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A Home-Based Business Online
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November 27,2013
Editor: Elena Fawkner
Publisher: AHBBO Publishing
Contact By Email
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IN THIS ISSUE
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1. Welcome and Update from the Editor
2. Home-Based Business Idea of the Week - Indoor
Fountains
3. Article - Focus Your Light
4. Telecommuting Openings
5. Guest Article - The Internet is Kind ...
and I Give Thanks!
6. Freebies
7. This Week's Web Site Pick
9. Next Week
11. Subscription Management
13. Contact Information
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1. Welcome and
Update from the Editor
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Hello again and a warm
welcome to all new subscribers!
By now you should have
received an AHBBO Special
Announcement about the
free contest being co-sponsored
by AHBBO. In case
you missed it, the announcement is
repeated below in segment
8.
This week I am making
a change to the format of the
newsletter. Instead
of separate "home" and "online"
business ideas of the
week, from this week we are moving to
just one idea a week
which, although it will be called the
"Home-Based Business
Idea of the Week", may be EITHER an
online or an offline
idea.
The reason for this change
is that, as the weeks have gone
by, I have found myself
including in the "Online Business
Idea of the Week" section
what are essentially home-based
business ideas that
also happen to lend themselves to the
online environment.
So, rather than 'force-fitting' ideas
into online and offline
categories, I think it makes more
sense to just suggest
one good idea a week and deal with it
more comprehensively.
Eventually, and for the same reason,
I will be consolidating
the home-based and online idea
databases at the AHBBO
website into a single database.
Last week I said in the
"Next Week" section that I would be
writing a Thanksgiving
article this week. As things have
turned out, however,
Susan Jackson happened to send me an
absolute gem that is
just perfect for Thanksgiving so I'm
running that as the
Guest Article this week. Thanks once
again, Susan!
Remember, this newsletter
is for YOU! If you have comments
or suggestions for topics
you would like to see addressed,
or would just like to
share your experiences with other
subscribers, I want
to hear from you! Please send comments,
questions and stories
to: Contact By Email
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2. Home-Based Business
Idea of the Week - Indoor Fountains
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This issue's Home-Based
Business Idea of the week comes
from an AHBBO subscriber,
Paris Mannion, author of "Create
Your Indoor Fountain:
Expressions of the Self".
Paris contacted me the
other week with an idea for an article
swap but I was so intrigued
by her business concept, indoor
table-top fountains,
that I invited her to write the segment
for this week's Home-Based
Business Idea instead. I'm
delighted that Paris
took me up on it and hope you find her
article as fascinating
as I did. If you would like to contact
Paris to find out more,
her contact details are below.
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Indoor Fountains, A
Home-Based Business
By Paris Mannion, author
Create Your Indoor Fountain:
Expressions of the Self
Wow, table top fountains!
They're everywhere these days,
in gift stores, garden
centers, craft fairs, New Age
bookstores, healthy
living catalogs. Do fountain artists
really make money?
Can you do it as a home based business?
The answer to the first
question is, yes, they do if they
plan for success and
know their market. And, yes, you can
do this as a home based
business. Indoor fountains are more
than a passing fad.
Pump manufacturers, says
my supplier, are gearing up for a
20% market penetration
by 2013, from the current penetration
of 4%. That is,
by 2013, 20% of the US population will have
a water feature--swimming
pool, outdoor pond, aquarium,
container water gardens
or indoor fountains. Why this
attraction to moving
water? And why now?
Fountains appeal because
they meet so many needs, spoken and
unspoken. By bringing
the natural sounds of flowing water
indoors, we reconnect
with nature and create an oasis of
serenity in our fast
paced world. People are instinctively
drawn to water sounds
for a refreshing pause and visual
treat.
Fountains have many health
benefits:
* they clean the air
and humidify dry winter air,
* they help us relax
into sleep,
* they release negative
ions (when water droplets are
sheared) so we
enjoy better moods and concentration,
* they are an avenue
for creative play and for personal self
expression.
