Absolute Beginners Part 1

By Elaine Currie

How to get off to a good start with your home based business.

Once you have made the decision to work from home, you should spend some time in planning and preparation. Having decided that an internet home business is the right thing for you to take up, the decision needs to be made as to what type of home business would interest you and what type of business would be practical for you in your particular circumstances. I chose a Plug-in Profit Site (if you are not familiar with these, you can see all the details at http://www.huntingvenus.com/pips.html because it was ideal for someone like me who had no previous internet experience or technical knowledge, but also offered a great deal of flexibility. Do not make the mistake of rushing into the first scheme you see which promises huge amounts of profit for very little effort. These schemes never deliver what they promise. If you want to make a good income, you have to earn it and you will not make a success of any business overnight. Like any other form of profit making enterprise, a home business requires dedication if it is going to succeed and generate a reasonable income, so pick something you will enjoy doing; choose something which interests you for its own sake, not just as a way to make money. A homeworker is no different from an office worker or any other worker for that matter. We all need an income and we have to earn it. The important difference when you have your own home business is that the profits all go into your pocket.

All the profits belong to you and so do the responsibilities. If you are going to be your own boss, you will have nobody but yourself to blame if things go wrong. Start out the right way and things are more likely to stay on track. If you cultivate good working processes from the beginning it is easier to keep them up than to trying to break bad habits at a later date. Hopefully you will enjoy your work from home experience, even have some laughs along the way, but this does not mean you can afford to take a less than professional attitude towards your business. Think about what you are going to do, make a plan, write a list of things to do and work through your list methodically. Don’t start things off in a rush of enthusiasm, and then look back and wish you had done things differently. A few basic preparations will get you off to a good start.

Before you do anything else, ensure that you have a good browser. If you are currently working with Microsoft Internet Explorer you should change. You will be spending a lot of time on the internet and Internet Explorer is extremely vulnerable to viruses, trojans, spy ware, adware and pop ups. While adware, spy ware and pop ups might not do serious damage, they will slow down your computer and you will obviously want to avoid this. Crazy Browser, Mozilla and Opera are all to be recommended and can be downloaded free. I have used all three of these browsers and they all do things slightly differently. They are all excellent so the choice is a matter of personal preference. Crazy Browser and Mozilla are especially good if you deal regularly with groups of websites: you can save a group of 8 or 10 different sites and, when you need them, you can go to them all with just one mouse click. You will realise the full advantages of these browsers when you come to use traffic exchange advertising.

Now that you have all these useful tools in your possession, spend a few hours getting to know them and practicing organising your favourites folders and groups.