Mentoring - Sights & Sounds

Mentoring is basically aimed at helping a person attain his or her full potential as a human being. It has a vast canvass that includes development of not just skills, knowledge and work place performance but at a broader level, emotional and spiritual growth. A mentor is a guide who can help the mentee find the right direction and develop solutions to career issues.

Version Current 

Most of the young adults do not accept the 'blanket/blank' guidance of anybody, notwithstanding the inspiring and eternal cues from Krishna's monumental mentoring of Arjuna when faced with Kuruskhetra and similar frames of lasting mentoring value in human history. However, today, exposure to electronic and web interactive media has globalised the concept and contours of mentoring. It is an age of virtual mentoring too. For example, millions of young Indians have experienced a new face and articulation of mentoring thanks to the incredible mentoring skills of our former President Abdul Kalam.

Passion the Motherboard 

It is perceived globally that while mentors are generally satisfied with mentoring programs, mentees often are not. Mentoring needs a fertile ground called passion. The mentor can appear only when the aspirant is ready. Aspirant is ready when passion for mentoring is felt or cultivated. A passionate student of music pines for a mentor; a passionate wrestler yearns for a mentor. Passion to learn and grow is the appetizer for mentoring. On the fertile ground of passion is sown the seeds of trust. Wherever passion is generated, youngsters are internally ready to accept guidance of a mentor. In the absence of passion, mentoring is quixotic. To a great extent, whether good or bad, film stars have generated passion and trust in young adults. For example Sanjay Dutt could realize some impact of Gandhian mentoring - a 'filmi' version - among the youngsters much faster than most of the post-1947 Gandhian full-timers. Youngsters trust the celluloid icons and the trust comes from passion for what they are, what they do. For mentoring, trust is the operating system and passion is the motherboard. Mentor's own knowledge, experience, skills, insights and personal characteristics together make the application software for mentoring. Passion and trust originate not from aura and cult alone. It also comes from the 'the guide on the side' (immediate mentor, for example a faculty member). The 'guide on the side' does not have to and cannot afford to behave like the 'sage on the stage'. Students are averse to mentoring framed on the perception that they are 'mentoring pawns'. A 'high-born' mentor attitude results in 'still-born' mentoring results because the former fails to instill passion. Mentoring is not knowledge shopping nor is it a psychosocial massage. Mentoring is an enabling 'vent' for the mentee to 'invent' and 're-invent' himself/herself and sustain it. To invent, passion is necessary. A professional learning program is a vent for the students to invent and re-invent themselves. In that process, effective mentoring can leave a career footprint; if not effective, mentoring sessions are just enforced 'foot note' in one's career annals.

Campus Mentoring 

Campus mentoring is basically aimed at developing the right attitude, resolve, goal setting and expectation management. Effective campus mentoring in turn enables the students to identify their career and profession mentors and develop self-mentoring with remote guidance, direct or indirect. Today, fascinating sights and sounds of mentoring is available thanks to interactive media and internet. The migration from academic environment to professional learning environment and later from there to workplace demands effective personal orientation. Every phase of life needs new mentors. Skill is required to identify and work with the mentor/s at different stages of life. Mentoring in a professional learning environment is a step in that direction.

Mentoring Oracle 

o A mentor will treat students as though they were what they ought to be and the mentor needs to help them become what they have the potential to be. 

o A mentor can gain fuller ground in professional life, if s/he effectively helps the students to get what they want. 

o A mentor will enable the mentees to manage their own learning in order that they continually use their potential to improve skills, performance and become what they are capable of.

Kon Banega Mentoring Pathi 

o active and involved listener 

o broad, focused and flexible in knowledge base and dispensation 

o zero judgmental 

o capable of prompt and constructive feedback 

o by nature, honest and open-minded and eager to learn 

o capable of suggesting career network and developmental resources 

o passionate and successful in own career 

o naturally willing and able to find time for the career empowerment of others 

o gifted with good interpersonal and communication skills 

o accessible, empathetic, flexible in attitude and capable of supporting without controlling 

o willing to guide mentees arrive at solutions without making decisions for the mentees 

o able to actively and positively question, probe and challenge the mentees 

o willing to debate and discuss 

o believes in realistic expectations 

o strong at organizational skills.

Advantage Mentee 

o provides access to a support system during the crucial phase of career development 

o helps develop a perspective on choosing and navigating career 

o enables clear understanding of career development plans 

o helps acquiring the skill to develop mentoring relationships with industries 

o throws open diverse perspectives and experiences 

o helps identify skill gaps and develops insight into career success factors 

o lasting career network 

o Provides a source of personal support and guidance with whom weaknesses can be explored and addressed and achievements appreciated. 

o one-to-one brainstorming and ideation 

o facilitates learning in an assessment-free and stake-free environment 

o facilitates a smooth graduation to the workplace.

Advantage Mentor 

o provides window to the world and ways of emerging minds, constraints, talents, challenges diversity of thought, style, personality, and culture 

o helps sustained focus on self-development as a career guide and facilitator 

o gives personal satisfaction from imparting wisdom and experience to growing minds 

o provides opportunity for personal development of coaching, mentoring, leadership, management skills, greater job satisfaction and higher self-esteem 

o Source of feedback about curriculum courseware and methodology needs 

o A lasting career network

Mentoring Streams 

Campus mentoring is a combination of career mentoring and psychosocial mentoring. The latter is more personal and relies on an emotional bond between the mentor and mentee.

