Most at home moms never mention that they want to find a way to make extra money. The reason for this is that people who are not at home moms do not realize the amount of time and work that is involved in caring for a home and kids. They always suggest watching additional kids, or doing some other added task to your day is a great way to make extra money. Problem is they haven’t got a clue. Finding a way to make money without disrupting your already busy schedule is crucial. You need a home business that will pay enough and is flexible enough to make life a little easier.Anyone with children knows how much work is involved in caring for them. When you begin babysitting other children your work doubles. Your house requires more cleaning, there are often more car pools involved, and it winds up costing more than you are making. The home based business opportunity you want is one that will allow you to set your own hours and work around your kids’ schedule.This is when you want to find out the easy steps to starting a home business opportunity; one that isn’t going to take up a whole lot of time, or money to get started. You don’t just “want” to work for yourself, you “have” to work for yourself. Owning a business that will still allow you to take the kids to the ball game, run errands, provide the one-on-one time needed by each of your children, and take care of your family, has been a challenge…. until the last few years.Now, with a little research, you can start your own home based business with minimal investment and begin generating a residual income by spending a few hours each day when you have time.It is necessary to partner with a home based business that is a reputable and reliable company. They must have adequate training and experienced people you can talk with. Owning this kind of home based business will allow you to create a sustainable income and will not require you to work when your focus must be on other things. This will be a great way to start earning an income from home.

Are you ready to reinvent yourself with a home based business? Or are you just tired of not knowing where the next paycheck is going to come from? You are not alone. It is scary out there for sure. In these uncertain times, how much thought have you given to starting a home based business?Many people have. But sometimes that is where it begins and ends. Not sure where to turn, or even how to investigate the possibilities, many people put the dream of a home based business on the backburner and then never get around to it at all.There are solutions, though. Especially online. Affiliate marketing has skyrocketed in recent years as people find new income potential on the internet. And it is true; there have been some cyberspace millionaires. But there have also been many failures, as people get confused on what to sell and maybe even more importantly, how to sell.Selling on the web is a completely different ballgame. And it can quickly get overwhelming. That is why a business-in-a-box can be so attractive. And if you get the right one, you can have a home based business that might enable you to live the life you have always dreamed about.YourNetBiz, or YNB for short, is one of those business-in-a-box that is showing a tremendous growth. It is an all-in-one, turnkey operation, loaded with information and offering coaching and training that is easy to grasp and, just as important, a breeze to implement. The tools included in this home based business enable you to create multiple income streams, as well as utilize any existing customer base you might have.In addition, you will be able to develop residual income as well. This is important, because residual income is basically passive, hands-off income that you forget about. There is more than one home based business out there that only offers 1-time sales. These businesses will simply not offer you the income possibilities that YNB does.You will be able to generate 75 to 100 leads per week with the YourNetBiz home based business. And despite these hard-hitting economic times, there is a hungry marketplace out there. Many people are looking for new ways to succeed, and with YNB, you will help them to do just that. Imagine how that would make you feel. You not only benefit financially, but you also get the marvelous feeling of knowing you are helping others achieve their dreams, too.Even people who are brand new to internet income have already succeeded with YNB. You do not need to be an IT guru to understand and put into action all the priceless training that comes with it. That means with this home based business you can begin working towards a life of financial freedom sooner than you thought.

