their number. Could you figure out the number? I could not. What I can say, a pond filled with fishes instead of water! This spiraling and spawning of koi fish holds the economic prospect of the koi breeder.
It is only the aqua culturist or koi fish breeder specialist can perfectly nurture the fries. And they need to have patience to do this type tedious job. They can understand which parenting fish to use, how to nurture the fries to get desired colored koi. The main technical aspect of koi breeding depends on the reducing defection rate. Most of the laid eggs do not produce healthy and sound offspring. It is the breeders’ task to cull these defective offspring thru different stages and controlled environment. As not all the offspring pass thru the culling process, lots of fries are used as fish food for other fishes. Only the survived koi that are good in size, shape and color are sold.
Barebones Requirement for Koi Pond
Whatever you’re reason for wanting to start a Koi pond; you may find the range of options to be quite overwhelming. It is feasible to spend thousands and thousands of dollars on your Koi pond before even purchasing any fish! If you’re just starting, however, you may want to start with something a little more budget friendly to determine if Koi ponds are right for you. This guide will cover the absolute essentials of setting up your first Koi pond for just a few hundred dollars and some honest elbow grease. In the future, you may become a very successful Koi breeder, but for now let’s focus on setting up a functional pond that do well enough to keep your fish healthy and happy. After you get the pond in place, functioning, and stable enough to support the Koi you purchase—then, and only then, would you truly be ready to sink into the investment of purchasing the Koi fish themselves.
To begin, you will need the following five items:
1.) A Pond Liner – Simply put, a pond liner will hold the water in your pond. If you dig a hole in the ground and put water in it, it will be absorbed into the soil (unless you’re talking about a LOT of water). Furthermore, you want to separate you Koi’s environment from outside contaminants as much as possible. Consider either uPVC or Butyl; both are readily available from your local home improvement store. If your hole has lots of sharp rocks in it, you may want to purchase some extra layers or padding to protect the liner. Since the padding will not come in contact with the Koi, anything resistant to shredding will work, even an old rug.
2.) A Filter – You cannot have a Koi pond without a filter. Your filtration needs will depend on the volume of your pond, which means that if you want to save you should start will a smaller pond. Unless you are skilled in fabricating your own aquarium filters, you would be best served by purchasing a filter in the store. You need a filter to remove debris, bacteria, and toxins from the water. If you’re working on a budget, take a good look at the filter prices and their recommended replacement intervals making sure to factor that cost into your calculations.
3.) A Pond Pump – This will work in conjunction with the filter to clean your pond water. It is absolutely essential to your Koi’s survival to have a working pump at all times. If you can afford it, you should always keep a backup pump on hand in case of a failure. Make sure to check with your aquarium supply dealer regarding pump efficiency. A general rule of thumb is that your pump should be able to circulate the entire pond’s volume within a couple of hours.
4.) A UV Clarifier – This is a special piece of equipment that fits between the pump and the filter. It uses UV rays to help the filter remove algae from the pond water. Algae are a special concern in Koi ponds since it is often too small to be caught by most filtration systems. The UV rays will cause algae particles to bond together so that they are large enough to be filtered out of the water. It is feasible to remove algae from the pond by chemical methods, but this is considered hazardous to the Koi.
5.) A Test Kit – Even experts need test kits. The quality of your Koi’s water must be checked frequently. One of the most dangerous chemicals to your Koi is ammonia, which can be detected by neither sight nor smell. You will need two different types of test kits, one for pH, and one for nitrate (which will indicate filter performance). Ensuring the quality of your Koi’s water is a major factor in how long they will survive.
Buying Your First Koi
If you’re out to buy yourself a Koi for the first time, you might feel a little intimidated; and you probably should! Owning and raising Koi is a very large and considerably diverse field with many, many options for a beginner. You could spend a couple of hundred dollars for a new fish or thousands for just one. Let’s take a moment to discuss a few points of interest on buy Koi, and provide some tips on how you can avoid overpaying for your first fish.
Try Dealing Locally
This can’t be stressed enough when it comes to buying Koi. There are many variables when dealing online or a through a seller directory when it comes to buying live animals that can lead you to a bad deal. There are many stories of buyers travelling long distances to purchase Koi, only to find something different than what was advertised. Also, some of the larger Koi dealers spend great amounts of money on advertising and sales promotion; avoid paying for this by doing the research yourself. And in the case of ill merchandise, or any other problems, it is always much easier to arbitrate a solution with a local dealer than you have met in person.
Purchase Koi Young
As a general rule, the older and more developed a Koi is, the more it will cost. The only exception is a fish that has matured to full adulthood and is now descending toward old age. This is because of the heavy time investment and diligence required to raise a Koi to adulthood. Adult Koi are also capable of breeding and thus creating more Koi. It will always cost more to “purchase the goose that lays the golden eggs.” Given the high value of these animals, a breeding Koi will be more expensive and even harder to find.
Make Sure the Koi is Healthy
Despite their size and hardy appearance, Koi are very delicate animals. They have very specific conditions in which they thrive, and often can become ill with only a small amount of neglect. Like humans, not every affliction the Koi can carry is immediately visible by the eye; however, there are several things that a prospective Koi owner can watch out for. Physical damage to the fish is the most obvious warning sign. If the animal seems to have suffered trauma, it may have been psychology damaged as well. Animals with uneven or damaged scales might be trouble-makers, causing problems with other fish in the community on a regular basis. Also have a good look at the fins, and underside if you get a chance. It should be pretty obvious when something is wrong. If the fish is oozing any bodily fluids, it has likely been damaged recently. Study the fish for abnormal behaviors.
Inspect the Seller’s Facility
It would be prudent to request a visit to the seller’s raising facilities instead of simply viewing the Koi inside a display tank. You should be concerned and have reservations is the facility is not clean, or has an abnormally foul odor. Take note of how many Koi the seller keeps in one enclosure. Too many is a very bad sign. If you can’t visit the facility, try asking for pictures, or at least asking the deal about his Koi raising practice. You want to be sure the Koi you plan to purchase are a good investment and will not end up wasting your valuable money. No one likes to waste money – especially on something that you can’t get your money back for!
Check for Overbreeding
Overbreeding is what occurs when a Koi breeder mates his fish with other fish that are closely related to it. This can lead to several problems, including unattractive animals. The most obvious sign of this is the appearance of the Koi itself. All Koi should have well-defined patches of color. Colors should not appear scrambled or blend each other.