Mentoring Phases 

o Identify, believe in and recognize a student's unique qualities 

o Recognizing the student's unique qualities inspires him/her 

o The inspired student seeks to benefit from the mentor's support, skills, experience and wisdom. 

o From there, mentoring grows into empathy and shared professional concerns 

o At this stage, the mentee enjoys testing his or her own new ideas at the professional front. 

o Mentoring is gradually reaching the matured stage where the mentee feels confident of his or her skills and outlook to function independently. 

o At the height of mentoring relationship, most often at the alumnus level, both mentor and mentee may redefine their relationship as one of equals, characterized by informal contact and mutual assistance, thus becoming true professional colleagues.

Dental Mentoring, a Model 

Even fifteen years ago, in most parts of India a session with a dentist used to end up in dental extraction. Same was the case with one to one interaction between the teacher and the taught. The teacher used to try and extract and purge the negatives in the ward. Today dentistry is different. It has come of age from dental extraction to dental mentoring. Today a good dentist is a dental mentor rather than a dental extractor; today a dentist is not a 'destroyer'; s/he is a preserver. We can borrow a mentoring leaf from dentists!

Finally, a mentor is obliged to appreciate own limitations and seek the help of other team members and fellow mentors in order to meet the developmental needs of the mentee.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/2543058

Take Your Career to the Next Level - Five Steps to Find and Use a Mentor

A mentor is a personal, portable, no-cost resource to help you set and meet your unique goals. Mentoring is an explicit one-to-one learning relationship between a person who wants to improve job or career skills and a person who can help him or her do that. Mentors are much more than "go-to" people. Mentors are champions of learning. Mentors take a position of high interest and investment in another's development. They want to mentor. They share knowledge, encouragement, guidance and feedback about job content and organizational culture. They advocate for their mentees' successes. Mentoring provides encouragement and structure to support the mentee. In the ideal, mentoring and being mentored is business as usual.

Why should you have one? You're good at what you do. You are the one who helps customers solve their problems. You help your customers thrive. You are totally focused on their success. Who does that for you? Are you so busy meeting other people's needs that you neglect yours? How will you:

• Build your career?
• Expand your expertise?
• Develop your talents?
• Gain skills?
• Overcome your weaknesses?
• Maneuver the culture in your organization?

Your manager could be a logical choice to mentor you, but chances are that person is as busy as you are. You are booked solid with work, but you have aspirations that call for individual attention. A mentor is probably not going to volunteer without being invited. You have to find your own.

Here is a simple five-step process to find the help you want and use the help you find. Nothing here will surprise you. The process is intuitive, but working it requires discipline, and that's the big challenge. This structure is designed to keep you on track, yet with flexibility to serve you throughout your career. Without structure, mentoring tends to become spotty and loses effectiveness.

1. Define what you want to accomplish and what help you need. Are you looking for technical expansion, career growth, objectivity, creativity, connections, etc.?

Examine yourself and be honest about what you need to keep doing, stop doing, and start doing to get there. Professionals like you cultivate confidence, thus others may not notice where you are lacking. You can be completely candid with a mentor, which is part of the purpose of having one. The more clearly you can see your strengths and weaknesses, the more willing you are to lay those out to someone you trust, the more successfully you will work with a mentor.

2. Find people who can offer you what you want, whom you admire, and who will feel honored at your request. One fundamental characteristic that any mentor must have is a passion for helping others succeed. Don't be shy. Ask your colleagues to help you conduct your search. It's similar to a job search - you want the best match possible. You define what "best match" looks like. Think about trust, communication styles and differences in perspective, in addition to career-related qualities. You may find your mentor at the desk next to yours, or online in a different geographic location. You may find more than one mentor at a time, depending on your goals.

3. Contract for the mentoring relationship. The Number One reason mentoring works is because the learning experience is shaped exactly to you and what you need. You and your mentor together define that shape.

There are two parts to the learning contract: role definition, and the specific learning goals. Sometimes the learning contract is written, sometimes verbal. Always, it is explicit. Because the mentoring process is a work in progress, clarity and structure keep it moving ahead. It is a framework within which you and your mentor can be creative and forward-thinking. It gives enough structure to keep the process focused and moving, with built-in flexibility to continuously assess and improve. Without such structure, the mentoring process can get off track and become less than optimally effective.

Here is a simple beginning "contract" for the mentoring process. You will probably want to add to it to meet your own expectations.

I, the mentee, need from you, the mentor, your individual attention, expertise, support, encouragement, open and honest feedback, and trust. 

You, the mentor, can expect from me, the mentee, my eagerness to learn, willingness to ask for help, willingness to take risks, open and honest feedback, and trust.

Refine your goals with your mentor's help. Determine how to interact, and with what frequency. Find the best ways for you to exchange feedback. Virtual mentoring is increasingly popular, and provides the ultimate mentoring portability. E-mail, telephone, texting, social media, Skype..... pathways for staying in touch are nearly endless and increasing every day. Talk about ending the mentoring relationship, right at the beginning. Step 5 should not come as a surprise. What will indicate that it's time for a change, from both perspectives? Also talk about how you will communicate if the mentoring is not working out, for any reason.

4. Contact your mentor as planned. One of the greatest challenges for professionals is asking for specific help. We earn our living sharing our expertise, and it is difficult to tap someone else's. The best advice is to "just do it." Having a mentor does no good if you don't use that person. Your mentor cannot guess at how to help you. These contacts should be high priorities for both of you.