Starting a new home based business for moms can be a very rewarding time, but at the same time somewhat scary. It is great that you’ve decided you want to work from home. Working from home can be very exciting and offers some great benefits. Starting a home based business will give you the flexibility to spend time with your kids and family and you don’t have the worry of taking off work when one of them is sick. You will not have to worry about the daily commute and all of the expense involved. The earning potential is endless, and you can work as little or as much as you wish.Starting your home based business for moms takes a lot of thinking and planning. The process of finding that excellent business idea can be a daunting task. There are so many different options to choose from. You will want to choose the type of program or niche that you are comfortable with. Following are some tips and suggestions to help make the transition a little easier.Pick your domain name carefully. This is your address on the entire world wide web. You want to pick a name that is associated to what your business is all about. This is your online identity and will reflect your purpose with your business. Whether it be family, friends, customers or just plain window shoppers, anyone anywhere with and internet connection can type in your domain name into the web browser and visit your website.When starting a home based business for moms think about the things you like to do and enjoy.
You could start a blog about this particular niche and talk about your likes and dislikes maybe some of your suggestions to do some thing better. Remember, a blog is just a journal that you are keeping and allowing other people to read and interact with you. Maybe it’s cooking, baking, sewing or gardening or whatever you dreams are.Just like any other home based business, you will have to find a home based business for moms that either sells something, or will provide a service. Make sure this is something that you can do. Find a home based business for moms that will really help you get going. You should not have to pay anything that you are promoting. Be very wary if someone wants to charge for what you will promote.You might join a forum about home based business for moms and discover what they are talking about and with help to get your business moving forward. When starting your online business just remember, there are no silly or stupid questions. Every question you might have is important and you need to resolve it in order to move your business forward.

As I look back at the successes and “expensive lessons”, I don’t believe in failures… just very expensive lessons… and I have had more than my share of those lessons. Anyways as I look back at these successes and lessons as a real estate investor, I have been able to identify 10 categories, I’ll call them “steps” which I believe have been instrumental in my accomplishing the goals I set out to accomplish when I started investing in real estate.

What are these 10 steps that any real estate investor can perform? I call them the “10 Easy Steps to Wealth Creation and Freedom”. Pretty clever, wouldn’t you agree? It has occurred to me that everyone who is in the business of helping real estate investors has their own 3,or 5 or 8 step program that will absolutely assure success. So it seemed only appropriate that I develop a multi-step process to keep up with this crowd. I will tell you that there are ten steps, and about 100 sub-steps and that some of them are easy, and most of them will be a challenge to you, as they were to me, and that if you work through each step and repeat step 10 often, you will create real wealth and achieve more freedom in your life than you will be able to handle!

OK, OK, here they are… all ten of them.

1. Condition Your Mind. How many of you believe you are prepared for the success you say you want? How many times have you found yourself getting involved in any endeavor where you thought you would end up in a better place then where you started from… and then were disappointed because you really didn’t get that far? I think if we were brutally honest with ourselves, we would discover that on more than one occasion we got in our own way. We sabotaged our efforts, most likely due to some fear we created, and never allowed ourselves to discover our true potential. This is what I mean by conditioning! It is the most important step in this entire process. You can execute each of the following steps flawlessly and I assure you, if you don’t master this first step, you will not reach your full potential and achieve the wealth and freedom as a real estate investor you are seeking.

2. Develop An Achievable Roadmap. Most of us have used Mapquest or have our favorite version of a Garmin to help us to determine how to get from one place to another. As a matter of fact, these tools have become vital parts of our everyday lives. So, answer me this question, why would we focus so strongly on developing a plan to travel from point A to point B, yet we seem so willing to rush into new ventures without hardly a thought being given towards developing a plan. As Dilbert so eloquently puts it… If you don’t know where you are going… how will you know when you get there? Great question! Where’s your roadmap? Does it address how you are going to get from a full-time JOB to full-time real estate investor? Does it address what knowledge and skills you need prior to starting out? How about this… does it take into account your local economy, housing market, interest rates and how you are going to adjust as these things change? Well, if you don’t have a roadmap, you better get one, and it better consider, at a minimum some of the things I mentioned above.

3. Select Right The Formula(S). I have been asked so many times what area of investing should I get into… Bird-dogging, wholesaling, rehabbing, land lording. Should I focus on Subject 2s, pre-foreclosures, foreclosures, etc. My short answer is why are you asking me that question… if you have started to develop your roadmap you would know which “formula” best suites your current situation. So, selecting the right “formula” is really a matter of having an honest understanding of your current circumstances. By this I mean your knowledge and skill levels, your financial status, your overall business skills, and your ability to understand and mitigate risks. This list is not inclusive, just an illustration of some of the things I deem important. I firmly believe that many real estate investors fail, and fail big, because they do not select one formula and stick with it until they are experts. So, as a what is your formula, and how does it support the achievement of your roadmap?

