Does your business give you pleasure

When you wake up in the morning are you excited to start the new day? Do you find a sense of excitement and joy with your work at home business? Or is it the opposite—do you feel tired of it, or even afraid of it?

They always say don’t mix business and pleasure, but in my opinion those dichotomies have to fuse together when you work from home.

Majority of people fall out of love with their work from home opportunity after 7 months. Many break up from the business long before then.

For some, expectations are too high and dedication is too low. But even those that work meticulously at their work at home business are not “in love” with it. It gives them an income, freedom but not a strong sense of pleasure.

When you first start to work from home, there is a thrill that electrifies you to. This is because it’s new, fresh and exciting. You’re hoping this opportunity will be the one. You’re excited about doing something interesting within your own home. You like the idea of the business and perhaps the business itself. But after a couple months you start to notice those brilliant sparks fade. You’re efforts aren’t panning out and you‘re losing your sense of motivation.

A few more months later and you’re browsing for another opportunity, starting a new blog, or looking in your local paper to go back to working outside the home. It’s over.

How do people so quickly go from “This is awesome,” to “You’re annoying and boring me?”

One of the reasons is people don’t take the time to choose a business that will in fact give them pleasure. They go for any niche, get excited about the hype on the sales page, and hope for the best.

They don’t carefully consider is this something I want to do, be known for, gives me satisfaction.

Apparently, only 20 percent of work at homers are satisfied with their business. The rest are still searching for “the one.”

But becoming part of the 20 percent isn’t a difficult task. It involves asking yourself one question.

“Would I do this if no one was willing to pay me?”

If you are willing to dedicate and commit to something when you’re not getting any rewards, you’re most likely going to do it if there is an incentive. People who do well, love what they do. They take pride in their work and they have a passion for it. This means they already know a little something about it and are always eager to learn more.

They also give themselves time to succeed. If you’re breaking up with your business after a few months you’ll never get to know what it’s capable of. The average business takes 3 years before it is a true success. Give yourself a good amount of time to really make things work out with your business.

So, is your work at home business giving you pleasure or a headache?

Working From Home-Get Inspried With Blogs

There are a lot of interesting blogs out there-blogs about people’s travels, daily food blogs; I especially love the home made crafts ones, probably because I secretly have no talent. Blogs are fun. They’re fun to read, and if you work from home they’re also very useful.

If you blog yourself, or run any kind of content based website then you know it can be difficult to come up with fresh quality content, especially if you are trying to focus on specific keywords.

Blogs are a great muse. You can find inspiration from blogs related to your niche and even those unrelated. When you see an article, don’t just read and pass by, ask yourself how you feel about what you just read.



I saw a great looking crafters blog the other day, and in her post she mentioned something about being out of the blogosphere due to too much work. I can’t relate to her craft, but I can relate to neglecting my blog. I know what it’s like to be well too busy to blog. And as a work at home blogger this is something I need to pay more attention to.

That one line on the crafter's blog inspired a draft for why we forget to blog sometimes. Content creation is vital for surviving in the blog world, but luckily inspiration is everywhere online.


Blogs are also great for research. Granted, they are not members of the encyclopedia since you can’t always trust what you read but they let you see perspectives.

Seeing different perspectives is great when you run a work from home business. It lets you understand your market better. Perhaps they are expressing a need not many people are addressing. Or it could lend a hand in your soft selling approaching.

If you are struggling to find content visit other blogs. You will learn, get inspired, or maybe even just laugh (which is always nice too).



Adelaide Kwaning

Choosing a niche? Think small.

If there’s one thing internet marketers try to drill into newbies it’s to pick the right niche from the get go. But what exactly is the right niche?

I’m not surprised when people fail to make money in their niche. A great part of the problem is most people don’t know what a niche is.

When people think of a niche they immediately think of an entire industry, like health. Healthcare is not a niche. Health care is a sector; in order to build a website within the healthcare industry you would have to find an issue in that industry and address it. For example, Diabetes in teenagers is a niche. Weight loss for men over 40 is a niche. You could build a website on either one of those topics and be successful.

A niche isn’t an industry; it’s a group of people who share similar concerns within that industry. Pregnant women are not considered a niche. However, women over 30, who are pregnant with their first child is a niche.

When you are choosing a niche pick an industry and then pick a small segment within that industry. Instead of trying to tackle a golf website, try creating a website for the beginner golf hobbyist.

Why think small? For starters it’s easier. If you were to try and create a website on golf in general, you would be overwhelmed very quickly. A beginner doesn’t have the same needs as a pro. Thus they expect something unique to their needs when their searching for information. When you try to cater to everyone ( which usually happens when you choose a broad niche) you end up with a flea markets website. These sites are difficult to manage on your own. Most of us can’t afford to hire a team of experts like eBay does to pull off a huge venture.

