Working from home can mean owning your own business or being employed by someone else. The following article discusses some of your choices.

Work From Home - Customer Service
By Rebekah Mack Bono

Are you looking for customer service work from home? Work at home employment that is legitimate, is much harder to find online than one might think.

There are some, however, not nearly as many as you would think considering the amount of interest there is in working from home. Research is key in obtaining legitimate employment. You also must weed through the many online scams. Many people who locate customer service work from home start out working in an office, but are able to make arrangements with their employer to work some or all of the time at home.

We all know someone who works part-time from the office and part-time from home in order to accommodate their children’s school schedules. People who have good relationships with their employers, are more easily able to negotiate flexible work schedules including at home employment.

There are companies that hire people directly to work from their homes. Many of these positions are those where you cover a territory for an insurance company or a consumer products or publishing company, for example, and spend some time on the road and some time in your home office. There are also jobs available in:

- Customer Service

- Recruiting

- Sales

- Technical Writing

- Telemarketing

- Virtual Assistant …and many more.

In many cases, the jobs are commission based, part-time or pay a flat rate for a completed project. Full-time jobs that provide health insurance, vacation, a pension and other benefits while you work full-time from home are few and far between.

Finding them online is like looking for a needle in a haystack. Flexibility is one of the most factors in finding home employment. If you are willing to consider freelance or contract work, or are willing to combine a couple of part-time positions, you will have greater success in locating work at home employment opportunities.

Customer service work from home is really like any other work from home job. If you have the skills and the right mindset, you just have to get out there and give it a good solid effort. If you do your research, and truly dedicate yourself to your work at home venture, you will succeed.

Program yourself right here and now, that quitting is not an option, and in one year from today you will look back and see just far you have come.

You can do this! There is nothing holding you back but you, so go out there and find your perfect customer service work from home job, or whatever you feel would be the best match for your skills.

Rebekah Bono is an expert in the work at home field. She is author of The Best Work At Home Resource Guide. http://www.best-work-at-home-resource.com/work-at-home-guide.htm -
http://www.best-work-at-home-resource.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Rebekah_Mack_Bono
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Understanding your own goals is the first step to deciding if you want to work from home for yourself or for someone else.

Note: This article on working at home is followed by commentary from the Connecting with Women staff and a request for your opinion. 

Starting Your Work at Home Business The Right Way
By Samantha J Jane

There are disadvantages that must be recognized and dealt with, by acknowledging the disadvantages of an online home business, an entrepreneur can put together a much better business plan. With a better business plan, the home business is off to a good start. The right way to start a home business is to fully understand the difficulties that will be encountered along the way and make plans to overcome these difficulties.

Working while in your most comfy wear is attractive because a person need not spend time thinking about what to wear and some savings on the laundry. A work at home business demands no formal uniform which means that any online entrepreneur can wear anything he or she wants.

Unfortunately, what people wear affect their moods and their productivity levels. The comfy pajamas induce a person to laze around and sleep. To avoid this tendency to lower work productivity, the entrepreneur must plan on having a routine before starting to work on his home business. The routine may involve some exercise, a shower, and putting on comfortable and clean clothes.

Having no boss is another great attraction for those considering a work at home online business. No more senseless ideas, no unfounded and biased criticism and the best part, there is no one who will dictate orders on what to do. But this does not mean the entrepreneur answers to no one. As an employee, he or she answers only to the boss. With the work at home business, the entrepreneur becomes the boss and answers to a lot of people such as clients, business associates, and even the family.

In other words, the entrepreneur must still ensure that the set-up and systems of the home business must be working properly and efficiently. The clients must remain satisfied. The business associates must be given more income opportunities. And the needs of the family must be met. And finally, the flexibility of having an online home business makes the entrepreneur own his or her time. The home business owner can easily rearrange the work schedule so that other activities, such as doctor appointment and sporting activities can be done.

