Thrift Store Opportunities

Most people would not realize, but opportunities to make money are all around us.  Unfortunately many of us get so focused on only those opportunities that promise the world that are just not realistic.  If it sounds too good to be true, well.....you know how the saying goes.  Opportunities are missed because people want big bucks, fast.  What we forget is little bucks add up to big bucks over time.  There are fun ways to earn money right in your own neighborhood! 

I'm going to share with you one of my favorite pasttimes that happens to be a money maker too.  In fact, I have very few hobbies that don't entail making money.  Why?  Because my time is money.  If you're not thinking like that......you need to change your thinking.   Time is your biggest asset.  Don't waste it. 

There is a thrift store just probably a mile from my house.  I absolutely love just going in and browsing the "finds".  The secret to getting good finds is visiting frequently.  Visit so much that you start to notice some patterns.  When do they put out most of their stuff?  What time of year do stores donate brand new items?  Are there more finds in the summer when people are doing yard sales?  These are the types of things that you need to find out and the only way to find out is to do some research of your own or even ask someone who works there.  I noticed after visiting the thrift shop that there were a lot of clothes with tags still on them and the tags were from Target and Kohl's so I asked one of the employees when they got items from those stores in.  She was happy to tell me that they received donations from Target on tuesdays.  Good info! 

Clothes are a good find, but that's not where the REAL money is.  I could go on and on about good "clothes finds" that I've found and it was great to save the money because saving money is just about the same as earning money!  Just the other day I found a practically brand new pair of Bill's Khaki's for my husband for $3.  They normally retail for around $130!  Good find!

I recommend that you pick an area of "expertise", a type of item that you would like to become knowledgeable in and focus on finding those items.  Now you can choose two or three types of items at first, just to get your feet wet.  The idea is to gain knowledge about the value of items that you find and want to resale on ebay or craigslist.  Some items will sell better than others and you'll just have to do a little experimentation to find that out for yourself.  Different regions of the country and different areas will have different results.  Time of the year might also be a factor for your sales as well.  Take all of that into consideration.

Thrift stores are a great place to find items like fine china pieces.  People donate the leftovers of their china sets.  If you know your china, you can pick these items up for .50 or 1.00 and resell them on ebay for lots more.  People are always looking for a replacement for a piece that was broken in their own prized china set. 

Children's books, cookbooks, and fiction books are also good items to buy to resell because you can pick these up for .50 or 1.00 too.  At the very least, if you buy desirable items, you should be able to sell them for what they cost you, worst-case-scenario.  Just yesterday I found a complete set of hardback children's books, Lemony Snicket's Series of Unfortunate Events.  The entire 13 book set cost me all of $6.50.  I can resell them right now for probably $40.00 if I wanted to.  Now you tell me who is getting that kind of return on their investment?  You might say, yeah well that was probably a one time deal, right?  Heck no!  I find stuff like that all the time and so can you.  I found a vintage set of Disney's Wonderful World of Knowledge books (20 books in all) for $10.00.  Look them up on ebay right now if you don't believe me.  They're selling for around $200.00.  Books are a great way to start if you are short on cash. 

The secret to any of this is to get a feel for the value of items.  If you aren't sure about something, you probably shouldn't buy it.  Go home and look the item up on ebay to see how much it's selling for.  If the mark-up is good, go back and buy it.  Over time you'll get a good feel for values of items.  If you do find that you made a mistake in buying an item, save your receipt and take it back! 

I love this money making scenario because you can do it right now.  You can do it with friends.  You can do it with kids, with babies, with husbands, in a wheelchair...whatever.  If you can buy things... (and I KNOW you can!)  you can make money.  You don't even need to be computer savvy.  Running an ad on craigslist costs nothing and is relatively simple.  Set up an account on craigslist and run your ads.  Renew them every few days to keep the ads fresh. 

I hope this has inspired you to think out of the box and start small but think big.  Good luck!

Reinvent Yourself!

If you're like me, you were a career woman at one time and after a series of events found yourself suddenly knee deep in dirty laundry, balancing a baby on one hip, a cell phone in the other, and you've learned to somehow do everything one handed or with your teeth.  Just because your job title has changed to "domestic engineer", doesn't mean that suddenly your skills and experience are worth nothing.

