Important Considerations For Your Home Business With Drop Shipping

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It is the easiest and the fastest way to start a home-based business using drop shipping as your backend to supply and deliver your customers’ order and eBay as your storefront interface. Although drop shipping brings a lot of benefits and make easy for your home-based business, it may jeopardy your business if you are not carefully select reliable and responsible drop shippers. Here are 5 important considerations that you must take when comes to selecting your drop shippers for your home-based business.

Consideration #1: Are Your Selected Drop Shippers Really Offers Wholesale Prices?

There are many drop shipping companies on the internet claim that they offer best wholesale price, unfortunately, only a few products offer at good prices just to attract you and most of their products’ prices are just a bit lower than the normal retail price, you won’t be able to make sufficient profits out of these products.

Hence, before searching for drop shippers for you home-based business, you need to know the normal retail prices of the products you intend to sell. Then, compare those prices with the wholesale prices offered by drop shippers.

Consideration #2: What Availability Guarantees Are They Claiming & Are They Proven

You do not want to waste your time and effort promoting drop shipping products and later when you have received orders but found out that the products are out of stock and you have to turn down your customers’ order. Hence, the product availability guarantees are among the important consideration when selecting your drop-shippers for you home-based business.

Most drop shippers allow you to access online on their stock lists and you can see what they have in stock. There are drop shippers’ online systems that can allow you to set an alert warning level on their stock level for your selected products and you will receive an alert message if their stock level is lower that the pre-set value. This feature will keep you alert on the stock level and help you to avoid promoting products which are out of stock.

Consideration #3: What Is The Committed Delivery Lead Time

You definitely want to keep your customers happy with their order being delivered fast. If your drop shippers are going to take 2 to 3 weeks to ship then you may not going to have many happy customers who will repeat purchase from you in the future. Hence, you must consider the delivery lead time as one of your consideration factors when selecting your preferred drop shippers. Many drop shippers are able to ship with in 3 days and some of them even can ship in next day once receive order from you.

Consideration #4: Do They Ship Internationally?

Unless you just want to do business within your own country, then this is not an important consideration for you. But, selecting drop shippers who can ship internationally can open many market opportunities for your business expansion in the future.

Consideration #5: Is The Return & Refund Policy Meeting Your Requirement?

You cannot success in online business that sell physical goods without a return and refund policy. Customers may want to get refund if they found their purchased products are not meeting their expectation. What are your warranties to your customers if products they received are not in good shape? Hence, it is important you mentioned your return and refund policy at your online store. It is important that your return and refund policy must in line with the return and refund policy of your drop shippers because they are the one who going to ship your orders to your customers and process the return of goods from your customers. Carefully review the drop shippers’ return and refund policy to ensure the stated policies meet your commitment that you offer to your customers.

Summary

Reliable and responsible drop shippers will ease your online business without the need to worry about product stock and delivery. You need to carefully select the drop shippers that you can trust in order to make your online business a success and keeping your customers happy.

Top Ten Resources For Home-based Business Success Part I

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If you are considering starting a home-based business, or if you already have one and are looking to increase your profits, I would like to share with you what I consider to be the

Top Ten Resources for Home-based Business Success.

1) First, having a great home business that is automated, has a spectacular sales presentation, and pays out high commissions. This is important because it is not easy to make sales, so make sure that you join a business that pays a lot for each sale/signup. Do your research thoroughly!

2) A steady flow of high-quality leads is the lifeblood of every home business. At first it is difficult to generate your own, so I recommend partnering with a marketing agency that can get leads FOR you. My personal favorite sources of leads are:

a) MLM Lead Genie High quality leads, best price I’ve found.

b) FIS Marketing They actually run a unique ad campaign tailored for your business, AND teach you how to convert the leads into sales! They also provide you with 200 free business leads just for listening to their presentation.