But the work needed for the home business does not disappear. If the home business owner spend hours watching television during the day instead of putting together an advertising strategy, he or she may need to stay up late at night to make up for the lost time. To prevent this from happening too often, the business plan should include work hours.

Samantha Jane writes articles on several subjects including internet marketing and building your own work at home business. You can see more of Samantha Jane’s work at home articles on her website and sign up for a free newsletter : Work at Home

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I disagree with the author’s opinion that working in your pajamas promotes laziness. If I am still in my P.J.’s at noon it is because I sat down at my computer and got so engrossed in my work that I didn’t bother to do anything else.  Although, I think working in the same clothes that you sleep in promotes imbalance. In other words, if you don’t have a daily routine that involves taking care of yourself, you may not ever get around to it.  Although you may be highly productive during the day, putting yourself last may backfire.

What do you think?

“Ample is so much nicer a word than fat.”
- Elizabeth Taylor

Pardon the pun, but a large body of evidence shows obesity is a major contributing factor to the overproduction of inflammatory proteins called cytokines. Cytokine over-production due to obesity seems to be the worst among “apple-shaped” women. (NY, Reuters Health, 10/22/03) About 30% of our fat cells chronically produce cytokines, which circulate body wide. http://netriceuticals.com/articles.asp?id=75 What’s the big deal?

These cytokines interfere with insulin action. This may cause insulin resistance, which is nearly 3 times higher in obese people than those of average weight. (http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/short/292/12/1440 Insulin resistance increases the chances of developing Type 2 Diabetes and heart disease. http://diabetes.niddk.nih.gov/dm/pubs/insulinresistance/

Note: For a Body Mass Index (BMI) that evaluates body weight in relation to height to determine if you are considered underweight, normal weight, overweight, or obese, visit

http://diabetes.niddk.nih.gov/dm/pubs/insulinresistance/#bmi. I like this particular table because it has realistic numbers for those who are “larger boned”.After you eat, the food is broken down into glucose, which is the main source of energy for the body’s cells. However, your cells cannot use the glucose without insulin to help convert the glucose to energy. In the case of insulin resistance, the insulin does not convert the glucose to energy. The pancreas therefore makes more and more insulin. The result is too much unused glucose and too much unused insulin in the blood. (http://diabetes.niddk.nih.gov/dm/pubs/insulinresistance/) This insulin surge stimulates even more cytokine production. (http://www.lef.org/protocols/prtcl-146a.shtml) It also causes weight gain, creating a vicious cycle.

“I worry about scientists discovering that lettuce has been fattening all along.”
- Erma Bombeck

Studies show that lifestyle changes can break this cycle, reverse insulin resistance, and reduce your risk of developing Type 2 Diabetes by 58%. Those changes include weight loss, exercise, and eating small, frequent meals consisting of foods that are low on the glycemic index. (http://diabetes.niddk.nih.gov/dm/pubs/insulinresistance/) It also means avoiding MSG, which stimulates excess insulin production. MSG also causes “leptin resistance”. Leptin is a chemical released by your fat cells that tell your body that you have enough fat cells. MSG’s interference with leptin makes your body believe you need to gain weight in the form of fat. http://www.msgtruth.org/foodfor.htm

“Those who do not find time for exercise will have to find time for illness.”
-Earl of Derby

Exercise has not only been shown to help insulin resistance, it has been shown to lower cytokine production. http://health.yahoo.com/news/61590 Walking is a perfect exercise, which requires no special equipment. You should start off slowly and increase your time and speed little by little. Do not exercise to the point that you are very sore. This is a sign of acid buildup in your muscles and the acid will make autoimmune symptoms worse by increasing pain, weakness, and cytokine production. http://www.arthritisremedies.org/#herbalremedies Just a brisk 10-minute walk has been shown to be able to lower blood sugar levels. A brisk 10-minute walk after a meal can help keep blood sugar levels in the normal range. http://www.drwhitaker.com/c/store_immune_exercise.asp

