By Ben Needles
 The lure of the work-from-home business opportunity is an attractive one. Who wouldnt want to be their own boss and maintain a flexible work schedule? Direct marketing opportunities are plentiful. They promise flexibility, unlimited earning potential and the chance to be your own boss. The question is: do they really deliver? Before you jump into a work-from-home business opportunity, consider these facts:
* Tens of thousands of Americans are currently working from home in a direct marketing business. Many of them are making a good living. Far fewer are actually becoming wealthy.
*This type of business can only be done partially from home. The sales aspect must, for the most part, take place outside the home. Thats why its called direct marketing.
Direct marketing companies typically draw in new recruits with the offer of making easy money from the comfort of home. This sometimes creates false expectations. Those who join one of these companies should expect to spend some time working outside the home. The most successful marketers spend an average of 20 hours per week outside of home. The idea that
you can simply stay home and generate an income is typically untrue. A realistic picture of a work-from-home business opportunity is balanced between in-home and out-of-home efforts.
New recruits are also dazzled by the idea of unlimited income potential. This concept isnt entirely false. However, very few people become rich from direct marketing. Only a few make a livable wage. Many more generate a satisfactory supplemental income to a day job or a partners earnings.
What most direct marketing companies neglect to share with recruits is their failure rate. An estimated 25 percent of recruits drop out within the first year. The biggest reason is disappointment. They simply cant generate the big profits that lured them in. They frequently underestimate how much time actually needs to be spent outside the home. Sometimes they realize that they simply dont have the knack for it. Often, the cost of generating business eats up all the profits.
How, then, do you decide if you will be one of the 75 percent who can succeed beyond the first year? Begin by asking yourself the following questions:
1. Am I willing and able to spend several hours per week away from home? If the answer is no, this type of business isnt for you. Theres no such thing as easy money. Direct marketing requires you to spend time with clients away from home. Usually, you must hold shows and demonstrations. Participation in trade shows, forums and sales meetings is frequently encouraged and may even be mandatory. Working entirely from home is likely impossible.
2. Do I have a knack for sales? Many people who find success in this business would not necessarily consider themselves salespeople. Some even surprise themselves with their ability to make money without being exceptionally gifted at selling. However, public speaking and cold calls are part and parcel with direct marketing. If this scares you into a frenzied panic, you may not be cut out for sales.
3. How much money do I realistically want or need to earn? As previously mentioned, some people make big profits. Usually, though, it takes months or years to generate that kind of money regularly. Most never earn enough to live off of. If you expect to make a fortune right off the bat, you may be disappointed. Direct marketing can, however, be a great part-time or supplemental income. With practice and time, you may eventually find your earnings increasing.
About the Author (text)Dominic Boykin of StayHomeBusiness.org is an internet marketer working with top leaders in the home business and internet marketing industry. To get started with your own home based business so that you can make money online visit: http://www.StayHomeBusiness.org
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Fight Like You Deserve A Good Win And Move On With Your Trading
By Terry Leslie
 Trading is an uncertainty. You can never control the market or the results of any trade. It isn't uncommon for some traders to lose all investment in their results after a period of years on the job. Is this a good thing or a bad thing? Probably neither, as long as it works for those who get there. Since trading is so uncertain, you have to be ready to put up your boxing gloves, get motivated, and get on board with the winning spirit. Even when every conceivable indication reveals the likelihood of success, something unexpected could happen and then everything changes in an instant.
When these events happen, they can really throw a new trader for a loop. After all, you must have read the indicators right, didn't you? You think you did but self doubt is now creeping in because if you had, wouldn't you be winning instead of losing? Remembering the larger picture, the purpose of trading in the first place, and focusing on the ideals that brought to into trading in the first place can help keep your head on straight during times of upheaval.
When it is all said and done, you need to be satisfied with the effort you put in and the way you handled the situation. Only you can fully determine what efforts you feel are sufficient, but in every case, you should feel completely at peace that you put forth everything you had and didn't just shrug and give up. Does that mean that you need to chastise yourself for a mistake? Of course not. What that means is that even if you made a mistake, or the market shifts suddenly, or you haven't made a strong trade in weeks, that you simply believe that you fought it out like you deserved to win and walked away with your best effort to either fix the mistake, work with the changing market, or are at least learning from your weaker trades.