4. Start Your Business. That sounds so simple, doesn’t it? Just start your business. Well, actually it is very simple to start a business. I recently created one for the new venture I rolled out in January. Got the name, tax ID number, the business paperwork completed and the bank accounts set up. All of this took about 4 hours total. It really is that easy. Yet starting a business means so much more. I have read so many posts from people just starting out who say they’ve completed all of the paperwork for the business, got it incorporated, opened the bank account, etc., and then ask the question… what “formula” should I pursue? Or worse, they tell me they did all of this over 6 months ago and are still working to find their first deal. Are you kidding me! I hope none of you reading this fit into these categories! Have you noticed how far down this list “starting your business” is. It is important to create your legal entity, yet it is so much more important to have a firm and complete understanding of how you are going to generate profits from that business.

5. Market To Find The Deals. Have you ever stated that there are no motivated sellers where you live? I would bet that if you made that claim, you proved yourself correct. What do you think? Are there motivated sellers in your market? You won’t know unless your marketing is well thought out, fresh, when possible targeted and above all consistent and disciplined in its follow-up. In a recent wholesale I took down, I have been working on it for over 4 months. We have been working that deal since May. Where other real estate investors may have moved on, I did not and I got paid! Without properties to purchase, we really can’t accomplish much as real estate investors. For our businesses to succeed we must find motivated sellers and we must make offers. So, how would you rate your marketing? If its not supporting your goals then you need to ACT now to correct this situation. But wait you say. I get so busy working the renovations I have, or managing my tenants, or working my full-time job that I don’t have time to market. I’ll let you in on a little secret… I don’t believe you! You are only using that as an excuse… which means you probably haven’t completely conditioned yourself for the success you say you want. So what’s it going to be… a well thought out marketing plan, properly executed, or just a bunch of excuses? The great thing about this is that you and only you get to decide. Good Luck!

6. Finance Your Machine. Money… won’t it be wonderful if all of the funds we needed as real estate investors to finance our deals were available whenever we needed them? What if I told that, that is the only way you will be ever be able to build your wealth and achieve true freedom and control over your life. I made it the most important part of our business strategy to ensure that we had funds for our deals. Those funds came from hard money, banks, and private investors. Yet very little of it came from our pockets. I have spent an inordinate amount of time learning how lenders worked, what their criteria were, how to present my business and my deals to them to remove most of the risk as they might have seen it. In short, I learned how keep the money flowing toward my deals all of the time! How about you? Do you have next to unlimited funds available for your deals? Or are you constantly chasing money to fund deals, or just to survive? Regardless of your situation if you want to achieve your business and personal goals you had better learn how to get lenders begging to give your money!

7. Renovate For Fun And Profit. This seems to be the one area where most real estate investors want to start. Well, this step and becoming a wholesaler, which means you had better be executing a kick-ass marketing plan. Being a successful rehabber is a great way to enjoy consistent and large paydays. For many of us, the proceeds of one rehab may mean more cash in our hands then we’ve ever had at one time. Are you conditioned to receive that much cash? Any successful rehabber will tell you that this part of real estate investing can be a challenge. The biggest difficulties usually involve our lack of knowledge regarding repairs needed to a property and finding and managing our beloved contractors. Did you know most lenders see the contractor piece of our business as the single biggest risk to you and therefore to them. If you don’t have an understanding regarding repairs needed or haven’t or don’t have the processes and procedures in place to effectively manage contractors your life is going to be pure Hell! So, you know what to do… right? Increase your knowledge in these areas and manage, manage, manage the process.

8. Sell To Your Market. A couple of years ago this step, for most real estate investors would have seemed like a no-brainer. Amazing what can happen in just a few short years. I believe this step is important because you must have a plan A, and a plan B and even a plan C, especially in today’s market. For rehabbers plan A is selling it to a homeowner or perhaps to a landlord. In either case, you need to know the best methods for selling to those “customers”. Many rehabbers have been caught by the market and are exploring rent or rent-to-own scenarios until the market completes the correction it is experiencing. Not necessarily the best option, but if you have to take the action, you need to know how to protect yourself. If you are experiencing any of the above situations, are you prepared? Are you protected? If not, you know what to do… right?