5. Examine or end the formal mentoring when you achieve your goals, or when new needs arise that change your direction. This may mean you re-contract around new goals, move into a less formal relationship, or find a new mentor. Mentoring is a long-term relationship, but it need not be for life. You are smart, ambitious, and creative. You learn quickly, and move on to new goals. Mentoring should be totally relevant to what is going on for you at any given time. When the relevancy lessens, that's a clue it's time to change. Ending the formal mentoring is not an insult to the mentor, rather a tribute to how helpful that person was. Very often, mentors and mentees remain close friends, and mentoring continues informally, as needed.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/5808144

How a Mentor Can Help You With Growing Your Business

Research in both educational settings and in the world of business indicates that students, employees, and CEOs are more likely to succeed if they had a mentor. Fortune 500 CEOs were asked what contributed most to their success. Many listed an effective mentor as one of the key factors. As a result, more and more entrepreneurs and business owners are following the lead of their corporate counterparts by engaging the services of professional business mentors.

Mentoring is most often defined as a professional relationship in which a more experienced person, referred to as the mentor, assists another person less experienced, referred to as the mentee, in developing specific skills and knowledge that will enhance the less experienced person's professional and personal growth. Successful mentoring programs do not just happen; they are the result of careful planning and implementation.

Working with your own mentor can have a tremendous positive impact on your business. Whether you are an established company or just starting up, your mentor can teach you how to increase your confidence, develop vital business skills, and implement effective strategies to transition your business to the next level.

Even if you consider yourself to be an expert in your field, a recognizable knowledge or experience gap may still exist or be present. You may have a great idea for a new business, but you feel like you need to verify the feasibility of your new venture or to confirm the strategies that you are considering using. Seeking the guidance of an experienced mentor who has had similar experiences is the best way to get your question answered with valuable professional advice.

What does a professional business mentor do?

Your mentor serves as a trusted counselor, a guide, a source of information, a provider of perspective, and the voice of experience in addition to performing a number of different functions:

• Teaching you about specific business practices and functions.

• Coaching you on specific business skills.

• Facilitating your growth by providing resources and contacts.

• Challenging you to move beyond your comfort zone.

• Creating a safe learning environment for expanding your horizons.

• Focusing on your total development, both professional and personal.

What benefits will you realize from working with a professional business mentor?

• You will gain from your mentor's expertise.

• You will receive critical feedback in key skill and knowledge areas.

• You will develop a sharper focus on what steps are needed to develop professionally.

• You will learn specific skills and knowledge that are relevant to your personal goals.

• You will gain knowledge about business tactics that are critical for success.

• You will adapt more quickly to changes in the marketplace.

• You will have a 'friendly ear' to share your frustrations, as well as, successes.

Professional business mentors are a valuable asset to any business organization.

When you struggle all alone in your business, it can lead to costly and demoralizing mistakes. Having an experienced mentor spares you the trouble of having to crack the business success code on your own. A seasoned, professional mentor is the perfect person to offer help and advice, especially if you are just starting out or facing difficult challenges. An experienced mentor has been there and done that! He/she knows what works and what doesn't work.

By tapping into the wealth of knowledge and experience of a mentor, you can fast-track your business success by minimizing the mistakes most entrepreneurs make... Why try to re-invent the proverbial wheel, when you can engage the services of a seasoned, professional mentor to help you navigate the minefields associated with growing your business.

Don't be trapped into thinking you don't need a business mentor simply because you think know your business. Just like sports, running a business is highly competitive. So, if top athletes employ coaches/mentors, then it makes perfect sense to follow in the footsteps of these top athletes and employ your very own mentor!

Just like a good sports coach, the right professional business mentor will not play the game for you. They will simply assist you in determining the most effectively strategies in order to maximize your rewards and minimize your risks!

How to find a professional business mentor

Choosing a mentor is a serious decision. It is important that you select a business mentor who is competent, experienced, and has both integrity and expertise---an individual that you can trust in this newly formed fiduciary relationship.

There are a couple of avenues you can use to find a good professional business mentor... First, you can reach out to your local sphere of contacts. Talk to your existing advisors -- your CPA, your attorney, your banker, and your insurance agent. Second, you can use the Internet. Fortunately, with the Internet you are not just limited to your local geographic area when seeking a business mentor. Many professional mentors provide their mentoring services via the telephone or Skype. This is often more convenient and more flexible than having to personally meet with a business mentor.

When evaluating your business mentor candidates it's important to consider

· Confidentiality: Sensitivity to the importance of confidentiality is critical. Since a business mentor will be privy to highly confidential information about you and your business, it is very important for you to discuss bonds of confidentiality with him. A signed confidentiality agreement is recommended.

· Non-compete: Make sure that the business mentor candidate is willing to sign a non-compete agreement and to refrain them from advising/mentoring any of your direct competitors, not only during the course of the engagement, but also for a certain period of time thereafter.

· Chemistry: It's not just for romantic relationships! There has to be certain chemistry with your business mentor. This is someone you are going to work closely to grow your business. You have to feel a connection and a sense of trust with this person. To gauge your level of comfort with your prospective business mentor, arrange to have a couple of pre-engagement discussions with him/her.

· Learning: Some experts believe that what you will learn from a particular mentor is far more important than the chemistry you have with that particular mentor. The critical question you must answer is, "exactly what I'm I going to learn from this particular business mentor that I can apply to overcoming my current issues and challenges."

· Confidence: Make sure that you have the level of confidence that you need in order to move forward, and that the person-the business mentor -- is as passionate about their business as you are about your business.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/7485522

Where To Find Work From Home Online Opportunities

Everyone wishes that they were making a little more money. If they could do so while working from home, it would be icing on the cake. Fortunately, there are opportunities that allow you to work from home while making a decent income. Where will you be able to find these work from home online opportunities?

Online Forums

There are plenty of forums that are dedicated to exposing people to all kinds of jobs that can be done online from home. Single mothers, college students and anyone else looking for some extra cash can find exactly what they are looking for. Writers can find new sites that are offering paid writing positions. Those who have experience in customer service can find a forum that discusses these types of job opportunities.

