Those of us doing any kind of work on our personal computers know how crazy things can get when the “infrastructure” goes down. Perhaps you want to start an online business or more likely, you care a lot about what you’ve got stored in your machines. If so, then you should get into the habit of backing up your data. Once, I actually had to shell out $1,450 for data recovery when my computer crashed without a back up system in place. Ouch! On this note, I thought to share the following guest post by Millie Kay G., about a couple of software options one can look into for managing online back ups.

For a lot of us, losing our important computer files means losing money. I keep many of my documents and pictures backed up in a portable hard drive, but using a computer backup service like Carbonite or Mozy is something I’ve been considering lately. I took a closer look at these well-known services to see if they are worth trying out.

Carbonite Backup Service Overview

Carbonite is a popular choice in the data backup arena. Their service will back up your documents, emails, pictures, and even data from programs like Quicken. Once you pay for the service, you can elect to have it back up your music, videos, program files, and other types of data as well.

You won’t run into limits on the amount of data you can back up. However, if you try to upload more than around 20 gigabytes of data, you might find the process slow going. As far as security is concerned, your data is protected by encryption. So if someone doesn’t have your account password, you won’t have to worry about them snooping through your stuff.

What if you need to restore data? Let’s say you lose a file or a whole folder. In that case, you could go to your desktop to seek out your file or folder from your Carbonite Backup Drive and recover it by using the Restore option. Alternatively, if you don’t have access to your computer, you can always visit the Carbonite website to get a hold of your data backup. It won’t take more than a few minutes to recover small files or folders, but if you need to restore a large amount of your computer data, then you should plan on it taking a day or two, depending on how much data is involved.

Windows XP, Vista, and Mac users can all use Carbonite. Their website offers handy tutorials to show you the basics.

Mozy Backup Service Overview

Another computer backup service that has earned kudos is Mozy. For users who want to use the service for personal use, there’s MozyHome, which comes free with limited 2 GB of space. For unlimited storage, it’s $4.95 a month. With it, you download the backup software, then choose which files you want backed up. Your files are encrypted while they’re backed up, and they’re encrypted a second way for storage.

You can schedule when your backups happen. The first backup you make will generally take the longest, if you’ve got a lot of data to archive. After that, the backups should be incremental. As mentioned, if you’re using MozyHome for personal use, you can get 2 GB of storage for free. You can have two computers on one MozyHome Free account.

You can restore your data in a variety of ways. You can right-click on any folder that needs recovery; you can go to the Mozy website to download your files from there; or you can order a DVD of your backup. It may actually be faster to order a DVD than wait for your backup to download on your home internet connection (think of the famous saying from the annals of computer networking: never underestimate the bandwidth of a truck full of magnetic tapes hurtling down the highway).

For business users, there’s MozyPro. It provides an Administrative Console to manage backups from multiple computers, and you’ll benefit from encryption, alerts, bandwidth throttling, and more. For each server and each computer you want to back up, you’ll need to buy a license.

Now with regards to pricing: for desktop computers, it’s $3.95 as well as $.50 per gigabyte each month; while for each server, it’s $6.95 plus $.50 per gigabyte each month.
 

Before you decide on a computer backup service, keep in mind that this works best for users with high-speed internet connections due to the large amount of data involved. A free trial or account can give you a good idea if the service is a good match for your backup needs.

Why Outsource Computer Back Ups?

Why go with a computer backup service if you can do these tasks yourself? Well it’s about making the time and effort to actually do what’s needed, and frankly, for less than $5 a month, it’s something I’d rather outsource. In my opinion, the convenience and peace of mind these services provide are worth way more than several dollars a month.

Also, if you did your own backups yourself, then you’d need a portable hard drive to make it work. It could make more sense to get some “data redundancy” by opting to store data elsewhere via a backup service. Data that’s stored offsite can be easier to recover than say, a hard drive that’s been burned, drowned, or dropped during an emergency.

Clearly, the consequences of missing out on regular backups are not pretty: if you forget to back up something yourself, then you might lose your precious data to a hard drive crash, a wayward virus, or theft if your computer’s ever stolen. Rather than risk your livelihood, family pictures, novel-in-progress, or your music collection, you could rely on a computer backup service as your data storage solution.

For those who use (or have used) Carbonite or Mozy — do you have any thoughts on your service of choice?

Carbonite vs Mozy: Online Backup Services

YNAB Pro Giveaway Code: fibonacci

Want to make money blogging? Here are more thoughts on how to start an online business.

With the recession causing so much unemployment and the threat of job loss looming over many heads, people have been hunting for ways to make up for lost income. Some of us have become proactive by developing a business on the side in order to mitigate the risk of job loss, even while we still have jobs. I think that even a small profit from a side venture can help quite a bit.

Image by teampenning.org

Online Business Startup Costs Are Cheap

So I wanted to write a little about online business, since it happens to be one fairly easy way to try to create an income stream apart from your day job. What’s great about an online business is that it doesn’t take much to get it started: it doesn’t require that much money. You can run a business for under $100 a month, and more often than not, it’s much cheaper than that!