A Quick Guide to Koi Breeding
Like most fish, Koi carp lay eggs instead of bearing live offspring. In fact, Koi are known to lay thousands of eggs at a time. This process may sound easy and promising if you’re considering breeding Koi for fun or profit, but many factors must be exactly right for even a small percentage of these eggs to survive so don’t get your hopes up just yet. This article will explain the process of Koi spawning.
The first component of Koi breeding is a pair of healthy, mature Koi. The actual art and science of raising healthy Koi is outside the scope of this article, but there are many resources available. If you can raise healthy Koi, however, they will reach sexual maturity as early as three years of age. Sometimes they will not start breeding until they are almost four. It depends more upon their physical growth rate than age. A pregnant female will be relatively easy to notice among other Koi. They will, of course, appear larger, mostly in the abdomen. Pregnancy, however, does not equate to fertility in the fish world. The eggs must be fertilized by a male, and determining when a male is ready to breed is not as easy.
The next most-important factor is an appropriate breeding setup. Generally it is preferable to conduct Koi spawning in controlled environment, separate from the other Koi that you may have. Since the water parameters most appropriate to encourage breeding are somewhat stressful on the Koi, it is best not to place the entire flock under this type of strain unnecessarily. Also, when keeping the spawning pair separate from the rest of the flock, you can better ascertain the type of Koi you will produce if you are trying to cross-breed. Furthermore, you will have much more control over the fate of the eggs, which will improve the overall survivability of your Koi babies.
The ideal setup will have plenty of room for both fish. Expert opinions vary, but temperature should be somewhere around 2-5°C higher. Always remember to give the female an area to lay the eggs; they will need something to attach to. Plant matter tends to work best, but even experienced breeders have been known to use a solution as simple as a mop head to save costs.
Always keep the eggs separate from the rest of the flock. If left open to the adult Koi, they will likely be eaten. Additionally, it is best if there are some “private” areas within the breeding enclosure, basically anything that gives the impression of a nest. Again, some plant matter or even fish netting will work well for this effect.
Koi will naturally breed in the spring. They can sense the time of year through changes in the water temperature. It would be considered extremely difficult to simulate this, so it is best to allow this to occur naturally. If the pair will breed, they will very likely do it in the morning. All of the conditions must be just right. If they do not breed, try adjusting the water temperature; it may be too cold or too warm. Make sure they are well fed. You can keep trying, but it is only recommended to keep the Koi in the breeding enclosure for a few days at a time. They may perish if exposed to the high temperatures for too long.
The eggs, if fertilized, will hatch in seven to ten days after the spawning. While it was said that Koi will lay thousands of eggs at a time, do not raise your expectations that each one will survive. Not all of the eggs are going to make it and you should not expect thousands of little Koi swimming around for your money making. Make sure that you set your standards lower and don’t base your budget on the hopes of thousands of Koi offspring in each batch of two mature Koi.
Maximize your Profits
One of the most fundamental issues concerning breeding Koi for profit is the quality of the parents. The Koi parents will be responsible for producing more and more offspring, and so if the source is tainted/less than ideal, then so too will the children. Many would-be Koi breeders will gasp upon hearing the asking price for a top quality Koi parent, in reality however this should be seen as a business investment rather than a business expense.
Professional breeders have been known to spend tens of thousands of dollars in order to secure a premium parent, and in this business, it is quality that counts and as an absolute bare minimum figure, you should expect to pay no less than $1000. It is crucial that you are well aware of the various figures and amounts involved in this business prior to you actually entering into it. Given the high value of this particular commodity, (and the high costs associated with it as well) having sufficient money both in terms of the capital sums as well as ongoing expenses is a necessity.
Plan your business, your current assets, and your current resources very carefully. In the Koi breeding business, you tend to have to rely upon ranges of numbers, rather than exact amounts. For example, an adult Koi female when pregnant can give birth to anywhere between 50,000-500,000 eggs and whilst not every single egg will fertilise and grow, a significant proportion will. You need to draw an average figure as to what percentage of the laid eggs do not develop into Koi fry, and then write that off as a bad debt, this will have to be included in your profit margins as an expense. You may need to charge more per fully grown Koi fish in order to offset this drain on your finances.
50,000-500,000 is an exceptionally high number by any stretch of the imagination and even with the percentage of the eggs that will fail to grow into fully fledged fry, you are looking at a lot of fish that will gradually grow in size! Again, you will need to be intimately aware of the amounts of food that they consume, in order to ensure that they have enough and do not starve. You may find that some of your fish will grow faster than others and thus as a result, dominate the food supply meaning that weaker and smaller fry cannot access it. It is these small details that you have to be the most stringent and in control of, if you want your breeding Koi for profit to have any sort of measure of success. In the words of that timeless adage:
“Fail to prepare, and you prepare to fail.”
Will you separate the fish from one another as they grow and develop, and achieve their varying stages of maturity? This may become essential in the event that a small number of fish end up bullying and dominating the rest of the pool. Having the fish segregated from one another will also help make it your system more organised and methodical, allowing you to start additional breeding with newly developed adults, in order to continue the cycle of growth. However, just because the number of fish being born is increasing, does not mean that your profit margin is. Make sure that you are at least breaking even before you begin to expand.
Final Word
No one knows what type of outcome you are expecting, except you and since you are the one executing, it will get nothing less than the best effort that you can put forth. Stay ahead of the game. You may not have initially began this venture with an interest in breeding Koi, but most often you will find money is an incredible motivator. Whatever you do don’t give up. The best jobs are those where you can have fun while you work, so be persistent but find newer and more fun ways to accomplish your goal, and in this way, you will be able to stick around and watch your investment grow right before your very eyes.
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Okay folks, that's today's home business idea. See you Monday. Have a great weekend.
Recipes are one of the hottest topics when it comes to the internet. The reason is because everybody has to eat! Think about just how many different dishes you or the cook in your house makes. That number is probably pretty high on its own, but take into consideration all the different people and types of foods out there and your list just grew 100-fold, at least. The possibilities for the types of cookbooks you could create are endless.
To see just how popular recipes are on the net, do a quick search of the term “recipe” using this keyword research tool (http://freekeywords.wordtracker.com/). Take a look at how many times per day the term “recipes” alone is searched.
