There are ample messages in any email inbox complete with grand promises of the fastest riches for minimal effort. There are promises of lazy days on the beach while your bank account grows and grows and you don’t have to do anything because your business will run itself automatically while you go off and traverse the world. That sounds easy. I could do that. So, if all I have to do is sit back and collect my checks, why are all these people still out there working? And why on earth is anyone bothering to send me an email about this since they are out there on the beach playing in the waves?

If you want to earn a legitimate work at home income and create a home-based business, you can do this. Anyone can do it. But don’t be fooled by the promises of 365 lazy days a year. The easiest home-based business is the one that you commit yourself to learning and implementing. The easiest home based business is the one with a real product and a real business plan. Internet marketing is a business, and just like every other business that we can consider legitimate, there will be some actual work involved. Whether you are checking out an affiliate program, a work at home program, or a home-based business, this is the very basic principle which you need to honor in order to grow a real business.

1. Realistic Time Frames
Affiliate programs, work at home programs, and home-based businesses are all built on the same principle. If you take the time to learn the business, promote your business well, and can relate to people (or learn to) well enough to light their spark, then you will start to build a successful business venture from home. There really aren’t any shortcuts. There are different ways of achieving this goal, but there isn’t one business out there that can promise you an income without effort.

It really doesn’t matter whether you’re talking about a home-based business, a work at home program, or an affiliate program, none of these business opportunities have shortcuts that bypass real efforts. That is called charity. When you start a successful business venture from home, you need to keep your time frames realistic regardless of what awesome promises the email header may promise you. You get to control many things when working from home. But you can not control the actions of other people. When you want your world to change so dramatically, you have to expect to put a little effort into the changes and you have to expect to “build” your business.

We live in a fast-paced society. Bosses, children, friends, spouses, and even the family dog don’t like to wait too long for their needs to be fully met. The biggest problem with the emails and businesses that promise fast returns for little effort is that as a society we have already been “trained” to believe that it could be possible. Everything, even our food, is fast. Why can’t we change our life around in a week? Well, we can but changing a life so dramatically in a short period of time usually requires a near-death experience or another epiphany moment. Either way, we can’t usually turn our bank account around in a week without winning the lottery, pulling out our retirement funds, or settling a lawsuit.

2. Building Long-Term Businesses
Most people who are looking for a successful business venture from home are seeking a long-term financial change. When given the choice, most people would rather take on a business that could provide them with $3000 per month for the rest of their life than one that delivered $50,000 one time. While fast, big money can be tempting, building up a long-term residual income helps to create long-term residual changes in your life. Using this knowledge as a basic building block, we should be able to hit the delete button with a little more assurance when those big promises come flooding into our inbox.

Long-term businesses are stable businesses that will be here to provide an income for you and your family for the rest of your life. Fly-by-night businesses that are cashing in the big chips are not likely to provide a long-term income to anyone, and when the chips fall, there are bound to be hardworking families that suffer the effects.

Unfortunately, all areas of internet marketing (affiliate programs, work at home programs, and home-based businesses) have enough scammers and grandiose promises that you can’t shelter the likelihood of being tempted at least once or twice in your internet marketing career.

3. Stick to the Plan, Stan
Long-term businesses and home-based businesses that are bound to be around for awhile require a little effort and a daily devotion to the practice of earning money through your business. Build a plan for your successful business venture from home and then work your plan.

While it is advisable to make the necessary adjustments along the way, revamping your plan every other week is sort of like spinning your wheels in a snow ditch. It doesn’t matter how fast and hard you spin your wheels, once you’re in that ditch it takes a phenomenal effort to get out of it. Keep it simple, build the plan, and then stick to it. Making decisions based on a ready-made formula will help keep you consistent, and your consistency is bound to lead to success when it is applied daily.

4. Down with Self-Doubt
One of the biggest reasons that people switch from one home-based business to another is self-doubt. While somewhere inside they believe they can make the “right” home based business work for them, they seem to believe that the next one in their inbox might be a little more up their alley, a little more doable. As they get into it, they realize that this one also requires the same amount of work, if not more, and before long, they are switching businesses again, flushing money, time, and hope with every switch.

If you believe, even just a little bit, that you can find a successful business venture from home then you are able to do it. Period. There is not a need to continuously move about the internet finding the one that will bolster your self-belief. That has to come from an inside source.