In my case, I started out using all the free tools I could get (but of course!), but over time, I realized that “free” wasn’t going to sustain a business indefinitely, nor would it make it easier and less frustrating for me to handle any growing pains that may come. In some respects, there are still a lot of things you can get for free in this business, but with a small outlay, you can set up a site, no sweat. So how about we discuss what it is you need to get started on your online adventure?

How To Find The Best Web Host For Your Online Business

If you want to go the free route to start with, you can. Just sign up with Blogger.com or Wordpress.com and set up a blog on the spot. You’ll get a built in community there that can send you a bit of traffic your way.

If you’re looking for more flexibility and the ability to brand your site, then you should consider going “independent”. Perhaps you’d like to start your own recipe blog, or would like to build your own t-shirt site. Maybe you’re interested in setting up a site to represent your professional self online, and may want to leverage this somehow. Or you could simply be looking for a company that can provide you with email hosting services. Either way, you’ll need to choose a web hosting provider that’s affordable, easy to work with and reliable.

What’s great about cheap web hosting services is that they can offer quite a lot for the money. Take a look at some of the features you’ll get for under $10 a month (as an example):

• Free domain name or domain transfer
• Instant set up
• 1 click installer for over 50 website scripts
• Diskspace and bandwidth
• Free site building tools with templates
• 99.9% network uptime guarantee
• Customer support
• Easy cancellation process
• Domain registration and hosting, email accounts and email hosting services
• E-commerce services, which are tools to help you launch your online store
• Online marketing services such as SEO and link building services

Here are some things to determine before you sign up for any service:

1. What’s your budget? Can I swing this for less than $100 a month, or should I expect to pay more? Based on the pricing structure, you may find that one web host will work better for you than others. Take for instance Microsoft Office Live Small Business: the plan offers many free services but will charge you a bit higher (than other web hosts) for the use of additional resources.
2. How much space do you need? Are you putting up a website with thousands of pages, or can you get by with less space? Although it doesn’t hurt to get more space than you need now, you don’t want to pay extra each month for 500 GB you’ll never use.
3. Does the web host give you the tools you’ll need to build the website, or do you need to make the pages on your own? These days, you can simply choose free or low cost templates and skins to build your site, although some people prefer to hire professional designers to do this job for them.
4. What are your hardware requirements? You’ll need to know if your existing hardware can work with the web hosting provider. For instance, if you’re using a Linux machine, then you can’t really sign up for Microsoft Office Live Small Business, which requires you to work with a Windows or Mac OS X platform.
5. What about your domain name? Does the web host handle this service or should you find a domain registrar?
6. How is the customer service? This is actually the achilles heel of many hosting companies. Many of them find it tough to stick to a 99% network uptime guarantee (hello, Dreamhost) and fall short of their promise to keep your site up most of the time. So find out what you can about a company’s reliability before signing up with them.

The Best Web Hosts Come Highly Recommended

Before you commit to a web host, take a look at several of them. You might like the tools and services of one provider over that of another, even if it costs a little more. You can check out our list of cheap web hosting services for a comprehensive list! Here’s a sampling:

As far as web hosting providers to avoid, there are a few, including HostGator, Web Hosting Pad and Fat Cow. I’ve had a few friends complain about their lack of customer support and professionalism, so be wary of dealing with these services.

Starting with a few key decisions about pricing and the size of the site you intend to build, you can create an implementation plan for hosting and developing your site. So if you’re an online entrepreneur, I’d love to hear about your experience with setting up your own business and how your web host has been treating you!

Find The Best Web Host For Your Online Business

YNAB Pro Giveaway Code: fibonacci

When I read this piece from Happy Rock called “29 Reasons Why Being A Part Time Entrepreneur Sucks”, where he details the roadblocks to solo entrepreneur success, I was compelled to add my 2 cents. I completely identify with this article — it strikes a chord! It’s hard enough to be a full time entrepreneur so this list makes me wince (almost).

The Pitfalls of Running A Part Time Business

I can identify with this because I started out as a part time entrepreneur, and I can attest to the fact that many people who want to transition from their full time employment to entrepreneurship have these very concerns. Juggling your day job with part time projects — be it home projects, hobbies or even part time business endeavors — can really tire you out, and before long, add a lot of stress to your life. I wrote about my own dilemmas in this series of posts on time management and lifestyle changes some time ago, when I was still planning to make those changes:

• Why I Want To Retire Early, Change Roles and Live On One Income
• Ready To Retire Right Now? Find Out If It’s Time To Quit The Rat Race
• Quitting My Job, Retiring Early: 5 Steps To Lifestyle Change
• What Price Are You Paying To Have It All? The Supermom Myth

Moonlighting or maintaining a part time gig does entail a lot of sacrifice and discipline, and it’s not easy. Having lots of things going on takes some juggling that can eventually wear you out. Somewhere along the way, something’s going to give (eventually) as status quo becomes tough to maintain indefinitely. But the hard part is having to make the decision: whether to make that leap into the unknown to escape from that status quo or to stay with what’s familiar.