When I did the search it came up 16,890 times! That’s a lot of hungry people isn’t it? Think about this: this keyword tool doesn’t take into consideration ALL the search engines people use either. So in all actuality, that number is low.
Though you can start an offline cookbook business, it's much, much easier to run an online cookbook business, so this post will focus on your online cookbook empire business. However, you can use the same principals and ideas offline if you so choose.
Getting Started
First and foremost, you'll need to know WHO you're targeting with your recipes and cookbooks. Once you figure that out, you can then cater each of your cookbooks to those people.
To help you get started we’ve compiled a list of possible target markets that search for and buy cookbooks online:
Moms – working, stay at home, work at home, single, married
Newlyweds
Grandmothers
Cooks
Chefs
Men
Dads
Cooking Students
High School & College Teachers
Kids
Frugal Families
Caterers
Wedding Planners
College Students
And more…
Take the time to think about who your target market really is and then provide them with the types of recipes they want and need. Yes, many of your cookbooks will cater to various markets, and that’s ok. Just keep in mind the type of person who would find them beneficial and you’ll be just fine.
One example would be the busy mom. In order to really pique her interest in your recipes, create a cookbook that offers healthy snack ideas that are quick and easy to make.
Don’t compile a bunch of homemade recipes that take all day to make when putting together a cookbook for busy mamas. Save that for someone else who has time on their hands and really enjoys creating things from scratch – maybe cooking students or grandparents.
Where Do You Get All These Recipes For Your Cookbooks?
Now that you know how to attract the right audience for your cookbooks and how to get them to your website, it’s time to start compiling the recipes to include in your cookbooks.
There are numerous places to find recipes and we’re going to give you a few of them in just a bit, but first let’s discuss some legalese.
Copyright Information & Recipes
Recipes and copyright information can get a bit tricky so here’s information straight from the source:
“Mere listings of ingredients as in recipes, formulas, compounds, or prescriptions are not subject to copyright protection. However, when a recipe or formula is accompanied by substantial literary expression in the form of an explanation or directions, or when there is a combination of recipes, as in a cookbook, there may be a basis for copyright protection.” - U.S. Copyright Office Website
As you see above, the ingredients in a recipe are not copyright protected.
However, the directions or instructions might be, so in order to keep from violating any copyright laws, you’ll absolutely want to be sure that any recipe you use does not contain the original directions word for word.
Let’s look at what the U.S. Copyright Office has to say about that shall we?
“A mere listing of ingredients is not protected under copyright law. However, where a recipe or formula is accompanied by substantial literary expression in the form of an explanation or directions, or when there is a collection of recipes as in a cookbook, there may be a basis for copyright protection.”
Now, does this mean that all recipes are copyrighted? No, of course not and honestly the majority of them probably aren’t, but you should still be cautious when using recipes that are not your own or from a trusted source.
Now, let’s talk about 4 ways to find recipes that can be used in your cookbooks.
Recipe Sources
These are:
1. Your own recipes
2. Recipes from family & friends
3. Hire a writer
4. Private Label Rights (PLR) recipes
Your Own Recipes
Do you have recipes that you create at home? These can be recipes that have been passed down to you, that you’ve created on your own or that you’ve adapted to your family’s tastes?
If so, get them on your computer and use them for your cookbooks. If you have enough you could create your very own recipe book (Smith Family Recipes, Taste of Myers, etc.) or use the recipes separately in other cookbooks that you will create later.
Family & Friends
Does your family have a recipe that has been passed down from generation to generation? How about something your favorite Aunt brings to Christmas dinner every year that everyone loves?
Ask your friends, family, neighbors, co-workers, etc. to contribute their favorite recipes to your collection.
Hire a Writer
Another way to compile recipes for your cookbooks is to hire a ghostwriter to write them for you. This is a great way to save time and focus your energy elsewhere be it on your website, marketing efforts, or something else.
Keep in mind that hiring someone will cost money. However, for most the cost is worth it when you look at the time and effort necessary to do it yourself.
Need a recipe writer? Here’s where we go for all our needs: Shelancers.com
Private Label Rights Recipes
The fourth (and our personal favorite) way to get recipes for your cookbook is to purchase PLR recipes. The great thing about PLR recipes is:
You don’t have to write the recipes yourself.
You don’t have to pay someone else to write them for you.
You can edit the recipes as you wish or leave them just like they are.
You can split them up; add them to other recipes, pretty much do whatever you’d like with them to create a product, freebie or something else.
You can get tons of recipes for cheap. Some PLR memberships sell them for less than $1 per recipe.
Of course there are some rules with PLR recipes and depending on where you get your recipes the rules vary. For instance, most PLR content providers will not allow you to submit PLR articles to article directories or offer it as private label rights content elsewhere.
So, be sure to check the rules before purchasing any PLR content.
One other tip: always edit your PLR recipes so they are unique to your website.
An easy way to do this is:
- Leave the ingredients as they are.
- Rewrite the directions.
- Change the title.
- Add a little something to it – i.e. suggestion of foods or drinks that would go well with the recipe.
Become a member at YummyPLR.com and you’ll receive 30 recipes and 10 cooking articles each and every month. Simply compile them all together and Viola! You’ve got a ready made cookbook every month.
Putting Your Cookbooks Together
Here is a sample cookbook outline to help you get started with your first cookbook.
I. Title Page (be sure to include your website link)
II. Disclaimer (Feel free to use something similar to the one in this report, but adjust it to fit your specific needs.)
III. Include an introduction about the types of recipes, a story about yourself or even an article.
IV. Recipes (each recipe should have it’s own page)
i. Recipe Title
ii. Ingredients
iii. Directions
iv. Extras (tips, complementary dishes, etc.)
v. If you have made the recipe yourself or have a graphic to help add to the quality of your cookbook add it to your recipe pages as well.
V. Closing – Upsell, Offer More Information, etc.
It’s a wise investment, especially if you don't have the time, desire or skill, to have graphics and ecovers made for your cookbooks. This will also come in handy if you plan to incorporate an affiliate program later.
Here are a few places you can get graphics including ecovers, banners, buttons, and more made.
