Home Business Center Newsletter April 2010

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"If you're interested in 'balancing' work and pleasure, stop trying to balance them. Instead make your work more pleasurable."

- Donald Trump

• Advertise Your Business Free with Living Social
• Get Talking People on Your Website
• "How to Start a Home Business" Online Course
• 5 Steps to a Thriving Interior Design Business
• Micro Loans for Start-Ups
• SEO Tip: Get 25 Free Links to Your Site
• Home Business of the Month: Grant Writing Business

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Advertise Your Business Free with Living Social

If you are launching your start-up or are simply a small business that wants more customers, here's a great idea for advertising online.

LivingSocial.com is a website that offers special deals to local consumers, and if your business has a deal to offer, you can post it on their website and you can attract lots of new customers without having to pay for advertising.

Since this site is fairly new, it is not available in all cities, but as the service grows, the number of cities included for advertising is sure to expand.

See how it works here

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Get Talking People on Your Website

I always wondered where those talking people came from. Now I see that any ordinary small business owner can get one - and it's easy. You get to choose your person, how big you want them to be, what you want them to say and how long you want them to talk for.

Submit your order to "Your Website Spokesperson", and you're done. It's pretty cool to see how it works.

Oh, don't know what to say? They've even got that taken care of - they'll write your script for you. Imagine that!

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"How to Start a Home Business" Online Course

If you have life-long experience working as an employee - but you now want to branch out and work for yourself, you probably have lots of questions. That is normal, as there are many things to learn about starting a business.

Although different types of businesses require different skills, knowledge and experience, there are "business basics" that apply to pretty much any kind of business, like paying taxes, hiring employees, record keeping, legal issues, etc.

For basic information on starting and running a business, you can often get the instruction you need from a book at your local bookstore or library. However, if you have specific questions or prefer learning in an interactive classroom-type environment, you learn a great deal more.

Business courses don't necessarily have to cost a lot of money or take years to complete. You don't have to apply to business school, and in fact, you can find great business start-up course online. Education to Go specializes in online learning and has an affordable, yet comprehensive course on the subject of starting your own home based business. You can review the syllabus and course details online: How to Start and Operate a Home-Based Business

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Affiliates! Get The Affiliate Code
Underground Super Affiliate reveals Top Secret Free Marketing System
that makes him $65K a Month! Watch Free Video

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5 Steps to a Thriving Interior Design Business

Expert Interior Designer Nika Stewart reveals her 5-step success process in the Design Success System - Home Study Program

Who is Nika?

"Nine years ago, I started my design business because I loved designing. I wanted to be my own boss, make my own schedule, and control "my own destiny." But instead, I worked like a dog, struggled to market myself, was constantly running around handling all my clients' needs (and ignoring my own!), and had no time or freedom."

"Owning my own business was a chore instead of a joy. I was constantly trying to find new ways to get more business. I wasted money on fruitless advertising, squandered countless hours at unproductive networking events, and begged my friends and family for referrals. I even seriously considered getting a job at a large design company so that I could work less! Have you ever had that experience?"

A few years later, Nika was running a thriving business, making lots of money and working only 4 days a week. She figured out an easy 5-step system for Design Business Success - that anyone can follow. And she shared it with a small group of designers at her live Design Success System Workshop.

Nika is now selling 50 "specially priced" copies of the event as a Home Study Version, so you can get the same insider tactics without paying the hefty price.

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Micro Loans for Start-Ups

One opportunity for small businesses to obtain money is through a micro loan. Micro loans can provide start-ups with needed capital, and they can also be used by existing businesses to grow operations. Micro loans can sometimes provide solutions for entrepreneurs with poor credit, those without collateral and people who don't have a stable income or are unemployed.

Microfinancing can be easier to obtain than the traditional bank loan and can be used for a variety of purposes. However, borrowers may be required to go through business management training in order to qualify. If your business provides employment for others and/or improves the quality of life for those in low-income areas, you may also have a better chance of getting a micro loan.

The Small Business Administration (SBA) is a government organization helps small businesses unable to get loans through normal lending channels. (including special interest loans, micro-loans and secondary market programs) Business financing information. To find a non-profit lender in your area, go to www.microenterpriseworks.org.

If you are a start-up business, you can apply for unsecured start-up loans to $150K online with America One Unsecured. Accion specializes in microfinance within the USA.

Tip: Put together a business plan to make it easier to get financing. Microsoft also has a free letter you can download from their website called "Bank Loan Request for Small Business".

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SEO Tip: Get 25 Free Links to Your Site

One of the most popular ways to begin website marketing campaigns is through link-building. You can gain traffic from other sites, search engines tend to rank highly-linked sites higher and links act as miniature ads all over the internet - working for you 24-7.

Although free, link-building can be very time consuming, and not always effective. It can take hours to find sites with link programs AND with content that closely matches that of your own site. Many times, other sites don't want to exchange links with you once you've gone through the effort to contact them. Often, the time and effort spent never pays off.

However, there is a solution. John Sprock has recently developed a new tool that makes link building easy (and it works).

In fact, he'll give you 25 back links for free

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Home Business of the Month:
Grant Writing Business 1-2-3

Nonprofit organizations, school programs community services and other projects need to obtain funding to operate, and as a grant writer, you can help these groups get the funding they need.

You don't need a degree in grant writing, but you need to be a decent writer with the ability to pay close attention to detail. Taking a course in grant writing and getting educated in running a business is all you need to launch a grant writing business.

As a grant writer, you can provide your clients with the grant writing service, but you will also help them greatly by knowing the right funding resources that match your clients' projects. This will also help you maintain a competitive edge and win more clients.

If your state or region has a publication you can obtain that lists available grant funders, that is a great resource. You can also use your local library and the internet to located funding resources.

During the grant application process, you want to stay especially organized, so start a file where you can keep records of all correspondence, contact information and tasks that you have completed.

When writing a grant proposal, closely follow the guidelines set by each funding resource. Be clear and concise, make sure that your spelling and grammar is correct and that you answer all necessary questions without being vague. Since foundations and government agencies receive many requests for grants, make their "reading" job easier on them, such as a table of contents on a larger grant proposal.

Ask for money to fund specific projects rather than just a contribution. Specific requests tend to get approved more often. Include pictures if possible, demonstrating who will benefit from the funding.

Get started - How to Start a Grant Writing Business

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