Note: TALK WITH YOUR DOCTOR and until the level is reduced, do not exercise if you have blood sugar levels over 300. . http://www.drwhitaker.com/c/store_immune_exercise.asp

“Statistics show that of those who contract the habit of eating, very few survive.”
-George Bernard Shaw

The glycemic index is a measurement of how a food affects blood-glucose levels. A high rating means that blood-glucose levels are increased quickly. (http://www.healingdaily.com/detoxification-diet/sugar.htm)

One effective way of reducing insulin production is to eat a diet consisting of foods low on the glycemic index and eating 6 small meals in one day instead of 3 large ones. The glycemic index is a ranking of carbohydrates based on their effect on blood sugar levels. Carbohydrates that break down quickly have the highest glycemic index. Those that break down slowly have the lowest index.

(http://www.tinnitusformula.com/infocenter/articles/treatments/sugar_met2.aspx) Eating high glycemic foods causes an insulin surge that contributes to chronic inflammation. (http://www.lef.org/protocols/prtcl-146a.shtml)

Note: Any food is a high glycemic food if you eat a large amount of it. The glycemic index is based upon the suggested serving size of a food.

A Glycemic Index Chart can be found at: http://busycooks.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http://www.healthchecksystems.com/glycemic.htm

Certain herbs and supplements can lower insulin levels and improve insulin resistance. Studies show that garlic, onions, and aloe vera help to slower blood sugar levels. http://www.newstarget.com/008191.html The mineral chromium picolinate or chromium GTF (not chromium salts), which is available in supplement form, has also been shown to help with insulin resistance. http://www.anitaflegg.com/Nov82002.htm

Note: Grains are a source of chromium, but processing destroys the chromium in the grain.

Everywhere you look, hoodia is being pushed as an easy weight loss fix.

What is it? Hoodia gordonii, although it looks like a cactus, is actually a succulent from southern Africa.

How does it work? Hoodia tricks the brain into thinking you’ve eaten, and makes you feel full. Hoodia also reportedly reduces interest in food, delays the time after eating before hunger sets in again, and helps a person feel full more quickly. Hoodia may work right away, or it make take several weeks to feel its full effect. Bushmen from the Kalahari Desert area have been using hoodia for centuries to help ward off hunger during long trips in the desert.

Is it safe? Hoodia gordonii is entirely natural. It is not a stimulant or a drug. At this time, it has no known side effects. Pharmaceutical companies find it so promising, however, that they are trying to isolate the appetite-suppressing molecule, P57, to create a patented diet drug in the future.

Some food for thought: Just because a supplement decreases your appetite doesn’t mean that it will also decrease your waist line.

Q:

Sabrina, you have in the last few months started an internet business where you sell products online. What is your back ground?

A:

I had actually never done anything like this before. I didn’t even know much about computers, other than checking my email.

Q:

Wow! So would you say that anyone can do this?

A:

Yes, I believe they can. Like I said, I had no experience, so if I can do it anyone can.

Q:

What is your secret to such quick success?

A:

How did you get started advertising your website? I just signed up for a Google account, and set up a simple Google pay-per-click ad.

Q:

What is a pay-per-click ad?

A:

Well, it is an ad that you set up with a series of key words or phrases. Through the set up process, you are asked to place a maximum bid for how much you are willing to pay if somebody clicks on your ad. The higher the bid, the better your chances are that your ad will get first page rankings. When somebody types one of your keywords or phrases into a search engine, like Google, your ad will pull up in the column on the right side. These are called “sponsored” listings. You only have to pay if that person clicks on your ad.

Q:

: Why should you start with a pay-per-click ad?

A:

I think you should start with a pay-per-click ad because, for me so far, it has been my favorite way to advertise. It has been my favorite because it has been the most effective. Also, it was fun and easy to set up and it is really fun because you can monitor your ads throughout the day. You can see how many people have typed in your keywords, and it will show you how many people have clicked on your ad. It is just so fun to watch as the numbers grow!