There are a ton of things you can do now that you have your cookbook pulled together and ready to show the world. Here are just a few of the more popular ways to monetize your cookbook, which includes:
Giveaways/Freebies
Sell It
Use Your Affiliate Force
Monetize it with Back End Sales & Upsells
#1 - Give it Away
I know what you’re thinking. “Are you crazy? How does giving away my cookbook make me any money?”
Think long term. By giving away your first cookbook, you can give people a taste of what’s to come. Make it stand out above the rest and offer superb quality and those who see it will come back for more, in return creating revenue for you.
Here are a few ideas for giving your cookbook away:
- Thank you for signing up!
You can easily give everyone who signs up for your newsletter a cookbook of a variety of recipes so that you are sure to cover everyone’s tastes and diets.
- Bonus offer!
Offer your cookbook as a bonus for a paid product of yours or someone else’s. Of course, make sure the product is relevant to cooking, homemaking or other related topic that recipes would go well with.
Although some Internet marketers add bonuses to their products from every niche you can think of, it’s a smart move to target what products your cookbook will compliment to ensure it actually gets looked at. You wouldn’t want to add your cookbook to a product that teaches consumers how to rebuild a car engine.
- Contests & Giveaways
Holding a contest on your blog? Offer up your cookbook as a prize. Or better yet, there are always bloggers looking for prize contributions, so offer to give the winner or even everyone who enters the contest a copy of your cookbook. Remember, the more eyes that see this freebie the better. Again, try to create just one cookbook with a variety of foods specifically for giving away.
#2 – Sell It
This is probably more of what you were thinking when you read the title of this report, Create a Recipe Empire, wasn’t it? The second way to make money with your cookbooks is to sell them online. Because you created one specifically for giving people a taste of what you have to offer, you can easily turn all the others into paid products.
If you’re creating a cookbook each and every month, it’s easy to add new ones after the first one has been set up. Creating a website just for your cookbooks is a great way to showcase all of your cookbooks in one place and offer each of them for sale individually, package them together, and even offer discounts for those who purchase more than one during their visit.
You can even create targeted sales pages for each of your cookbooks should you decide to.
There are a lot of different ways to put your cookbooks online for sale, and the details are beyond the scope of this post.
Research and choose the best for your budget and skill level.
Option#1: Affiliate Programs such as Clickbank and RAP Bank
Both programs handle everything for you – your merchant account (to accept credit cards), refunds, and paying your affiliates. It’s a beautiful thing. The problem is that Clickbank does have some limitations. Let’s take a look at clickbank a bit further.
Who should use clickbank…
If you prefer SIMPLE and easy.
If you want to spend time playing rather than handling accounting and affiliate payments – and sending 1099s, etc.
If you don’t want to pay a monthly fee for your shopping cart, or aren’t confident or big enough yet to take on that commitment.
If you don’t want to handle setting up a merchant account to accept credit cards.
If you only offer downloadable ebooks or audios or videos and have no plans for creating physical books, CDs or DVDs.
Who should NOT use clickbank…
Anyone who wants COMPLETE control over their online business. Clickbank is wonderful, but, for those who want complete control over their business, this may be a source of frustration. Read their legal terms for more information.
If you *ever* plan to offer a physical version of your ebooks, teleseminars, or videos, then Clickbank becomes more difficult.
If you want to sell tickets to a seminar or offline expo, then skip Clickbank. (That’s also against their rules.)
If you want CONTROL over your online business, then you may wish to have your own shopping cart.
RAP Bank
RAP Bank has most of the limitations and benefits of Clickbank, however, one major benefit RAP Bank has over Clickbank is that RAP Bank pays you for every sale immediately. You do have to have a verified PayPal business account, but this is a simple matter. There's no cost to upgrade your PayPal account, and getting your account verified (if it isn't already) only takes a little while, and costs you nothing.
Keep reading for your options.
Option#2: Shopping Cart
If you wish to have more control over your online business, then signing up with a shopping cart service will give you exactly that. Control. But, with control comes more work.
There are tons of shopping carts (or ecommerce solutions, if you want to be fancy) to choose from. Just search google.com if you want to go into an immediate state of overwhelm.
Paypal has a great shopping cart, and it's free. They even provide all the documentation to install, use and get the most out of it. And, of course, because it's through PayPal you know it's secure and supported.
Use Your Affiliate Force
If you don’t have an affiliate program set up for your products, GET ONE!
This one money making tool alone can be the most profitable portion of your business and the best part is, someone else does the work when it comes to promoting your cookbooks. You pay them, but ONLY when they make a sale.
Again – SET UP AN AFFILIATE PROGRAM!
If you'd like to learn more about setting up your own affiliate program, I'd recommend Affiliate Army Profit Videos
Now, Let’s Talk Money and Passive Income.
Once you have your ecommerce system set up, please don’t make the same mistake most other marketers make.
They NEGLECT their affiliate programs.
They sweat over their products and their advertising campaigns to make them perfect. They’ll spend days on their sales page and hours setting up their shopping cart.
Then, they get to the affiliate part. And, they get lazy. Sure, they might plop a few buttons or banners in the affiliate area, but that’s where it ends.
Then, they run themselves ragged, trying to market their website – all by themselves, and wonder why they don’t have PASSIVE income!
I’ll tell you why. Because they haven’t recruited an ARMY of affiliates doing the exact same multitude of tasks that they are struggling to do. With an ARMY of affiliates, many of those tasks would be done for them by folks who don’t get paid unless they bring in sales.
Writing reports and ebooks that send traffic to their affiliate link.
Making JV deals with the free reports from the affiliate center.
And, more.
Personally, I’d rather invest time and effort into making my affiliate program attractive to the top tier of marketers and have them do all those things for me, while I focus on other projects and activities.
I hope YOU won’t make the same mistake, in neglecting your affiliate program, and missing out on passive income.
Affiliate Products, Upsells and Back End Sales
The final way to monetize your cookbooks is to promote inside of them.
Affiliate Programs
Here is one program that would fit perfectly inside any of your cookbooks.
This particular program pays $20 per referral and is a wealth of information when it comes to meal planning. Throw in a promotion at the end of your cookbook that reads something like this to help monetize your recipes:
====================================================================== I'm saving time and money and you can too!
Ever since I found this program, I'm spending less money on McDonalds, Wendy's ... well, you know the drill. Instead of picking up the kids and wondering what I can pull together for dinner, I've started to plan my meals in advance - and you can, too. Stop by this site and pick up a free report about Menu Planning. I think you'll like it.
