Know The Importance Of Time Management For The Telecommuter

Posted on September 10th, 2008 by Terry Hughes
by Terry Hughes

You might think that all of your time management problems are over as you work at home and telecommute. Sorry to say – they’ve just started. Working at home bestows many profits into your life (such as being capable to attend to family, lower gasoline bills and working in the nude – oh, haven’t you done that yet?) but in addition to that it brings a great deal of problems.

Manage The Distractions

The importance of time management for the telecommuter is that it can assist you carry on telecommuting and pay your bills. Since you are home without a boss over your shoulder, you can be more easily distracted from getting the work done that you need to do, specially if you need to do a task that you feel a sealed amount of dread in doing. This cuts into your bottom line.

Construct A Plan

The grandness of time management is to facilitate to remind you of what needs to be done when. Personally, I as a freelance writer is not too bang-up on constructing to-do lists every day. But they’re smashing to make once or twice a week as reminders of what assignments are almost nearing deadline, what projects to explore and when I can coerce in time for doing the books as well as managing self-promotion on the web.

The importance of time management is to help prompt you of what needs to be done when. This freelance writer isn’t too keen on making to-do lists every day. But they’re great to make once or twice a week as reminders of what assignments are close to deadline, what projects to research and when I can wedge in time for doing the books and doing self-promotion on the web.

Almost all time management advice tells you to make up a list of the half hours in your day and fill in the blanks with certain tasks. By abiding by this schedule, you’ll be able to in theory get more done. The grandness of this time management pointer rests on how well you were able to handle class schedules in school. In person, I didn’t too well at that.

But I am a reliable freelance writer who gets her assignments done on time. How do I manage that? I write down what needs to be done and then I do it. It’s that hard ? and yet that simple. Some people work much better when they are at the last possible minute to do anything. The pressure can make them produce spectacular results in sheer desperation. I often work this way.

The importance of time management isn’t complying everyone else’s advice on the subject (including my advice, of course) but watching over the schedule you set up for yourself. Pencil in eating and sleeping, or you’ll be enticed to skip them in the illusion that they are time wasters.

About the Author:
How to undergo simple cures for a hectic office environment and manage the stress of doing work in a fast paced environment? Read further Time Management Work Schedules if you want to climb the corporate ladder.

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You Can Be Your Own Gallery: Sell Your Art Online

Posted on September 10th, 2008 by Gayle Etcheverry
by Gayle Etcheverry

Becoming a successful, paid artist used to be just a fantasy for many, but now with the access of the Internet, many artists are finding customers all over the world to buy their art. There are several different methods artists use to showcase and sell their art, and over extensive research, I’ve tried many of them. I thought it would be nice to share some of my discoveries with other artists looking for a little bit of help in this department.

Let me first state that the following information is directed toward anyone who wants to sell his or her artwork and doesn’t care if it is done through a gallery or not. This is more of a ‘do-it-yourself’ technique.

One way to show the world your artwork is by making a custom portfolio website. You can easily make it yourself through services like Go Daddy.com or Names Direct.com, or you could pay someone else to do it for you. Before you go off and hire someone, you might want to consider the cost advantages of doing it yourself. After all, each time you’ll need to add new information it could become costly with a web designer.

if you haven’t already purchased a domain name, then you’ll need to do this before you can build your site. There are literally thousands of companies available and you can find one by google searching ‘domain name check’. For my portfolio site, I use two different domain names that both forward to the same place (GayleEtcheverry.com and GaylesPaintings.com). Since my last name is hard for people to pronounce, I figured it would be safe to create something simple too. it’s proved to be quite successful for me.

If setting up a website seems a bit too daunting, then consider starting a blog instead. Blogs are free services where you can upload photographs, links and text about your artwork. A few of the bigger most popular sites are Blogger.com and WordPress.com. Your fans, friends and family can stay updated on all of your new additions with a feature called an RSS feed. This could be a great place for you to make your start!

Now before I continue, I think it is fair to mention you should consider to invest in purchasing a digital camera if you haven’t already. This is the easiest tool out there to get images of your artwork onto your computer. My camera cost less than $300 and that was 2 years ago. This camera continues to be a great asset to my art sales.

There are several different places you can sell your artwork online, and in my opinion, the two most popular sites used by artists are EBay and Etsy. One great thing about these sites is that they already have a large customer base that visit daily. In fact, many people LOOK for artwork on these sites because it is affordable, original and can be shipped right to their home. These sites do charge to use their services, but it is much less than the normal 50% commission charged by art galleries. Also, they work directly with PayPal so you won’t need to worry about getting a merchant account to process credit card transactions! Then, you will be able to make links between both your website/blog and EBay/Etsy listings.