Q:

How do you set up a pay-per-click ad? First you want to choose which Search Engine Company you want to go through. Some of the top companies are, Google, Yahoo (if you do a search for Yahoo, you can find deals where they will give you a $50.00 credit when you set up a pay-per-click ad), there is also, AOL, Excite, and Lycos to name a few. After you figure out who you would like to use, set up an account.

The objective while setting up your ad, is to try to get your ad to pull up on the first page.

To do that, you need to first pick which products you would like to advertise. It’s best not to advertise your site as a whole because the competition will be much higher. Choose your products by uniqueness and profitability. Competing with the big guys for common products may be very difficult unless you are willing to spend a lot of money. You can research your competition by typing your product or keywords into a search engine, then see how many ads pull up in the right hand column. If there are only a few ads in that column, then you know that your competition is slim.

Next, take the time to set up your account. First decide what you want your ad to say. Come up with something that will attract people to your site. If you have a product with a better price than anywhere else or if you have a special offer like free shipping, include this in your ad title. Don’t use all caps or too many exclamation points or your ad will be rejected.

After you come up with your ad, you will be asked to type in key words and phrases. These are words that someone will type into a search engine while looking for a product. Come up with as many words or phrases that you think someone might type in while looking for your product. The most obvious key words or phrases will have more competition, you still need to enter these, but also try to come up with words that are unique to your product.

Then, you will be asked to set a daily budget. The daily budget controls your costs. When the daily limit is reached, your ad will stop showing for that day. You can change this setting as much as you would like. Now don’t put all of your eggs in one basket, plan on budgeting for at least a few different campaigns for a few different products. After the daily budget, you will be asked to set your cost per click or CPC bid. You influence your ads position by setting its maximum cost per click. The maximum cost per click is the highest price you are willing to pay when somebody clicks on your ad. You won’t always pay the highest amount. It just depends on the competition of the particular key word that was used to find your ad. You can also change this setting as much as you would like. Now, remember, just because somebody clicks on your ad, doesn’t always mean a guaranteed sale. Don’t misinterpret clicks for sales. You should still be conservative with your budget.

After setting your budget, review and submit your ad. And now is the fun part. Now you get to monitor your ad. This is my favorite part. You will find that you are checking your ad constantly through the day. If your ad isn’t getting a response, you might need to up your cost per click, or try another campaign with a different product. Even if you are getting clicks, but after a while you haven’t made any sales, you might want to try a different product. If your ads are getting a response, and you start making sales, just sit back and watch as your numbers grow! You will be surprised at how quickly you will start to catch on to this. It is really very easy!

And that is how you set up a pay-per-click ad.

Q:

How do you find the products that you sell?

A:

I use drop shippers.

Q:

What are drop shippers?

A:

Drop shippers are basically wholesalers who are willing to ship their products directly to your customers.

Q:

What are the benefits of using a drop shipper?

A:

Well the way I like to put it is, “If you use a drop shipper, you don’t have to deal with all of the B.S.” meaning, Buy, Store, and Ship. First of all, you have very low start up business costs because you don’t have to spend a fortune buying inventory before you start. This means that you don’t have the risk of purchasing large quantities of products and then finding out that you can’t sell them. Which brings us to storing: You don’t have to “Garage Stock” any products, and then be left trying to figure out what to do with all of the products that you had to buy, but couldn’t sell. And finally we have shipping: You don’t have to ship a single thing. Just sit back while it is all done for you.

Sabrina Gunn since doing this interview a year ago has become a Master Mentor for ConnectingWithWomen.com and RealGuyTalk.com. You can visit Sabrina at her blog: http://www.HulaGirlsTravel.com/blog. For information on Sabrina’s favorite drop shippers or help with blogging, contact her at http://hulagirlstravel.com/Contact%20the%20Hula%20Girls.php.