Depending on how demanding your part time venture is, you may realize that losing the balance in your work, time and life is a big risk and may become a real possibility. In my case, I decided to focus on doing a good job with one thing on my plate. Plus I didn’t want to endanger my health any further; over time, I literally had grown sick of the daily grind.

So I eventually made a decision: I chose to leave the daily grind for the time being to take the self-employment route. I still remember the moment when I opted to take the risk and make that move — it was a “crossing my fingers” moment. But I’m glad I did it because my new work and daily life has allowed me to become healthier, (generally) happier and less stressed. How did I make it work? By planning and working to live on less income than what I’d been used to. Those are some of the tradeoffs we make!

Most bloggers I know are part time entrepreneurs and many are holding up pretty well. But reading Happy Rock’s list does hit home, and assures us that we’re not alone in facing the challenges of self-employment. If you work part time on your business, how are you coping?

Speaking of which, here are some posts from online entrepreneurs and hobbyists in the financial realm.

Personal Finance Articles

• Free Money Finance: Is Writing a Book a Good Career Move?
• Lazy Man and Money: Sprint Rebates Suck
• Money Smart Life: Split Loans & Home Equity Lines of Credit
• Brip Blap: How Much Is That Tree Out The Window?
• The Sun’s Financial Diary: Tips for Embracing Green Frugality
• Gen X Finance: Your Home is Not an Investment: Don’t Treat It Like One
• My Dollar Plan: Bank of Dad — Will Your Kids Be A Client?
• Five Cent Nickel: Strategies to Curb Lifestyle Inflation
• Ask Mr. Credit Card: The Secret Menu
• Funny About Money: A post with no title: What can one say?
• The Dividend Guy: Chopping Stocks to Lessen Your Risk
• One Million And Beyond: Debt Crushed my Self Esteem

Recent Carnivals

• Carnival of Money Stories
• Carnival of Personal Finance
• Festival of Frugality
• Money Hacks Carnival
• Carnival of Pecuniary Delights

Have A Part Time Business? Why Moonlighting Can Suck

YNAB Pro Giveaway Code: fibonacci

So you’ve got a few online business ideas you’d like to execute. Or you may want to make money blogging. If you’re an online entrepreneur or hoping to become one, you may want to read about some of the web marketing strategies I’ve learned through the years.

I’m going for something a bit different today, which is to touch a little upon the subject of online business, since it has such a big impact on me. After all, it’s my livelihood! My introduction into the world of the internet along with its opportunities, rewards and promises was all a serendipitous accident that befell me, a few years ago. And it’s changed the course of my work life tremendously.

Earlier on, I had the chance to touch the surface of how to start an online business; this time around, I’d like to explore the things that online business owners can do to help promote or market their business. Being more of a technical person, I’ve found this aspect of business as something brand new, so there was a lot I had to learn over the years.

When it comes to trying to earn money online, we’ve got two goals: it really boils down to figuring out ways to monetize your site as well as building traffic for it. Well, the latter goal — figuring out how to get visitors to your site and how to attract customers — is where this article comes in.

10 Web Marketing Strategies For Online Business Owners

The following are some ideas for promoting your site. Here’s some disclosure though — these are all just suggestions, not all of which I’ve tried. Also, some ideas are tailored to general web businesses, and may not necessarily apply to blogs (but most do).

1. SEO or Search Engine Optimization

What I didn’t realize when I first started blogging was just how important this thing called search engine optimization would be to any site. In fact, I started blogging with no clue what SEO meant (have a laugh at my old tongue-in-cheek post on how to promote your site). I’d rather avoid getting into details here because there are tomes and sites out there that discuss this stuff to no end; instead, I’d rather just say that SEO is what you need to get ranked in search engines and ultimately to gain traffic via search.

2. SEM or Search Engine Marketing

Another way to get traffic is to buy advertising. Some people I know have been trying out Google Adwords for this purpose, where they hope to snare some customers who end up clicking the ads they take out. Others do direct advertising in highly popular sites, but be sure to read Google’s policies for doing this sort of thing. You can also check out Microsoft adCenter, which costs only $5 to sign up, or Yahoo!’s Small Business resources or Search Engine Marketing program.

3. Press Releases

A more traditional way to attract eyeballs is by doing press releases.  You can sign up to services that can prepare press releases for you, or depending on the type of business you have, you may want to cross over by doing “real world” activities that attract offline customers to your site. For instance, you could sponsor an event in your local area or support a neighborhood sports team as a way to promote your business. Or get in your local papers by offering a nice donation to a cause. There are many ways to generate buzz and you may want to try thinking outside of the box to see what methods stick best for your site.

4. Content in Various Forms (Interviews, Podcasts, Guest Articles)

Again, if you want to drum up buzz and give your site more authority, then you can extend your reach by creating interviews, podcasts, guest articles hosted on other sites, and whatever else you think can give your site some attention. The thing is, unless you’ve got a team of people supporting you, this stuff can get pretty time-consuming. But if you’ve got the resources, this could be a pretty effective strategy. Here’s one more tip: of you’re looking to share content with other sites, you’ll have to be careful not to go on a spamming spree or you risk becoming an annoyance. Make sure your content is a fit for places where you intend to host them.