There are some artists who sell their art straight through their personal websites. This is also an option for you if you should feel inclined to do so. Nowadays, I mainly sell my paintings with PayPal right within my website. Sometimes I do post a painting or two on Ebay or Etsy just to stay in the loop with their customer base. If you are just starting out, you may want to go the public route and tap into their large customer pool.

Finally, for the most important part – you must become a skillful networker. What is a networker you may ask? A networker is someone who connects with other people and helps to find quality referrals for each other. This is what you would call a win-win business relationship. Zig Ziglar put it best when he said, “You can get everything in life you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want.”

No matter where you go, you should always be prepared for networking either on the street or on the computer. The first thing to do is tell everyone in your life that you are selling your artwork online and you’d appreciate them helping to spread the word. If you should meet new people, kindly ask what kind of referrals they could use for their business and then tell them the types of referrals you would like to receive. Not sure of they type you are looking for? You want referrals of people who like to buy art, especially one-of-a-kind pieces created by you! Don’t forget to always have business cards on hand with your blog/website domain name, and contact information so people can get a hold of you to buy your art.

Since you’ll be spending more time online, you ought to sign up for some free networking websites. There are thousands of these available on the web. Some of the obvious are Myspace and Facebook, however there are many other sites out there that encourage you to post messages and links to your business sites (one such site is JasonsNetwork.com). Most importantly, you have the capability of meeting thousands of people all over the world – people that could turn into future clients!

This may sound a bit cheesy, but it is very important to stay confident and never give up. Continue to make your art, upload them to your website and plug away at promoting yourself. Ask people if they would like to join your subscriber list to stay notified of each new piece available for purchase. When you send these emails out, be sure to add active links to the artwork you are promoting and encourage your supporters to forward your email to anyone they feel would be interested in your art. Again, stick with it, it may take a little bit of time to get the word out there in the world, but in a little while you’ll build your subscriber list and begin to sell your art. You’ll be a paid working artist in no time!

About the Author:
Los Angeles based artist, Gayle Etcheverry is happy to share her tried and true tips so you can learn how to Sell Your Artwork Online. Grab a totally unique version of this article from the Uber Article Directory

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Why Companies Choose to Use Promotional Key Rings

Posted on September 10th, 2008 by Matthew Calvin
by Matthew Calvin

Offering customers promotional items provides an added incentive for them to purchase in the future as well as retaining your brand image. Many companies make use of promotional products to advertise their brands. Promotional key rings are considered the most versatile and effective, because of their utility and ability to remain durable. Everyone uses key rings, they are universal, therefore, providing the best exposure for a company’s brand names.

Promotional key rings are usually used everyday, because they are carrying important keys. Every time a key is used, the user is reminded of that brand’s logo. This creates a greater chance that the brand on the key ring will be the brand purchased more often.

Unlike other promotional items, promotional key rings are very handy, and they can be carried to almost any place that their owners go. Because of this, they can spread the brand image to more places and reach out to new customers. With the better brand visibility that is provided by promotional key rings, companies will eventually sell more products.

Promotional key rings made with additional features or in decorative colors and designs will attract more attention. Gaining more attention increases brand awareness. To make the key ring more useful, consider adding a paper cutter, lighter or pen torch. This will make a good impression of your company upon the user. Handing key rings out to valued customers or business associates will show the company’s appreciation. Metal key rings can be exquisitely designed and can be engraved with lasers, providing long lasting results.

If you are planning on reaching the masses with your promotional key rings, plastic would be the best choice. Plastic is more cost effective. If you are wanting to give key rings to individuals more valued to your company, choosing leather or metal would be more appropriate. Customization of key rings is also something to consider.

By choosing the right kind of key ring your company would want to give away as marketing tools, along with a good strategy in distributing them, you can rest assured that you will reap instant benefits.

About the Author:
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Painless Web Hosting Provider Transfer

Posted on September 10th, 2008 by Ricardo d Argence
by Ricardo d Argence

It could be that the growth of your business is quite fast that your web hosting company can no longer accomodate or could be that the site you have chosen does not have the right capacity for your particular needs. In any case, the best solution to this conundrum is to switch web hosting companies. There are a few steps to take to ensure the transition from one site provider to another is smooth.

As with any type of renovation project, embarking on a web hosting company change will go much easier if you develop a plan and then stick to it. In order to ensure a smooth and efficient transfer from one web hosting company to another, you should allow yourself enough time to complete each step and then run tests for accuracy and accessibility.

From the time your new site is up and running to the initial planning stage, requires 3 to 4 weeks. After you’ve thoroughly researched and identified your potential business-partner site, your new site can be up and running within 24-48 hours.

