Saturday 1 November 2008

Recession Cash Income - Starting Out No.1 - Ten Tips

This is the first of a series of articles I will be writing for those starting out trying to make money from home online particularly during a recession. This article sets out ten useful tips from an experienced person which will help people new to the subject get a good grasp of the things they need to consider as they search for a new way to make a living.

One of the big things we’re hearing at the moment is that a world recession is looming, we’ve all got to tighten our belts and that there is no cash around. People are losing their jobs on a daily basis and companies once recognised as world leaders in their fields are making big losses and closing down.

So what’s the plan?

Do we sit tight and try and ride it out hoping that we’ll be fortunate enough to come out the other end in no worse a position than we went in?

Or do we try and be proactive and try and make a firmer foundation for our lives by looking at alternative ways of making money.

Yes, the traditional way of earning a living will be with us for ever. But as time goes on, more and more of us are looking at getting away from the daily nine to five grind (or longer in many cases as we put in more hours just to earn enough to pay the mortgage and keep the company happy), commuting to work on the bus or train with little free leisure time.

So what’s the alternative? So many people are making a good income using different techniques online. Some of them are making incredible amounts of money.

Wouldn’t it be great if you could ditch your day job and move into something which allows you financial freedom, a healthy standard of living, greater leisure time, flexibility and choice in what you do with your money.

So why not give it a try - move into something which could help you realise your dreams and goals. Financial freedom for you and your family. It need not be a dream!

Here are ten tips for you. None of these are rocket science. But you would be surprised how many people ignore the basics in their search for a quick buck. Don't let that be you. Don't ignore the basics.

  1. Research - and plenty of it. I can’t over emphasis this. Yes, you could plough straight in with a scheme, system or plan. But investing some quality time researching what other people are doing will pay dividends. What’s making money at the moment? What are the scams to avoid.
  2. Plan and be focused on your goals and set yourself realistic achievable targets. Stretching yourself early on and giving yourself unrealistic ambitions will lead to disappointment and failure. Give yourself a chance. Don’t over estimate what you can do in a month or under estimate what you can do in a year.
  3. Consider start up costs - many of us are not cash rich when we start so we need to be careful how much cash we put in up front. Be wary of schemes with high front end costs with the promise of millions in return. Some of them may be legitimate, but I refer you to Tip 1 - do your research. Simple web searches will often throw up horror stories of people losing large amounts of cash to scammers.
  4. Avoid anything which involves gambling. Enough said!
  5. Avoid get rich schemes - they don’t exist. Ever. At all. You will need to invest time (and some money) in getting to where you want to be. Avoid anything which says you’ll be earning lots in a very short space of time. It may be possible if you are very lucky. But assume you will need to build your new business over time.
  6. Time and your skills are your most precious asset. Use them wisely. Plan your time well and remove distractions but don’t forget to allow yourself some quality leisure time too.
  7. Review your achievements after each month. Give yourself a reward for doing good stuff even if it’s small in the early days.
  8. Keep focussed when the going gets tough, as it will. Many people simply give up when they’re not getting anywhere. But there is serious money to be made online. Keep focussed, work hard and you’ll break through.
  9. When you’ve set up one revenue stream eg blogging for cash, look at an another idea. Diversification is good and will give you alternative options if one stream starts to slow down.
  10. Keep up to date with what’s going on in the world on online marketing and sales. Join online forums, swap ideas and get involved in joint ventures. No one can make it purely on their own.
So there are ten quick tips for you. I’ll be adding more to this in future articles and of these to my blog in due course along with a free eBook for you very soon.

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