I get asked constantly, how stay at home moms can make money from home.  The problem that I see, though, with most of the women that ask me that question is they don't believe in themselves.  Too often women think that the only skills they have to offer involve typing or customer service.  Don't get me wrong, I'm certainly not putting those jobs down.  The problem with many of those jobs is that they don't pay well.  The truth is that many of the women asking me how to make money from home posses all the skills necessary to start and run their own business from home.  The rewards from running your own business from home, both monetary and emotionally are only limited by YOU.  How great is that?  You are the one that decides how hard you want to work or how much money you want to make.  In fact, I find that many women sadly let fear hold them back from taking the leap.  I see it all too often.  These same women that I speak of are so talented and have so much to offer that it's sad that they don't realize their own potential.

You may have wondered where the heck I've been for the past couple of months.  (Or maybe not, I don't know!)  I've been contemplating something that I have now been inspired to write about and I hope that someone out there will benefit from all of the time and effort that I've put into this research.  You may already know that I have been a stay at home "mompreneur", working from home for the past seven years now.  I've been pretty proud of the fact that I've been able to earn money from home doing various things and ended up able to stay home with my children all this time.  When I started out, I wondered just how long I'd be able to stay home.  If there was ever a time that the money ran out, I was certainly going to have to go back to work.  Here I am seven years later, writing this blog to help others find their way.  Is your way my way?  Probably not.  Since I began there are better paths than the ones I took.  There are so many more options out there than when I started.  One thing I know for sure is that if you really want to make money from home, there is a way.  Another thing I've learned is that the best way to make the most money from home is to:

1. Do something you love.
2. Work for yourself.
3. DO SOMETHING YOU LOVE
4. Constantly reinvent yourself.
5. Listen to your heart, not your fears.
6. Take Action

That brings me to my point for this post.  I have been inspired myself to return to college at 39 years of age.  I got married before I ever actually got a degree.  Looking back, it's always been something that has bothered me.  Do I need a degree right now?  Maybe not, but it sure couldn't hurt.  Not only that, but no one in my family ever graduated from college.  I want to set an example for my three boys.  I hope that I'm showing them by example that you're never too old to finish what you started and that you should never give up.  In doing all of this preparation for going back, I have found that it is so much easier to go to school than it ever has been.  More online, night, and weekend courses are being offered than ever before.  More grants, scholarships and loans are being issued.  There is a greater variety of subject matter that's being taught.  What does this mean for you?  It means that more opportunities exist for you right now than ever before.

I picked up a local course catalog for Adult and Community Education classes recently.  I was amazed at the variety of courses being offered and the potential for income from home that was lurking right there in those pages!  Amazing!  One class was a class on Windows XP Movie Maker.  They would teach you how to use old photos, digital photos, and digital movies to create your own movies or slide shows.  They teach you how to do voice overs, music and special effects.  What a great business this would be!  How many people are out there that have all of these things, but don't really know how or have the time to do anything with them?

Another class was for Power Point Memory Albums.  They teach you how to create memory albums for graduations, weddings, birthdays, family reunions, etc.  The cost was only $52.00!  How's that for a cheap start up?  How could you go wrong offering that service for graduations and weddings?  The first couple of jobs alone should more than pay for the tuition of the class.

Of course there were other classes like how to install ceramic tile, home staging, operating an eBay store or business, writing courses, foreign language courses, cake decorating, portrait drawing, sewing, etc.  There was even a class on how to make fused glass windchimes.  I could go on and on. A good percentage of the courses in the course schedule had the potential of being at home money makers.

One of my favorite quotes is:  "The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step".  You might find that your first step to your journey to becoming a stay at home mompreneur is to find a class at your local community college and take the leap.  Turn your interests and your hobbies into a sideline money maker or a full blown business.  The point is, it's up to you.  I even saw a course on how to start your own business if your dreams are a little bigger than most.

As always, I wish you all luck and happiness and if there's ever anything that I can do to help my readers, please feel free to contact me.

Work From Home Job Blast: TeleTech@Home

There are more and more work from home companies out there who provide services for larger name companies.  TeleTech@Home is one of those companies.  What sets this company apart from the others is their dedication to treating their employees well.  See, they believe that if they treat their employees well, then in return their employees will treat their customers well.

If you have customer service experience, a high speed internet connection, a corded telephone, and a quiet work area then you probably have what you need to start earning money from home.  TeleTech@Home provides you with training through their TeleTech University.  They also provide you with a corded headset and a WorkBooth CD that connects you to everything you need, including your supervisor. 