First, and most importantly, make sure you’ve done a complete back up of all of the files on your current web site, even if you have them stored on an external hard drive. You should always back up all important files. Backups are like insurance, you never appreciate having them until a catastrophe strikes. So, even though it may be tempting to eliminate this step, you may live to regret it.

Besides backing up the customary HTML files, it is a good idea to have copies of script, database and server log files. Creating a directory structure that mirrors the one on your web server makes downloading files easier and the transition a lot more efficient.

You are ready to upload your files to the new server after you receive confirmation from your new web hosing company that your file transfer protocol precedures are operational and your account has been activated.

Since you have already saved your files in a familiar directory structure, uploading your information to the new site should progress without a hitch.

Following completion of the above steps, you can now run some tests on the new web site in order to verify that all modules are working perfectly.

When everything is flawless and working smoothly you are prepared to change your old Domain Name Server (DNS)r to the one that has been provided to you by the current web hosting company. All that you must do now is relax and wait for the hits to begin.

About the Author:
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Afraid to Look? How Your Home Business Fears Could Ruin Your Life

Posted on September 10th, 2008 by Bob Matthews
by Bob Matthews

Working from home can be great, but why should you look into doing it? You have a job. Although it doesn’t provide the kind of life you dream about living, you get by. But are you happy?

Just think: All the long hours. Your boss being a pain the rear. And that coworker who drives you crazy.

And then there’s the pay. It limits all your financial decisions. “No, I can’t afford it now–no to the Cadillac Escalade I want, no to my brow lift, not to my daughter’s braces.” In short, “No, no, no!”

Plus, there’s no guarantee that you’ll always have this blessed job either. So why don’t you look for something better?

“Well, it pays the bills.”

So basically it’s safe. Why? Because it’s familiar, but that’s no promise that it will be there for you tomorrow. Nothing in life is secure. Change will occur, and it may not be according to your desire.

“What if I loose everything I now have?” You ask. “I can’t deal with failure. I just can’t.”

So you don’t.

But what will you do when one day you DO find yourself out of work? How will you make ends meet then? You’ll have no other means of support, and THAT is dangerous.

What you should do for a minute is to step outside your emotions. Look at your situation objectively–as if you were analyzing your best friend’s situation and advising him.

You’d probably tell yourself something like, “How will you find something better if you don’t look?” Or “Maybe you’d be pretty good at that sort of thing. Remember Trish from Dayton? Well, she’s woodworking now, professional furniture–full time. You used to be pretty good with your hands too–remember that rocking chair you made Grandma for her 60th birthday?…” You would egg yourself into researching your interests rather than dismissing them.

Keep in mind that not everything your mind tells you is right but that neither is everything it tells you wrong either. You just need to learn to tell the difference. And the best way to help you do that is to separate yourself from your feelings.

Go ahead. Give yourself permission to look into home business opportunities. And who knows? You may just find something better.

About the Author:
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Saving More by Eliminating Extra Expenses

Posted on September 10th, 2008 by Robert Billings
by William Blake

Today’s society is all about the latest gadget, gizmo or service. We have to have it, and it has to be the biggest or most that is offered. In reality there are so many modern conveniences that you can live without if you choose to live that way. Releasing the services or gadgets that you don’t really need could save you thousands of dollars each year. Here are some ways to do it.

Cancel your phone. Many people pay to have access to both a cell phone and a land line each month. To save yourself some money, decide which one you want to keep and get rid of the other one. Make your decision by comparing how much certain features of each plan cost, like local calls, long distance calls, and call waiting.

Choose whichever one is the best deal and fits your overall needs. If you cut the land line you could save around $50 each month. Getting rid of cell phones could easily double that amount (and it would mean that you COULDN’T be found all the time in all places).

Dedicated or high speed Internet services can also be cancelled or adjusted. If you do not need high speed Internet at your house for anything more than checking emails and playing games, you can downgrade your service to a less fast but better priced plan. Making this adjustment could very well save you another fifty dollars monthly.

If you need only occasional access (once a month or once a year) to high-speed service then check with the local library and see they provide public use of the internet.

Cancel your cable. If your family can get rid of cable television entirely, you will be saving time in addition to money. If you cannot completely eliminate cable TV, you can at least switch to the lowest priced monthly plan. Some people claim that you will eventually be able to choose which channels you want to have access to and pay per channel instead of having to buy an entire package.

Stop the presses. You will save money by not subscribing to any more magazines and canceling all the subscription you currently have. If you must have reading material in the bathroom, then why not check out a book from the local library. You will save yourself a fortune in subscription fees and you will help reduce the clutter in your house at the same time.