3) An upline/mentor team that is going to really teach you how to generate wealth with this business. A good mentor will help you earn massive profits. A bad one will take your money and leave. Make sure you do your research so that you can tell the difference.
I am lucky to be part of the Mentors4u team, under the guidance of Megan Vallaincourt and Stephanie Sammour. These two are great teachers; they are both warm and caring and take the time to walk you through building your business step by step.

4) A Blog! Yes, business-blogging is taking the internet by storm and can get you moved up in the search engine rankings faster than almost any other method. Your mentor will teach you how to use it to earn money online!

5) Craigslist Craigslist is a great way to get free advertisements out there in every major city. It is free to sign up and you can post many different ads (your mentor will teach you how to do this properly and supply you with some pre-made ads you can use)

Stay tuned for my next article, Part II, which will finish explaining and providing links for the Top Ten resources for the home-based entrepeneur!

Kindest Regards,

Rob Hunter
Passport to Wealth Mentors4U Team

Top Tips For Becoming A Home Based Travel Agent

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Of all the home-based business possibilities, it’s hard to imagine one that’s more fun or potentially profitable than operating a home-based travel agency.

Not only do you get the enjoyment of sending people off on their dream vacation, but you earn a good commission for selling services that you do not have to actually provide yourself. What could be better than that?

If you’d like to become a home-based travel agent, and enjoy discounted or even free trips for yourself as well, then the following Top Tips For Becoming A Home Based Travel Agent will get you started in the right direction.

1. Affiliate with a legitimate host agency that has all of the required certifications.

The most successful home-based travel agents are independent contractors who work with a host agency. You use the host agency’s resources and established relationships to tap into their network of travel vendors and suppliers. It’s important that your host agency has the proper industry credentials and that they have a program in place that allows you to use those credentials in order to establish yourself as a legitimate travel agency.

As a home based travel agent you need certain credentials like the CLIA card. CLIA stands for the Cruise Line Industry Association. This industry-recognized credential allows you special agent rates on discounted cruises and offers a whole array of benefits to you and your customer.

To be recognized as a travel agency most host agencies are usually bonded and accredited through ARC/IATAN. ARC was established by the travel industry to provide prompt, efficient, and secure distribution and settlement of travel purchased in the U.S. IATAN-International Airlines Travel Agent Network endorses travel agents and provides the IATAN ID card, which identifies you as a U.S.- based travel sales professional.

If you are considering working with a host agency that doesn’t provide you with their IATAN/ARC number, and other required credentials, move on and select one that does.

2. Choose a host travel agency that provides comprehensive training

Even though you are an independent home-based travel agent, you still need professional quality training so you know how to operate in the travel industry as well as what you are and are not allowed to do.

Getting up-to-date on the best places to travel, tourism trends, and how to fulfill the needs of your customer is vital to your travel business. You want to choose a host travel agency that offers comprehensive training and courses on various travel services, products, marketing, etc.

For some host agencies, taking a course or training is necessary in order to be eligible for certain travel credentials. And, although it is not required to book travel, your job will go much easier and you’ll develop more repeat business, if you are well-trained and well-informed.

3. Choose a host travel agency that will help you promote your business.

Don’t choose a travel company that does not offer some assistance with marketing your travel business. The best ones will offer a turn-key website or online booking engine for your clients to use when booking their travel.

Even better are the travel companies that also provide you with automated marketing tools such as auto responders to handle email campaigns and promotions.

You’ll save money, and gain more customers, if you partner up with a host travel agency that provides ready-made templates to print business cards, postcards, flyers, etc. These are all the tools in your marketing arsenal that will help you get the word out about your home-based travel business.

4. Choose a host travel agency that handles ALL of the travel details for you.

Most host agencies handle all the booking and routine travel details for your clients, but what happens if a name is misspelled on a plane ticket or your customer wants a refund? Find out what type of customer support is available and read their policies carefully before you sign on as a home-based travel agent.

