With current global conditions providing an ever increasing unemployment rate and economic hardship, there are millions of people today attempting to find alternative and successful methods of earning a living. From this pool of people, there are countless numbers that are turning to home based business ventures in order to earn a profit and keep their lives moving. As such, one requires a sound understanding of starting a top home based business in order to remain a viable and profitable member of the work force.When making the decision to start a home based business, one should take stock of skills and knowledge already acquired and see if they are able to be put to use. The internet provides an incredible array of opportunities for countless skill sets. Selecting the best one while still performing the work that one actually wants to do remains a key element in this mix of decision making.In the internet world of today, one of the most lucrative and fastest growing methods of home based business is internet marketing. This requires very minimal previous experience and more companies today are looking for solid marketing skills by using the internet to help in keeping their businesses going. Launching an internet marketing company is one of the fastest methods of earning a great living.With any business starting or venture, one should develop and follow a sound business plan. With internet marketing, the sky is limit in regard to profit yet one must truly follow very basic business principles and plans in order to get and stay successful. Within this plan, there should be built in and reachable short and long term goals to ensure the business is staying on track.It is often considered wise to join an established and successful internet marketing firm prior to starting on individually. This provides an incredible amount of industry knowledge and practice which proves vital for the success of any entrepreneur. This also could lead to some very valuable business contacts in the future.The use of current professional consulting is also crucial at some point. At any given point of any business, there will be obstacles that must be dealt with in order to remain successful that require the help of a professional. One must know when to seek outside help.Finally, once all the above steps mentioned are complete, one must work toward a solid and sustainable reputation and credibility. Any top home based business relies on this for remaining in business. Retaining customers and gaining new ones are vital to any growth which is what credibility and reputation often provides.
5 Things to Do This New Year to Benefit Your Child in Special Education!
Are you the parent of a child receiving special education services due to autism or a learning disability? Are you looking for a few things that you can do, this new year, to benefit your child’s education? This article is for you! I will be discussing 5 things that you as a parent can do to help your child’s education in this new year!
Item 1: Check all of your child’s past standardized testing, to see if they are on grade level. As an advocate I have helped children that have been several grade levels below their peers, and the parents did not realize this. Catching a child that is having academic difficulty early, and finding out what type of related and special education services they need, will help them keep up with their grade appropriate peers.
Item 2: If you have never looked at your child’s educational record contact your district office (call and make sure that this is where the records are kept), and tell them that you would like to see your child’s school records. IDEA 2004 and FERPA give parents the right to look at their child’s school record, though schools do have up to 45 days for this. FERPA defines a school record as anything that is personally identifiable to a certain child. For example; E mails, letters, testing protocols, discipline records, (could also apply to audio and video recording, but may differ from state to state) etc.
Why is this important? This is important because some very strange items can be kept in a child’s school record, and these items can in the future be used against a child. For example: A medical record that you had not seen, a discipline record etc. FERPA does not necessarily allow for copying the records, but state law may give parents the right to do this, so check with your States Department of Education.
Item 3: If you have not had a chance to observe your child at school in their current placement, tell your child’s teacher that you will be coming in to observe your child. Observe your child and the teacher’s relationship? Is your child in a corner by themselves, or are they sitting with other students? Is there a child that is acting in a disruptive manner, preventing the other children from learning? Also talk to your child’s teacher, about any difficulties your child is having, and any suggestions on how to improve the situation.
Item 4: Get involved with the federal core educational standards movement! Each state has in the past, had their own core educational standards. Some states have had high standards, and some states like my own, have had low standards. For some time, there has been a movement to develop federal core educational standards that apply to all states. Federal Core standards have been developed and can be seen at: http://www.corestandards.org. At the moment these standards are voluntary, but states that adopt the standards can try and get additional funding for their states educational system.
Why are federal core standards important? They are important because they are considered very high standards, and these standards are meant to apply to all children, including children with disabilities. Fight for these standards for your child, to make sure that they are learning grade appropriate tasks, to prepare them for their adult life.
Item 5: Become familiar with the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, and file a State complaint for violations of this law! The complaint is filed with your States Department of Education and can help enforce the law, though may not always be successful! It has been my contention for many years, that if parents of children receiving special education services, filed more complaints the situation for children would be better than it is now!
