Are your business cards getting noticed?

Have you ever gotten a compliment on your business card? Is it something that you're proud of? Does it simply and clearly tell people what your business does? Is it inviting and make them want to call you?

Did you just answer no to one or more of these questions? If you did then it is time for you to update your business card.

Why?

Well because you might have missed an opportunity to make a great impression.

You don't need to be a rocket scientist to come up with a good business card. Here are some tips to avoid when creating your business cards:

#1: Your card looks like all of the rest-- Most business cards out there leave no real impression and will be overlooked. Leave someone with a card that looks great, feels great and clearly defines what you do.

#2: A Cluttered Card--- You want enough info to catch someone’s eye, but at the same time you don’t want there to be a story on the card. Simple is best. Sort out the information and keep only what's totally necessary for someone to know your name, your company, what you do, and why they should contact you. Don't skimp on your contact information; you want to be easy to reach.

#3: Poor Card Quality-- You want to have good stock paper so that the print/ink doesn't bleed through. A poor quality card implies that a business will have poor quality products and services.

#4: Having a Mystery Business card-- When someone looks at your business card, can they tell immediately what your business does? Your logo should have some connection to what your business does or what you are selling. If you have a jewelry business you wouldn’t want a picture of a cake on your card.

#5: Not Having a Unique Selling Point--- Your card should state at least one very powerful reason a customer should do business with you. For instance, the company I work for, someone can get started working with us “Risk free.” So that could be one of my “selling points.”

#6: Print is too Small-- Does your business card have a font size so small that you need to hand out a magnifying glass in order for it to be read? Since 95 percent of the population aged 35 or older need reading glasses, a good guideline is to use a type size no smaller than 8 point.

#7: The Use of Poor Color-- Spice up your business cards with a little splash of color. You'll be surprised what a difference it makes. Avoid the common mistake of grey print on a white background; it lacks contrast and the print is difficult to read. On the flip side, don't make the mistake of color-overload. Too many colors that don't complement one another will make the card look busy and will detract from the content of your card.

#8: Are Your Cards Getting Seen?-- What good is having a box full of business cards if they're just sitting there collecting dust? Get out there a get them seen.

Home Businesses take time, effort and sometimes money

Many times each week, I hear from folks dealing with the subject of spending and investing money online. They want to do everything for free and wish to earn a nice full time income from home!

You might even want to say that spending money online is a scam. There are people who are concerned about the risk of investing in something that they weren't sure about.

No matter what kind of business you get yourself into, you are going to have to make some kind of investment to get ANYWHERE! Time or money

The investment you decide to make for your home based business does not have to break your budget. It can be reasonable and affordable. For example, to start a boutique in your town... How much investment do you think you are going to need? $10,000? $20,000 or $100,000? These types of businesses typically require a lot in start up investment! The worse is, before you can see any profits coming in, you will have to pay out for your services, premises, wages, stocks, loans, advertising cost and probably insurance.

But with a home based business, you can launch your own profitable home based business online with less then $100 a month. We all spend Money on restaurant, movies, clubs, Nike, getting your nails done, etc... which can cost more then $100. If you could save this money and invest in your home based business, you could be earning great money online! These opportunities are out there.

You don't have to invest hundreds or thousands of dollars into your home based business. You call the shots and make the investments that you can afford.

For me, what happen was creating a successful at home business. It wouldn't happen without effort. It wouldn't happen without some initial investment. Take the leap of faith, invest a few bucks each month and watch your business take off! The beauty of investing on your home based business is, it's all tax write off!


There are "free" opportunities out there, but they require time and are hard to come by and 99% of them are scams. For me, time is a precious thing with 3 small children.

When you want more information on a work at home opportunity, make sure you do your research. I highly recommend getting the information from a real person.

Here is what I used to go by when I was looking.

1.) You want to make sure the company has been in business for 5 years or longer. This will show their stability.

2.) Make sure they are listed with the Better Business Bureau/ BBB. Very important!

3.) You want to make sure the products or services are those people need! Obviously "fad" items are not going to bring in long term income.

4.) Don't pay high cost upfront fees. We all know to start a business, it does take some kind of investment, but that doesn’t mean its always necessary to pay an arm and a leg.

5.) If you don't want to become a salesperson or distributor, make sure you know what exactly is expected of you.

6.) Make sure you will have the support and step by step training you deserve to become a successful business owner. This is very important! You want to make sure you have access to advice from those who are already successful.

7.) Ask about hidden costs, such as trainings and website (maintaining them and to have them).

I went by these and I finally found a legitimate home business. Yes, there was an initial investment, but it didn’t cost me my first born. It was the best $29 I ever spent toward my future!

Good luck to everyone.

Time Management for your Home Business

Time management is a serious issue for work from home Moms. You want your home business to be successful, but you don't want the rest of your responsibilities to fall by the wayside... especially your children, who are the reason most of us chose to work from home in the first place, right?

Have a clear purpose when you go online

Whenever you go to your computer, have a definite purpose in mind. It helps to keep a notebook by your computer always with your goals and to-do lists in it, all in once place. This helps prevent you from aimlessly checking email or surfing the net and getting lost. Know what you need to accomplish, write it down, do it, and move on to the next activity.

Think Assembly Line

In other words, group similar activities together. Don't check your email all day, check it two or 3 times a day (at most) and answer all the emails at the same time. When you want to make changes to your website, list them all and wait until you need to make several changes at once. When one child asks for a story gather them all around. Same thing for snacks. Run all your errands at once.