Barbara Desmarais is a Parenting and Life Coach that I know through the online social networking community Ryze. I have been impressed by her wisdom and positive influence. Naturally, I was excited when she agreed to an interview for our homeschooling blog.

Heidi:

Barb, on your website, www.theparentingcoach.com, you state that children with positive self-esteem tend to:

• be leaders rather than followers
• recover quickly from set-backs
• make friends easily
• are not afraid to take risks
• understand that mistakes are tools for learning
• have a lot of confidence in themselves
• set their sights high
• do not let people take advantage of them.

These are also the attributes of an entrepreneur. It wasn’t until I visited your site that I realized how much good self-esteem and an entrepreneurial spirit go hand in hand.

What is your top tip for instilling self-esteem in our children?

Barb: My top tip for instilling self-esteem in our children is to convey the very important message: “I believe in you.” We do that in a number of ways. Throughout a child’s life they will try many new things and will struggle at some of them. There’s nothing like having someone at your side who believes in you and who knows you can accomplish whatever you want. You are loved and respected for who are and the love is unconditional. It seems simple but some of us are bound to our own agenda and the dreams WE have for our children, which often aren’t their dreams.

Heidi: What is the biggest stumbling block to self-confidence that our children face today and what can we do about it?

Barb: I think the biggest stumbling block to self-confidence is the messages that are continually thrown at our kids via the media. In order to be successful they have to own certain things, dress a certain way, be a certain color and a certain weight. It becomes our job as parents to role model self-confidence and a confidence that doesn’t depend on what the media dictates. We can share our knowledge around how the media tries to manipulate our thinking. We need to like ourselves for who we are and make sure our children witness our actions that are aligned with self-acceptance and self-love. Children who lack a lot of self-confidence very often have parents who also lack self-confidence.

Heidi: How do we teach our children to be helpful, but not let others take advantage of them?

Barb: The very best way to teach our children to be helpful but not let others take advantage of them it to have clear boundaries ourselves and let them see that we don’t let others take advantage of us. Yes, it’s important to help others and to have a giving spirit but we need to have limits so we’re not giving to others at the expense of ourselves. Poor boundaries are a common problem with many people and in order to teach healthy boundaries to our children we have to have them ourselves. Boundaries protect our spirit and our soul.

Heidi: What is the best advice you can give to parents who feel that all they ever do is nag their children?

Barb: From time to time we have see life from our children’s perspective. Children are as human as the rest of us and no one responds well to nagging. If we feel pushed, our tendancy is to push back. There are some simple and effective techniques that don’t include nagging to get our children to do what we ask. For example we can offer some choices to give them a feeling of power and control. An example of a choice around chores would be something like: “Here are 5 things that need to be done today. Can you pick 2?” or “I see lots of toys that need to be picked up. Do you want to pick up the train or the lego?” Usually if we approach our children in a way we’d like to be approached, we get a much more favorable response.

Heidi: Is “setting your sites high” an attribute that can be taught?

Barb: Yes, I do. Again I think it’s taught by role modeling as well as encouraging our children to set their sites high. That is not to be confused with having such high expectations they feel discouraged. There can be a danger of sending a message that whatever they do, it’s not good enough. If a child feels he/she is never good enough, we get the opposite results of what we’re hoping for. They will often stop trying and do nothing because they know it won’t be good enough. As well, if they see us “settling” they will do the same. Having said that there are children who will always strive to be their best and will always set their sites high no matter how we parent them. They were born that way. There will be others who won’t despite all our best efforts. They too were born that way. Every child though has a gift and it becomes our job to find out what that gift is and support and celebrate it.

Heidi: What advice do you give parents whose children are struggling to make friends?