Your Affiliate Link Would Go Here!
======================================================================
See how easy that is? Just place your affiliate link inside the text box and you’re good to go!
You can find tons of affiliate programs that go well with recipes of all different types. Just do your research and match your programs and products with the content in your cookbook and you’re good to go.
The profits don’t stop inside your cookbook either.
Upsells & Back End Recommendations
Once you’ve sold a product, you don’t want your customer to just take it and run, right? You’ll want to keep them around for a bit longer and make the most of every second of their attention you have.
One way to do this is through the power of Upselling. Have you ever been to McDonald’s, ordered a burger and the cashier asked you “Would you like fries and a drink with that?” This friend is what is called an upsell and you can do the same thing with your cookbooks.
When you customer downloads their cookbook, why not offer them another one of your cookbooks that harmonizes with the one they just purchased? You can simply offer them the cookbook OR you can go one step further and present them with a one time offer where they can purchase the second cookbook for a lower price.
For instance, let’s say your customer has purchased a vegetarian cookbook. When they get to the download page you’ll give them the download link but also offer them another cookbook full of healthy vegetable snacks.
See how that works? Upsell with each and every cookbook you sell because it’s easier to make a customer a repeat one than it is to get them as your customer the first time.
Another way you can easily monetize your cookbooks is to have back end product recommendations. How this works is like this:
Your customer purchases Cookbook A from your site. They are then directed to a Thank You page where they can download the cookbook. On this page recommend another affiliate product like Menu Planning Central or something else comparable.
Either way - DON’T WASTE THIS SPACE! Use it to make more money!
Other Ways to Use Recipes to Create Revenue
Creating cookbooks is not the only way to make money with recipes. Here are a few more places you can utilize recipes in order to make a profit.
Blogs
Create a recipe section and post new recipes each day. There are even scripts you can use that will allow you to post a new recipe each day and spotlight it as the “Recipe of the Day.”
Newsletters & Ezines
Add a recipe to your newsletter or ezine. Spotlight the area to make it stand out.
Autoresponders
Create an autoresponder of nothing but recipes and articles regarding cooking.
If you don’t have an autoresponder yet, we recommend Aweber.
Each of the above places can be used to showcase recipes and then add product recommendations for your own cookbooks, affiliate products, and/or pay per click advertising such as Google Adsense.
Here’s a Checklist to Help You Complete One Cookbook Each and Every Month
(This timeline is based on purchasing PLR recipes. You’ll obviously need to adjust as necessary if you chose another avenue for your recipe creation.)
1st – 5th
Receive your monthly PLR recipes and cooking articles from YummyPLR.com and begin editing the content with your own personal touches, adding graphics, tips, food substitutions, and more.
5th (or once you have your topic)
Contact graphic designer regarding the graphics you’ll need for the current cookbook topic. (If you plan to create a new cookbook each month, which you should since it’s so easy to do you can actually get some designers on retainer so that you know your graphics will be delivered each and every month.)
5th – 10th
Continue editing your recipes and formatting them into a cookbook.
10th – 12th
Add content to your site, blog, newsletters, etc. to attract people to your site and position yourself as the expert.
12th – 15th
Create a sales page for your cookbook. Set up any discount pages, etc.
15th – 20th
Add cookbook to your shopping cart or Clickbank account.
Test your shopping cart to make sure orders will process and products will be delivered correctly.
20th – 25th
Add affiliate tools and resources for affiliates to promote the cookbook. Let your affiliates know you have added a new cookbook and give them a date to begin promoting.
25th – 30th
Make it Live! Let your lists know your newest cookbook is available and offer them a special discount for being a customer/subscriber.
Be sure to post about it on your blog, website, in your newsletter and social networking sites.
If that sounds like a lot of work, you’ll want to check out this site to learn how to outsource: www.OutsourceWeekly.com
There you have it! Today's home business idea. If you enjoy food, enjoy cash and enjoy working for yourself, then a home based cookbook business is probably a good choice for you.
Forex is the nickname for the Foreign Exchange Market. In the United States, there are several branches of the stock market, each with their own name. For instance, some stocks trade on the Dow Jones, others on Nasdaq. Of course, all stock market transactions in the United States take place on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). In other countries the same is true.
However, international trade takes place on the market termed the Foreign Exchange Market, or Forex. Several countries across the world in almost every time zone participate in trade on Forex, with multiple currencies being utilized and stocks and commodities from all participating countries being offered for trade. Because there are so many nations and time zones involved, Forex does not function as a “business day” entity like most domestic stock markets. It remains open for trade 24 hours a day, 5 days a week.
Forex trading has enjoyed exponential growth and widespread popularity over the past few years. It is only now that online foreign exchange trading is starting to get noticed. Until recently, large international banks were the big dogs in the foreign exchange (FX or forex for short) market, selectively allowing access via telephone trading to Fortune 1000 companies, large funds, high net worth individuals, etc.
But now, there are online trading firms that provide individual traders like you and I with direct access to the largest, most liquid financial market in the world – the forex. A lot of traders seem oblivious to this market. This unfamiliarity is the root cause of misconceptions about this exciting market.
Currencies don’t crash. They outperform stocks. Earn immediate income and stop worrying about job security and layoffs forever.
Why Should You Give The Forex A Serious Look?
Large returns
Currencies trend well
There are no commissions
US$6 trillion a day and growing
The forex is a very efficient market
High leverage: Each pip is worth US$10
There is lots of movement in this market
You can trade 24X5 from home or anywhere
Little capital is required – as little as US$500
You can easily start out by taking 20 pips a day
You can trade whether you have a day job or not
You can hedge at FX Solutions. Not all market makers allow this
All you need is an Internet connection; charting/dealing software is free
This is real-time trading; 2.5 to four second response time; rare re-quotes
Low lot size: 100 to one ratio; US$100 controls US$10,000 (1,000 = 100,000)
The currency (foreign exchange) market is the largest and oldest financial market in the world. It is the biggest and most liquid market in the world, and it is traded mainly through the 24 hour-a-day inter-bank currency market - the primary market for currencies. The forex market is a cash (or "spot") inter-bank market. By comparison, the currency futures market is only one per cent as big.