You can follow several
approaches for developing an indoor
fountain business.
You can:
* sell finished
fountains on consignment or at fairs,
* sell on consignment
or on Internet stores a packaged kit
of bowl,
stones, centerpiece (or fountainhead as it is
generally
called), silk plants and perhaps a small Buddha
or turtle
for accents,
* sell fountain
supplies on your own web site or at fountain
building
classes,
* lead fountain
building classes at private parties or at
recreation,
community or Adult Education centers,
* develop a book
or booklet with fountain projects and tips
on maintenance
and finding supplies.
Think about what is most
convenient for you, how you'd like
to shape the business,
and how much time and money you'd
want to invest at first.
Begin researching what
is out there:
1. At the library check
out books on how to build indoor
fountains:
* Tabletop
Fountains by Dawn Cusick (40 projects)
* Water
Gardening in Containers by Nash & Speichert
* Container
Water Gardens by Philip Swindells
* Do It
Yourself Fountains published by Leisure Arts
(20 projects)
* Create
Your Indoor Fountain by Paris Mannion (11
projects plus fountain Feng Shui and history of
fountains).
2. Get your retail seller's
license so you can purchase
fountain
supplies at a discount. Some suppliers have
a minimum
purchase requirement ($50-$400), so you might
want to
go in with a friend on an order.
3. Using the Internet,
look at maybe 30 of the 500 or so
fountain
sites (more going up every day). Type in
"indoor
fountains" or "table top fountains" to eliminate
drinking
fountains and large ornamental fountains from
your results.
Order 3 or 4 different pump models to see
what you
like best.
Or visit
an aquarium or hardware store to see what they
carry.
I've found the Hagen Aquapump 1, an aquarium
pump, best
suits my needs for a quiet, small, durable
pump with
water flow regulator and secure positioning in
the bottom
of the bowl.
4. Scan the Garden and
Lifestyle sections of your paper to
see if
someone is holding fountain classes or being
interviewed.
If you can during the day, watch HGTV or the
Discovery
channel for fountain building projects.
Kitty Bartholomew
at HGTV's You're Home says, "You're
seeing
a lot of water fountains and natural scents. The
more scents
you use while decorating, the more powerful
the experience."
JoAnne Liebeler at Discovery's Home
Savvy says,
"Fountains are becoming popular both inside
and outside
the home."
5. Join the 2 online
support groups I know about, a
discussion
list at ttfountains@onelist.com (go to
http://www.onelist.com
and type in "tabletop fountains"
under interests)
and the Yahoo Club at Water Fountain
Central
http://clubs.yahoo.com/clubs/waterfountaincentral .
Some members
are hobbyists, some are business people, and
all are
willing to share their encouragement and
experience.
6. Think about strategic
partners to help promote your
business:
* a massage
therapist or chiropractor who might showcase
your work,
* a garden
center that might host your fountain building
demonstration or
* a hospital
that might want a soothing fountain for the
ICU waiting room (positive press release)
* an interior
decorator might want to include your
fountains at a trade show.
Indoor fountains are
the Wave of the Future, on the verge
of breaking into mass
consciousness. A customer wrote that
she's afraid there will
be so many fountain makers that
fountains will be hard
to sell. I think the fears are
unfounded.
Most of my 4600 subscribers
to Design on Tap, the indoor
fountain monthly Ezine,
come from California. Fountain
awareness is gradually
spreading across the country. It
will be years before
the demand is sated. In fact, my first
teleclass (on a conference
line) on How to Lead Fountain
Building Classes just
finished. Nine enthusiastic fountain
pioneers are out there
now showing others how to build
satisfying, lovely indoor
water gardens. Don't miss the
boat!