Second, you earn more. The thing most people forget when they work from home is they are working in a global market. You aren’t restricted to your location so you can afford to think small, and you should. Small, clearly defined niche sites earn more because their prospects aren’t confused. Confusion is the number one reason people walk out on a sale online. Remove confuse and you increase your sales potential.

People within your niche come to your website and they feel as if it was made for them, it solves their issues. What’s more it attracts more people like them, people they can relate to. This builds a sense of community and trust. They then are more willing to purchase products you offer/recommend and subscribe to your ezine, because they know your sites is for them.

We make the mistake of thinking bigger is better. It doesn’t work that way online. So how do you define your niche?

1. Pick an industry ie Fashion
2. Pick an age group: 25-36
3. Pick a budget: 100-500
4. Pick a gender ( this is optional): men
5. Pick an issue: What are men age 25-36 struggling with in the fashion industry
Create your niche: How adult men can create an expensive looking wardrobe too impress their girlfriend for under 500.

By asking yourself specific questions, you get specific answers. You now have a small niche that can be profitable online. You can partner up with affiliate programs that sell budget clothing for men. You can write an ebook on how they can save when shopping. And you can add an Adsense forum where men can discuss their fashion dilemmas.

Remember in order to be successful online you don’t want to attract everyone, just the people who fall under that niche category. By doing your keyword research properly you can pinpoint what keywords desperate buyers are using to find answers.

Picking a niche is the most important thing you will do first off. It doesn’t have to be difficult, just think small.

Use THIS TOOL To Help You Make Big Decisions

Working from home: Feeling left out

If there’s one thing about working from home it’s that it’s lonely. You’re in your house for so many hours of the day trying to establish a great business, and even though you’re busy you’re also lonely. This loneliness comes in many forms. And there are several ways those of us who work from home can start to feel left out.

1. No more direct colleagues. Even if you outsource or collaborate, you are longer talking to people on a regular basis face to face. There are no more water cooler tales, or lunch gatherings with others in your work force. You can’t hire a bunch of people to work in the same room with you but you can host community work sessions.

This is when people meet at least a couple times a month and work together on their business. They bounce ideas off each other, collaborate and network. There are probably several lonely work home agents in your city, why not try to get together.

2. Out of touch with your friends. It is easy to become slightly obsessed when you work from home. You want a fledgling business and the last thing you want is to become a lazy business owner, so a number of folks prioritize their business before relationships. In the mean time they’re pulling farther and farther away from their friends and loved ones. Then they wonder why they didn’t hear about their friend’s newest romance, or aren’t invited to the yearly camping trip.

Wanting a successful business is no reason to put everything else aside. One of the benefits of working from home is you get to set your schedule. Maybe you won’t be able to attend every event, but you can meet your friends for lunch or dinner. You have an advantage so use it; make time for your buddies.

3. Too new to be cool. One of the worst ways to feel left out is within your industry. As much as internet marketers want to believe they are welcoming, the truth is, they won’t let just anyone into their clique. Everyone wants to be belong within the forums and social networking sites but it can be hard when the only people that get any attention are those who are already successful. Only the profitable are popular.

However, just because your website is new doesn’t mean you can’t make waves. You don’t have to go in their acting like you own a huge multimillion dollar business you can use your novice status to your advantage. Several internet marketers love newbies. They are fresh and don’t have a know-it-all attitude.

Learn from those who are popular and profitable. How did they get there? Ask questions and network by taking a genuine interest in their success story. Internet marketers may be cliquey, but they do like to help, especially those who are up and coming.

Another thing to remember is there are hundreds of online web forums and social networking sites. If you feel like you don’t belong look for another one. Since different people hang out in different sites, you are sure to find one that is more your style.

Feeling left out is one of the worst things to experience when you work from home. You can’t concentrate and you can’t get the help you need. Use the tips above to help you shake that lonely feeling.

Start Socializing the EASY Way

Adelaide Kwaning

Are you dangerously modest about your work at home business?

Yesterday, I discussed my concerns about not facing the facts and refusing to admit you need help when you work from home. After all no one wants a failing business. We all want one that is successful. However, how do we respond to our success?

It’s one thing to get things wrong, but what about when you get things right? Your work at home business is fraught with challenges, so when you are able to meet these challenges it’s worth cheering about. However, many people don’t.