You have found a business that offers you a good, quality product, a fair and reasonable payment plan, is cost-effective to join and run, and that offers you a new start to your life. You have developed your plan and are sticking to it, making a daily effort in your home based business. You are finding inspiration and learning that you can accomplish these tasks every day.

It doesn’t matter whether it falls under the affiliate program, home-based business, or work at home program, you now have the power within your grasp to start making long-term residual changes in your daily life. Thus, you are now on the road to a successful business venture from home. You have found the easiest home-based business on the planet.

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I remember the first time the idea of starting a business online popped into my head. Pumped and full of enthusiasm, I was scared but also ready to jump right in and make myself a whole load of money.

Well, despite all the hype about getting rich off the Internet, it turns out that starting an online business is in many ways just like starting one in the “real” world. Here are a few things to consider before jumping into the online business world:

__1. Take a Personal Assessment.
What type of skills and interests do you have? Many people start businesses in areas in which they already work – for example, someone who works as a programmer might start an Internet business writing custom scripts. Identify the types of businesses you think you’ll love to do; after all, there’s no point in leaving a job you hate for a business that makes you miserable!

__2. Conduct Market Research.
It would be a real shame to pour your heart, soul, and funds into a product or service that no one wants! All too often, usually out of sheer enthusiasm, people create a product or service that *they* want or like. Then they try to find a market for it. You can’t force an unwilling market to buy your product or service. Instead, through research, you can find out what your market wants – and then create a product to satisfy that want. Every business contains an element of risk. Researching your market will help to reduce that risk, by helping you to make an educated judgment on whether or not people are willing to pay for your product – and at a price that will allow you to make a decent profit.

__3. Research Your Competition.
I’ve often heard people say that they want to be the first to a market. The risk you take with this approach is that perhaps there *isn’t* a market — which is why you have no competition! Entering a market where there’s plenty of competition, on the other hand, probably indicates that there’s sufficient interest to sustain at least some of these businesses. The risk is that there might not be room for *you*.

Find out what your competitors are doing, how they’re doing it, what appears to work well for them and what doesn’t. What can you offer that they can’t? The more knowledge you have, the better equipped you are to make the right decisions for your business.

__4. Plan and Prepare.
Ever heard the saying, “No one ever plans to fail… they just fail to plan.” Some things to consider include… Costs – startup costs, recurring fees such as web hosting, and marketing costs. Building a business takes money, plain and simple. How will you fund your business? Business plan – if you intend to apply for a loan, you will likely need one of these. Even if you don’t need a loan, a business plan helps to give your business some ‘shape’ by setting clear goals. Some great tips on writing a business plan can be found at https://www.sba.gov/business-guide.

Time commitment – it’s tough when you hold down a “day job” and still have to find time to build your business. But businesses take time, and unless you actively set aside time to work on it, it probably won’t happen. There’s a world of difference between “spare time” (which no one seems to have these days) and “part-time”.

Space commitment – do you have a dedicated computer that you can use for your online business? How about a room where you can concentrate? The risk of sharing a computer with others is that someone may accidentally delete, corrupt, or misplace your important files.

__5. Marketing.
A great product just isn’t enough. Your potential customers have to be able to find you first before they can buy from you! Your Internet business may benefit from a combination of online and offline marketing. It’s a continuous learning experience; read and learn more every day to find the marketing techniques that work best for you. There are many resources available online to teach you the basics of marketing and copywriting. One excellent site with helpful tips and strategies is Lynda.com.

__6. Logistics.
This includes the investigation of zoning regulations, business structures, registration of a business name, licenses and permits, bank accounts, insurance… all that boring but necessary stuff. The US Small Business Association, https://www.sba.gov/business-guide, is a good place to start. Also check locally; many cities have organizations dedicated to helping small businesses.

Research, planning, and preparation can help you to avoid headaches and missteps later on – Which helps you make smart decisions for your business. Good luck and good planning!

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Don’t feel alone. Entrepreneurs usually start out having a long-term goal and a strong passion, but somewhere within the many layers of running a business, the original goal may have been diluted or forgotten, and the results feel nothing more than average. In this article, I will point out three top priorities for small business owners to consider in order to maximize their efforts.

Here are 3 critical areas to work on:

1. Build more assets and minimize liabilities.
2. Know how to make your assets work for you.
3. Make gains in self-improvement and knowledge, always revisiting your assumptions.