Foreign Exchange simply means the buying of one currency and selling another at the same time. In other words, the currency of one country is exchanged for those of another. The currencies of the world are on a floating exchange rate, and are always traded in pairs - Euro/Dollar, Dollar/Yen, etc. In excess of 85 percent of all daily transactions involve trading of the major currencies - Australian Dollar, British Pound, Canadian Dollar, Japanese Yen, Swiss Franc, and the U.S. Dollar.
Unlike the futures and stock markets, trading of currencies is not centralized on an exchange. Forex literally follows the sun around the world. Trading moves from major banking centres of the U.S. to Australia and New Zealand, to the Far East, to Europe and finally back to the U.S. Today, foreign exchange market maker brokers such as FX Solutions are able to break down the larger sized inter-bank units, and offer small traders the opportunity to buy or sell any number of these smaller units (lots).
These brokers give virtually any size trader, including individual speculators or smaller companies, the option to trade the same rates and price movements as the large players who once dominated the market. Market makers quote buying and selling rates for currencies, and they profit on the difference between their buying and selling rates.
The History Of Forex
When foreign trade began, it was not an international trade market. It was borne out of the Bretton Woods agreement in 1944, which set forth that foreign currencies would be fixed against the dollar, which was valued at $35 per ounce of gold. This precedent was first put into practice in 1967, when a bank in Chicago refused to fund a loan to a professor in sterling pound. Of course, his intention was to sell the currency, which he felt was priced too high against the dollar, then buy it back later when the value had declined, turning a quick profit.
After 1971, when the dollar was no longer convertible to gold and the domestic market was stronger, the Bretton Woods agreement was abandoned, and the currency conversion process became more variable. This allowed for stronger backing in the foreign markets, and the United States and Europe began a strong trade relationship. In the 1980s, the market hours and usage was extended through the use of computers and technology to include the Asiantime zones as well. At this time, foreign exchange equaled about $70 billion a day. Today, about twenty years later, the trade level has skyrocketed, with trade equaling close to $1.5 trillion daily.
Originally, trading across international lines was more difficult, with several different currencies involved across Europe. Though the major players in the European market were deeply involved in and veterans of international trade by the time other markets joined in, there were more currencies to keep track of – the franc, the pound, the lira, and many more – than was reasonable. With the birth of the European Union in 1992, the wheels were set in motion to create a single currency that would be used across most of Europe, and the Euro was finally established and put into circulation in 1999.
Forex Today
While some countries have still not accepted the currency as their own (such as Britain, who still uses the sterling pound), the process of currency conversion has been simplified without the large number of various currencies that were previously dealt with. Instead of dozens of currencies, the main countries trade in just a few – U.S. dollars, Australian dollars, Canadian Dollars, Seiss Francs, British pounds sterling, the Euro, and the Japanese Yen.
Another completely separate but perhaps more important concern with trading in Forex is understanding how trade works in multiple currencies. How can you compare the value of a stock across international lines if the values are expressed in two separate, non-equivalent currencies? And how do you measure gains and losses when conversion rate is constantly changing?
Understanding Currency Conversion
When you begin trading on Forex, you have to learn how to convert currencies and note the difference in values, as well as how currencies are exchanged between international lines. This means studying not only domestic market trends and currency values, but also those of foreign markets.
Working With Multiple Currencies
Since Forex is the Foreign Exchange Market, you obviously cannot expect everyone within the market to trade in U.S. dollars (and why not, you might ask? – but remember that not everyone covets the U.S. dollar). With so many variables and volatile currencies being exchanged, how can you know a good buy or sell when you see one without complete awareness of the value of foreign currency?
The first step is to find a source that will give you a basic idea of the current exchange rate between your domestic currency and the foreign currency in question. You should do this as a base listing for any currency that with which you might become involved. Of course, this will not be consistent down to the cent or fraction of a particular currency throughout an entire business day, but at least you will have your starting point from which to begin, almost like North on a compass. Such sources can be found all over the internet, as well as through many brokers, both onnine and in person.
Currency Expression
It is also good to understand the means be which the currency conversion is expressed. The comparison is usually made in a ratio known as the cross-rate. In this configuration, the two currencies are listed in an XXX/YYY ratio, with the XXX position referred to as the base currency. The base currency is usually expressed as a whole number, while the YYY position is expressed as the decimal that most closely matches the based currency rate. It is sort of like making reference to miles per gallon or rotations per minute on a car – a direct comparison of one to the other in the form of a ratio.
The smallest fraction, or decimal, in which a currency can be traded, is called a pip and this is usually the degree to which a cross-rate is expressed. For example, if the British pound sterling can be traded in thousandths, the currency will be expressed to the third decimal place. The U.S. dollar is often expressed to the hundredth of a cent (the fourth decimal place).
In one cross-rate expression example, one U.S. dollar may be equivalent to 117.456 Japanese yen. This ratio would be expressed as 1.000/117.456. The base currency is almost always expressed as a single unit (as in one dollar as opposed to ten dollars), and frequently that unit of measurement is the U.S. dollar. Since the whole number value (or big figure, as it is referred to) of the secondary currency, or the currency in the YYY position in terms of conversion changes so infrequently, often only the decimal portion of the number is mentioned in the Foreign Exchange Market.
Therefore, in the ratio above, you may hear that the yen is trading at .456, with no mention at all of the 117 whole yen that is shown in the ratio. This is because the exchange rate may vary from 117.456 to 117.423, but not to 119.024. Experiencing a change in the big figure – the whole number ahead of the decimal – unless it was only because the number was already within a few thousandths, would represent much too large a shift in value for a single trading period and would be a rare occurrence that could cause the entire market to make a drastic swing in one direction or the other.
If you purchase a commodity in a particular currency, and that currency’s value falls against the U.S. dollar, you can actually make money by selling that same commodity in dollars. The same is true in reverse should the value of a foreign currency increase against a U.S. dollar. Of course, you can only take advantage of such a situation should the commodity be traded in both currencies and both markets in question. We will discuss this process, as well as other ways to take advantage of the Foreign Exchange Market (like arbitrage) in more depth in future chapters.
Once you are able to discern a base value of each particular currency and its conversion rate against others traded on Forex, you will be able to more closely monitor the change in currency conversion, including its inconsistency and volatility. Such ideas will not seem so “foreign”, and you will be caught up and knowledgeable right along with the pros. Then, you will need to learn how to read, understand, and ultimately interpret additional market trends.