Set limits

No one person can do everything. Your time and energy is valuable and you need to be firm in setting limits on how you spend it. Don't commit to things that you can't reasonably accomplish. Get enough rest. Learn to say No. Avoid negative people who like to whine.

Do Daily Planning

It is said that people do not plan to fail but a lot of people fail to plan. Take the time each night to review what you have going on for the next 24 hours. Plan your work and then work your plan each day. Write up a To Do list with all you “have to’s” and all of your “want to’s” for your next day.

Control Procrastination

The most effective planning in the world does not substitute for doing what needs to be done. We procrastinate and put off important things because we don’t sense enough pain for not doing it or enough pleasure to do it.

Ask for help

If you are a person who feels that you need to do everything yourself, this tip might make you uncomfortable. I'd encourage you to try this anyway. I've found that, by asking for assistance, I'm actually able to produce much more in much less time.

Tips to help you reach your goals

Write Your Goals Down: Don't depend on your memory to remind you what you need to achieve. You have to write them. By writing goals down you are telling your mind that you are very serious about achieving them. Personally, I'm a big advocate of writing my goals down on paper by hand rather than with a computer because my own unique handwriting personalizes my goal and brands it as my own.

Have A Deadline: Goals without a deadline are really not of much help. You have to set a deadline. The deadline can either be a year from the today or ten years from today. This depends on your current state and the goal you want to achieve. Goals without deadlines are just dreams.

Have Realistic Goals: The goals have to be realistic. Some people may disagree with me on this. But I personally think that if goals have no relevance to your life than the chances of you achieving them are zero. Don't say your going win American Idol next year when you can't even hold a tune/sing. Most likely not going to happen.

Write goals in future tense: When crafting your goal statement, always use the word "I" in the sentence because it brands it as your own. Branding a goal as your own adds to the emotional fuel that drives you to achieve your goal.

Make Them Specific: Make your goals very specific. Don't have a goal like ‘I want to drive a good car in 2 years'. Write down exactly what car you want to drive in 2 years. This will put a monetary value to your good car goal as well. So you will know how much you need to save to reach your goal. I found that even posting pictures of the new car I want up at my desk to remind me and to keep me focused on it.

Make Them Detailed: Write down the steps you need to take to reach your goal. Without the path how will you get to the destination? You have to write down a detailed goal plan and the way you want to get there. I like to break my goals down into small steps.

Finally Monitor and review your progress periodically. This is very important. If you just set a goal and forget about it then there is no point. You have to go back and see where you are regularly.

SMART Goals: A useful way of making goals more powerful is to use the abbreviation S.M.A.R.T. While there are plenty of variants, SMART usually stands for:

S=Specific

M=Measurable

A=Attainable

R=Relavant

T=Time-Bound

I know I'm excited when I reach a goal and even more excited when I help someone else reach their goal.

The Dangers of Negative Thinking

As you have shown an interest in working from home, it would be safe to assume that you want to change your life. You want more money - more control over your life - more respect. But just as we each have a dream, we also have a reality. Unfortunately for most people, the reality bears no similarity whatsoever to the dream. In many cases, the dream exists as an escape from the reality.

Think now of YOUR reality - the life you lead every day. What do you do? How do you feel as you awake? Do you have any enthusiasm for your way of life? Do you enjoy your work? Then ask yourself this important question: Do you resent having to live this way?

If you answered 'yes' to that question, then you are in danger of succumbing to the most destructive human emotion - Hate. If you hate the life you live, the people you deal with, the actions you are forced to take, then you will find yourself rapidly rushing toward disaster.

You must learn NOW, to resist the urge to hate. It achieves nothing constructive and it will destroy both you and your dreams of success.

Take a good look at your way of life. Do you always have to make do with what you have got? Do you always have to put off paying bills until next week? Have you never enough money to enjoy yourself? You may find that you regularly have to write a check on Monday and hope that you will be able to cover it by Thursday. Or you may just be sick of the daily grind of early mornings, or the regular nightshift. If most of these apply to you, then you probably hate living this way. So now make a POSITIVE effort to achieve success. Only through positive endeavor and thought will you achieve your goal. Although your current way of life may be hard, think not how to get rid of it, but how to REPLACE it with a better way of life. Think SUCCESS!

You may even resent the things that you would normally enjoy, were your circumstances different. Occasions like Christmas, birthdays, and Easter can be trying times when you have no money to spend. Children don't understand the restrictions of a tight budget, and it can cause great distress to a parent who is unable to give his child the gift, or day out, that they would like. Now imagine the difference in these circumstances when you have achieved success and are able to enjoy Christmas, and give your kids what they want. These things that make you miserable and depressed will be all behind you when you put the secrets of success to work. Imagine life without all these trying times. Isn't it fantastic?!

See you at the top :)

Why am I here?

Thanks for stopping by my work at home guidebook. This is a place for my work at home experiences, tips, advice, inspirations, social media trainings, local advertising ideas, time management and much more.

My purpose of this blog is to help encourage, inspire and help others succeed.

“To succeed we must first believe we can.” ~ Michael Korda

About Me:

My name is Laura. I live in central PA with my 3 daughters. I have been a work at home mom for 3 1/2 years. I show people everyday how to work from the comfort of their homes and enjoy the important moments in their lives. I am excited to launch this blog and help you succeed in whatever your business may be.