Let’s discuss these three capacities in more detail:

First, let me share with you a true story I learned not long ago. Since one of my relatives works in the medical field in the end-of-life cancer care department, she shares many sad stories that have shaped my perspective as a small business owner. Of all the stories she has told me, the one I remember most was the story of a gentleman who ran a small successful construction business and was the breadwinner for his family. When discovering the severity of his cancer, he had less than six months to live, and everything he was building seemed to come crashing down. Why? Because he knew that without him, his business couldn’t operate. Family members he left behind couldn’t inherit what he had built, beyond his life insurance policy, if he had one.

All the knowledge he had gained over the years which made him a great contractor was about to go down with him. As a fellow entrepreneur, I felt very sorry for him—and his family. While reflecting on this story and what to do as a small business owner, I was inspired to write this article. As small business owners, we can remind ourselves to build the kind of business that will grow our assets over time, while reducing our liabilities, rather than focusing solely on daily operations.

We can ask ourselves this hard question: “What assets can my family inherit if I get hit by a bus someday?” I know this is a sensitive question that no one wants to think about, but if you are an experienced business owner you would know that bad things can arise when least expected. Whatever transpires in your business, you should think of a way to turn it into an asset which you and your loved ones can use.

For example, if you run a small auto service business and your children want to take over the family business someday, start to transfer your knowledge and trade secrets to them—sooner, rather than later. If none of them are interested in the business and prefer to do something else, then you can write a book, eBook or a blog sharing what you have learned from your years of experience. If you can’t write well, outline what you think is valuable knowledge and hire a ghostwriter to help you accomplish it. Many small business owners do not realize the true value of their knowledge, accrued over the years. It’s truly an asset when compiled into a well-organized document. It’s your digital real estate, and content marketers would know exactly what this means.

If you are a real estate agent or business consultant, you can do the same to build your assets or you might have additional ideas that will build assets for you. No matter what industry you are in, if you think hard, you will find a way to turn your knowledge and experience into an asset for you and your family—starting today.

About the liabilities—you can learn to minimize liabilities over time as any clever business owner would do. To clearly understand the differences between liabilities and assets, let me clarify them. A liability is an investment that takes money out of your pocket each month (because of a negative end-of-month balance) and an asset is an investment that puts more money into your pocket each month (a positive balance). Understanding them clearly, you can now consider which things you can focus on to minimize your liabilities, and which things you should work on to build your assets.

Second, when you have an asset, you need to make it work for you, ideally (almost) on auto-pilot. Because that’s the best way for you and your family to benefit from them over the long term. If you are a real estate investor, I think you already know what I mean by building assets that pay out for a long time. However, if you are a professional working for a corporation, you might want to figure out a way to document, package and promote your knowledge and experience in a way that other people will consume it. The logical exception in this example is the information which cannot be shared outside the company, such as trade secrets and confidential or proprietary information.

If you are  an insurance agent with years of experience in the industry, why not create a blog site where you share best practices and other content that would benefit people for free, while running Google AdSense or affiliate programs to generate extra revenue? If possible, try to create predominantly “evergreen” content that will remain relevant for years to come.

Key takeaway: A smart person works for a good company to gain income for each day of work. A wise person invests time producing something once that will continue to gain income and/or benefits for years to come. This is the ultimate cornerstone of how to make your assets work for you.

Third, sometimes success can be your own worst enemy. Why? Because it feeds your ego so that sometimes you are unwilling to listen to other people’s great ideas and advice. Therefore, no matter how many successes or failures you encounter, you should always be open to advice and continue to  improve yourself with books written by people who “walk the talk.”

Sometimes people view successful, rich people like a walking-talking-money-printing machine, which does have some truth to it. Since money is a currency, and, like an electrical current, it will not produce benefits if it stays in one place. It must move or exchange hands to yield the most benefit. In business, we must all continually elevate our knowledge and keep up with new technologies and concepts. Without it, we can’t continue to bring benefits to the business. So, keep on learning and revisit your assumptions often to make necessary adjustments to keep your business on track.

After many years of running a small business with employees on the payroll, these are the three things I would consider THE most important on my list as an entrepreneur. I hope this article provides you with another perspective for assessing your business and considering additional opportunities. If you think this article will benefit other self-employed individuals like us, please share it with them. You might also have a great conversation considering these points and what they could mean to you and your businesses. Thank you!