It’s one thing to bury your head in the sand to hide from your failure, but it’s another to do it due to success. But even I will admit that an almost embarrassing sense of modesty has compelled me to, at times, hide from my success.
Well, maybe not hide, but you do become dangerously modest and unwilling to toot your own horn. In fact you may be doing the following

1. Reluctant to accept you actually did something well.
2. Afraid you will lose your friends if you become too successful
3. Addicted to dissatisfaction, where you believe even when you do something successful, it could have been better
4. Unaware of your strengths, even when you are applying them
5. Nervous about reaching the top or becoming one of the top players because you fear having a target on your back
6. Too busy striving to celebrate your own victories
7. Overwhelmed with the prospect of expanding your work at home business
8. Worried about becoming arrogant
9. Forgetting to be grateful for your skills and determination
10. Bashful to express your enthusiasm of your found and applied talents
11. Guilty when others you know are struggling
12. Constantly playing up your weakness instead of your strengths
13. Oblivious to the fact that you are successful.



The list could go on, but all of the above are things that some work at home business owners experience. And if you can relate to at least five of the above you may have a fear of success.

It’s a very real fear, and it’s something that affects people’s work at home business each and every day.

It may not seem like a big deal but it is. I suffer with a modest case of this fear. Am I happy when things are going well? Yes, but on the other hand I sometimes can’t wrap my head around the fact that I’m doing it, and in worse cases I don’t know what I did to achieve that success. And this is where the real problem lies.

If we don’t take time to consider our successes, then we are less able to retrieve the skills needed the next time we are faced with a similar challenge. What’s worse is people who are afraid to acknowledge their success, subconsciously do things to sabotage it.

For a lot of folks it’s hard to understand why anyway would be afraid of success, but studies show that it is a greater risk to your work at home business than the fear of failure.

We all have our own personal reasons for being overly modest. Often it stems from our past-- being told we’re not good enough, putting the happiness of others before our own, stifling your confidence to help an insecure friend or family member. There are several reasons. But it’s time we started valuing our strengths.

It’s time we cheered ourselves on.

It’s time we realized we are more than capable.
Otherwise all our success will simply wither away.

Adelaide Kwaning

Working from home means getting out of the sandbox

Sometimes as a work at home business owner, I can become surprised of my success. But what’s odder is when people, myself included, can be surprised when they fail. It’s not inevitable. At some point you will create a marketing campaign that might just bomb, or write something that will have critics (your reader) thinking, “I’d wipe my ass with this, but it’s full of enough crap.” Sometimes were just off the mark. We’re human, so why do we get so personally defensive when something just doesn’t turn out the way we expected.

Ego, of course plays a huge role. As work at home business owners we just don’t want to admit that we’re not perfect. We don’t feel like we can afford to. Online if you miss the target you’ve basically lost revenue from potentially thousands of customers. Yes, it’s a little bit of blow to our ego to say “wow, I mucked that one up.”

But after I stopped thinking that I have the best at everything, and started realizing that failure is great teacher, I got over myself and started earning more.

But you can’t do that if you’re too afraid to take your head out of the sand and face the facts. That’s what many struggling home-business owners do. They don’t check their stats, they don’t seek help, and they are reluctant to admit that things aren’t going well. Honesty is the best policy when it comes to working from home.

I’m talking about being honest with your customers (that’s common sense) but being honest with yourself. You’re not where you want to be and it’s time you stopped pretending you are.

Next, admit it to your family. If you’re pretending and hiding the fact that your business isn’t profitable yet to your family it will only affect your work habit, which will help to speed up the process of your fading business.

Notice how I said yet in the sentence above. The truth is anyone can become successful once they admit that they aren’t, that they have more to learn, and they put in the right work to turn things around.
But refusing to admit the fact will worsen the state of your business, and eventually, your personal happiness.

Get Started on the Path to Success Here

Adelaide Kwaning

Capturing ideas for your work at home business

If I had a dollar for every time I neglected to write down an idea I’d have a lot of couch change. When you work from home you constantly need to be coming up with new ideas. This comes easy to folks like me; our minds are a factory of ideas and suggestions, for others it may take you a little longer. These types of people are usually better at executing the idea.

But however you are, when you come up with a new idea write it done right away. Sure you may not have everything thought out in that moment but you do have something that you can work with. Or at least something you can investigate further.

Who knows your research may lead you to decide to chuck the idea out the window. But as long as you have it, you can come back to it.

Don’t think “I can remember lots of things.” When you work at home you can easily forget even important tasks, if they are not written somewhere because you have so many things to do, so something like an unpolished idea is very vulnerable to getting axed out of your memory.

Don’t sit and ponder whether or not it’s a good idea, simply find some place to store it where it will be in your vision. Then decide how you plan to employ your new found idea.

Not writing down ideas is the fastest way to throw money out. So get yourself a notebook, create a computer file, or at least get some sticky notes and keep all your brilliance close at hand.


Adelaide Kwaning