Guest Post: Taking the Risk

Guest post by Penny M. Loretto.

I currently have three jobs and two of them involve working from home. I thoroughly enjoy my regular 9 – 5 job working in academia; but I must say that the enjoyment I get from working at my own business and writing from home really excite me in a totally different way. I also find that my at home jobs offer me a new and exciting way to hone in on my creativity. First off, I created my own business from home where I offer career counseling to individuals interested in career planning or transition.  Secondly, I write for About.com, an affiliate of the New York Times, where I create blogs and articles on the topic of internships.

It was by taking the risk to start my own business that got me where I am today.  It was through my own personal interest, researching, and networking that landed me my writing job with About.com.  I had been looking for alternative ways to make some additional money from home, and I can’t explain how exciting it has been doing the work that I do.  There’s also a sense of pride that comes along with establishing yourself as an expert in your field and finding yourself in a position where you have no accountability to anyone but yourself.  Many people ask if it’s easier working from home each day than driving to a job that offers no flexibility with your time. I suggest that people interested in working from home, must have the ability to be extremely disciplined and motivated, and either possess or take the time to learn some excellent time management skills in order to be successful. 

Although many individuals think that working from home offers complete freedom and flexibility, I find myself often working overtime and have to be disciplined enough to carve out time for relaxation because I’m so into what I’m doing.  Almost anyone who possesses a specific skill, product, or service to sell can enjoy a decent income by working from home if they have the motivation and discipline it takes to become successful.  There are also many companies who now offer the flexibility to their employees to do some or all of their work from home.  If you keep your eyes open and research and speak to as many people as possible, you’ll be sure to come across the right opportunity for you.  Many people who started working from home part-time, have found themselves successful enough to turn it into a full-time job.   

Career Choice

About.com

Offer Your Services for a Few Bux!

A few months ago, I posted about fiverr where you can earn $5 for various services of your choice. I have had some luck with fiverr so far. I've been paid to do a few reviews on this blog, and a few other gigs as well. They changed their policy so that there is no payout minimum and you can cash out whenever you like.

There are a few other websites like this that I've found. TenBux works the same as fivver, except that you can offer services for both $5 or $10. Their minimum amount is only $8 and you get paid via paypal. For every $5 gig you do, they take .50, and $1 for every $10 gig.

Buxerr works the same way as TenBux, and the minimum cash out amount is $4. They do take 20% of each gig.

GigMe5 lets you offer services for $5, $10, $20 and $50. You do have a 14 day wait for the funds to clear before you can withdraw them and there is a minimum of $30 before you can cash out.

If you think about it, you can post all kinds of services or "gigs" on each one of these websites. It certainly can't hurt and you just might make some money along the way!

Interested in Guest Posting?

I would like to work with some other writers and have some guest posts on this blog. I would like the post(s) to be anything to do with working from home, whether it be tips for working from home, ideas for making money from home, or explaining how you, yourself work from home. I can't pay you, however it will give you a little bit of free publicity. I promote this blog on various places such as facebook, twitter and other blog networking communities.

If you are interested, please email me (contact information is at the top, or there is an email icon on the left hand side), tell me your ideas for a post and send me a link to your blog if you have one. I am looking forward to hearing from some of you soon!

Review of Kitchen Cabinet Kings

Since many of my readers work from home, I'm sure most of you like to work in a home that you enjoy and can be proud of. One of the most difficult things about owning your own home is having the responsibility of keeping things up to date and remodeling when the house needs it.

One of my favorite rooms in my house is the kitchen, however, it's time for a new look and there are so many varities of cabinets to choose from. Kitchencabinetkings.com is a great website that sells both kitchen and bathroom cabinets. If you are curious about the differences between the different textures and styles of cabinets, they offer an educational section to explain all of this for you.

They will even design the layout of your kitchen for you if you are building a new house, this way they can work with you and find out what style would work best for you.

The best part about kitchencabinetkings is that they offer their products at wholesale prices, so they are most likely a lot cheaper than what you could find in your local home improvement store. Once the orders are placed, they ship immediately, so there is not much waiting.

Shutterfly Winners!

The winners for the Shutterfly greeting cards are:

Denise

and

Deeba 

I really couldn't believe what a small amount of entries I had with this giveaway. I had over 100 views just from my Twitter account to the giveaway post and only a couple of people entered? I mean, seriously, do people not like free stuff? Plus, I made it super easy for people to enter, wasn't like a lot of other giveaways where you gotta go here and do this and do that. All you had to do was leave a comment with your email! Oh well, guess that was lucky for Denise and Deeba! Congrats you two and enjoy your cards!

*Special thanks to Shutterfly for sponsoring the giveaway!

Networking with Potential Clients...LinkedIn

Have many of you heard of Linked in? I had heard of it, but didn't really know what it was about until just a few weeks ago. Linked in is sort of like a social networking website, but it's for both employers/clients and freelancers/professionals looking for work. Your profile consists of your work history, education and resume information. You can advertise what skills you have and what sort of job you are looking for whether it be graphic design, freelance writing, photography, anything you like. You network with others, meet new people, join groups where you can come together with possible job opportunities and get advice from others.

This is my Linked in page. Feel free to look it over and add me to your network if you decide to join or if you already have an account. You can also add your blog feed to your page and portfolios of your work. I'm still pretty new to Linked in, but it looks to have a lot of potential so far.

If you have had any luck with Linked in, feel free to leave a comment and tell us about it and offer some advice.