9. Know When To Hold ‘Em. As an extremely experienced land lord I can tell you that owning income producing properties is both difficult and rewarding. Based on my experience as a land lord, this is one area as a real estate investor where it does take money to make money. You need capital reserves. You can’t count on big paydays, like those of a rehabber. Yet you can count on the proceeds (tax free) from refinancing properties to continue your acquisition strategies… assuming you are comfortable using leverage. As a matter of fact that is exactly how I executed that portion of our business. I purchased severely distressed properties, at very low purchase prices, renovated them, placed high paying tenants into those properties, and then refinanced them taking cash out to start the process all over again, until I had purchased well over 100 properties in just 5 years. I also found that the just as the weak link for a rehabber are contractors, the weak link for landlords are property managers. So to deal with this situation we trained ourselves, developed extremely robust management processes and procedures and ended up with one kick-ass system. Which if you ask nicely may be made available to help you manage your tenants.

10. Repeat Steps 1-9, Become A Millionaire In 5 Years Or Less. Wouldn’t it be nice if we could skip the first 9 steps and just jump down to this last step? I am pretty sure it doesn’t work that way. Although I am equally as sure many of the gurus would like you to believe that. See… I look at this last step as the one where you prefect the previous 9 steps. This is the step where you reevaluate what is working and what is not and then make the necessary changes. Once you reach this step you will find that your business will start to accelerate. Things will become much easier, you won’t find yourself reinventing the wheel with each task you undertake. You will definitely see your income and net worth start to increase and assuming you stick with it, you will achieve your goals. All you have to do is get started on the first 9!

See, wasn’t that easy. Just follow these ten steps, and in no time flat you will be wealthy and free! Not so Buckaroo! Follow these ten steps and you will have the basis for an extremely successful real estate investment career. Follow these ten steps and you will know what actions you must take and how to prepare yourself for the success you desire. Follow these ten steps, challenge yourself to be disciplined in executing these ten steps and I guarantee that you will be a millionaire. You may get there in 5 years. You may get there in only 2 years, or perhaps it may take you a little longer, and you yet will get there!

SHOULD YOU INVEST FOR YOUR FUTURE?

I would say Yes.

Hence, investing has become increasingly important over the years, as the future of social security benefits becomes unknown.

In these hard times, people want to insure their futures, and they know that if they are depending on Social Security Benefit, and in most cases retirement plans, they know that they may be in for a rude awakening, when they no longer have the ability to earn a steady income. Investing is the best answer to the unknowns of the future.

Over the years you may have been saving money in a low interest savings account. Now, you want to see that money grow at a much faster pace. Perhaps you’ve inherited money from a relative or you realized some other type of windfall, and you need a way to make that money grow. So, investing is the answer.

Investing is also a way of getting the things that you want, such as a new home, a college education for your children, or expensive ‘toys.’ Of course, your financial goals will determine what type of investing you do.

If need to make a lot of money fast, you would be more interested in higher risk investing, which will give you a larger return in a shorter amount of time. If you are saving for the far off future, such as retirement, you would want to make safer investments that grow over a longer period of time.

To create wealth and security are the overall purpose of investing, over a period of time. It is also important to remember that you will not always be able to earn an income … you will eventually want to retire.

You also cannot depend on the Social Security system to do what you expect it to do. As we have seen with Enron, you also cannot necessarily depend on your company’s retirement plan either. So, again, investing is the key to insuring your own financial future, but you must make smart investments!

INVESTMENT STRATEGY

In most cases, investing is not a sure thing — it is more or less like a game – you will never know the outcome of the game until it has been played and a winner has been declared. When you play almost any type of game, you should have a strategy. Investing isn’t any different – you need an investment strategy.

The strategy in investment is basically a plan for investing your money in various types of investments that will help you meet your financial goals in a certain amount of time. Each type of investment contains individual investments that you must choose from. A clothing store sells clothes – but those clothes consist of skirts, dresses, shirts, pants, undergarments, etc. The stock market is a type of investment, but it contains different types of stocks, which all contain different companies that you may invest in.