If you can't see beyond winning and losing, then you also can't see the value of a lesson well learned. If you can't fight not only for your wins but your lessons as well, then you may find yourself in a pretty big hole. When you are able to impose respect onto the market while limiting your belief that you can fix things, then you are onto a plan for winning. Just as there are positive and negative aspects to trading, there are positive and negative aspects to every single trade. Learn the aspects and you'll learn how to avoid costly mistakes.
When athletes take to their positions, just before the first movement that begins their competitive moment, they have a breath of time that can determine their entire outlook simply by the thought they put into their head. If they are there to fight hard, give it everything they can, and walk away a hero whether they win or lose, they have gained before they ever move from that starting position. If they can only see winning as the ultimate goal they often fail under intense pressure. If they walk in self defeated, then they may as well give up the game and go home because without the heart of a good solid, effort, everything is already lost.
Fighting your way into the trading world really isn't any different. If you want to be successful overall, fight for every lesson learned and fight for every gain and every loss. Don't just sit back and let things happen to you. Be part of the process, get your hands a little dirty, and be a totally active and committed participant. After all, this is your life and your financial future. If you don't get into the game today, it's only you who suffers. Everyone else who wants to be there is already actively getting it done.
Because you are a human and not a computer, your days will fluctuate and there will some awesome days that you feel like you are on the top of the world and there will be some pretty pathetic days that feel as though the dog got his jaws on it and flung it around like his favorite squeaky toy. How you respond to your days is your choice, but you will serve your needs better if you respond with a strong desire to go down swinging, learning, growing, and of course, trading.
If you would like to immensely improve your trading and investing results, check out www.secrets2trading.com
AND for a Limited Time, you will also receive a FREE copy of a limited number of the amazing book "Trading In The Zone" which is jam-packed with daily trading ideas and psychological preparations to instantly improve your trading and investing performance.
Juggling More Than One Work-At-Home Business Opportunity
By Ben Needles
 Before the Internet age, our ability to work more than one job was limited by the number of hours in a day. We could only work one job at a time, even if we left that job and schlepped off to another, and possibly even another, after that.
The Internet has changed all that. Now, one can engage in more business opportunities than there are hours in a day. Automation and the virtually unlimited access to business opportunities across the globe mean time and place are no longer limitations to the home business opportunity. But should you take advantage of as many at-home business opportunities as you can?
There was a time when most people who took advantage of a home-based business opportunity did so at the request of a friend or associate. Other opportunities may have then popped up as a result of that business or as a result of networking. Still, the opportunities for getting into more than one business at a time were limited. For the most part, people engaged in only one business opportunity at a time to see if they could make it successful.
Today, however, with the accessibility of the Internet, you can be involved in more than one at-home business opportunity at a time if you choose. This isnt necessarily the best route to go, though. There are a host of reasons to stick to one opportunity at a time. For example:
*Running a home-based business can be pricey. To be successful, you have to promote and advertise your business. Getting the word out to all the right people comes with a pretty hefty price tag, especially if you want to be heard above the roar of the big guys. Having more than one at-home business and successfully promoting them all can be very costly. It can be very difficult to make a living in those circumstances.
*Taking part in more than one home business opportunity can lead to diminished productivity. If you have to spread yourself so thin that you arent really dedicating yourself to any of your businesses, then you wont be successful. It may be better to dedicate yourself fully to one venture. If your first business isnt making it, then close up shop before moving on to the next thing.
*If you feel the need to jump from one project to the next very quickly, then maybe an at-home business isnt for you. Although this kind of work does offer flexibility in terms of schedule and workload, you have to see a project through to know if it will be successful.
There are many ways to make money on the Internet, but that doesnt mean you should dip your fingers into all of them. Find a home business opportunity that you can really run with and give it your all. If that business takes off, then consider adding another. Keep focused on your goals and you can be an at-home success!
About the Author (text)Dominic Boykin is the webmaster of StayHomeBusiness.org. Sign up for his free Newsletter at http://www.StayHomeBusiness.org/newsletter-signup.html and receive 6 free affiliate marketing and home business related e-books. To make money online visit: http://www.StayHomeBusiness.org
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