5. Giveaways, Freebies, Coupons and Discounts

You can also host giveaways and freebies from your site, or offer coupons and discounts if you are selling a product. I’ve got a friend with an absolutely awesome Etsy store. She regularly gives away her jewelry to some lucky customer as a way to market her store.

6. Affiliate Programs

Would you like to have blogs and other content publishers write about you? Why not set up your own affiliate program? As a form of internet marketing, you can offer to pay someone else to promote your product or service through an affiliate set up. For each person they send to your doorstep (who successfully signs up to your service or purchases a product), give them a little reward. Lots of bloggers live for that payout!

7. Social Networking and Social Bookmarking

Certain sites house large communities that you may want to explore. If you feel you can tap Twitter, Facebook, or MySpace, you can spend some time and effort developing your profiles here. There are also places like Squidoo or HubPages that allow you to build profiles and pages that promote your stuff. For content rich sites, you can leverage social bookmarking sites that are pertinent to your content. For financial bloggers like me, we’ve got sites like Tip’d and PFBuzz where we can share our content with a financial audience. In the past, StumbleUpon, Digg or Reddit have been particularly friendly to blogs, but as they’ve grown, it’s become much harder to get traction in these sites (as their community and its tastes may have also changed). Interestingly, social networking is one avenue I haven’t had time to pursue as much as I’d like to. Maybe later?

8. Forums and Blogs

If you’ve got a static website, why not set up a blog to offer a different dimension to your site? Blogs are a great way to build promotional content around your product or service. You may also want to build a community for your customers through a forum. Or you may prefer to join an existing forum that caters to your business, to see if it’s possible to market your stuff there (be careful though, that the forums you visit won’t mind this sort of thing).

9. Customer Service and Community Building

Then there are those businesses that aim to cultivate return customers. In those cases, you may want to do things to improve customer retention and to build your community by making sure that your site is well designed with an easy way for people to contact you for questions. Just like with any other business, being able to respond promptly to customers’ concerns, having a return policy and honoring guarantees are always a good way to keep people satisfied and hopefully, interested in coming back.

10. Online Networking

Finally, one thing that’s worked well for me as an online business owner is to build relationships with others with similar aspirations and goals. If it weren’t for online friends I’ve made in this space, I doubt that I’d have the guts and knowledge to leave my job and subsequently develop this hobby into a business. So make friends with other site owners, bloggers, web publishers and internet marketers, and get inspired to take your business to a new level.

So what do you think? If you’ve got an online business, I’d love to hear about what it is you do to try to build a customer base. Yeah, other than saying that we should create products that sell themselves.

10 Web Marketing Strategies For Online Business Owners

YNAB Pro Giveaway Code: fibonacci

Earlier on, my credit card account got closed when Advanta decided to pull the plug on their credit card division. The irony here is that the Advanta card was once considered one of the best credit cards for the buck, as per Forbes. So naturally, like one of the million customers who were abandoned up the creek at short notice, I thought about what kind of steps to take next. If you were caught in this situation, you probably scrambled as I did to straighten out the things that were affected by this predicament.

Where did this leave me? Bottom line: I needed a new credit card fast! So I began the process of getting a replacement for my old card as quickly as possible. Here are some of my thoughts on shopping for a new card:

How To Get A New Credit Card: Shopping For A Card On Short Notice

• Go for those credit cards with brand name recognition.
  Credit cards that are associated with financial companies that are well recognized and deemed stable may be less of a risk than those offered by companies you’ve never heard of. I certainly don’t want to find myself experiencing trouble with yet another company, so I’d make sure to apply for credit cards from companies that are on solid footing. Here’s a sampling of popular credit cards that I’ve reviewed:

  Credit Card Rewards Type Notes Slate(SM) from Chase No Rewards Regular credit card, No annual fee Chase Freedom Card Cash Back Up to 3% cash back, No annual fee, $50 cash bonus Discover More Card Cash Back Up to 5% cash back bonus, No annual fee Discover More American Flag Cash Back Up to 5% cash back bonus, No annual fee Discover Student Card Cash Back Up to 5% cash back bonus, No annual fee Discover Motiva Credit Card Cash Back Up to 1% cash back rebate, No annual fee American Express True Earnings Card Cash Back Up to 3% cash back bonus, $25 bonus, No annual fee Chase Sapphire Credit Card Point Rewards Unlimited points, Bonus: $100 cash or 10,000 points, No annual fee Citi Forward Card Point Rewards Balance transfer card, No annual fee Citi Forward Student Point Rewards Balance transfer card, No annual fee Citi® mtvU™ Platinum Select® Visa® Card Point Rewards Balance transfer card, No annual fee Citi PremierPass Elite Level Point Rewards Earn points for every purchase, $75 annual fee American Express Preferred Rewards Gold Card Point Rewards Earn points for every purchase, $125 annual fee Visa Black Card Cash Back / Point Rewards Exclusive rewards plus 1% cash back, $495 annual fee

  I’d select financial products that are backed by reputable institutions. Some such products that come to mind include Discover credit cards, American Express rewards credit cards, CitiCard rewards cards, Capital One cards, Bank of America cards.