You must first research and research some more, otherwise, it can quickly become very confusing – as there are so many different types of investments; there are each individual investments to choose from. This is where your strategy, also combined with your risk of tolerance and investment style will all come into play.

If you are a beginner and just starting in investing, you should have a financial adviser, who will advise you before making any investments. Your financial adviser will help you develop an investment strategy that will not only fall within the bounds of your risk tolerance and your investment budget, but will also help you achieve your financial goals.

You should invest money with money that you don’t use and never invest money without having a goal and a strategy for reaching that goal! This is absolutely essential. Nobody should ever hand their money over to anyone without knowing what that money is being used for, and when they will get it back! If you don’t have a goal, a plan, or a strategy, that is essentially what you are doing! Always start with a goal and a strategy for reaching that goal!

Your Present Situation Should Be Stabilized Before You Think Of Investing

Before you even think of investing in any type of market, you should really take a long hard look at your current financial situation. Investing in the future is a good thing, but clearing up bad – or potentially bad – financial situations in the present is extremely more important.

Check your credit report. You should do this once each year. It is important to have a clear report, and to clear up any debt as soon as possible. If you have set aside $25,000 to invest, but you have $25,000 worth of bad credit, you are better off cleaning up the credit first!

Firstly, look at what you are paying out each month, and you should get rid of expenses that are not necessary. For example, high interest credit cards are not necessary. Pay them off and get rid of them. If you have high interest outstanding loans, you should pay them off as well.

If nothing else, exchange the high interest credit card for one with lower interest and refinance high interest loans with loans that are lower interest. You may have to use some of your investment funds to take care of these matters, but in the long run, you will see that this is the wisest course of action.

Get yourself into good financial position – and then enhance your financial situation with sound investments.

It does not make sense to start investing funds if your bank balance is always running low or if you are struggling to pay your monthly bills. Your investment money will be better spent to rectify adverse financial issues that affect you each day.

While you are in the process of a clear-up in your present financial situation, make it a point to educate yourself about the various types of investments.

This way, when you are in a financially sound situation, you will be armed with the knowledge that you need to make equally sound investments in your future.

INVESTING FOR YOUR RETIREMENT

Retirement it might be right around the corner OR it may be a long way off for you – No matter how near or far it is, you have absolutely got to start saving for it now. However, in these days, saving for retirement isn’t what it cut out to be with the increase in cost of living and the instability of social security. You have to invest for your retirement, as opposed to saving for it!

Let’s us take a look at the retirement plan which is offered by your company. At one time, these plans were quite sound. However, after the Enron upset and all that followed, you are not secured in the company retirement plans anymore. If you choose not to invest in your company’s retirement plan, you do have other options.

First let’s see, you can invest in stocks, mutual funds, certificates of deposit, bonds, and money market accounts. You do not have to state to anybody that the returns on these investments are to be used for retirement. Just simply allow your money to grow overtime, and when certain investments reach their maturity, reinvest them and continue to let your money grow.

You can also open an Individual Retirement Account (IRA). IRA’s are quite popular because the money is not taxed until you withdraw the funds. You may also be able to deduct your IRA contributions from the taxes that you owe. An IRA can be opened at most banks. A ROTH IRA is a newer type of retirement account. With a Roth, you pay taxes on the money that you are investing in your account, but when you cash out, no federal taxes are owed. Roth IRA’s can also be opened at a financial institution.

Now here is another popular type, of retirement account is the 401(k). 401(k’s) are typically offered through employers, but you may be able to open a 401(k) on your own. You should speak with a financial adviser or accountant to help you with this. The Keogh plan is another type of IRA that is suitable for self employed people. Self-employed small business owners may also be interested in Simplified Employee Pension Plans (SEP). This is another type of Keogh plan that people typically find easier to administer than a regular Keogh plan.

Whichever retirement investment you choose, just make sure you choose one! Again, do not depend on social security, company retirement plans, or even an inheritance that may or may not come through! Take care of your financial future by investing in it today.