TeleTech@Home allows you to track your own performance on a daily basis through their Empower program.  Employees are rewarded through higher pay according to their performance.  TeleTech@Home is also eager to provide jobs to members of the military and their spouses, which I think is outstanding.  It must be difficult to hold a job down when you move every few years to a new location.  A work from home job like TeleTech@Home would allow you to stay with the same company for as long as you wish.

If you are interested in exploring an opportunity with TeleTech@Home, there are 8 steps to complete before you can be hired:

1. Make sure that the position is right for you
2. Complete a fifteen minute application with pre-screening questions
3. Testing of your computer to make sure it will be sufficient for the job 
4. Initial phone screen followed by online assessment tests
5. Online group information session
6. Phone interview (Make sure that there is NO background noise during this time!)
7. Background check & PC Certification
8. Hiring!

If at any time, you do not pass one of the eight steps above, you will be sent an email letting you know.

If you are interested in receiving more work from home job blasts like this one, be sure to follow me on Twitter!

Real Estate Money Making For Stay At Home Moms

This year, I have embarked upon a new venture that I'm quite excited about and I wanted to share what I have learned with you.  For a couple of years now, I have been researching various ways to invest in real estate.  You see, I believe that real estate investing is just about the perfect money maker for stay at home moms.  The problem is that most women simply do not know how to go about this.  For that matter, in this market, there are a lot of experienced real estate investors that don't know how to go about making money in a down market.

Now I don't claim to be any kind of real estate investing guru, but what I have learned has been pretty exciting.  You see, real estate investing does require a time commitment, but it can be worked according to your schedule and the money making potential is unbelievable.

Here's a little bit of the back story so you can see where I'm coming from.

My husband sells cars for a living.  Last year, a man walks into my husbands office and asks if there is any way that he could trade land for a used car.  The man had made the same offer at who knows how many other car lots that same day, only to be turned down.  My husband has some real estate investing experience and recognized that this could potentially be a great deal.  Turns out, the man had 8 acres of land to trade.  My husband had connections with wholesalers of used cars and we ended up buying a used car at a wholesale price and trading the land for the car.  We ended up only paying about $4,000 for the car.  We estimated the land to be worth somewhere between $15,000 and $20,000 in today's down market.  Not a bad rate of return.

Now here's the interesting part that I wanted to share.  This all happened last year and honestly we had no idea what we wanted to do with the land.  We knew that whatever we did, we wanted to absolutely optimize our profits.  Here's the problem, though:  real estate is just not selling very well and banks aren't lending like they used to.  We wondered if we were just going to have to hold onto the land until the market came back.  Could be 3 years, 4 years, 5 years or more, who knows. 

Here's what we decided to do.  We checked with the restrictions in the neighborhood and noticed that we could divide the land into two 4 acre lots.  Then, we decided that we would owner finance the land.  We'd sell each half at the price we would have expected to get in a good market, $30,000.  Then we'd ask for $5,000 down, 10% interest for 30 years without regard to credit history.  Now this would mean that we would receive a monthly payment from the owners of $219.39 basically for 30 years.  Now $219.39 a month is not going to allow me to hire a personal chef or limo driver.  After 30 years time, though, we will have collected a sum of $83,980.40 on half of the ground!

This means that on our $4,000 investment on 8 acres of ground, we would have the potential of receiving $167,960.80.  Now that's what I call optimizing an investment.

There are quite a lot of people out there with land they'd like to sell that's just not selling.  They simply do not know how to sell it in this market so the possibility to cut a sharp deal is there.

Now I have learned that it is possible to invest in real estate without a lot of money in your pocket and you really don't need to sit back and wait for some guy to come offer you the kind of deal that we got. If you are interested in finding out more, I'd recommend reading a book by Dean Graziosi called Profit From Real Estate Right Now! The Proven No Money Down System For Today's Market. I'm not getting any money to promote his book. I've read the book and he explains in detail how to make money from real estate without any money what-so-ever. Again, I want to emphasize that I am not getting any money from anyone if you buy his book. In fact, I would just recommend checking with your local library to see if they have a copy.

I plan on venturing into real estate this year and will be sharing every detail of whatever I do with all of you.  If I fail, you'll know about it.  If I succeed, you'll know about that too.  One thing is for sure, though, we're going to learn something about real estate investing together!