Do A Search Engine Query

There are several different search terms that you can use to find work from home opportunities. Simply typing in the phrase "work for us" will give you several hundred pages of search results that list every type of online job imaginable. You can find work as a data entry specialist, customer service representative or even an online tutor.

Go To A Career Services Office

Not every single work from home opportunity is provided by an obscure company. There are several well-known companies that offer work from home opportunities that are Internet-based. A career services representative should be able to help you find a great online job with a good company. Going through a professional service helps you out because you know that you will not be getting scammed.

Network With Other People 

If you are already working online, you can network with people you already know. It is not uncommon for people to be working on multiple sites simultaneously. The odds are pretty good that someone you know on one site will be able to clue you in to another great opportunity on the Internet.

Make Your Own Opportunity

Starting your own company online is really easy. There are several eCommerce software solutions that will help you get started in minutes. You don't have to worry about hosting, learning HTML or even marketing. All you need is a good attitude and a quality product to offer to your customers.

Online work from home opportunities are not hard to find. It should only take a few minutes of searching to find an opportunity that works for you. Job forums, old-fashioned networking or starting your own business are all legitimate options.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/7274368

The 4 Cornerstones For A Work From Home Online Business

Running a successful work from home online business can look so simple when you are on the outside looking in. You look at these successful internet entrepreneurs and it looks like they aren't doing anything special and simply living the good life. But running a successful home internet business is a lot more than pushing a few buttons on a computer each day. Successful internet entrepreneurs have worked very hard for the success that you see them enjoying.

To follow in the footsteps of the people who have found success online, there are four cornerstones that you need when starting your own online business.

1. The Right Mindset And Attitude.

The success of any business, not just an online business, calls for the right mindset from the beginning. A proper and healthy mindset will not automatically guarantee success but a improper and unhealthy or unrealistic mindset will most certainly guarantee failure.

What is a right and healthy mindset when starting your own online business? Firstly, it is the willingness to work as hard and as long as is necessary to achieve the goals that has been set. However, it is not about the belief that success will be easy, quick or without effort.

2. Recognizing and Using Leverage.

There are many online business opportunities out there. Some are, of course, more successful than others but they all come with their own set of pros and cons.

Once you get a website built, you will need to begin leveraging SEO (search engine optimization) and gaining page rank. One thing does lead to another, of course, but one of the quickest ways to leverage SEO is to add a blog to your website. This is a way that you can get much more quickly indexed by the search engines. Leveraging also includes branding yourself, your website and your products. Remember that reputation and credibility are everything on the internet.

3. Building A List.

List building means building a list of prospective and actual customers who you can email with details about your services and products that they may want to buy from you. List building is crucial to the success of any work from home online business, irrespective of the market niche.

Not everyone who comes to your website will want to buy from you immediately. In reality, it is not likely that they will purchase anything on their first visit. That it is why it is important get their email address, so that you can stay in contact with them by way of email marketing.

4. Finding A Suitable Mentor.

When starting your own online business, it isn't likely that there is a more valuable asset that a new e-entrepreneur can have than a good and capable mentor. Someone who has already made all of the mistakes can help you to avoid making all of the mistakes yourself.

A mentor will have the wisdom that comes from experience to point out pitfalls and to help direct you toward the better of choices. Of course, a successful internet entrepreneur is not going to be interested in wasting their time on a person who is not willing to work hard and is genuinely serious about creating a legitimate work from home online business.

When setting up an online business there can seem to be a mountain of obstacles to climb - from getting your website online, to finding the right products to sell and the best customers to buy them. 

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/8701998

5 Free Home Business Marketing Tools to Help You Work From Home Online

Having success marketing your business online can be a lot easier than you might think. Here are five of my favorite home business marketing tools that will help you grow your business faster. With the number of people who are looking to work from home online these days the internet is the best place to market your home based business hands down. There are a lot more than 5 tools, but these are some of the easiest and more effective.

Free Home Business Marketing Tool #1 - Home Business Blogs

Every single home based business owner on the planet needs to have a blog of their own. However, what I'm going to talk about in this article is using other people's blogs to your advantage. There are about a million and one home based business blogs online.

Go to several home business blogs every day, read the most recent post, and write a comment about it. Make sure your comment is actually about their blog and not just an ad for your business. Leave your blog or website in the comment as well because that's how you'll end up getting more traffic.
Commenting on other home business blogs is simple, easy and you will not believe the traffic you can generate using this simple concept.

Free Home Business Marketing Tool #2 - Home Business Forums

Home based business forums are everywhere. Some of them have a lot of traffic and some of them don't, but a great way to get the word out about your website, articles, videos and blogs is to post on at least one forum regularly. Again, don't be a spammer. Contribute something in every post you make and it's another simple and easy way to get more highly targeted traffic to your website.

Free Home Business Marketing Tool #3 - Free Classified Ad Sites

While a classified ad in the local paper can get really expensive there are some online classified ad sites that are free to use and extremely popular. The biggest free classified ad site is Craigslist but it's not the only game in town. It doesn't take long to post an ad on a website like Craigslist and when you use these sites consistently they can be really effective.

Free Home Business Marketing Tool #4 - Social Bookmarking Sites

Social bookmarking sites like Digg and many others are really beneficial for getting more attention to articles, blogs, videos, and websites that you've already posted. It's just a good way to get more bang for your buck. Or in this case, since it's free, more bang for your time.

You've already done the work to write your articles or post to your blog so doesn't it make sense to get more traffic to the marketing tools you're already using?