By taking the time to work on these 5 things you are showing a commitment to advocate for your child and improve their education. Good luck!
A Simple Product Creation and Product Launching Formula
If you tried to think of people involved in product creation, who would come to mind? You may think of Edison, Franklin, or maybe Henry Ford. Would you ever think of yourself as someone who can create a quality product? Product creation is actually relatively easy and product launching is not that tough either! If you follow a few easy to understand steps, you could be starting the product creation and product launching process sooner than you think.
The first step in creating your information product is to know and understand your market. This can be very time-consuming, especially if you are unsure of what to do or where to look to know your market. Studying your niche market and understanding the buzz words and buying patterns can ease the process dramatically. Personally, I would recommend networking with someone who has had success in the niche market you are considering and learn from their results. If they are into product creation and not very business savvy expect some hesitation. If they only sell products and have nothing to do with product launching or product creation you may your first affiliate (sales person)! Something else you can use to find hot trends is with the Google Trends tool.
The second step is the product creation process. Take your niche market and brainstorm ideas and topics relating to it. There are a lot of product launching contests going on recently relating to a newly created internet marketing tool. There are so many aspects to the mentioned niche that literally, and unfortunately, anything can be considered an Internet Marketing tool. The reason that anyone can basically create an Internet Marketing tool is because of something called Private Label Rights products.
What I use private label rights products for, and highly recommend them in this specific manner, is to cure writer’s block especially when it is lingering. Many people base their entire product creation and product launching on a private label rights product. This is where you can start to shine and build a strong brand for yourself. If you set goals for yourself, short-term goals to be exact, you can see your product creation come into being much faster and there is a good chance with less revision needed. If you keep hitting time restraint road blocks; however there is nothing wrong with a slow and steady approach, you can consider outsourcing portions of your project. Outsourcing can be an extremely huge benefit or just as great of a disaster.
You can find someone to outsource work to at a freelance site such as Guru.com or eLance.com. When reviewing proposals it is almost mandatory you perform a background check on them as you are in essence hiring them. Doing a background check on freelancers is as easy as asking for samples of their work and reviewing feedback on the freelance site from previous customers. Depending on the size and requirements of your project this can add up to a decent sized investment, so caution is very important. One tip I always recommend to people looking to hire an individual is to ask them what they can provide you that no one else can. This simple question gives them a chance to “toot their own horn” and acknowledge where they feel most competent as far as their skill set.
The final portion of the product creation and product launching formula is the launch. This can literally make or break the effort, time, and maybe (if you invested) money you put in to your project. There are numerous aspects to product launching and although their relevance is debated in terms to their effect, experts agree all must be followed. The person in your field who you asked for product advice from can help you substantially if you have kept in touch. If not, the first thing you need to do is to create a visually appealing website with flawless design work.
I also mentioned outsourcing before, this is one aspect of product launching I have little strength in and I always outsource this portion. The website does not have to be large however the content (ad copy in Internet Marketing) must be stellar and as perfect as possible. This is where advertising knowledge or experience is beneficial. When the site is set up you now put a lead capture form on your website.
I put two lead capture pages on all products I create on the internet and is one of the best methods of getting a solid start when you are in the product launching stage. When you gain information from a prospect or someone looking to get paid for referring sales you are able to provide them updates or specials. Many people abuse their prospect or affiliate lists by in turn emailing them with a new product daily and I find the recommendations to be totally unrelated to their original need, problem, or interest.
Another stage in the product launching stage is creating a free report or demo version of your product to entice the product to sign up to your email list. Using proper follow up with this can help generate numerous sales for you. One thing you need to ensure is that your free product completely relates to your main product that you are looking to sell.
You are now ready to advertise your product launching to customers as well as the opportunity to sell for affiliates. This is the single aspect that many product creations and launches fail on. It is actually not entirely difficult. One thing you can do is write articles (and a good amount of them) on topics relating to your product. I am a huge advocate of giving a solution in forums. When you join a forum you are normally offered the opportunity to create a signature. In your signature, you should enter the link to your opt-in or lead capture page. When you respond to posts, you are advertising your opportunity.
It is not impossible to create a product and it does not have to take a long time. You need to setup a plan and stick to it. If you get stuck, look at similar and successful products to your own and try and see how they did it. When you sit down and brainstorm you will be surprised with what you can imagine.