It’s a shame how many people automatically assume that home based businesses are nothing more than cute hobbies that might earn a few extra dollars on the side. Lots of people think that people who run businesses at home are just stay-at-home mums trying to earn a few bucks or those who just don’t want to go out to work.The reality is far different.The number of home-based businesses that go on to become multi-million dollar corporations is staggering. Did you know that Jeff Bezos created and ran Amazon from his garage at first?Aside from this, there are many more successful, profitable businesses operating from home than most people realize. This is largely thanks to the Internet. Home-based business owners who are savvy enough to use the Internet to their advantage are able to grow their businesses into very profitable enterprises.Why Run a Home Based Business Online?The ability to promote and market a business online allows even small businesses to extend their customer-base far wider than a traditional store is capable of doing. You have the advantage of reaching out and connecting with far more people online than you could in person or by any other form of media, such as TV or radio.There are also the cost savings involved. Running a business from a store or from an office requires you to pay rent on your business premises. You also need to pay utilities bills to keep everything running, along with paying staff to keep the store operating.When you create your business so that it operates online, you effectively cut all those costs. Your website does all your promotion and pre-selling. It accepts orders for you and processes any payments. It never sleeps and never takes sick-days. It’s the ideal employee.Of course, one of the most fun reasons to think about home-based businesses is that you don’t need to commute in order to earn money. There’s no need to sit in rush-hour traffic for a couple of hours each day to get to the office. This is time you can spend working on your business right from the comfort of your own home.You’re not paying for fuel to get you to work and you’re not spending money on uniforms or work clothing. These cost savings are far better spent improving and expanding your home based business instead.Should You Work from Home?While working from home is the ideal dream for many people, there is still an element of discipline required. You really do still need to spend time working on your business and finding ways to keep sales steady. You do need to ensure that your customer correspondence is prompt and that you’re available in case any issues arise. You do need the discipline to get your work done each day and avoid distractions, even if you’re working at home.Home-based businesses really do have the capacity to become profitable enterprises. The key is to ensure you set it up correctly to minimize the time you need to spend on it and maximize the profits it makes.

One of the most important things to do when purchasing a home is to find a great real estate agent to make the process flow smoothly and effectively. A question many people ponder is how to find a good real estate agent. The best agent may not necessarily work at one of the top ten agencies in the area. The agent who will work best for you would be an experienced agent who will listen to your needs, act in a professional and ethical manner and knows the market in your area.

1.)Word-of-Mouth or Referral
Most real estate professionals attract a sizable amount of business because of a satisfied client who recommends them to a friend, family member or neighbour. When you are thinking of purchasing a home, it is a good idea to ask those around you who they have used and ask them to elaborate on their specific experience with the real estate agent in question. Successful real estate agents strive to make customer satisfaction their number one priority and will do everything they can to facilitate a good experience for a customer. Try to find an agent that has a proven track record and reputation for delivering quality service, customer satisfaction, and have experience in the neighbourhoods that you are looking in.

2.) Do an Online Search For Real Estate Agents
There are many online resources available when searching for a real estate agent referral, but this by no means ensures quality. The agents referred online may have paid a fee to the website owner to be listed in the directory. Performing a Google search of the top agents in your area and then reviewing their websites will give you a good list of agents to interview. Agents who have experience in the field will tell you, but a newer agent will more than likely have the extra time to spend working with you. Review any customer testimonials or feedback about an agent you may be interested in retaining.

3.) Visit Open Houses in the Area
You should visit some area open houses where you can actually meet with a potential agent in a non-threatening manner. Here you can see how they work, collect business cards, formulate an opinion and talk with them on a personal basis. If you are thinking about selling a home, pay close attention to how the agent presents the home. Make sure the agent is polite, informative, approachable and professional. Does the agent promote the home by handing out professional looking feature sheets or other related materials? Is the agent trying to play up the features that make the home more enticing? Or is the agent in the corner, back turned and uninvolved in the whole scenario?

4.) Pay Attention to Real Estate Signs
Carefully monitor the real estate signs in your neighbourhood. Observe how long from the day they go up until the home is actually sold. An agent who has a high sales turnover might be a better choice than an agent who has lots of for sale signs but few sold signs. An agent who gets results is what you want.

5.) Why Agents Use Printed Advertising
There are two main reasons real estate agents use printed advertisement. First is to advertise and sell a specific piece of realty. Secondly, advertising is used to promote the agent handling the transaction. By checking the local Sunday real estate ads in your neighbourhood and then checking the agents website, you can find the agents who may specialize in your particular neighbourhood. Contact the agent and inquire about their expertise and ask any other relative questions you may have.

6.) Seeking Recommendations from Other Realty Professionals
Ask around and seek out other real estate agents for a referral. Most agents are happy to refer a buyer or seller to another associate, if the service you require is not a specialty they can provide. Some agents only specialize in resale property, while others work predominantly with the sale of new homes. Other agents work exclusively with commercial or investment properties. Mortgage brokers are a great resource for agent referrals; many brokers have first-hand knowledge and can point you in the direction of a top-quality real estate agent and remember professionals tend to refer like-minded peers. There is also typically a referral fee involved for the referring professional so be careful that they refer you to the best Agent not the one that pays the highest referral fee.

Marketing includes matters such as pricing and packaging of the product and creation of demand by advertising and sales campaigns. There are other options, of course, like product creation, resale rights marketing, joint ventures and the likes, but they are merely secondary to the above.

If you take the freelance route, it is important to ensure that all rights to profit from the final product, or any materials produced in its making, remain yours. Bookkeeping, physical product creation or delivery of goods can be done better with specialized help. Determining the purpose of the product is vital in niche product creation.

Implementation of Methodology – The choice of implementation of Six Sigma methodology depends on whether development is required on existing processes (DMAIC) or on new process/product design creation (DMADV). Determining what you really want to sell, something that you can be relaxed selling is the first step at the creation of a niche product. With the technological advancements in the hosting industry, from automated control panels and scripts that simplify creation of accounts; to complete turnkey solutions, there is no excessive need to worry about spending time on the actual product sold to the customer.

For instance, you should be prepared to either perform yourself or to subcontract the completion of the following tasks:- Product idea research (are there any existing products or patents already existing for this idea)- Product specification document training (what it will do, how it will look, how will it be powered, and how the user will interface with it)- Marketing study (what it will be named, who would buy this, how much would they pay, how will we get customers to purchase the product)- Schematic or electronic circuit design process- Creation of a bill of material or BOM and an approved vendor’s list or AVL for each component in the design, preferably with multiple sources identified, with a BOM and AVL for each assembly level in the product- Printed circuit board layout design process (single sided board, double sided board, or multilayer board; size of the PCB; board material)- Mechanical packaging design with user interfaces (displays, buttons, switches, key. This removes all product creation costs from your budget as a marketer.

No other database of affiliate programs offers such a possibility for profit on either the affiliate side or the product creation site. Your chosen niche should allow for the creation of more than one product or service.

There are several marketing strategies that are necessary in the creation of a successful e-commerce web site – Email marketing (broadcasting) of prospects/customers – Effective use of auto responders (generate automatic email messages) – Online Newsletter – Online Form / Survey to capture your prospect’s email address – Electronic Product Delivery (if you sold a digital product) – Advertisement (Ad) Tracking – Back End Sales – Affiliate program etc.