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Article by Paris Mannion,
author of Create Your Indoor
Fountain, How to Lead
Fountain Building Classes and
publisher of Design
on Tap. To subscribe, send a blank
e-mail with the words
"subscribe design" as the subject to
.
Visit http://www.buildfountains.com
for further inspiration!
-----
There are many more ideas
like this in AHBBO's Home Business
Ideas page at
and
Online Business Ideas
page at
with more being added
all the time.
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3. Article - Focus Your
Light
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By Elena Fawkner
Remember when you were
a kid how you could make paper catch
fire by focusing the
sun's rays with a magnifying glass?
You'd look over your
shoulder at the sun, get the angle of
the rays just right,
and move the magnifying glass until
you could see a small
circle of bright light on the piece
of paper in front of
you. Gradually, that circle began to
turn brown and the paper
began to smoulder until its edges
began to curl under
as the flame took hold.
How did that humble magnifying
glass start something as
powerful and elemental
as a fire? The answer, of course, is
concentration.
Concentration of the sun's rays into a tiny,
intense circle of heat.
In a word, FOCUS.
We work the same way.
If we truly focus our energy,
concentration and creativity,
we bring an intensity to the
task that we just can't
generate if these things are
scattered amongst several
projects at once.
Now, to simply say to
you, "focus your energy and you will
achieve greater results"
is all very well. It's quite
another matter entirely
to be able to do it, especially when
there are umpteen different
priorities constantly tugging
away at you, each demanding
at least some of your attention
and NOW DAMMIT!
To bring focus to your
various activities, you need to break
the cycle of allowing
yourself to be distracted from the
task at hand.
-> Identify Priority
Tasks
To start with, you should
allocate your time proportionately
to all of the various
tasks you need to do. Notice I said
NEED to do. The
first step is to decide what truly needs to
be done and what doesn't.
If you categorize a task as
something that needs
to be done, ask yourself why it is
necessary. Another
way of asking the same question is to
ask yourself, "what
will happen if I don't do this today?".
If the ultimate consequence
is that nothing will happen, why
do it?
If you find yourself
reluctantly concluding, well, I don't
NEED to do this, I WANT
to, then put it into the "need to
do" category.
Doing things for yourself, for your own
enjoyment or satisfaction,
should be a priority. Focus is
not only about doing
the things you should do, it is doing
the things you want
to do as well. By including in your
need to do list things
that are for your own personal
pleasure and enjoyment,
you replenish yourself and this in
turn allows you to bring
even greater focus, awareness and
creativity to your other
activities. So, give yourself
permission to enjoy
yourself.
->Allocate Time to Priority
Tasks
Now that you have identified
your 'need to do' activities,
decide when you are
going to do them and estimate how long
you think they will
take. Then add 40%. One of the
immutable laws of the
universe is that everything takes
longer than you think
it will. Save yourself the stress of
running to keep up with
the
clock.
When thinking about when
you will do a specific task, work
with your body.
Are you a morning person, a night-owl, a
late-afternoon person
or something else entirely? Whichever
you are, schedule for
that time your most intellectually
demanding tasks.
If you're a morning person, for example,
and one of your 'need
to do' activities is to write a sales
page for your website,
allocate this task to your prime time.
Then allocate your less
intellectually demanding activities,
such as reading and
responding to email, to your off-peak
time.
Similarly, don't schedule
your personal time for your prime
time. Again, if
you're a morning person, schedule your hour
lying out in the sun
for mid-afternoon, your 'off-peak'
time.
By making strategic use
of your time in this way you will be
making the most efficient
use of your prime time while STILL
being able to do the
things that YOU enjoy, and on a daily
basis!
Compare this approach
with a fragmented one. You're a
morning person.
You need to write a sales page for your web
site. You also
need to read and respond to email today and
you also want to schedule
time, just an hour or so, to get
some sun.
It's morning but, instead
of starting your sales page, you
decide to read and respond
to your email first, to kind of
ease into the day.