Free Home Business Marketing Tool #5 - Social Networking Sites

Want to be successful in a home based business? You have to talk to a lot of people right? Sites like Facebook, Twitter and MySpace already have MILLIONS of people. These sites are a great way to talk to a lot of people in a short period of time. Marketing your business on social networking sites isn't a one time thing, to be effective you'll need to use them almost every day.

If you want to work from home online and have more success in your home based business use all five of these free home business marketing tools. They've worked for me and countless others and I know they'll work for you.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/2644865

Yes! You Need A Huge Dose Of Persistence To Succeed As A Home Based Entrepreneur

In this article, I'm going to discuss PERSISTENCE as an important aspect of the Success Motivating Matrix.

"When the going gets tough, the Tough get going"

"Winners never quit and Quitters never win"

You may be wondering why I started with the quotes above. I've used these quotes because they aptly describe the topic I'm about to discuss.

They're all quotes/phrases that show in different ways, the sentiment people have attached to Persistence.

Persistence is really a very important and necessary characteristic for success as a Home Based Entrepreneur.

After over two decades of my involvement with entrepreneurship both as a Serial Entrepreneur and a Trainer, I see entrepreneurship as a way of life. You learn from your mistakes and try to improve on your next endeavor. Though it's possible, but It's not usual for an Entrepreneur to succeed at the very first attempt.

As a determined entrepreneur, you must develop the persistence and burning desire to succeed.

First you develop the idea for the business, make your plans and start the business.

As you go along, there'll always be times when you feel you've hit a brick wall. These could come in different ways - it could be that government just introduced a new policy that may not favor your business or a product innovation introduced by your competitor may be nipping the market share from you.

The Entrepreneur may even be overwhelmed by the share operations of the business.

At such times you must remain focused on your business ideas, readjust your plans when and where necessary to take into consideration, the unfolding events in your business niche.

This is why a well written Business Plan must be flexible enough to embrace any developments that may come up as business operations continue.

The ability to stay the course and maintain focus despite opposing odds is what defines PERSISTENCE.

Being persistent is the mark of a true fighter and for you to succeed as a Home Based Business Owner, you must have a good dose of Persistence.

Persistence is a very critical success factor for any Entrepreneur. There are other necessary success factors but persistence is definitely very important in the Success Motivating Matrix.

You must have faith in yourself and your business idea because other people may not believe in it.

This reminds me of the story of Henry Ford. Mr Ford had failed in five business ventures before he launched The Ford Motor Company which turned out to be a huge success.

Mr Ford also showed much persistence when he wanted to develop a car with V8 engine. His engineers kept telling him it was not possible but Ford insisted it could be done and on each occasion, persuaded and cajoled them to continue with the project.

Eventually success smiled on him and a car with a V8 engine was born. This was a classic case of what persistence can achieve.

Indeed, history has shown that when Persistence is applied positively, all the laws of nature conspire and converge to grant the Entrepreneur a reprieve.

I always encourage my Trainees to have faith in their business ideas and personal ability to make their business succeed.

I believe that Persistence is an attribute of success that can be learned under the right circumstances. I make my Trainees to understand the importance of Persistence and many have gone ahead to succeed beyond their dreams.

As a Serial Entrepreneur, my strong belief is that you learn from your mistakes and failures and carry these over to the next business enterprise

You don't abandon ship just because of a bad storm experience. Instead you build on your experience and try to take better decisions next time.

However, It's instructive to state that you must know when to stop being obstinate with your Persistence and instead adjust your plans or use another approach to achieve the desired results.

Thank you for "persisting" to the end of this write-up.


Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/9707178

High Paying Work From Home Jobs

Work From Home Jobs are becoming popular day by day due to the changing way of jobs. There are many jobs that are available online which can be done through your laptops and without even coming to the office.

With VPN connectivity, it is now possible to do many works directly from home. Thanks to the World Wide Web, Work from Home Moms now have the opportunity to showcase their skills and earn some money from home.

So if you have expert skills in various fields, you are one of the best one to get a job online. Work at home jobs have become popular in recent years with growing popularity to Internet and getting paid easily online.

#1 High Paying Work At Home Jobs

There are many jobs that are possible to be finished from home. Some of them need skill sets like Writing, Web Designing, Blogging etc which are very profitable and useful on a long term.

One of the best suggested Work At Home Jobs that can be started easily is providing writing services online. Every website needs content that is related to their website categories and which are useful for readers.

As content requirement is necessary for every website to showcase their products and share information of their products, there are many writing opportunities available for people who have good skills in writing and have creative skills to showcase products.

There are many web sites that requires content writing opportunities. Once you learn writing articles on various topics, you can start writing content for websites that are looking for quality content writers. There are many waiting to provide you writing opportunities. Creativity is the key. If you have it, you got your job.

#2 Web Designing and Web Development

Another category of online Jobs that has a lot of opportunities is Web Designing. Hundreds of websites are being developed every day and requirement for web designers is never ending.

If you are an expert PHP developer or HTML or CSS developer, there are many major companies online that are ready to hire you on a hourly or monthly basis. Such is the craze for these jobs online. You can check out in the top freelancing sites for getting a suitable project for doing work from home.

#3 Logo and Banner Designing

Design Jobs are another popular niche of freelancing and online jobs. Logo and Banners help businesses to attract new customers for their website and make their business more popular. So the requirement for these jobs are never ending.

For getting into these niches, one should have knowledge about Logo Designing and Banner Designing. There are many Logo Designing tutorials which are available in the web which helps job seekers to get an idea of the basics of designing.

You can Spend 4 to 5 hours of time for one month in learning these tutorials and once you get good knowledge about these designing, you can start accepting jobs from top freelancing sites online where hundreds of advertisers are available providing their requirements.