From Idea To Reality: IdealSamples.com

Sheena Repath is working on a dream, a really big dream, and she’s passionate about it. She helps people bring their dreams, ideas and products to life.
She has 10 years of professional experience as designer, entrepreneur, adviser in the fashion/apparel industry. Her expertise ranges from concept creation, design, product development, manufacturing, wholesale, retail and online distribution.
She started Ideal Samples Inc in 2008 to fill a growing need in the marketplace for individuals and businesses that have ideas or concepts that need samples or products produced or help bringing them to market.

With the guidance of seasoned mentors, her own experience and the proverbial school of hard knocks. Sheena’s identified the critical steps necessary to successfully bring an idea or product to life and then to market.

Sheena and her team of experts have worked on hundreds of ideas and products for such leading brands as Indian Motorcycle, American Brands, Asics, MainStreet, The Answer, V and Kids Clothes That Fit just to name a few.

To learn more about Sheena and Ideal Samples visit them at www.IdealSamples.com.

Finding Inspiration: Famous Entrepreneur Quotes

I was feeling particularly inspired today from the progress of this blog and I wanted to share the feeling.  I recognize how difficult it can be to keep your spirits up when you are contemplating starting your own work from home business venture or if you are just looking for a way to make money from home.  Whatever your situation, it's good to take a deep breath and find something to inspire you to continue on.  Whatever you desire out of your life, is possible, believe it.

Here's a few famous entrepreneur quotes to help keep you inspired:

Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.Thomas Edison

Have the end in mind and every day make sure you're working towards it. 
Ryan Allis

Entrepreneurship is living a few years of your life like most people won't so you can spend the rest of your life like most people can't.  A student in Warren G. Tracy's class

Associate yourself with people of good quality, for it is better to be alone than in bad company 
Booker T. Washington

Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions.  Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great. 
Mark Twain

Fall seven times, stand up eight.  
Japanese Proverb

I have not failed.  I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.  
Thomas Alva Edison

Do not wait to strike until the iron is hot; but make it hot by striking.  
William B. Sprague

Too many of us are not living our dreams because we are living our fears.  
Les Brown

You get in life what you have courage to ask for.  Always continue the climb.  
Oprah Winfrey

Time To Open Up A Lemonade Stand? Tips To Monetize Your MySpace, Facebook or Blog

If you have your own blog, Facebook or MySpace page, you already have the framework for creating extra money for yourself from home.  Time that you have spent adding friends and blogging doesn't have to be for nothing.  Affiliate programs can be a great way to add some extra money to your pocket.

One unique and fun affiliate program is www.Lemonade.com.  You can go to lemonade.com and build your own virtual lemonade stand filled with products that you recommnend from stores like Macy's, Gap, PetSmart, Wal-Mart, and the list goes on and on.  Whenever visitors to your blog, Facebook or MySpace buy anything from your recommended list of products in your virtual lemonade stand, you earn money.  You can keep the money or donate it to a charity. 

Another affiliate program you probably have already heard of is Google Adsense.  Now, while Adsense is a very quick and easy way to begin earning money on a blog or website, unless you #1) build several websites and/or blogs or #2) achieve massive amounts of traffic to your website or blog, you're likely not to see big amounts of income from Google.  I, in fact, earned up to $3,500 per month with Google, however my tactic was to build a large number of niche websites that achieved a decent search engine ranking.

Clickbank is an affiliate program that I would highly recommend if monetizing your blog or website is your focus.  Once you sign up as a publisher, you can either display ads or create links for products in your actual content.  Choosing products that will be targeted towards your readers is key in this process.  Whenever someone clicks on an ad link in your content or on a diplayed ad on your blog or website and makes a purchase, you will get paid a commission on that sale.

The most profitable way to earn money from your blog is to sell your own product, e-book, or advertising. 
Obviously you will maintain all of the profits from the sale of your own product or advertising.  Again, you'll need to target the products or e-books toward your readers.

You can sell advertising on your blog on your own, simply by letting your readers know how to contact you for advertising, or you can use scripts like OIO Publishing that will put your advertising space on auto-pilot for you.  This is a good thing if you don't want to have to keep up with payments, ad display times, and stats for your advertisers.  With OIO Publishing, you still get to keep 100% of your advertising sales.  The script is NOT free, though.  It does cost $47 to purchase currently.  For the month of April, only, they are running a special with coupon code BLOOM-MOMS which would give you a $10 discount off of the price.  If you have a Wordpress blog, the installation is as easy as installing a plug-in.

I would like to add that good content for your blog or website is the foundation for gaining readers, traffic and eventually income.  Shortcuts do exist, but if you do not have good content, they will not help you in the long run.