At a minimum, look for:

How long your host agency has been in business and if they are reputable.
24/7 telephone support, not just e-mail or web-based.
Clear and easy-to-understand refund and cancellation policies.
A track record of speedy resolution to customer service issues.

5. Choose a host travel agency with a fair commission policy.

Notice that money is not mentioned as the #1 thing to look for when you’re choosing a host travel agency. Sure, the commission is important; it’s how you get paid. But the best commission policy in the world does you no good if the host travel company that you choose to partner with is not aboveboard and honest.

Once you have found a travel company that meet the requirements of items 1-4, it’s time to check their commission policy. Here’s what to look for:

Make sure that you know exactly how much commission you earn on every travel product you offer through your host agency. Be sure to find out if you earn commissions for add-on sales like trip cancellation insurance or lost luggage insurance. The best host travel agency partners pay you a piece of everything you sell.

Be sure you know what their commission chargeback policy is when a client cancels a trip or seeks a refund.

Find out at which point your commission actually gets locked in. Is it when the sale is made; when the client debarks on their trip, or when they return?

Find out how long it takes to get paid. Some agencies pay Net 30, some pay longer. Whatever the payment period is, make sure you can live with it.

6. Choose a host travel agency with the best perks for you

The opportunity to go on a FAM trip is the most appealing benefit to travel agents. FAM trips are short for familiarization trips’. These are special trips specifically for the travel agent. These trips are offered by hotels, cruise lines, convention and visitor bureaus, and tour companies.

The intent of the trip is to familiarize the agent with the product or service so that they can then sell the service or product to their clients. By experiencing the product, agents can sell it more effectively.

These trips are either totally free or have a small cost involved to cover the expense of the trip. These FAM trips are offered at a huge discount compared to what it would cost to the average consumer. If your host agency doesn’t offer FAM trips, you should think about finding one that does.

Also, since you will be working out of home and on your own, medical insurance plans or group coverage plans are sometimes offered. Check to see if the agency you are considering has a group plan that you can buy into. Group plans are usually less expensive than buying medical insurance on your own.

Some final thoughts

Owning your own travel business means you can take advantage of many tax breaks. Deductions are allowed for you initial investment, home office expenses, cell phone and land lines, automobile, computer, fax machine, insurance, and other equipment. In addition, when you travel anywhere in the world, it’s a business expense!

Overall, becoming a home-based travel agent has some major perks and benefits. The important thing is to find a good host agency and become familiar with your product so that you can offer the best travel experience for your customers. Doing this will keeps a consistent flow of repeat and new business coming your way.

Good luck and Bon Voyage!

Why Choose MLM Above the Rest

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As of today many are looking for a business which they could start up – a kind of venture that could provide them a safety net. Certainly speaking, there are lots of options to choose from, however, an MLM business seems to be the right solution for many people. The question is “Why would a MLM business be the right solution?”

Multi-Level Marketing or commonly known as MLM is a business arrangement that will let you earn commission based on the number of products that are being sold and the number of people who sign up. It is an opportunity that provides an advantage over traditional home based type of businesses in that is has unlimited earning potential. In other words, the compensation you receive will be in line with the value you have created for the company.This means that you control the time and effort that you want to give or spend. As a result, unlike any other running home based business, you will be able to get out of your business what you have put into it.

Here are some points that will enlighten you how a MLM business might be the right solution:

First compared to any other traditional home based business, it is less expensive to start an MLM venture. To add up an MLM home business can usually be launched for from a few hundred dollars to around a thousand dollars. There’s no need to pay for office space rentals, payroll, inventory and other expenses associated with the usual home based business.

Second, you can choose your own hours to run your own MLM home business. This would be a great thing for those busy individuals who have a hard time attending the daily routine tasks of a 9 to 5 job. One more thing, this is also a great option for parents who need to spend time with their family and at the same time need to have an income.

Third, the MLM business world gives you freedom to work from the comforts of your own home. This would also reduce or eliminate daycare expenses.Plus since the hours are flexible and you determine your hours you can work it around your children’s schedule.