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As a labor force serving a variety of industries, we should recognize that we are living in an era of revolutionary changes. On the one hand, with powerful laptop and internet connections, we can work wherever and whenever we can be the most effective. On the other hand, employers can now select from a larger pool of talented contributors because their employees can work for them remotely.

Here are just a few benefits this remote labor revolution brings to both sides:

For employees and self-employed professionals who provide intellectual services:

1. We save time and money by not driving to work each day.
2. We can work when and where we can be most efficient and effective.
3. We can benefit from flexible work hours and locations when we have young children or relatives who need our care and attention.

For businesses and organizations:

1. They now have a larger and more diverse pool of talent to select from when recruiting.
2. They can collaborate easily from within and outside their physical location, and globally.
3. They can reduce overhead costs by minimizing office space and utilities required for on-site employees.

Because of this revolution in the labor market, many companies and organizations are making their recruiting more attractive by adding an option for employees to work from home, or at least a couple days a week. To some extent, this situation can solve the employees’ concern for finding affordable housing near the company’s offices. It can also reduce the stress of rush hour traffic and convert that wasted time into productive work time, freeing up more time for family, exercise and learning.

Since most workers in the service-industry labor force use laptop computers daily, LaptopWork.com is the place where we can share insightful information about how to work smarter and become more productive. Here, you will learn the best practices from professionals who work from home, from successful startups who operate out of a co-working office, and from seasoned entrepreneurs who like to mentor, coach and share with others, and more.

Our goal is to provide helpful content for those who want to make the most of their time and technology. If you like our mission, please share our content with others on your social media pages. Thank you very much!

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Some of the basics elements of Time Management are as follows:

1. Setting up a Work Schedule – Some of the ways to set up a workable schedule are to:
a) Establish your schedule around the demands of your work.
b) Establish your schedule around those times of the day you work best. For me, my high energy hours are in the morning.
c) Establish your work schedule around the other priorities of your life. For example, some single dads and moms with children might need to work before the kids get up, stop working, and get them off to school, work during the school day, pick up the kids, and spend some quality time with your family, and then do some additional work in the evening. Others work hard for 3-4 days a week and take long weekends.
d) Organize your schedule around a particular work task. This won’t work for everyone, but if your business allows you to break off certain aspects of jobs into different days and time periods, do so.
e) Set up an arbitrary schedule. For some of you, any kind of schedule is better than nothing in the beginning. Eventually, you will find your high and low points during the day, which will allow you to eventually establish a schedule for yourself that works best for you and one you can stick to.

2. Getting Started – I start working after I walk the dogs. This is the trigger to start my day. When I come back from walking the dog I immediately head for the office. For others, it might simply head back to bed and set a timer to go off.

3. Staying With Business Matters – Once you do get started, don’t let yourself be distracted by household items or anything else. Don’t procrastinate. You want to be efficient. To do so, plan your day, set reasonable goals, praise yourself for the work you’re doing. You no longer have the water cooler or coffee klatch around to give you that praise, so you must give it to yourself. In fact, reward yourself for a job well done with something you enjoy doing.

The following are some everyday time-savers to build into your daily routine to help you work more efficiently:

a) Make sure you organize your contacts and files.
b) Use time-saving technology – a touch-tone phone, with re-dial button, your computer, printer, copy machine, e-mail. Prioritize your To-do List. Use your mail folders.
c) Learn to say no.
d) Make use of downtime. File while your printing something or back up your data during lunch.
e) Build a time cushion into your day. It is much better to overestimate the time it takes to do something than to underestimate.
f) Don’t make a big deal over little decisions like supplies.
g) Learn to do two things at once such as: Read after business hours; or get a CD and listen while doing household chores; proof items while printing or backing up.
h) If you prioritize your To-Do list, you will have a bunch of little items that will take you 3-5 minutes to complete; filing, update tickle, and proofreading are some of these short tasks.

Some of the best ways to maximize your efficiency are to:

A. Plan your workday
B. Safeguard your work from unwanted distraction and interruptions
C. Recognize and sidetrack procrastination
D. Set reasonable work goals
E. Praise yourself for your work and reward yourself for a job well done.
F. Take frequent regular breaks
G. Schedule your work so it won’t conflict with your favorite activities; and
H. Arrange for a change of scenery.

By doing all this you keep yourself fresh and able to work at your best.

Some of your most time-consuming tasks will be: Keeping up to date in your area of expertise by reading. Read pertinent material only. For many items, you receive just highlighting or skimming the article will suffice.