  If you’ve got thoughts on specific credit card companies, the floor is open for your suggestions!

• Get a new credit card through financial institutions you already have a relationship with.
  Because we didn’t have the forethought to double up on business cards before (we didn’t have any spares), we were stuck having to apply for new credit cards after our credit accounts were closed. So we opted to turn to the banks we were already doing business with to get us approved for new cards right away. If your financial institution carries your business accounts, and you’ve got a personal banker working with you, it’s quite likely that you’ll be able to get a credit card approved through them quickly because of your record with them as a loyal customer with an established business. Applying this strategy, we received new cards in our hands within a week!
• Consider alternatives to business credit cards.
  When you’ve lost a business credit card like I have (in Advanta), your replacement business card can’t come a moment too soon. But if you’re having problems securing a quick replacement, you can always consider using your personal card to back you up. While you can always use a personal credit card for business purposes, I wouldn’t do this for the long term — it’s more of a stop gap measure until you get yourself that replacement business card.
  
  Business credit cards are still the better choice to use for your venture because they’ve got higher credit limits; they also usually offer rewards and perks that are advantageous to business owners, and most importantly, they offer a way for you to separate any liability from your person. As far as I know, if you ever encounter issues or problems with your credit through your business, having a business credit card can shield those problems from creeping into your personal credit history. Anyone care to confirm or dispute this?

Here were a few other things I learned from this experience as a former Advanta credit card holder in this unique position:

Need A New Credit Card Fast? Thoughts On Replacing An Expired Card

• Don’t forget to redeem your rewards!
  If you’ve got a rewards credit card of some sort, try not to accumulate (hoard) your rewards and points for long periods in case your credit card program ends up on the chopping block. These days, the credit card industry is in so much flux that I’d prefer not to sit on my unclaimed rewards for too long. Who knows for how long your points will be honored? In Advanta’s case, they cut me a rewards check. For this reason, cash back credit cards may be less problematic than those that offer you points that could expire.
• Take note of transactions that are affected by your defunct or expired card.
  The biggest pain in the rear we’ve had to deal with in this situation was having to find a replacement card for all the automatic bill payments that were set up using our Advanta card. You can imagine how big an inconvenience this is, particularly for those businesses that are transaction heavy. To keep things running smoothly, stay on top of your card usage and automatic payment schedules to avoid disruptions of your operations.
• Keep a spare credit card.
  There are many people who’ve sworn off card debt, who’ve progressed to the point of banishing credit cards from their homes. But I find that the use of credit cards have made life so much easier for me (I’m never one to carry debt). And as someone who’s become partially dependent on cards to “make things work” both for my business and my household, I’ve realized that there’s a reason to own multiple credit cards: having a spare one allows me to keep functioning when one of my credit cards goes AWOL. As I’ve mentioned, I use cards to facilitate the financial transactions and operations I’m involved with everyday.

Lessons Learned

As my story shows, anything can happen to our finances that’s out of our control. I doubt we can really be proactive about everything that can happen; there’s no way to anticipate all the possible issues that can arise with our financial accounts. All we can really do is have a plan in case the worst happens (be ready for damage control) and realize that no company is immune to failure. Accept these facts and you’ll be less frustrated when the unexpected happens. Always expect the unexpected!

I Need A New Credit Card Fast

YNAB Pro Giveaway Code: fibonacci

Good Business In A Bad Economy?

Are there businesses that thrive during an economic recession? Definitely. I believe you can run a small business even in time of crisis. With the right amount of luck, planning and hard work, you can find business success and see your venture do well even in the worst economic conditions. It won’t be a walk in the park, but it becomes a bit easier though, if you are in the right business niche, sector or industry. Being well positioned with the type of business that naturally grows in a struggling economy will no doubt help you a lot.

Despite the job layoffs, credit crunches, and market anxieties that have affected entrepreneurs, others have managed to prosper. There are two types of businesses that do well in a crummy economy. There’s the kind that actually gets a positive boost when things go sour, which I’d like to cover in this article. Another type is the “recession-proof” business, the kind that doesn’t get impacted by the downtrend, which I’ll talk about in a follow up post. Let’s take a look at some empirical examples: there are a variety of ventures that can actually experience business growth during a recession.

Businesses That Thrive During An Economic Recession

#1 Home Businesses

With more people laid off, lots of folks are trying out their hand at “work at home” projects. More people are trying to start an online business or are looking to make money blogging, for instance. Well with more of us flocking to these projects, some of us will certainly find success in such endeavors. As the saying goes: necessity often leads to opportunity. Just ask this guy, Carlos Gil, who lost his job then decided to launch an online business (ironically, he runs a successful job board).