Finally, your MLM home based business income is limited only by your motivation and willingness to learn. If you take advantage of MLM company’s training and support system, there’s no limit on how much you can earn.With a proven blueprint to success and online marketing strategies the sky is the limit for what you can achieve.

This is a Quick Guide on How to Set Up a Twitter Account

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Head to Twitter.com

– Click on the sign up box

– Put your full name in the first box

– Put in your user name ( now remember if you are trying to brand your self for a marketing reason, you will want to use that same name as your website, blog, Facebook account, MySpace, LinkedIn and any other sites you have signed up with.) This will allow anyone looking for you online find all your valuable content.This all ties into social networking!

– Put in your email and password

– You will then want to go into settings and upload a picture of you smiling and or having a good time especially if you are in sales or marketing of any sort.

– Make sure you check ” Let others find me by email address”

– Choose whether you want geotagging on or off, which enables third party applications to pinpoint your location when you tweet. (good idea if you are setting up a Twitter account for your children on their phones)

– Choose whether you want your tweets protected or not – this only allows people that you approve to follow you to see your tweets.

– Go into “Settings” then “Mobile” which allows you to register your cell number and tweet from your phone by texting to number 40404 ( just remember that tweets are only allowed to be 140 characters to where standard texts are 160 – so be careful)

– Its also a great idea to insert a bio about you, people do want to know who you are and what you like, remember this is social networking.

– If you have a website or blog put that info in the box that says “web box”

– Its also a good idea to get away from the standardized background that everyone else has, be original, be exciting, be fun, while you can pay for a really glamorous background, I have had great luck and some really great free backgrounds at twitterbackgrounds.com

– If you also have websites or accounts on Facebook, The home Based Business Network, LinkedIn, TweetMeMe, EzineArticles, Squidoo or any other site, it’s a good idea to set these up in the “connections” area which will allow you to tweet the content from those popular sites.

– OK now that you are set up and want to start tweeting there are a few things that you might want to know. Tweets cannot be any longer than 140 characters and there are following and followers rules. The rule is once you arrive at the 2000 mark you always have to keep the difference between the two at 10 percent. If you don’t follow this rule you will be kept from following anymore until your followers have caught up to at least 10 percent. Also if you are using Twitter to market a service or product you really need to provide some valuable content like quotes,articles,videos or news updates, the rule of thumb is for every “tweet” of your business you need to “tweet” three valuable content tweets.

– You have the ability to go in and “Find people” and you can find them by groups,friends,their email or Twitter name. Once you put in a name like ” Jim Smith begin_of_the_skype_highlighting end_of_the_skype_highlighting” you will see a list of people or businesses with that name on the left, on the right you will have three boxes. The first box says “follow” which clicking on that gives you a green arrow meaning you are now following that person,the second box says “manage lists” meaning you can put people you are following in different lists, the third box gives you more options main one you will use is unfollow that person if you chose.

– Occasionally you will get a “DM” which means Direct Message from someone, its good karma to answer them back as long as it’s a legitimate message, again remember this is social networking

– If you get into thousands or tens of thousands of following and followers you may consider a few tools to help you manage the marketing aspect if that is what your doing. Tools like Social Oomph which allows you to set up tweets in advance, Friend or Follow which filters people that you are following but not following you and Hummingbird that is a automation program to name a few to help you generate more tweets and followers.

– So this is just a general overview of how to set up a Twitter account, I hope it helps you get through the initial set up.

– I only request that if you find this information helpful and you are up and tweeting that you follow me at robertdstrong and send me a tweet saying ” thank you Robert for the Twitter Twaining it was Twawesome”

– One last word of wisdom on Twitter – if you read some good content or watch a good video sent through Twitter it’s a good idea to get in the practice to “ReTweet” so it goes out to your followers as well.

– Talk to you later, Robert

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