These are a few examples of popular work from home jobs. Start building expertise in one of the niches above and start earning money online doing freelancing through these work from home jobs.


Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6558307

Keys To A Successful Online Business Opportunity - Do You Know These Important Keys?

When it comes to online businesses and home business opportunities, they are key skills required to ensure success. You have to be a person that is determined, Patient, and consistent if you want to see a quick return on investment. However, in my humble opinion, I believe that the most important key to a successful and long-lasting brand is the key to establish trust amongst the masses.

Think about it for a second!

When you go to your local supermarket, you buy items such as; meat, fish, bread and other types of food. I would assume that you do not know the owner of the supermarket or the workers there. Although you do not know that many people from the supermarket, you trust the overall brand. Because you trust the brand, you pay for items that you will put in your body.

Unfortunately, building trust is a very difficult thing to do. Without trust, no business will last. Luckily for you, I am happy to share some practical tips that can make your brand successful.

First Key - Keep It Clean And Professional!

You are an extension of your brand so make sure you represent it well. You can do this by uploading a picture of yourself in business attire. Make sure that any inappropriate pictures of yourself are taken off the web. People are more likely to trust you with their money if you look the part. In addition, make sure that you stay organized and clean. If you are interested in starting an online business, you must keep a space in your home that is only dedicated to your company.

Second Key - Keep Promises Made With Clients!

Make sure your clients are happy with the products or services being offered by your company. If a client buys your product and feels that he or she has been misled or has been a victim of false advertisement, they will never trust you again. In most cases, you only get one chance to make a strong impression. Make sure you understand your products and services correctly and clearly, so you can communicate the benefits of what you have to offer in a correct fashion.

Bonus Key - Gain More Trust By Becoming More Educated!

You must challenge yourself every month to learn more things about your brand. The reason for this is because the business world is extremely competitive. One advantage you can have over your opponents is to know more about what you have to offer than them.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/9727320

Freelance and Fiverr Widen Workers' Freedom

Freelancer: You are the cutting edge of modern work design.

Designer work is here. Your "job" can now be tailored to fit you like fine custom clothing, and you are the tailor. To benefit, you need an independent spirit and the self-awareness to define just what it is that you really want to do with your life. That can be harder for some than they expect since neither school nor work may have asked us, "What would you love to do?" Neither bosses nor employees normally get to do just what they feel like doing; just ask them.

Freelance work is a way to discover your work in the world and thereby discover yourself. Acknowledging the difficulty and the importance of finding proper work, or right livelihood, the Buddha advised: "Your work is to discover your work and, then, with all your heart, to give yourself to it." The freelancer is challenged to discover work they can do with whole-hearted devotion. Half-hearted jobs are worse than second-rate; they diminish our lives.

Online resources, like Fiverr, allow any person to create, from scratch, their preferred-or even their ideal-services and test them out with no risk. The crafting of work has never been this adaptable to the desires of the individual worker. In online micro-service marketplaces like Fiverr, each individual completely designs their own work: their services, their policies, and their style. Freelancers are free to create their heart's desire, so long as it builds a following.

Traditionally, the work shapes the worker.

The employee-sculpting process used to begin with selecting pliable prospects. It continued by instruction and "job training." And finally, the work itself reshaped the worker with help from discipline when rules were enforced. If a job required you to be present at the same time your child's proper care and nurture also "required" your presence, either the job came first or the employer got more careful when selecting and training your replacement.

In the allegedly "good old days," your preferences were your problem. If the boss even listened to what you might prefer, or how you thought things should be done, it counted as a "favor," even if unaccompanied by action. After all, you had been listened to, hadn't you? If you didn't want the job, you could just leave. The fact that worker concerns were generally ignored was, generally, ignored.

Must the work reconfigure the worker?

Throughout history, the laborer's bent back has illustrated how the work has shaped the worker. Often, the work has misshaped the worker. The "freedom" in "freelance" means you do not have to reshape, repress, or camouflage your authentic self to fit the expectations of strangers. With growing automation and robots doing the boring work, the individual's deepest interests and intrinsic motivations will only grow in their importance.

As an independent operator, the freelancer is free to shape the work that shapes their life. This process requires self-discovery which is followed by study and work that appropriately engage, enchant, and empower that specific individual. The social systems we create, later recreate us in their image as we live within them. New models for work that is nourishing, in and of itself, will lead to more fulfilling lives for many.

One of the wisest teachers I ever met, Joseph Campbell, urged everyone to discover their natural enthusiasm and "follow their bliss." Finding what you love to do is the key, according to Campbell. He underscored the need for meaningful work with a warning: "I think the person who takes a job in order to live-that is to say, for the money-has turned himself into a slave." Working a job you dislike may keep you fed, but that's closer to surviving than to thriving. Ill-suited work will not satisfy your hopes and dreams. It will not challenge you, discover your talents, or realize your potential.

Modern Freelancing is the workshop of employment innovation.

Entrepreneurs and freelancers are re-imagining the shapes that work can take. Observe the growth of diversified and personalized services (at sites like Fiverr) that address the needs of both parties to the transaction. Freed from the power hierarchy of the boss-over-worker model, the freelancer can relate on an equal footing. They are no longer enslaved by survival employment.

There is an accumulating tide of individualized experiments in new and better ways to work. This experimentation contributes to newly emerging attitudes toward work and a diversity of personalized service models. We improve everyone's lives when we design work that inspires workers and provides work they can do with care, because it's work they care about.

Anyone can join this movement toward new ways to work. Concepts like purpose and hope and joy and even love-long kept alive in freelance work-can eventually spread to more of how the world does its work. By upgrading the quality of work itself, a society improves every citizen's quality of life.