Meetings are another area that takes up a lot of time. Be sure before you schedule the meeting to ask yourself, is it necessary? Can I do this by telephone, mail or teleconference? If you do have to schedule a meeting, be sure you are organized with an outline of what you need to cover, and a specific time limit. If the meeting does run over, see if you can finish it by phone or mail, if possible, rather than rescheduling.

For those of you in lease or purchasing, remember your telephone script. You don’t leave the office until you get all the information on the script, check out that information, finalize your numbers, then call the seller to schedule a meeting. When you go to your meeting with the seller, be sure to take your flyers and signs to place after you and the seller sign the contract. Don’t waste time having to make a second trip.

Correspondence, projects, phone calls and errands are other areas that take up a lot of time. For your correspondence, set up an efficient routine for processing your mail and emails.

Keep your errands to a minimum, or schedule a specific day when you do them in a morning or afternoon. To expedite your phone calls, have names and numbers handy, use your egg timer to set a time limit for each call. Ask them to send written material to review, or if they need information from you, you do the same.

For your large projects, break them down into smaller manageable tasks. Give each of these tasks a deadline, and be sure to place all of the information in your project file on a sheet stapled to the inside of the file.

Stress is a part of our lives. When you become overwhelmed or something upsets your day, don’t let it ruin the remainder of the day or carry over to the next. Take a deep breath; count to 10, take a break; sing a song that comforts you; take a walk around the block; play with the dogs. When you do get back to your desk – remember – nothing lasts forever, and tomorrow is a new day.

4. Interruptions, Distractions and Procrastination – To safeguard yourself from the interruptions and distractions of household responsibilities: interruptions from family, friends or neighbors; remind yourself and them that even though you are at home YOU ARE AT WORK. If you were at an office outside the home you wouldn’t be able to solve their problems or take a break to spend time with them.

Work out a plan with your family of what your hours are. When you can and can’t be disturbed. You need to keep focused on your work. The ability to maintain a deep concentration can prevent you from being distracted.

Procrastination is one the of the biggest problems with many home-based businesses. It is very easy to put off or never get to something you want to avoid. One way to avoid this is to think performance, not perfection. If you set small manageable goals to be accomplished and stick to it, you will be able to accomplish them. You need to recognize and sidestep procrastination.

Procrastination is one of the hardest things to overcome for so many people. However, if you start by doing the one thing you like to do, this could help you to move on to do the other things you don’t like. For those of you that have an extremely difficult time with procrastination, start with your favorite thing to do, and then the next and so on down the line. At least this is a start. Eventually, you will be able to put all of these items in priority order, not procrastinate and move on to a normal workday.

5. How Not To Become A Workaholic
a) Close the door on work.
b) Set up an end-of-day ritual. Some people take an exercise class, others will walk around the block. Chuck and I feed the dogs.
c) Set A Firm Schedule – Set firm beginning and ending times. Yes, these will fluctuate on some days if you have early morning meetings or evening meetings. However, for the most part, your day begins at a certain time and ends around the same time each day. Take a day off a week, or two if that is what you need. Be sure to put your off-time on your calendar.
d) Take time to get out of the house- You want to schedule time away from home. Whether it is a shopping trip with a friend, lunch with a friend, or a weekend away with your family.

Make these tips a part of your business and life. They will keep you on track and help you manage your time well so you can run a successful home-based business, without sacrificing your personal life.

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Even security of employment is no longer assured. Then add to this the explosion of Internet businesses that can be worked from home. No wonder for some people the temptation to jump straight in and “do their own thing” from home is irresistible.

But what are the problems or drawbacks that have to be considered before making this decision? And what are the rewards and benefits to gain from work at home?

The plus points, of course, are well documented: no daily commute, no having to dress for the office, no difficult bosses, and more time with the family.

From my own point of view, because of a health problem, I could no longer go out to work so the decision was made for me. But I had to think long and hard about how to make it work and to find ways to overcome the problems I encounter. So, what are these problems?

1. There is no longer the security of a bi-weekly paycheck: if you don’t work, you don’t earn any money;

2. The necessity of having a separate office space – if you can you manage with the kids dropping ice-cream on your paperwork, for instance?

3. The distractions of household chores during your work time: I’ll just get that pot of soup made now while I wait for that document to print out!