Barb: Some children are just naturally social and others aren’t. We need to love and accept them for who they are. If on the other hand they want friends and can’t seem to attract them we need to figure out what they’re putting out. Putting it simply if children like who they are, others will like them too. It sometimes takes looking at the whole situation deeply. Self-esteem starts with us so if we like who we are and are good to ourselves we teach the same to our children and others will be drawn to them. Until that happens, we can facilitate the process by doing some reflective listening around some of their challenges as well as create an environment at home where friends are always welcome. Make friends with the parents of children your children would like to spend time with. That isn’t always possible because not everyone is a kindred spirit but we can usually find one or two people who we can share some social time with. Also, once we determine what our children’s interests and strengths are we can sign them up for activities where they are with others who share their interests. For many children one or two friends is enough and others like many friends. That’s who they are.

Heidi: Barb, I know that you offer a 30-complimentary coaching session. Tell me about that.

Barb: A complementary session gives a prospective client a taste of coaching and also a feel of whether or not the two of us will be a good match. It just requires contacting me by either phone (1-888-233-7920 or 604-524-1783) or emailing me to set up an appointment. Parents can contact me by going to

http://www.theparentingcoach.com/contactme.html.Usually I ask the parent what is challenging them right now and offer some support and strategies they can work on right away. There is no obligation to sign on for coaching following the complementary session.

Heidi:

What issues do you work on with families?Barb:

I coach on discipline issues, relationship challenges, self-esteem issues and general family dynamics. All my coaching incorporates the Law of Attraction, which helps to create exactly the family life you want.
Heidi:

Barb, thank you so much for taking the time to do this interview. You have so much to offer that I would love to hear from you again!Barb:

Thank you so much for the interview.

Note: Vitamin C offsets the stress that mercury vapor puts on the adrenal glands. For an adrenal support tonic recipe, visit http://www.wildrots.com/adrenal.html.

Popular blogger Seth Godin published an article telling the most effective placement of ads on your blog, the best types of images to use, favored paragraph and font sizing, and loads of information that is important to your success. This article is a must read for serious bloggers!

Visit http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2007/11/eye-tracking-ru.html and get the low-down.

I spent some time in the toy section of Walmart with my children last night. I am not sure who had the most fun, my girls or me. Some were so adorable that I think I could almost start playing with dolls again.

Only one of the toys that I found enchanting made the top ten most searched this year: Barbie.

According to The Lycos 50, the most searched toy on the web this holiday season is the gift that can keep costing you - Poker and poker-related items top the list.

Their top ten include:
Poker
Naruto
Pokemon
Harry Potter
Webkinz
iPod
Barbie
Bratz
Neopets
Hannah Montana

Being the mother of three girls, who have Hannah Montana posters covering the walls, I would be shocked if toys related to her didn’t make the list.

How about you? Are there any new toys that make you wish you were a little girl again?

Recipe provided by www.healthydivas.com.

Serves 8
Preparation Time: 15 minutes
Cooking Time: 35 minutes
Ready In: 50 minutes

Ingredients: 2 large Onions, chopped (or 3 medium onions) 3 cups Pumpkin, diced (or Squash) 2 cups Sweet Potatoes, peeled and diced 1 cup Parsnips, peeled and diced 1/2 teaspoon Cumin, ground 1 cup Carrots, sliced 6-8 cups Water 1 cup Millet 1/2 teaspoon Coriander seed, ground 1/2 teaspoon Ginger, ground 2 Bay leaves

Cooking Directions:
1. Wash and rinse vegetables.
2. Remove skin and core from onion, chop loosely.
3. Remove skin and seeds from pumpkin (or squash). Cut into 1/2-inch cubes
4. Peel and dice sweet potatoes and parsnips.
5. Add 2 tablesppons water to large pot and saute onions until golden brown.
6. Add the rest of the vegetables, millet, seasonings and water.
7. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer, and cook covered for 1/2 hour or until pumpkin, vegetables, and grains are soft.
8. Remove from heat and serve immediately.