After spending what can seem like a very long time, and sometimes quite a bit of money, you might be asking yourself: “Does any home based business really work?” Of course the answer is “yes,” but it sure can seem that none do. Why don’t we look at some clues that should let you feel pretty good about knowing very quickly what you should avoid.First, if you look at an opportunity where you are being promised the world for one up-front price that seems pretty expensive, you might want to reconsider. Why? Because an opportunity that makes sense should provide a real person who will coach you through a learning curve to be sure that you can be successful, but they are going to want payment over the time they are providing that coaching. If all the money is up-front, what’s the incentive to be there for you over time.Second, if you can’t talk with a real person about this home based business, you should question whether or not it’s for real. Not only should you be able to talk with one person, but you should be able to get references from many and you should be able to choose who you call from that list. Of course there will be successes and failures, but you should get a feeling that you’re getting honest, realistic answers from the people you call.Third, if you don’t have to do any work and you’re going to get rich, forget about it! No such animal exists. It it did, it would be guarded like the crown jewels. Why would anyone make you rich if you provided nothing in return? You’ll only get rich through intelligent work, often by learning from a master. It doesn’t have to be back-breaking but it will require work over an extended period of time.Next, be very careful about joining a home based business that provides you with a replicated web-site. Almost always, those sites are identical to every other site in the company with the exception of having your name on it, in small print, I might add. The search engines will never rank your site. Your site won’t provide any unique content, nor will the content evolve and add value over time.So, when will a home based business really work? When you are branding yourself with your own proposal, product, service, education, etc. You’ll immediately ask how you can do that, if you don’t have such an offering. The first thing to do is learn how to properly market the offering on-line. It doesn’t really matter what it will be. When properly marketed, it will come from your branding. You might even recommend other products or services from others but to people who have come to know and trust your recommendations. So learn how to get to that level on-line and you’ll have your home based business that really works.
Plan To Succeed With Information Product Creation: Why You Need To Split Your Process Up
One of the keys to succeeding in information product creation is to break the process up into discrete steps. This frequently isn’t an instinctive reaction for the typical information marketer. Especially on the internet where small sized learning products are the norm.
However, it is extremely important to your ultimate success. In fact, I would go so far as to say that if you don’t do this you probably won’t succeed… even when you are starting out let alone as you move forward.
Your product creation system should do this for you if only to help you to understand the overall task.
But why?
In this article, I’m going to ignore chunking and focus on the practical aspects. That’s not to say that chunking isn’t important. It is. It’s important to understanding and to learning the process. But while you can use the same chunks as you move forward, long term your focus needs to be on the operation of the system not the understanding of it. Unless of course you are constantly training new people!
So why is chunking important to long term use of the product creation process? (Yes, I know systems design uses a different term for this process but I’m not teaching you systems design. So I’m going to use the word learning content designers use.)
The first reason that having individual discrete tasks is important is one of schedule estimation. Frequently it is very difficult to estimate how long the total task of creating a product will take. After all, the size and type of the products matters as does the number of products in your product funnel. And those are just the most obvious elements. However, estimating a discrete task is often much easier. The total can then be estimated as the total of the discrete tasks.
Secondly, scheduling a large task can be problematic. However, by segmenting the task into a number of discrete tasks, you gain a much greater flexibility in scheduling. Not only that but as your business begins to add people you are able to schedule multiple people to the product creation.
Finally, segmenting a large task into smaller discrete tasks allows you to have much better control over the product creation. This affects two different areas — status and quality.
By segmenting your process into discrete tasks you are able to schedule and record the progress at much more detailed level. As a result you are more in control of the status of the product creation. You know what everyone is doing. When they should complete it. And how much it should cost. You also know exactly what has been done.
You also improve your overall quality. Instead of waiting until everything is done you can check quality as you go. This allows you to immediate react to low quality products without absorbing their costs. This means that you have less rework and your rework costs less. And if the product is not going to meet its quality requirement you will know about it in time to stop the development, change the requirement or fix the product.
Online Distance Learning Education – Myths Associated With Online Education
Online distance learning is gaining in popularity as the education method of choice for many students. However, it is still not as common as education obtained through traditional methods. There are several myths that are associated with obtaining an distance learning education. One of these myths is that online education schools are not as good as traditional schools. Online distance learning education can be as equivalently good as education obtained from a traditional school. The important thing to do is select the right online learning program. There are lots of quality programs that allow students to interact with specialist teachers and professors and learn through high-quality software.
Another common myth is that employers reject degrees from online distance education institutions. This is true for fake schools; however, there are plenty of accredited schools that offer online distance learning education opportunities and education from these accredited schools are accepted by employers. Many traditional colleges that have a distance learning program, and any certification awarded upon completion of such a program will not indicate that the courses were completed online.
Another myth associated with online distance learning education is that academic credits from online learning programs do not transfer to other colleges. As long as the credits are earned from an accredited school that offers online programs, the course credits will be transferrable to a traditional school. This is another reason to make sure to enroll in a program that is offered by an accredited institution. Another myth is that all accredited schools offer an exceptional education. An online school must be regionally accredited to ensure that it offers a quality education, as there are other accrediting agencies that do not have stringent standards.
Finally, another myth is that all online distance education programs are a shortcut to getting a degree or certification. While there are some accelerated programs available, there are also programs that allow students to work at a slower pace. Just like with traditional schools, there is variety in the types of programs available online. A good online distance learning program may provide an acceleration option just as traditional schools may provide acceleration options, but no reputable school will provide shortcuts to gaining an academic qualification. Programs that allow one to purchase degrees and other certifications are not accredited by a reputable accrediting agency.
Online education is worth considering. Once an individual is aware of the myths associated with an online education, he or she can properly decide if an online distance learning education program is the right option for them.