Saving money is easy when you identify some extra expenses that can be eliminated. Cutting costs and saving money can actually become quite addictive, especially when you see the results in your bank account.

About the Author:
Would you like to come up with some extra cash to help pay off your credit card bills this month? Visit the Debt Reduction Academy website, where you can sign up to receive your free 5 day mini course “Operation Money-Find: How To Find Money To Start Paying Off Your Debt This Month”. Grab your copy now at http://www.debtreductionacademy.com/minicourse.php

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?Getting Cash from Your Home’s Equity

Posted on September 10th, 2008 by William Blake
by William Blake

All too often people find themselves swimming deep in debt with no way out. But for a home owner, that doesn’t have to be the case. Did you know that if you have accrued equity in your home, you could have a loan within just a few days that will allow you to pay off any debt from credit cards, medical expenses, or anything else that may have happened in your life?

Home Equity Loans: The Benefits

These loans actually require you have only the amount of equity in your home that you need to borrow to pay off your bills, in order to get the loan. And many lenders will even arrange for payment to be made to your creditors first. Once the payment to your creditors has been made out of the loan, you can opt to have the remaining balance either credited to your bank account, or applied to the balance of the loan.

The equity you have in your home increases each time you make a payment. If you get a home equity loan in order to get rid of your debts, your home is being held as collateral and you need to take the payment of your loan very seriously. Don’t forget that missing too many payments may mean losing your home.

Individuals who have had repeated problems with credit card debt need to be extremely careful that they do not get back into even more debt. You will not have your home equity to fall back on if you rack up more debt. If you have paid off your credit card debt with a home equity loan, do not apply for more credit cards until your loan is paid off.

Home Equity Loans: How Do The Work?

You can calculate the equity that has been built up in your home by subtracting the total amount you still owe on your mortgage from the present day market value of your home. The higher that figure is, the more you will be able to receive in a home equity loan. Here is an example. Assume your house is currently worth $100,000. If you still owe $80,000 of your home mortgage, than you have built up $20,000 in home equity, which you can now borrow by means of a home equity loan.

You can pay off your credit card debt fast and efficiently by taking out a home equity loan. In order to start getting equity built up in your home once again, do everything that you can to pay off your home equity loan as quickly as possible.

About the Author:
Looking for information about reducing credit card debt? Learn some easy ways to start getting your debt paid off today on the Debtopedia website. Visit http://www.debtopedia.com to get your free copy of my special report “Secrets Of Credit Card Debt”.

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more information on affordable web hosting

Posted on September 10th, 2008 by thulas
by thulas

For people or companies that wish to promote themselves on the internet then they will need the services of a web hosting provider. If you want others to see your website you will need one of these and depending on whether it is a commercial site or not will dictate how much you pay but it is possible to have this at no charge (with restrictions). What happens is a hosting company allows another person or company to have (either paid or for free) a certain amount of space on a device called a server where other people can then view whatever you want them to, including a website.

Many types exist, some provide free hosting but with these types you pay the price of having restricted facilities that usually allow the likes of blogs, email and basic websites to be accessed. There are many limitations to free web hosting services and they are not generally regarded as an option for serious web users as the amount of storage space is limited along with many other functions a web user may require. There is a huge range of services available and often comparison sites are the best place to search as prices do vary considerably and you must really know in advance what type of service you need.

Most people and companies start their hosting by using a shared server system which means your files are on the system with other peoples.This will enable you to see if you have chosen a very good company; then change to a dedicated server with your company when you’re comfortable with their services. You need to have a registered domain to have a web hosting package otherwise files, websites and other digital information cannot be stored or accessed. Files include web pages, images, audios, and videos, to name a few and normally, you will be provided with storage space of about 1Gb although the limit is continually rising as storage costs lessen.

If you have your own domain name, this allows for your own email address without another company (Google for example) having their name as part of the address; this is another benefit of paid web hosting. People who are serious about their internet presence will want to have their own identity and to prove the point; you will never see a company using someone else’s domain in their email address. then you need to have a hosting package with sufficient bandwidth; this is the amount of data that can be transmitted.

If your package cannot provide this or the company cannot meet your needs then visitors will not always be able to access your site during busy periods so a new package or company may be needed. This is extremely important if your website has many images, MP3 tracks or other large files like video clips; even a single web page can contain a great deal of information, all of which is considered as bandwidth. In almost every case it is a wise decision to use a web hosting company and not consider using your own computer as a host due to the risks, especially for those unfamiliar with internet security.

