LEONOR HERRERA

Are you excited by the idea of starting a home-based business that will allow you to be your own boss, but you have no idea what business to start?

If you are feeling stuck because you’re not sure what kind of business to start, don’t fear.

You’ll find your idea if you keep an open mind, expose yourself to other and keep learning new things.

Here are some tips to help you find your ideal business idea:

1. Leverage your experience

Sometimes the best ideas are right under your nose.

Take an inventory of your skills. Could you leverage any of those skills and start a service-based business? This could be your shortest path to a successful home-based business.

2. Listen to podcasts

Podcasts are a great way to get new ideas. There are lots of great podcasts out there that feature entrepreneurs. Find a few that resonate with you to get your creative juices flowing.

You can listen to podcast episodes while commuting or working out. It’s a great way to get fresh...

Journaling can help you achieve your goals because it will force you to think about them, consider the why and how, and delve deeper into the situation so that you can examine all sides of it. Read on to find out how journaling can help.

* It Forces You to Write Down Your Goals – When you start a journal, it basically is a way to force yourself to document your goals. Whether you write them down on paper or you use technology to get it all down doesn’t matter. Once they’re written, they are ready to tackle.

* It Makes You Consider Why and How – As you enter data into your journal, you’ll be forced to face the why and how of your goal. This is especially true if you write down a goal and focus on it in your journal.

* It Enables You to Examine the Opportunities and Threats – When you are focused on goal making with your journal, you’ll also explore opportunities and threats coming your way due to your goals. It helps you...

Are you a detail-oriented person looking for home-based business, or freelancing ideas?

Here are five that could be a great fit for you if you are a detail-oriented person.

1. Freelance Bookkeeping

If you are a detail-oriented person and like working with numbers, then starting a bookkeeping business could be a fantastic option for you.

Small businesses all need good bookkeeping help, but most don't have the budget to hire a bookkeeper full-time, which leaves a huge opportunity for those who have bookkeeping skills.

Of course, to be good at bookkeeping you need to be meticulously detail-oriented and enjoy working with numbers. But the huge benefit of this type of business is it's a recurring service, which means recurring income.

Most bookkeeping is done on a monthly, on-going basis. This is good news because you can establish a relationship with clients and potentially work with them for years as I did with my diaper bag business client. That helps make your income much more...

Whether you are looking to start a career, work part-time, or just earn a little extra spending money, finding work-from-home jobs for moms is possible, but it’s important to find the right fit for you.

While some remote jobs are amazing for moms juggling kids at home with a work life, others can create more stress for you and your family.

Many remote jobs require you to be on the phone or on video calls. If you have younger children, you know how challenging it can be to keep your child occupied (and quiet!) in another room while you try to work.

If you crave a flexible schedule so you can go to the gym, take your kids to play dates, or just work when you are at your peak mentally, then you have to look for a career that is outside the normal 9-to-5.

Below is a list of 5 flexible work-at-home jobs for moms - or anyone craving that oh-so-precious flex time.

Most of the jobs below aren't really "jobs", but more "opportunities". Jobs typically involve having a boss, a set...

3 Signs You’re Ready to Start A Business

For many women, the spark to start a business comes from a life-changing event, like a divorce or becoming a mother and desiring a new path, or a burning desire to make a difference in the world. But not all great ideas are born from something so dramatic.

Some ideas are born simply from discovering a better way to do something, or a void in the market. And yet other ideas are born from discovering a life-purpose and wanting to live that purpose to the fullest.

So how do you know if you are ready to start a business? Here are three signs that might be signal to you that it’s time to start a business.

1. You live and breathe your idea

Do you fall asleep thinking about your business idea and wake up thinking about it? Does it consume your thoughts while at work, shopping or out with friends? If so, you’re ready.

This may sound extreme, but a good business idea will give you a big ol’ bear hug and not let go. It...

Who doesn’t love automation? Shopping carts and membership sites automate your sales and content delivery. Email autoresponders automate relationship building. And calendar apps automate your schedule, putting an end to the frustrating back and forth of setting appointments.

Not only does automation save you time, but it helps ensure quality and consistency as well. Just imagine how confusing it would be to your customers if you didn’t have a shopping cart, but instead sent them an invoice for every purchase, and each invoice was a different cost. Or what if your 16-week group coaching course sometimes arrived by email, and sometimes in your Facebook group, and sometimes not at all?

Now these might seem like silly, over-the-top examples, but this is why automation tools exist—to keep everything running smoothly and as expected.

Can you automate everything? No. But you can implement this same level of efficiency and consistency by creating systems and workflows.

...

Overwhelm is a real thing in online businesses. There is always more that could be done. More products to create, more blogs to write, more opt-in pages to build, more clients to connect with, more, more, more.

And one of the biggest contributors? Shiny object syndrome.

Every time you’re tempted to buy that new, must-have tool, or to test out a new marketing method, or even to switch business models entirely, you’re falling victim to this business killer.

Here’s the problem with shiny object syndrome. It prevents you from achieving success by shifting your focus away just when you’re about to hit your sweet spot. It’s true. I’ve seen it happen time and time again. A promising startup just begins to make sales and gain a following, and then out of the blue, the owner does a pivot into a completely unrelated niche or business.

All that work… just gone.

Don’t let this happen to you.

Set Clear Goals

The first step toward the clarity and...

It’s inevitable. As a small business owner, you will wear many, many hats.

Marketing manager.

Bookkeeper.

Content developer.

Coach.

Technical support staff.

But while this type of task juggling is to be expected, you have to be aware that not all of your hats are created equal. Marketing outweighs bookkeeping, for example, because without marketing, there will be no cash to manage.

Not only that, but you have to consider how much time you’re spending in each area as well. If you spend all day tweaking the design on your website and put off sending an email to your list, what have you gained?

Sure, you might have a prettier website, but you lost an opportunity to drive traffic to your offer.

In an ideal world, you’d simply put on your CEO hat and delegate the rest, but here in the real world, we don’t always have that option. Instead, we have to work smarter, and take care how we’re spending our time.

Prioritize Your Daily Tasks

We all have different...

There comes a time in every entrepreneurial venture where you realize you simply cannot do it all yourself.

Sure, when you’re just getting started you really are the “chief, cook and bottle washer.” But as your business grows, it becomes painfully obvious that trying to do everything is only going to lead to:

• Frustration (when critical tasks don’t get done and deadlines are missed)
• Burn out (when you’re working yet another 12-hour day)
• Overwhelm (when your to-do list is longer at the end of the day than it was at the beginning)

There are many ways to combat this business-growth hurdle, but one of the best is automation. Imagine a completely hands-off system that works for you even when you’re hiking on a remote mountain or lounging at a luxury spa.

But here’s an even better reason to automate: it lets you scale your business. Think about it, the less manual work you have to do, them more time you have to do the money-making tasks such as...

Inaction is the death of any business. Without taking regular action every single day to grow your business, inaction will cause your business to become stagnant. Clients will disappear, your sales funnel will be empty, and your revenue will dip to zero in a heartbeat.

Let’s avoid this scenario!  Here are five action tasks that will lead to increased income and business growth.

1. Email Your Customers Regularly.

Contrary to popular belief, email marketing is NOT dead. Email is the easiest way to stay in touch with customers and prospects to let them know about your new offerings or to recommend an affiliate product which pays you a commission.

2. Focus on Customer Service.

You will never please everyone but you may as well try your best. Inevitably customers will contact you with questions or refund requests so be prepared to answer these requests in a timely manner. Stick to your rules about refunds but never disregard or disrespect a customer. Negative online reviews are...