Charts And Chartists
Wait, did you think you were going to have to research and map out the market’s past all by yourself? Of course not! There are people who get paid to do that sort of work. They monitor the market hourly, daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly so that they can provide big-time traders with the same knowledge mentioned before. The more an investment company knows about the market, the more money they can make. The same is true for stockbrokers. They make money when you make money, and they want to do the best they can to make sure that you make intelligent decisions.
The best part of this is that you have access to the same information as these VIP clients. Chartists, who are essentially market analysts that publish their findings in easy to read charts, produce what is referred to as a candlestick chart. These charts are basically a combination of a line graph and a bar graph that show the trend of various stocks, indexes, or other interests over a specified period of time. Therefore, you can easily determine if the commodity is on an uptrend or if it is taking a downturn, when the last major change occurred, and how long it is predicted that the stock or bond will continue on the current path.
You can actually find information on most commodities and their market trends for years in the past, and some even all the way back to their introduction to the open market. Using this information can help you decide whether it is a good idea to buy or sell the stocks or securities in which you have interest, or if it is better to hold off for a peak in the market trend.
Risk Management
One of the most important aspects of protecting your investments is balancing your risks with reassurances. There are several ways to do this.
Limit Orders And Balancing Risks
A limit order is a standing amount at which you have agreed to buy or sell a particular security or other commodity. For instance, you have designated to your stockbroker that you will not sell X Security until its value reaches a minimum value of Y dollars. At the same time, you will not purchase the same X Security if it exceeds a value of Z. Setting limits for the price you pay for a particular security, as well as the price you will accept to sell it, protects you and your investment in several ways.
First of all, you are maximizing your gains, but mostly, you are avoiding loss. Any loss that occurs with limit orders will always be unrealized loss, or a loss that is not measurable in liquid assets or cash. In other words, until you sell the stock and reap the net loss, it will not affect your net worth. Since you have set a limit that does not allow your commodities to be sold for less than the original cost, you cannot possibly have a loss in your net worth. At the same time, you are also assuring at least a certain amount of profit by setting your sell point high enough to reap that particular profit.
Another way to protect your assets is to hedge. This means that you create and sell a futures contract stating that, when your shares reach a certain value in the future, you will sell your holdings at this predetermined price.
When that price is reached, the order will be processed and the transaction completed. Of course, if you ever change your mind about a limit that you have set, you can place a stop order with your broker, which designates that you no longer wish to trade at the specified dollar amount.
You can also buy on margin. This is very similar to short selling, but instead of borrowing stocks to sell, you are essentially borrowing money to purchase stocks on your own when the market value is down. Then, when the value of the securities you have purchased rises and you are able to sell for a profit, you repay the loan and keep the excess from the sell, minus the broker fees. Of course, all dealings with a stockbroker incur a premium, or fee for services rendered, and it is nearly impossible to trade without a broker or broker service. However, online services are often less expensive than live agents, but you can research to determine what your best option is.
If You're Just Starting Out
To get started in trading in this market, all you need is a computer with a high speed internet connection, a funded Forex account, and a trading system. These three simple things are enough to get you started in Forex trading.
In order for you to minimize the risk of losing money, you need to have some basic knowledge in charting before you start trading. In most Forex trading systems, Forex charts are there to assist you with your trades.
Forex charts are a visual representation of the exchange rates of currencies. This is where you will mostly base your decisions to buy and sell currencies. You have to learn how to read the different Forex charts in order for you to successfully trade in the Forex market.
Demo And Dummy Forex Accounts
If you are just starting to trade in the FOREX market, it helps if you first practice by creating a dummy FOREX account. Through this, you will be able to trade in the FOREX market without risking real money. Although you will not earn money this way, it is a great way to practice trading. Or, you may also try opening a mini FOREX account. With a very minimal investment, you will be able to start trading in the real market and start earning small amounts of cash.
Opening a demo account will allow you to conduct paper trades. It is also one of the smartest ways to enter into the Forex trading market. Practice trades will also enable you to start developing a strategy that works best for you. Experts recommend that you practice until you start making a consistent profit. Those individuals, who jump into the market too quickly usually, fail due to lack of experience. To decrease you failure risk you need to take the necessary time to learn the proper way to trade before investing your capital.
Emotional trading is an instant killer. You must be able to trade without feelings. Even through you have set your stop-loss points, if you are reacting on feelings, you will not execute them on time. When, you set your stop-loss and take-profit points to execute automatically you must stick to them. Do not change them, “because you have this feeling.” You set those limits for a reason. Stick with your original decision.
Mini Forex Account
To minimize your risk and build your confidence when first starting to trade, a mini forex account can be your training wheels.
Mini forex works exactly the same as regular forex trading. The only difference is that the investor only has to put a small amount of money into it to begin with -- as low as $100 or $200. (Regular forex accounts usually require 10 times that amount.)
The advantage of a mini forex account is that it lets you learn the ropes of the forex market through hands-on experience -- books, lectures and demos can only teach you so much -- without risking more than a couple hundred dollars of your own money. All trading is risky in that it carries with it the possibility of failure. But with mini forex trading, the most you can lose is the $100 or $200 you initially put into it.
There are psychological benefits with mini forex trading, too. One of the reasons people lose money in the market is that they hang on to losing prospects longer than they should, hoping the trend will reverse itself and they’ll win everything back -- and then the trend doesn’t reverse itself until after the investor has already lost everything.
Human emotion gets in the way of making sensible trades. Mini forex carries the same risk, of course -- but since the amounts are so much small, the mini forex trader isn’t losing much if he does hang on to a loser longer than he should. It’s a sort of practice area to let the investor train himself to make good decisions. Once he’s mastered the art, he can take off the mini forex training wheels and start investing much larger amounts.
Another benefit of mini forex trading is that it can be utilized by people who don’t want to make forex trading their bread and butter but simply enjoy the thrill and competition of it. Forex trading can be fun, after all, but the fact that you’re playing with large sums of money can make it more nerve-racking than enjoyable. Mini forex accounts bring it back down to the level of enjoyment, like playing penny-ante poker with your friends. The game is the same, but the stakes are much lower, and thus the experience is less risky.
Learning The Ropes
Trading in the Forex market can be very attractive. However, you should also know that there have been people who suffered extreme financial losses in the Forex market. It is true that the Forex market offers a very good money-making opportunity to a lot of people, but it also has its risks.