JobsDirectUSA job board

One more thing: watch out for home business scams — they are proliferating due to our current financial environment. Where there is opportunity, there are also fraudsters and scammers who will exploit the vulnerable, so you’ll need to be hypervigilant about whom you are dealing with if you decide to establish a home business.

#2 Psychic and Spiritual Reading Services

Guess who else is doing well in this economy? Well there’s Madame Roxanne, who is a psychic medium. It seems that people in the “advisory” role — therapists, psychologists and yes, psychics — are flourishing during tough times. According to Roxanne, the relationship advice that she usually gives is what she considers as the bread and butter of her business, but it’s been recently supplanted by financial advice that’s more in demand these days. Now can you believe that some psychics charge $20 per minute?

#3 Online Movie Rental Subscriptions

I read that Netflix is doing really well (they’ve recently signed up 600,000 new subscribers in a few months’ time!). I’m a huge fan of Netflix so I’m glad that things are going gangbusters for them right now. They’ve been adding on new customers who’ve decided to currently eschew public theaters and DVD purchases. Read our Netflix review to find out more about the services they offer.

#4 Job Assistance

Anyone offering employment assistance and job coaching services has a leg up right now. With job layoffs all around, people are flocking to job boards and looking for help with resume writing and with handling job interviews. This is the kind of work that sees an uptick when unemployment numbers are up.

Now even during times like we have now, entrepreneurs can still succeed by employing some tactics and working hard. Here’s a quick list of what can help keep your business afloat during rough economic periods.

How To Grow Your Business In A Recession

• Watch your budget and save money where you can. Keep your costs low: for instance, you may want to set up an online business as part of your expansion plan. These days, cheap web hosting services and free online resources abound that can help you launch your venture.
• Stay in touch with your customers. Read about this builder who has outlasted his competition by consistently providing superior customer service.
• Have a unique product or service. Here are some stories about people with businesses that specialize in products or services that seem recession-resistant.
• Continue marketing efforts and keep communication lines open with your suppliers. And here’s this story about three area businesses that have seen growth because their owners don’t let anything slip through the cracks.

If you’re thinking of starting your own business or would like information to expand your current one, the Small Business Administration (SBA) has a variety of resources. With a steady business plan and some research, yours might be the next business that takes off!

Good Business In A Bad Economy? Grow Your Business In A Recession

YNAB Pro Giveaway Code: fibonacci

Do you have a mind for business? To tell you the truth, I never thought of myself as entrepreneurial. Having nurtured a long enough career in the tech industry, I imagined myself as becoming a “lifer” who would be working the 9 to 5 for some time. So imagine my surprise when I ended up changing course quite unexpectedly to try the entrepreneurial route.

Image from UC Santa Cruz

There were many reasons for this but my main motivation to strike it out on my own was to try to achieve a better work/life balance and gain a more flexible schedule; all this to help support the daily needs of a growing family. I had documented my plans, feelings and concerns about transitioning from employee to entrepreneur in these posts (what I refer to as “retirement” here actually means “retiring from being an employee”):

• What Price Are You Paying To Have It All? The Supermom Myth
• Why I Want To Retire Early, Change Roles and Live On One Income
• Quitting My Job, Retiring Early: 5 Steps To Lifestyle Change
• Ready To Retire Right Now? Find Out If It’s Time To Quit The Rat Race
• The Exciting Financial Year That Was At The Digerati Life
• Basic Business Advice from an Accidental Entrepreneur

As far as motivations, there’s nothing unique here — many people have the same goals in life and work as I do. But I feel that necessity and serendipity also played a part in steering me in this new direction as an “internet entrepreneur”: it was also because of worrisome health conditions that I decided to quit my job and veer away from my usual routine — all of which turned out to be caused by stress issues that I could no longer manage. Well, miraculously, the health issues cleared once I started doing my own thing! My medical bills have dropped from several hundred bucks a month down to zero. As you can see, becoming an entrepreneur has some great perks and benefits that go beyond the financial.

But as mentioned, I’ve always doubted that I was cut out for entrepreneurship. I play too conservatively and have a great desire for stability and security. As they say, we all have a certain relationship with money; while many of us wish we had more of it, we are all motivated to want it for various and differing reasons. In my case, I look upon money as a means to feel more secure and stable — I do have a bag lady mentality after all .

More thoughts on this by our guest writer, Jacques Sprenger:

Image from Getty Images

Do You Have A Mind For Business? How Entrepreneurs Think

A neuroscientist informed his online readers that businesspersons’ and entrepreneurs’ brains perform differently when they have to make a money decision, that is, different from managers who do not own a business. He says: the entrepreneurs displayed much riskier behavior by consistently betting larger amounts when gambling. Even though their logical processes were very similar, the main difference was in the amount they risked. Now I know why I am not a professional poker player!

Taking A Calculated Risk

The author adds, not surprisingly, that gambling addicts are quite different from business risk takers. Entrepreneurs are much more creative and will not gamble their money, they will risk it only after analyzing the odds of success very carefully, unlike the compulsive gambler. So we can realistically ask: “Can one learn to become an entrepreneur or successful businessperson?”