Consciously chosen freelance work can accelerate personal growth and increase life satisfaction. Surprisingly, people often derive more satisfaction from doing meaningful work than from seeking "escape" or pleasure. When you're doing the right kind of work, I agree with playwright Noel Coward: "Work is much more fun than fun."

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/9747774

When the Going Gets Tough, Start a Home Based Business

These suggestions might sound way out for someone struggling to survive in a bad economic situation. But it is the way I dealt with it when unemployment and the need to care for three young children drove me. Everyone has talents and can offer themselves if they know how and this is the crux of a good business. What are you good at and how to present yourself. Above all build up your ego and self-esteem.

In my case my early life was full of opportunities and it is sill something that amazes most people. Marriage, however, brought changes for which I was unprepared. Going from complete independence my then husband decided to not support me and when my first was due I was left with the idea of opening a baby shop.

It was OK but quite a drag after the second child came along. My mother who had supported me there and spent long hours behind the counter passed away and things went from bad to worse. Eventually we moved into our own home well away from where I grew up and into an area completely foreign to me. Travelling back and forth to the shop took hours and selling it was the only alternative.

Being at home was horrible as my whole body rejected not being involved in something. The money was also very tight as I still struggled with the meagre income of my partner. He had a drawing board for designing houses and one day I decided I could also use it for designing purposes.

All my life there was a love of gardening and drawing in my persona. Recently taking up art I also found teaching it in the front yard was a good possibility. It did not, however, bring in much money and this caused some friction to emerge in the marriage.

One day I decided to put an ad in the local paper and presented myself as a landscape designed. This was something never attempted by me before and nervously I approached my first appointment. It was for a garden in one of the richest areas around us and the lady loved my ideas and paid me $400 for my first ever design.

After that things snowballed. I bought magazines and books on designs and many engaged me then to carry out the work involved. This allowed me to hire staff and then to undertake garden maintenance. Meanwhile I also opened a shop to sell products to support my designing business.

It is my belief that anyone can do things like this if they are inventive enough and willing to have a go. Whatever one is even slightly good at the chances are you can start a home based business and who knows where it might lead you.

While my business expanded to a staff of 20 or more it was still mostly conducted from the home where the children grew up under my supervision. It provided enough income to have a nanny for them when they were young, to put them into private schools, and to have home help for the housework. No woman should say they can't do this when we have so many tools available to help us.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/9755364

Looking To Start A Home Business

There are two ways to start your online business. The first way is product oriented architecture and the other is service oriented architecture. I will discuss and also provide you to settle your business online with my experience.

Before diving into an online business first thing is to clearly identify what is the nature of your business is it a service oriented architecture, for example, you are selling web development service or your consumer or you will write some content for your client or be promoting it online these are service oriented architecture. The other way is product oriented in which you are going to offer your product to your customers, for example, you are selling some mobile phones or selling some robots for kids.

First, we talk about the service oriented before doing that you need to do some marketing research for example what is the niche of your online business. what services you are selling to your customer who is your competitor and how you are going to sell yourself among that selling yourself means selling your skills, for example who are going to offer web designing service to your client in how much rate you are going to offer your service and how you keep maintaining your relationship with the client after you deliver the service. The most important thing is whether you sell service or a product you are going to compete throughout the world with is working in the same niche as you.

Second, architecture is product oriented. The same thing goes for product oriented architecture that is the niche of the product also what is the nature of your product oriented business, for example, it is business to business, business to consumer or business to the seller.

In both businesses, you have to compete throughout the world. Moreover also how you sell yourself or product. Social media is one of the most vital things for selling your business. Go out and broadcast what you have. Be confident on your self. Make a video of what you are selling post it one YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter. Generate a lot of traffic to your website and blog. The more you get traffic the more business you will generate. The second most important thing how you the optimization of your website to generate the traffic. To a lot of both on page and off page optimization for your website to generate traffic.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/9743475

Create Your Own Business From Home - Is It Possible To Quit Your Job And Reinvent Your Future?

Creating a business from home is not as difficult as people may think. There are a multitude of home businesses that offer people the chance to earn income from the comfort of their own home. All you have to do is find the right home business opportunity to join. Better Business Bureau is a non-profit organization that gives people the opportunity to get an objective review on most home business opportunities. If you are searching for the right opportunity, this non-profit organization is a safe place to see if an opportunity is legit or not.

According to home business magazine, marketing contributes to 58% of a business's success.

Once you find the right opportunity, you will have to use effective marketing techniques. Being involved with the right opportunity is half the battle, you will have to use up-to-date techniques in order to get the best attention from the marketplace. Below are some effective marketing techniques to use when you are launching your marketing campaign.

1. Seasonal marketing

Seasonal marketing is a great way to attract new customers for your brand. For retailers like Hallmark, Valentine's day represents the biggest portion of their business, according to Google. I would recommend that you do some research as to when your products are most in season for your market. If you know when your products and services are in season, you will be able to find demand and promote your products at the best possible time. I would recommend that you go on any search engine and search for free trend-tracking services in order to see when it will be the best time for you to market your product.

2. PR marketing

This type of marketing is expensive. If you have a big budget, you can use the power of public relations in order to bring awareness to your product. When Steve Jobs was alive, apple constantly held press conferences to announce new products. You can go on any search engine and research the best public relation marketing services in order to get started. I suggest that you start off with the lowest possible budget first before going to the more expensive packages.

3. Online marketing

Online marketing has elevated to a new level. You can use a multitude of online marketing services, like e-mail lists, in order to come in direct contact with the people who are interested in what you have to offer. To succeed in e-mail lists, you will have to master the art of prospecting and closing. Once people respond to your promotional e-mails, it is best to call them in order share what your product has to offer.You can master the art of calling leads by getting prospecting and closing scripts on any search engine.