It is a fact that people who didn’t have the right knowledge and skills trading in the Forex market suffered huge financial losses and some even went into debt. So, before you enter the Forex market, it is essential that you should have the necessary knowledge and skills as a Forex trader in order to minimize the risk of losing money and maximize the potential of making money.
Many people who were successful in the Forex market have went through a Forex trading course to get the knowledge and skills needed to successfully trade in this very liquid and very large financial market.
In a Forex trading course, you will learn about when it is the right time to buy or sell, chart the movements, spot market trends and also know how to use the different trading platforms available in the Forex market.
You will also be familiarized with the terminologies used in the Forex market. Even the basic knowledge about trading in the Forex can be a great help with your money-making venture in the world’s largest market.
There are different Forex trading courses available, all you need to do is choose one that suits your needs as a trader. There are crash courses where all the basic things about Forex will be taught to you in a short period of time, full time online courses, where you will learn all about Forex through the internet and there are also full time real life classroom courses where you can learn the ropes about Forex in a real classroom with a live professor.
You can also become an apprentice. However, in order to learn a lot about Forex as an apprentice, you need to make sure that you have a seasoned Forex trader who can share a lot of things to you about the Forex market.
Here are some of the basic things you should look for in a Forex trading course in order for you to get the sufficient knowledge about Forex trading:
Margins
Leveraging
Types of orders
Major currencies
A good Forex trading course will also explain a lot about the fundamental and technical analysis of charts. As a trader, knowing how to analyze a chart is an essential skill that you should have. So, when you are looking for a Forex trading course, you should look for a course that offers fundamental and technical analysis instruction.
Stress plays a vital part in Forex traders. Knowing how to deal with stress is also a skill that you should develop.
A good Forex trading course should teach you how to deal with stress and trade effectively and efficiently.
As much as possible, you should look for a Forex trading course that offer actual trading systems where students can trade real money on the Forex market or at least trade on dummy accounts in a simulated Forex market. This hands-on experience will greatly benefit you. Besides, the best way to learn about anything is by actually experiencing it. Live trading and simulations should be offered in a Forex trading course.
Online Forex Forums
Most forex trading is done online, with investors looking at forex charts, considering trends, and making decisions.
There’s very little interaction, even via the Internet, with other human beings. That’s one of the reasons that many traders also spend time in forex forums, chatting with other investors and sharing tips.
There are dozens of forex-related forums and message boards on the Internet. Some are tied to brokerage firms, while others are just freestanding forums on forex-related sites. Since the market is active 24 hours a day, you can usually count on the forums being busy at all hours too.
As mentioned, one of the reasons for visiting forex forums is simply psychological: Humans like to interact with other humans, especially when their day jobs require them to be alone with a computer for hours at a stretch.
Furthermore, there are a lot of emotions involved in trading. It’s real money, after all, and often large amounts of it. Online forums give traders a place to discuss the psychological effects of long-term trading, how it can become addictive and nerve-racking, and what impact it has on everyday life. You could think of message boards as being a sort of support group for traders, or the equivalent of the office water cooler.
Forex forums have more practical uses, too, of course. Traders find the tips and strategies offered by their fellow traders to be invaluable. Forums are often rife with people more seasoned and experienced than the average person, which benefits the newcomers. And many experienced traders enjoy visiting the forums because it gives them a chance to share their wisdom with others.
Forex forums are also useful for gauging the general mood of the marketplace. The charts and rates give you the cold, hard facts. But many times making a decision to buy or sell comes from the gut, based not just on the numbers but on how the market FEELS. The forums are a place to see what other traders are thinking right now.
Do they feel optimistic? Pessimistic? Are things looking up? Are they discouraged? All of this information can be taken into account when considering a trade.
ForexFactory.com and ForexForum.net are two very popular, widely visited message boards. There are dozens of others out there, too. All forex forums give traders a chance to connect with their colleagues and to learn from one another.
The Benefits Of A Home Based Forex Trading Business
1. Cost of Entry and Operation:
The modern day Forex market can actually be entered with as little as $200, one of the lowest requirements of any business. Certainly there are advantages to starting with more capital, but almost any motivated person can get involved.
Another significant cost of operation for any business is …time. The Forex markets are open 24 hours per day, allowing you to choose your own schedule. Especially nice if you’re already working at something else. This freedom to schedule allows you to have a Forex business on your terms, where so many business activities require you to operate on someone else’s terms. You can own your own business, your business doesn’t have to own you!
2. Transaction Costs:
A wonderful feature of the Forex market, especially for small business operators, is that there are NO commission charges. YES I said NO commission charges. While most markets charge for commissions in addition to a bid/ask spread, the Forex market only has the bid/ask spread, typically narrower than other markets.
3. Risk Factors:
When operating your own small Forex business, you don’t need employees, or to rent commercial space. You can operate from anywhere you like as long as you have an internet connection. For each transaction or trade your risk is limited to a small percentage of the trade called “margin”. You cannot lose more than your margin and you’ll always know what that amount is up front.
4. Profit Potential:
A small business person or “trader” has potential profits that can range from $200 to $3,000 per trade. Time to complete a trade can be measured in minutes to hours and might be repeated several times per week.
Markets move up and down. The Forex market is structured so that you have an equal chance of profits regardless of which direction the market moves in. Leverage is available at up to 200:1. Depending on your business plan, you may choose to use less leverage.
5. Trends:
Forex tends to exhibit “trending” characteristics. This nicely lends itself to a technical and rules-based approach which is reasonably learned.
6. Summary:
For ease of entry, low transaction costs, controllable risk, and profit potential, the Forex market compares more than favorably with the real estate, stock, commodities, or futures markets. If you would like to operate a business that can be tailored to support your quality of life, the Forex business deserves your serious consideration.
Final Word
I'm not a financial advisor, nor a forex expert. I have dabbled in the forex market over the years, but to start a home based forex trading business, you need to devote time, energy and some cash in studying the market, the trends, the strategies and the overall workings. I never really had the desire to do so, so I backed away from what I, and millions of others, find to be a fascinating market and opportunity. However, if you do have the desire, the fascination and the ability and nerve to take some risks, this would be a perfect home business for you. A final thought here... isn't any new business venture a little risky?