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I Want To Send Spam Email To Someone

Posted on September 10th, 2008 by thulas
by thulas

The internet is rife with spam to the extent that using email is losing its efficacy and people are losing confidence in it but there is also a growing concern over the growing incidences of computer virus through unsolicited mail. With the signing of the Can Spam bill by President Bush in December 2003, the first standard was set against bulk unsolicited email which are of commercial in nature. Approved and voted by the Senate by 97 to 0 this bill basically forbids senders of bulk unsolicited commercial emails by using dictionaries to generate the mailer and providing incorrect return addresses to hide their identities. Over and above this, these emails can not start with a subject line which deceives the recipient and must have some opt out option. The law bars senders from gathering addresses from sites and any violation is considered as a punitive criminal offence with imprisonment of up to one year.

Another point of discussion is that nowadays even greater numbers of spam is generated from other countries. Because of their country of origin, these emails are difficult to fight. Because of the global and barrier-less environment in which the internet works, these laws may sound fine but are incapable of handling the problem. Is there any thing you could do for protection? Here are the top tried and tested rules for protection against spam:

Number 1: Whatever you do, make sure that your email address is never there on the net. ‘Spam spiders’ are specialized products which hunt for email address on the net for using as a mailing list later. If the word ‘spam spider’ triggers your interest do a search for this word on the net, the results might just shock you. ‘Spambots’ and ‘spam spiders’ and similar rogues on the net is confronted ably by a site called WebPoison.org which is an open source project which just goes on sending them rubbish web pages which carry nonsense email addresses.

Number 2: Get spam blocking software. It is likely that you might want the professional series of this software but whatever you do, get the software as it could save you hours. It must be noted that the software is not capable of preventing all that is going wrong and some manual set up might be needed to block some specific types of emails.

Number 3: Take the approach of having many email addresses. Getting a free and new email address should not be a problem and each one can be used for varying communication needs and keep the other ones as back ups. Imagine giving your private mobile number to your friends and your business number to all others.

Number 4: Spam mail usually has attachments which can have viruses. But large companies use filters which sieve through spam and never allow them to reach you. Some basic rules: Never attempt to open any mail attachment where you do not know the sender.

Number 5: Did you know that email service providers are now offering ‘bulk mail’ baskets? If your current vendor can not provide you with this service, change the vendor. Upon receipt of emails from strangers just put them in the bulk pile and then let them in to your circle. Any spam blocking software would also run with the same principles but there is nothing like having a couple of extra precautions – so it is worth looking into.

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Totally Free Antivirus Software Download For XP

Posted on September 10th, 2008 by Hugh Winner
by Hugh Duddy

When you are looking for free antivirus software, you should be aware that some of the programs you’ll find are viruses or spyware in disguise. Other programs will scan your computer for viruses and claim you have them and must purchase their software to get rid of them. Most of the time, there are no viruses and it is a scam to get you to buy the software. Before downloading free antivirus software, search CNET Reviews or Download.Com for information about the programs. Two great programs that are compatible with XP are:

Number One: AntiVir Personal Edition Version 8

This is touted across the internet as the best free antivirus software on the internet. It scans exceptionally well and will run even while you are working with other applications. Download.Com gives this free program a 5 star rating.

The positives of AntiVir 8 are its manual scanning features that let you scan individual files and folders by right clicking on them or dragging and dropping them into the application window. It is configured to run in safe mode – a very convenient feature! You can choose to have full reports on every problem issue or receive just the basic information concerning viruses. It updates automatically, runs on a schedule and has various options for scanning tasks.

People do complain that it is very slow when downloading definition updates and does not detect a majority of the spyware that may be on your machine and that spyware it detects requires you to buy the software for removal.

Version 4.8 of Avast! Antivirus

Avast is rated highly by both Download.Com and CNET. It has fantastic detection and protection from viruses. As far as spyware is concerned, it only detects about 33 percent of problems although it does remove what it finds for free.

There aren?t any feature-restrictive trial periods involved with Avast! Antivirus v4.8. It is widely considered to be fair free protection against viruses. Unlike AntiVir, Avast offers fast and smooth downloading of updated definitions and files.

The worst things said about Avast concern the need to register if you wish to use it beyond 60 days and keep registering every year after that. When you realize that paid programs are virtually the same only you have to pay for your subscription, this negative doesn’t seem too inconvenient.

If you have a computer and an internet connection, there is no getting around it: You need antivirus software on your computer. If the price of paid programs is a bit too steep for you to cover, AntiVir and Avast offer comparable protection for free. Don’t let an inability to pay for virus protection keep you from protecting your PC. Be careful when downloading these programs and be sure to get them from their official sites. There are fake sites that try to get you to buy the products and there are also sites out there that will install viruses or spyware in their place.

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