4. The distractions of not working: phone calls to friends, reading the newspaper, just going to get another biscuit, or even going back to bed!

5. Knowing when to stop working: or you will burn out quickly.

6. Isolation: no colleagues to bounce ideas off, or gossip with;

7. And having to provide your own pension and insurance, and sorting out your taxes, keeping accounts.

In addition to getting to grips with all this, then think about what type of person you are. Do you have strong determination to succeed? It’s all very well knowing the theory, but it’s putting it into practice that counts. You need patience and perseverance, self-discipline and a positive attitude. You also need to be able to knock procrastination on the head and understand time management. You must be willing to learn and adapt quickly.

Okay, superwoman, or Superman, it seems an awful lot to take on board, and how each of you copes with these problems will be different. But the more you can get to grips with it, then there’s more of a chance you’ll be able to enjoy the benefits of working from home.

Such as?

1. You will enjoy the flexibility of being able to work to suit your circumstances and to fit in with your family;

2. You will benefit from an enhanced quality of life; there is far less stress WHEN you are in control, than when you are at the mercy of the traffic or the boss;

3. A consequent improvement in health;

4. And then, when your business begins to grow with good profits, it is a great feeling and pride?

So, why work from home? Because now you can if you want to.

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They include no simultaneous submissions; always include a SAE (Stamped Addressed Envelope); limit query length to one page; there’s a “standard” contract; editors are busy, so don’t phone; and many more.

Novice writers aren’t told that pros completely ignore the Idiot Rules and do what makes sense to them. So I’m pleased that someone is finally writing a book to expose the Idiot Rules for the nonsense they are. The book’s called: Renegade Writers: A Totally Unconventional Guide to Freelance Writing Success. It’s by Linda Formichelli and Diana Burrell.

The book was out in 2004 and Linda said: “Join the Renegade Writers mailing list for a diary of the making of the book plus freelance writing success tips”:

Why should you break the Idiot Rules with impunity? Because you’re smart.

Let’s look at a couple of the Idiot Rules, and assess whether it makes sense to stick to them or not.

Firstly, the perennial favorite, the Top Of The Idiot Rule Pops — “always send a Stamped Addressed Envelope with your query letter”.

For the record, I’ve been freelancing for over 20 years and I’ve never included a SAE. I haven’t been struck dead, and no editor has ever commented on the lack of a SAE.

My attitude to query letters (also known as proposals) is that they’re an ordinary business communication (see my article “How To Write A Proposal To Get Freelance Work” in this issue, scroll down) from one business to another.

The magazine or publishing company that I’m sending the letter to is free to answer my letter, or bin it. Do they expect their other suppliers to send SAEs?

Another classic Idiot Rule is “No Simultaneous Submissions”.

I’ve never hesitated to break this one. Until I’m offered a contract and have signed that agreement, I’m free to offer my products for sale where I like, so I do.

All editors know that professional writers make simultaneous submissions whenever they think a project would be a good fit for several publications.

So if an editor is interested, she’ll usually get on the phone or send an email message to indicate her interest within a week or two, sometimes within hours.

Whatever your trade, whether you’re a writer or other creative, assess the rules. Whenever you find a rule that’s obviously an Idiot Rule, break it.

The post Break The (idiot) Rules! To Reach Your Success appeared first on Make Money Online With Your Computer: LaptopWork.com.

For example, in 1995 (I know I’m old) I was trying to sell articles about the Internet to general-interest and women’s magazines. No sale. At that stage, the Internet hadn’t erupted into mass consciousness. That taught me that topics must be familiar to a magazine’s readers, but with a new slant.

The easiest way to enliven a topic is by using what’s in the headlines. At the moment, if you’re writing about women’s health, and if you know that controversy about Hormone Replacement Therapy is news. Use this to give your articles an up-to-the-minute flavor.

A journalist updated “intuition” as a topic by using a news story that was making headlines in Australia. A tourist was abducted in the outback and is still missing. The tourist’s female companion hadn’t obeyed her intuition and the journalist used this as an effective hook for her story.

My favorite way of making topics new is by developing a new slant. I wanted to write about procrastination, so I spoke to a life management coach, a business trainer, and a psychologist. Procrastination is an old topic, but I got some great quotes from the experts, who had unique ways of handling it with their clients.

What if you want to write about a topic that’s non-mainstream? You can get lucky with a proposal if your topic is familiar to the editor you pitch. A few months ago I became fascinated with energy medicine and a technique called EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques). I knew this was likely to be too new for mainstream magazines, but I got lucky.

