By Andy Gifford
The way I see it home working can be split into the following categories.
Self Employment
Most of us have got some kind of expertise we have been trained in or a job we have carried out for a number of years haven't we, for example I worked in IT for eleven years and now I'm unemployed, so, what do I do start my own home based IT business. Well its an idea. What about you reading this now. You a carpenter? electrician? or maybe even a general handyman why not use those skills and earn all the money yourself. There are lots of ways to start and many Internet based resources too. Remember you have to identify what service it is you can provide, see if its viable where you are (Market Research), Arrange funding, advertise and then make the money. I can assure you I know from personal experience being your own boss is one of the most rewarding things you can imagine but it can be feast and famine sometimes you just have to persist persist persist.
Interest
This is exactly as it sounds start a website about something that you are interested in. Can be anything from fishing to golf or even dog walking. The examples I have mentioned are quite popular online searches. You don't really need a lot of HTML or website knowledge to get started you just need a basic knowledge of the operation of a computer and say about ten pounds or so to start and away you go. to summarise you need the following to start:
The Subject (Something to start you off)
A domain name
Web space (Somewhere to put your site)
Web authoring software (if your starting out probably something like word press will do)
Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate Marketing is big business and this is probably one of the more lucrative areas to work in. The downside is it is a tough nut to crack as there are so many people out there doing it but that being said if you find an angle the earning potential is absolutely staggering, some people even call it life changing.
The basic idea of affiliate marketing is that you sell someone elses product for a commission which can vary depending on the company and the product involved. Even some of the big players use the affiliate marketing model as over all it works out to be a cheaper way of them advertising there products and services than say putting an advertising board up for thousands of pounds. To get started with affiliate marketing you have to first find what is called an affiliate market place. Generally a lot of company s use these to run there affiliate programs and you have to sign up. Google is a good place to start when looking for these.
A good example of an affiliate market place that I use quite regularly is ClickBank this specialises in digital products such as ebooks and you earn a percentage of what ever you decide to promote. The best ways are either promote the product directly using Google (You are usually given a custom built website to help you promote the product) or create your own website and build a promotion campaign around the product you wish to market. Your own website is probably the better option as Google tends to frown on these template websites and they don't do so well in the rankings.
eBay
This is probably an easy one to get started with. My mum sells makeup products on eBay and has a little online shop called top to toe beauty (Not to be confused with top to toe beauty for less) she does pretty well at it. She basically got the eBay bug. She started selling a load of old family bits and pieces and found that she could make a nice living with it and set up her own eBay store.
At least initially the best thing you can do is have a good old de clutter. How much stuff do you have in the attic? Some people have a small fortune sitting in there houses in the form of unused items and don't even know it. Get them on eBay, people really buy all sorts.
There are two things you need in order to start with eBay that is an eBay account which you can sign up for free and also a PayPal account as well which you need for people to pay the proceeds to.
There are different business models for eBay all will make you some money.
Occasional Seller
This is the person who just de clutter there house and sells all of there unwanted goods anything from old books to picture frames. I have a lot of old rubbish that I'm getting through slowly but surely so there is a little income in this I can assure you.
eBay Store
This is fairly common. In return for a small monthly fee you are provided with a "virtual storefront" by eBay and all of the tools to use it. You can then sell products of your choice. There's a couple of ways you can go about this. You can go round your local second hand stores and buy and sell all the bargains (I actually know a women who goes and picks up second hand jackets from charity shops, all named brands and sells them for a nice profit). Another way is to decide on what you would like to sell and approach the manufacturers of those products directly and try to negotiate some kind of merchandising deal. Also on eBay itself there are resellers which will move pallets of items which you can buy up and sell on (good old fashioned supply and demand)
Drop shipping
This is a similar model to affiliate marketing that I mentioned earlier in that no stock changes hands. Drop shipping is a process where you just handle the sales and take a percentage of the final bill and pass the rest of the money on to the supplier who will then deal with the dispatch of the goods. There are a couple of problems with this method. One of which is you have no control over dispatch so if anything goes wrong with the transaction through the ordering process its you that gets it in the neck and not the supplier of the goods. Additionally you have to be careful while looking for drop shippers as there are some con men out there who will attempt to sell you a list of drop shippers which are pretty worthless or out of date so be warned..
That's about all I can say about the whole working from home thing for now. I will update this information from time to time if I find anything of interest.
[http://www.andygifford.co.uk]
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