Zero to Millionaire With Online Business Ideas

Here is another success story from a MOBE (My Online Business Education) partner. Last year Darren Salkeld was living in a small Canadian town and working as a construction worker. Watch this story to see how his life changed dramatically once he started his online business.   Do you think this is just an isolated case? Not at all. You also can make this change by following the training in the MOBE program. It's chck full of online business ideas. But you have to take action. The money will not come to your home based business unless you work at it. Good luck and keep going!

Is Social Media a Waste of Time?

You may hear people say they don't "bother" with any of the social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Linkedin or Pinterest. They will tell you that these are just for people posting cute pictures of their kids or funny cats. Social media platforms are not serious places for advertising or even posting informational articles or blogs.

 Let's look at some recent statistics to see if this opinion is true. First, here are some figures on the number of users from year 2010 as projected into year 2018 in billions.  
 To read more, click here.

 OK. You can see that there are lots online users of social media, but are they buying? Can we find useful, informative, educational material using social media? Here is one of the online marketing gurus, Jay Baer, has to say about this.
 

As Jay says, "Content is fire. Social media is gasoline." It's a different approach to help customers, not just preach to them. Companies have to get faster, smarter and more social through their advertisements. The people are there on the home screens. It's now up to the companies to tap into that gold mine of ready customers.

 Let's now look at online sales to access whether these people are ready to buy. Here's the information from Metrics.com, a good website to view with lots of very pertinent articles about internet marketing. Online spending in Australia is projected to increase by about $10 billion in the next 5 years. Online shoppers in Africa are 30% of the population due to the spread of mobile phones and faster internet connections. South Africa now has a rate of 51% of internet users who shop online.

 In the US the total for 2014 was $248.7 billion for online sales with a 10% increase forecast for the next 5 years , according to Forrester Research. In Western Europe, 2014 saw online sales totaling 14 billion Euros ($155.7) with a growth projection of 11% annually. Asia with China becoming a world financial power spent $525.2 billion in 2014, more than the US (almost double), according to emarketer.com

Not too many years ago most people shopped in their local stores complete with parking and weather problems, long lines, and wobbly shopping carts. Even when online shopping was available, people felt uncomfortable using their credit cards and giving their personal information to cyber-shops. That has all changed.  Read more here.

One of the areas that has lagged behind is big ticket sales. Most of the online sales are smaller items that can easily and quickly be delivered. However, there is a great sales potential possible (and a very lucrative one) if companies can figure out the logistics of delivery and possible returns. Now that people are more comfortable with shopping online, here is another area to pursue. I personally go to a store, find out what I want (size and model number), then go home and shop online with my shopping network, Dubli.com that will give me cash back savings. I guess you would call me a hybrid online shopper.

The Advantages of Sharing Inspirational Stories from Videos and Articles

Welcome to MyInspiredMedia - Sharing Inspirational Articles and Videos

If you share other people's videos and articles, is that stealing? Certainly not if you are giving them credit. This type of sharing of inspirational stories has been going on since the printing press was invented (maybe even earlier), but we just called it quotations or references. Who can write a research paper without those?

When it comes to videos, the originator of the video actually receives a higher ranking every time someone shares his/her video. In this video, Randy from My Inspired Media and Home Business Labs describes all the advantages to sharing content.

Do you know of inspirational stories that you would like to share?

What video would you like me to share, especially from MyInspiredMedia? Let me know by commenting below. Stay tuned for the next in this series to help you find a profitable online business.

The Danger of Kids Shopping Online Using Credit Cards

It's enough to worry about hackers stealing credit card numbers, although most sites have strong protection in place to prevent that now. However, the thieves might be living in your own house. Games in particular encourage kids to play more and thus order more. Think your kids are too young to figure out how to purchase online? Think again.

According to Quentin Fottrell writing for MarketWatch.com, some companies are now setting up sales so that every credit card user must enter the password for the card before the purchase is final. Hopefully this will curtail the thousands of dollars of "youth-purchased" goods that the companies will not refund.

Similar cases and research into children’s online gaming habits indicate that minors are spending more time (and money) on mobile devices. Last year, Apple Inc. AAPL, -0.11%   agreed to refund customers a minimum of $32.5 million to settle a Federal Trade Commission complaint that the company billed for millions of dollars of charges incurred by kids’ mobile apps without parental consent.

To read more click here.

It is certainly true that the children don't have a clue how much they are spending. It seems to me that there should be a limit put on purchases made at one time, if not by the online company at least by the credit card company.

How do these children get access to the credit cards? While everyone is careful with ID and car keys when they are out of the house, leaving a purse or jacket around the house is a common phenomena. Mom and Dad are sleeping in - you get the idea. Kids have watched their parents shop with cards. It's tempting to try to shop online - like another game.

So now you have been warned. We like you to shop online, but just remember to keep close watch on those cards. Likewise, it's time to teach children what adult things they can and can't use. Why not make it onto a game, like Disney's "The Great Piggy Bank Adventure" which teaches children about finances? Here is an iTunes downloadable version.

Making Residual Income in Your Online Business

Recently in Vancouver where I live one of the organizers of a MeetUp group, Matt Astifan, advertised a guest speaker who would talk about creating residual income by producing your own digital product. The room was packed and half of the people present were new to this group. Over 100 people showed up on a week night. So what is residual income and why is it so popular these days?

Residual or passive income means income that you are not directly producing. However, it still comes to you - sort of like free money. You put in the work initially and then on automatic pilot it produces continual income. Now you see why everyone wants it. It might require some continual effort or none at all. Here are some examples:

1. The insurance agent who gets a commission every time a customer renews a policy.

2. The person who creates an e-book or series of videos and sells them online, especially for a course that has been set up and also sold. This is a popular type of online marketing today.