The author is hesitant to say yes because our individual neurochemistry is so different from one individual to another. He even suggests, very timidly, that using drugs like Ritalin can facilitate our transformation. Well Ghosts of Bill Gates! Don’t even consider this; the best advice I can give you is to act within your limits and you’ll prosper — modestly or amazingly according to your levels of dopamine (produced naturally by the brain, not by your local drug pusher).

The Entrepreneurial Quiz

Another scientist, Thomas Harrison, accepts the role of innate factors: while Harrison concurs that there are indeed born entrepreneurs, he concedes that others may have latent traits, which can be teased out and developed by using the eight techniques that he describes (in his book called Instinct: Tapping Your Entrepreneurial DNA). So do you have a chance in business? His intriguing book attempts to make that determination.

Now this site offers you a businessperson test. It suggests that the first question you should answer when you are thinking of going into business is “Am I the type?” You are going to have at least one very important employee — yourself, of course — so it would be interesting to see where you stand (and if you have the disposition) before launching a venture.

Were You Born an Entrepreneur?

You can also try another test that will help you determine whether you have the right stuff to open your own business: think back to your childhood. Take for instance the case of two sisters, who are now over 30, who couldn’t have been more different. The older one was more introverted, more intellectual, and more careful in every aspect of her life. The younger one was totally extroverted and very early in life decided to open her own business. She bought a bunch of candy with her allowance and took it to the elementary school where she proceeded to sell it at a handsome profit. She was only 6 years old. Needless to say, she is now the proud owner of three houses where she collects the rent every month. Her sister decided it was easier to marry a rich guy.

Of course you can open your own business without being Bill Gates; there are now many options (remember that crisis means opportunity) out there that only require a small investment and a little training, such as franchises. If you are a good administrator — something that can be learned — it may be enough to be successful. Think of all these “kids” who write applications for the iPhone and make a fortune. They risk absolutely nothing. So talk to your entrepreneurial friends: learn from them or ride on their coattails. And take a chance, if you dare!

 
Thanks to Jacques Sprenger for his contributions to this article.

Have A Mind For Business? Entrepeneurs Think Differently!

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We’ve got a neighbor with an 11 year old child who’s an eager student of entrepreneurship. The first time I met this kid, he came to my door to sell wares for a school fund drive. After that, it would be one thing after another — selling his services as a photographer, planting seeds to grow plants which he’ll sell to the neighborhood, etc. So a few months ago, I hired him to “babysit” my two kids for an hour a week. I’ve been giving him $5 a visit. He said he was putting this money into mutual funds so that he would be “a millionaire soon”.

Image by Case

I’m pretty impressed about how some kids these days can be so shrewd and knowledgeable about the things I never worried about until I was up there in age. Is it just me or are children just more precocious these days?

I could only hope that our babysitting neighbor could be a positive influence on my much younger children. With this 11 year old’s focus, self-motivation, determination and drive, he’s on his way to a successful future. I was quite amazed that he does not require coaxing by his parents to enter into various creative pursuits; apparently, he comes up with his business ideas independently and executes them all on his own. He even funds them with his own savings. I suppose that some people are just naturally gifted with that entrepreneurial spark!

A while back, I wrote about some very young entrepreneurs who were on their path to success. How inspiring are they? Probably just as much as these very young entrepreneurs: check out Trevor from Striking Up who comments on our site and has a personal finance blog (he’s listed among the top 100 world’s youngest bloggers), and Cameron Johnson, who by 15 was running a company that was generating $15,000 a day!

The one thing about entrepreneurial kids (as in the case of gifted kids in music, sports or academics) — is the question of how “balanced” their life is, especially when they spend so much time focusing on certain tasks. Although they spend a lot of time pursuing their interests, these may come with tradeoffs. Fewer friends and less social experiences for example. And some may even quit school for their passions!

Raising talented children can have its challenges. But it’s a good problem to have.

Now on to other financial topics:

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• One Mint: It Is Not Paper

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A Young Entrepreneur Learns About Business

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I wasn’t really paying much attention to this, but it suddenly caught my eye — my traffic statistics are showing me that this blog has hit an awesome milestone! This site has finally registered its 2 millionth unique visit (and close to 3 million page views), and wow, that’s just something that really cheered me today.

Keep on truckin’!

So I want to thank everyone who has subscribed to our site, and those who’ve come by to visit and check us out throughout the years. This blog is around 2 and a half years old…. born by accident, but I’m glad to know that I’m still here able to nourish it on a daily basis (well, almost).

Looking back, I’m just awed by all the people I’ve met through my blog, and excited about the things I’ve learned over the last couple of years. What were some of these things I’ve picked up?

Few Things I’ve Learned As A Blogger

1. Passive income on the web is hard to come by. At least for me, it takes a humongous amount of work. Even more than I spent working “for the man”, but it is pretty fulfilling.

2. You can give up your day job if you want to. I did it because I had to make a choice — I couldn’t juggle everything and I was burning out. Other folks are able to carry on with several jobs and a family life at the same time, but I couldn’t. So I quit my job and decided to blog full time to try to replace my lost income. So far, it’s turned out to be the right choice for me.