That's a breeze because reading and
responding to email
is not an intellectually demanding task
and you're at your peak
anyway. You finish reading and
responding to your mail
two hours later.
Now you think about writing
your sales page. But you've
used your peak concentration
time on email and you've lost
that sharp edge you
always have first thing in the morning.
That makes writing sales
copy, an already intellectually
demanding task, even
more difficult. You really don't feel
like it right now.
So you put it off. You look for
something easier to
do.
Maybe you could take
that hour off now and use the time
while you're lying out
in the sun to get your head together.
But no, you can't relax
if you know you have work
uncompleted. So
you decide to force yourself to make a
start on your sales
copy. You write your copy but it just
doesn't flow.
It feels stilted and contrived.
You begin to get frustrated
and annoyed with yourself. If
only I'd got it over
and done with first thing I'd be
dealing with my email
right now looking forward to lying out
in the sun for a while
later on. That's what I should be
doing! So, you
get annoyed with yourself, and become
generally irritable.
Which, of course, just blocks the
creative flow even more.
Lunchtime rolls around and you feel
like you've wasted half
a day.
What a waste of energy,
concentration and creativity! What
a lack of FOCUS.
Just look at the energy you've wasted
feeling annoyed and
irritable with yourself. Just think
what you could have
accomplished if you'd put that energy to
good use and focused!
Save yourself the angst.
Identify priority tasks,
strategically allocate
times of the day to each task
depending on how intellectually
demanding they are, and
exercise personal DISCIPLINE
to do the right thing right and
at the right time.
-> Concentrate on One
Thing at a Time
When you're doing the
right thing at the right time,
dedicate yourself to
that one thing and nothing else. Don't
let your mind wander
to what else you could be doing. You
don't need to worry
about that because "what else" has been
allocated its own time
and that time will come.
Remember, the whole point
of focusing is to make maximum use
of your time, energy,
concentration and creativity. If you
can do this, you will
give yourself the gift of more time
for yourself and your
family. So remember to turn it off
too. Give 100%
of yourself to the task at hand during the
time allocated to that
task and then let it go.
Take care of business
but always remember, life is for
living!
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4. Telecommuting Openings
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In the interests of
keeping the length of AHBBO down, all
telecommuting job listings
are now posted at the AHBBO
website at
This week's positions
include:
-> Travel - Sales/Management
-> SBT Account Software
Developer
-> Market Manager -
Amtrak
-> PC Help Desk Support
-> Project Manager -
IBM
-> Writers/Reviewers
-> Advertising Account
Executive
-> Freelance Copy Editors
-> Real Estate Listing
Service Associates
-----
Source: Outsource 2013
If you want to work
from home, you will not find a more
complete source of telecommuting
job listings. For access
to thousands of job
listings just like those above, visit
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5. Guest Article - The
Internet is Kind ... and I Give
Thanks!
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By Susan Jackson
Doing biz on the net.
Ya know, we're all struggling,
learning, trying our
best. Juggling our time to fit our
online biz in with our
"other" life. So what happens? We
screw up! And
that's exactly what happened to me.
However, through this
"screw-up" I actually made a positive
impact! How?
Read on.
I planned, prepared,
wrote copy. I re-read my special page
over and over again.
I was ready. I blasted my "Special
Holiday Offer" to over
1,000 mailboxes.
Immediately I discovered
I have mistyped the URL. Okay, no
problem, I instantly
send out a 'correction'.
And once again ... I
sent the wrong URL! I wanted to crawl
under a rock right there
and then. I knew my credibility as
an internet businesswoman
was destroyed. My face burned
red, and I kicked myself.
"How could you be so stupid?" I
asked myself. What a
waste! I awaited the flames. What came
surprised me.
I want to share with
you some of the comments I received. I
wish I could share them
all.
"My sympathies. I do
it - again and again, despite my best
intentions."