3. The photographer who sells through a stock company and gets paid a royalty whenever someone buys one.

4. A network marketer who receives a commission every time one of the customers re-orders products.

5. A business owner who hires a manager who then runs the business or a building owner whose tenants pay rent.

As Scott Allen describes in his article, "Passive Income: How to Earn More and Work Less", passive or residual income is different than recurring income.

Note that this is different from merely recurring income. Recurring income may still require your involvement to earn the income, e.g., a coach or consultant on a monthly retainer, or a caterer who delivers lunch every Monday to the local school board. While this "active recurring income" offers welcome stability, it also tends to tie you down, and you still have limits on your earning capacity based on your own personal production capacity.
To read more, click here.

It is often tied closely to leveraged income, such as the person who invents a product and then takes on affiliates to sell it for a commission or the franchised business like McDonald's or Starbucks (big profits here).

So back to you and I. Is it feasible to set up residual income for the common person online or off? Definitely it is, and many people are making a killing online doing just that. While the market is getting rather saturated with "how to" courses and e-books, there is still lots of room to make video series and also to hold seminars that are then recorded and sold as video courses or bonuses for other courses. It's predictable that soon other people will come along with yet more ways to make residual money.

Dubli Network has come up with a novel way to gain residual income. The business associate who brings in an entire new business company is paid commissions not only on the initial entrance fee but all the purchases of the customers signed up by that company. The business associate or BA can do this with very little investment of funds and an easy training. Want to know more? Send an e-mail message to me at: membership@webbasedopportunities.com or go to this page: http://webbasedopportunities.com/business-side-dubli-network/

Different Ways to Make Money From Home

We all know about the online businesses of affiliate marketing (selling someone else's products) and also network marketing schemes in which the goal is to get as many other people selling your products or the company's. However, there are a lot of other things that you can do from the comfort of your home that will certainly bring in some instant cash and perhaps some longer term funds too. Here are some creative ways to pay those bills.

1. Get paid to use your mobile phone camera - using various free apps you complete easy tasks, like taking a picture of yourself drinking a Starbucks coffee, taking a picture of a restaurant menu, a sign of a road closure - you get the idea. Here are some companies to contact: Juno Wallet, Gigwalk, CheckPoints, WeReward.

2. Find jobs on Zaarly such as walking a dog, giving guitar lessons with buyers who are looking for these services.

3. Teach English online - Italki.com, openenglish.com, jobs.ispeakuspeak.com, and skypeteachingjobs.com are just a few of the thousands of schools. Getting $20/lesson is typical.

4. Post a job on Fiverr - you will only get $5/job but you can suggest almost anything, taking a picture of yourself holding a sign, singing a song in Russian - the sky's the limit and it's fun to just scroll through the various posted jobs to see what zany things people are willing to do.

5. Online surveys - research companies are always looking for people to fill out surveys and test new products. According to Owen Burek, here are some to try:

Toluna, Vivatic, The Opinion Panel, MySurvey, YouGov, Valued Opinions, Pinecone, iPoll,SurveyBods, Global Test Market, Hiving, PanelBase,YourWord, Harris Poll, IPSOS, New Vista

6. Searching the web - companies pay you to go on certain websites to find information such as Swagbucks and CashCrate

7. Review music for money - Here's Owen Burek again.

If you love music, make it your business by reviewing unsigned bands and artists for cash. I know… we couldn’t believe it either.
It can take a while to build up your reputation but some users of the site have said that they have earned £40 a month. This may not sound like much but if it’s something you enjoy then it shouldn't be hard work and is another thing for your CV. Money you earn will be in $US but anyone can sign up and review.
To get started, head over to Slicethepie now

So you can see that just sitting in front of your TV or computer screen can benefit you greatly and your spare time can be filled productively. This is especially handy for students, people who have suddenly lost a job or even for retiring folks with some free hours. They can all make money from home.

Baby Boomers are Retiring Later

A recent survey by the Federal Reserve showed that more people 55+ years are now working. This is a reversal of the trend of a few decades ago. It seems the Baby Boomers are not retiring as early. There are a couple of reasons:

1. They can't afford to retire. Between higher living expenses and salaries not increasing to keep up with inflation, there are fewer people able to save for retirement.
2. In the U.S. size of the national debt may mean a disappearance of social security benefits sometime in the future. The large number of people eligible for payments is increasing as well. Government benefits might not be a reliable source of income.
3. With such a large number of retiring workers and fewer younger workers to fill the jobs, it leaves job vacancies for the older workers to take. What company would not want experienced, already trained workers in every field?

Josh Zumbrun writing for The Wall Street Journal has pointed out that Americans are working longer but eventually they do get around to retirement. We haven't returned to the Dark Ages when people worked till they collapsed and died.

The change in labor force participation that has happened at each age has been biggest for workers in their mid-60s. From age 62 to 65, women are about 10-12 percentage points more likely to work today than in 2000, and men about 6-8 percentage points more likely. These are precisely the years when decisions to continue to work help optimize the size of Social Security payments and the years where some workers may choose to continue working until becoming eligible for Medicare.
Americans’ retirements have been delayed, but not abandoned entirely. Having the financial means to retire is a big part of the story. But the vast majority are still getting to their golden years eventually.

It should be pointed out that the trend to work longer holds true for both men and women. What will the future hold for those reaching their 60's? Will they retire at 65 as their relatives did? It's doubtful as people are also living longer now. Retirement for 30 years is bound to be expensive and for some people, rather boring. I suspect there will be more people changing careers in mid-life, much as the retiring military do now. The community colleges already provide good training and refresher courses. We see an increase in online course packages as well. Leave a comment about what you think is ahead for retiring workers and what you plan to do.