An editor at Australian Woman’s Day was familiar with the technique and accepted the article. Alternatively, your idea may be quite standard, but new to the editor. This happened with a story on the Glycemic Index I sold to a health and fitness magazine.

Look through your file of unsold article proposals. Make them “new”, and sell them. Here’s how. For each proposal:

* Consider whether this topic has been in the headlines recently (no matter how tangentially);

* Ask yourself whether an expert might have a unique take on the topic;

* Search Amazon.com for new books on that topic;

* Brainstorm new slants and hooks;

* Don’t give up on your “too new” topics — send the proposals out periodically (say every six months). Sooner or later every new topic becomes mainstream.

The post Your article idea must be new — but not too original appeared first on Make Money Online With Your Computer: LaptopWork.com.

I still believe that if you’re writing for a major publication which accepts advertising, you should be paid, and paid well. If a magazine, newspaper or Website charges thousands of dollars for advertising, they can afford to pay the writer for the content which delivers the eyeballs to that advertising. Without writers, there would be no advertising, and the publication wouldn’t exist.

However, there are problems.

1) The problems with paying writers’ markets

Here are several of the problems I’ve identified:

* Declining pay rates for writers. If you write for major magazines, you know that you’re getting paid less today than you were a couple decades ago.

* Stiff competition. You send your query in and never hear. This is understandable. Major magazines receive hundreds of queries every week. If they replied to them all, the staff would never get anything else done.

* Editor churn. Even ten years ago, if you sold to a major magazine, you formed a relationship with the editor. You sold her other pieces over the next year or two. Nowadays, you’re lucky if the editor is still with the magazine when the issue with your article in it hits the newsstands.

* Slow payment in tough times. Even with pay on acceptance markets, you may wait months for your check.

* Wasting time. You can spend days wracking your brain and researching, to find the perfect story for a particular market, and then receive the reply, thanks, but:

“We’re running a story on that in our next issue” or “We’ve just signed a writer for that”.

What’s the upshot of all these problems? If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen. I’ve turned to copywriting, that is, writing for businesses, rather than put up with the hassles of writing for magazines.

2) The benefits of writing for free

It makes sense to write for free if you’re being paid in other ways.

For example, as a promotion. My sister and I have just partnered with a new Website. I’ve been happily writing articles to promote the site for a few weeks now. I send my articles out far and wide and hope that article directories’ editors and Web site owners will publish them for free. It’s not really writing for free, it’s quid pro quo because, in exchange for using my articles, the publications include my Resource Box, which includes a link to my site.

However, beyond promotion, I’ve discovered other benefits of writing for free.

* You write more. This is pressure-free writing. You get to write what you like, when you like.

* You get more ideas. All this keyboard-tapping is making me more creative. I’ve got pages and pages of notes for articles, books, and courses.

* You enjoy writing more. It’s been years since I enjoyed writing this much. Why? Because it’s more play than writing.

* You’re pioneering new ways for writers to make a living from writing.

3) You, the writer, a pioneer

The Internet turns writers into pioneers. You get to discover new ways to make a living from your craft. Is this easy? No. Is it fascinating? You bet.

I first became aware of the Internet in 1993-1994. In those days, getting an Internet connection was an adventure. I finally got a free connection, set it up with lots of help (there’s nothing as unforgiving as a Unix command line), and discovered online bulletin boards.

Within months, I had a CompuServe account, and the real adventure began. I couldn’t believe the possibilities. I still can’t.

There’s a revolution going on. Thanks to the Internet, writers are discovering new ways to make money. They’re publishing their books as ebooks, setting up subscription Web sites, and subscription article directories.

They get started in this adventure by writing “for free”. As their following builds, they sell their work to the people who know them and trust what they have to say.

* These writers built this trust by writing for free.*

Can you make money from ebooks? You work it out. If you write an ebook on a hot topic, it takes you a month or so to write. You sell it online for $35. You sell 200 (let’s be conservative). Not bad pay for a month’s work.

If you’re writing professionally, it takes a change in perspective to write and not get paid for it. At least, not in a way you’re used to being paid.

But writing for free can help you to discover how creative you really are.

The post Should You Write For Free? The Writer’s Dilemma appeared first on Make Money Online With Your Computer: LaptopWork.com.