"My sympathies Susan,
Get out from under the rock. That was
the first time in 3
weeks that I've had a chuckle. You're
forgiven, You're forgiven,
(Twice over). I've been sick
with the Flu, feeling
sorry for myself, but your message
picked up my spirits,
thanks."
"Susan,
After getting ALL those
Emails, you reminded me of ME.
Send me a photo of yourself;
I must make sure that I'm NOT
communicating with myself."
"Ha ha ha...i'm sorry
..laughing my head off. Just glad to
see someone else goofs
up sometime. That's what can make life
more interesting! You
haven't lost credibility here. Have a
happy red faced Thanksgiving!"
"Susan,
Please don`t feel so
bad about that. It`s so refreshing to
get somebody else making
mistakes on the Net as I do so
often!"
"Hi Susan,
You've just made my
day!! I'm glad to see that I am not the
only one who has these
SNAFU things. Those of us who never
make mistakes, are the
ones who never try anything! Hope the
rest of your day goes
wonderful."
I believe this message
is especially for "newbies" entering
the world of internet
marketing. Don't be afraid to make
mistakes or sound "stupid".
We all had to start somewhere.
And the universal message?
We're all in this together, and
more often than not,
you'll find the internet a kind place
where we're all willing
to help each other out. God bless!
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!
Susan Jackson
The "infamous" URL for
my "HOLIDAY SPECIAL"
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YOUR BUSINESS CAN ACCEPT
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x1106
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6. Freebies
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-> Last week I made
available a listing of 450 companies
that offer work-from-home
opportunities. Here's another 150
available from autoresponder
at:
-> E-book - Starting
and Managing a Business From Your Home
(463k) - DOS format.
Note: file will be downloaded in
.zip format so you need
an unzipper. If you don't already
have one, I recommend
Winzip which you can download for free
(the evaluation version)
at http://www.winzip.com .
-----
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7. This Week's Web Site
Pick - Business @ Home
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Business @ Home - Making
a Life While Making a Living
http://www.gohome.com/
They say it best themselves
...
Welcome to the Business
At Home website, your online
gathering spot and information
resource for the working-from
-home community.
What you will find here
is news-to-use and how-to
information that helps
you and your family survive in
today's fast-changing
business world. There is a "workquake"
under way in our society
that will forever change the way we
do business. This site
exists to help you thrive in this
time of structural change.
We have cutting-edge
information of interest and value to
people who work from
condos or country cottages, as well as
for those making the
transition from the corporate world to
a work-at-home environment.
We welcome professional
home-based business owners,
telecommuters and corporate
after-hours homeworkers to take
advantage of our widely
networked experience supporting the
nationwide return to
traditional ways of work, often (but
not always) supported
by more powerful and more accessible
technology.
Business At Home provides
more than valuable business
information. Because
the desire to balance our work life
with our personal life
is a major force driving this "sea-
change" toward working
from home, this site has extensive
resources that help
you navigate the waves for smoother
sailing into your professional
future. We offer (and
encourage) thoughtful,
engaging comment on how to make a
life while making a
living.
John Knowlton
Editor
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9. Next Issue
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That's it for this week,
everyone. Here's what's in store
for the next issue:
-> Home-Based Business
Idea of the Week: Freelance Writer
-> Feature Article:
Year in Review
-> Telecommuting Job
Openings
-> Guest Article: It
could be yours! Please send original
article
submissions to
Contact By Email
-> More great Freebies
Thanks for being with
us and have a great week everyone!
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11. Subscription Management
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To SUBSCRIBE to this
Newsletter:
http://www.ahbbo.com/ezine.html
To UNSUBSCRIBE from this
Newsletter:
If you are receiving
MULTIPLE MAILINGS, to stop duplicates:
If you find this newsletter
valuable, please forward it
in its entirety to your
friends, family and associates!
============================================================
13. Contact Information
============================================================
Elena Fawkner, Editor
A Home-Based Business
Online
Contact By Email
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