3. You have to like what you do. So you can keep on doing it. If you enjoy what you’re doing, it will increase your chances of longevity at your chosen field, activity or business.

4. There’s so much to learn. But, it’s also a lot of fun. For many years, I’ve pigeonholed myself as someone who did one thing (software development), and I built my professional identity on that long-term career — one which I went to school for. I’m changing those notions and my professional profile now, by taking on stretch goals and projects that are redefining who I am in a whole different business and “career”. And so I’ve discovered personally, that there’s life beyond the nine-to-five that we’re used to living.

Anyway, I’m excited about getting to this point. So here’s to more sharing, education, information and growth (in terms of our community here, and our personal finance learning) over the years. Till the next milestone!

Learning About The Blogging Business, Thanking Our Blog Readers

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Here are some of our ideas and tips on how to set up your home office.

Earlier on, we shared some general pointers on how to start an online business, where we talked about how to open an eBay store or build a website or blog. This time, I thought to put together a resource list for what we’d need to equip the home office. What kind of equipment do you have in yours?

Office of the guy who started the internet. Image from Time

Start An Internet Business: How To Set Up Your Home Office

Here’s a simple list of typical things you’ll need for a home office:

1. Use a dedicated computer.

Although it’s tempting to use the family PC to run an online business, you’ll run into potential problems if you decide to share the computer with someone who loves to do free downloads or who hogs it to play video games. If you need to go computer shopping, you can let your fingers do the walking by computer shopping at well-known sites like Sony and Dell. By going through the listings for new and refurbished computers, you can gain a general idea of how much to budget for this purpose and the sort of options you’d like.

For instance, if you don’t plan to do a lot of high-end graphics editing or gaming on this computer, then you could live with a less-powerful setup that costs less. Also, you should check to see if the company will throw in cheap or free extras, like a memory upgrade or a webcam. And don’t forget to ask about rebates before you pay for anything!

2. Keep your data safe.

If you’re going to spring for a new computer, you’ll also need to figure out how to back up your data on a regular basis. Newegg.com has everything from external hard drives to memory cards at reasonable prices. And once your online business expands so much that you need your own server, you can either buy one here, or decide to lease the space you need at Amazon.

For online backup solutions, I’d suggest either Mozy and Carbonite; I’ve had to make sure to use this kind of service, especially since my area of the country suffers through turbulent weather every so often.

3. Which software do you use?

Of course, you can’t work without software. Some folks may be comfortable with Google Docs, but most standard computer installations also need an office suite that can go a little further. Microsoft Office Small Business 2007 works for Windows XP and Vista; Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac can help you if you go for an Apple offering; and if you run with Linux or just want an alternative, there’s OpenOffice. To manage any accounting you need to do, you can turn to QuickBooks Pro 2009.

In addition, it’s wise to install an antivirus program. I’ve heard good things about Kaspersky Anti-Virus 2009 and ESET Nod32.

4. Shop for a printer or all-in-one.

If you need to print ad copy or invoices, you’ll need a printer. We have the Epson Workforce 600 Printer, which we like a lot; but if you’re interested in some other models, check out HP. They have a lot of models to choose from, including all-in-one models that can fax, scan, and copy or laser printers for those times when you have lots to print. Since I only send a few faxes a month, an all-in-one model makes more sense for me than a separate machine, but your situation may be different.

You can also look at the ink and toner choices and their suggested costs. To help control your costs for ink, you can consider a model that lets you refill the cartridges at home or through a vendor like Cartridge World.

5. Bring in the furniture!

Could your budding online empire need some extra furniture? If you’ve got a limited shopping budget, you may try out a chain like Target or Ikea to buy a few simple pieces such as a desk and chair. You’ll also need some sort of filing system, a shredder, and a trash can. Also, if you’re keeping any sort of inventory on hand, you’ll want storage options that are pet-proof and can withstand nosy family members. One more thing that can help with organization: for convenience, you can try out a portable, mobile receipt and document scanner or digital filing system such as those offered by Neat Receipts.

6. Get connected with phone equipment options.

Right now, I’m happily using the VOIP service Skype because it’s convenient and a lot of people use it, but there are other options you could also consider, such as Vonage or a landline service. Handsets are readily available, but if you go for a headset, read the reviews first to find a comfortable brand.

7. Stock up on office supplies.

I hate to start a project only to run out of the office supplies I need, so I like to stock up. I don’t have a Costco nearby to buy in bulk, so I typically make a monthly run to an office supply store for the basics.

One place I like to shop is Buy.com. I like to scope out its prices for computer accessories and electronics, and the store often has good prices on shipping.

Well there’s my to do list for the home office. When you’re setting up your internet business, you don’t have to spend thousands to get the office you want. Start with the basics and upgrade as your business expands, and set up a simple budget for your office supplies. And the biggest money saver of all? Don’t forget to check with your tax consultant to see what qualifies for a tax deduction!

Your Home Office: Ideas To Set Up Your Place of Work

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