According to home business magazine, any person who is affiliated with a home business opportunity can succeed as long as they master effective marketing techniques.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/9790905

How To Choose The Best ClickBank Health Niche Blog Posts

First of all there are a number of areas that I want to cover before we get to How To Choose The Best ClickBank Health Niche Blog Posts.

The reason for this is that you will need to understand these areas first before you even touch your computer keyboard otherwise you will simply be wasting your time. The areas I will cover include:

• Why you should be using a Blog to promote ClickBank products
• Other methods to promote your health product
• Why you should identify a niche market
• Factors to consider when choosing which health product to promote
• Top Tips for choosing the health product to Blog about
• How To Choose The Best ClickBank Health Niche Blog Posts

Why you should be using a Blog to promote ClickBank products

One of the best ways to promote your product is to build a blog or website to advertise your product. A blog is a fantastic way to drive traffic to your affiliate link as you are effectively creating a new website each time you blog which, if done correctly, will get people who are interested in your health product or service to buy your product.

Unlike paid traffic methods advertising on Google a blog is effectively free other than hosting charges and a good blog post will bring you traffic for years to come without you having to do much more at all to the blog other than the odd update.

There are many methods for setting up your blog including WordPress and Google Blogger.

The most important thing about your blogs is that they are relevant to the area of the health niche that you are promoting and that you get seen - in other words that you obtain a ranking on the top pages of Google.

Other ways to promote your health products

• Write a sales letter that accurately describes the product and what it can do for the buyer.
• Create a capture page (for email).
• Create a sales page for the product.
• Create a series of emails that offer info about the niche then promote the product to your email list.
• Find new ways to market your item. Post information about it in forums and on related websites

Why you should identify a niche market

In order to make money from ClickBank the first thing you need to do is identify a niche market. Try to market too general and you will basically be lost amidst the competitors.

The best example I can think of is that of a 'Mom and Pop' store which sells pretty much anything you can think of. If the store is in a small town in the middle of nowhere then the store will do OK. There will be little or no competition other than the nearest gas station so cost won't be much of an issue, there will be no problem with anybody finding the store as it is the only one around and people will appreciate the fact that they can buy pretty much whatever they need.

If you now put that same store in the middle of a huge city and what is going to happen? Well first of all there will be huge stores nearby such as Costco, Walgreens, Target etc all of which will out sell and out price anything offered by our Mom and Pops store as there is now huge competition and even the convenience factor won't help it as there will almost certainly be a 7-11 nearby.

You also won't be able to find the store in a directory as there will be thousands of stores selling the same thing so our Mon and Pops store is now out-matched, out-priced and out of sight.

The only way that a store such as this can survive is to specialise - the narrower the specialisation the better and aim to be the best store that is available in that niche.

Let's say that they specialised in samurai swords, there would more likely than not be little competition and in a city of millions there will always be enough people who are interested in Samurai Swords to keep the store in business.

Also, if those people looked up 'Samarai Sword specialists' in a business directory the chances are there will be little or no competition for our Mom and Pop store so the business there is out there will head straight to our store.

Now on the internet there are billions of customers so the need to go niche is even greater. You are not Amazon or eBay so don't try to compete with them, instead specialise - the more niche the better.

The health niche is a great specialisation to go for as there is a lot of interest in this area and a lot of money to be made but you need to specialise within this niche even further and your blog posts need to reflects this specialisation.

Factors to consider when choosing which health product to promote

Choose a product with a High Gravity Rating

The ClickBank gravity rating is based on the number of different affiliates that have made a sale during the week. A high gravity rating means that lots of affiliates are making sales and, in general, this means that the product is in hot demand and has a good chance of being profitable for you.

Choose a product with a High Sale Price

Very simply, the higher the sale price the more money you will make so providing the gravity is good it is better to sell higher priced items.

Choose Products that pay high commission

Choose products paying at least 60% commission It isn't worth the time and effort to promote a product unless your commission is at least 60% for lower ticket items of say around $30-$70; abiding by this rule means that you earn a minimum of $18 per sale. There are dozens of products in ClickBank that pay out 60% or more - the very best often pay out 75%. Only accept less than 60% commission if the selling price is above $70 and the gravity is good.

The only exception is for items that include Recurring billing. These are subscription-based ClickBank products often enable you to continue earning a commission every time the customer pays their subscription. In this case, you can lower your commission to 40%.

Check out the sales page

A lower gravity product is not necessarily unprofitable and new products in particular may well be very profitable and of course the competition will be less as fewer people will be selling the same product. Ways to find newer products which may sell well include clicking through to the sales page and checking for lengthy sales copy as this will convert much better than short copy.

You can then compare the copy with competing products. Is it convincing? If competitors have better looking and better-sounding sales copy, then the product probably won't sell well. Equally if you can find a new high cost product that has a detailed and well written sales page which is on a par with or superior to comparable products which have sold well in the past and provides an excellent commission percentage this may well be a great product to sell.

Search your product on the Internet

Check for Internet searches on the primary search term for your product in the form of lots of PPC ads.

You can take this as a sign that there is money to be made in the market. A highly profitable product should reveal dozens of PPC ads which is a sign of a healthy market.

On the other hand, if a search brings up only a handful of ads and only one of these appears to be an affiliate. This suggests that the market is either undiscovered, or unprofitable - and the likelihood is it will be the latter!

Top Tips for choosing the health product to Blog about

Promote high quality health products that you would personally enjoy and buy. If you personally like the products, you will find it easier to sell them. You will also share a similar understanding and passion of other potential customers. It adds to your credibility.

Review the tools and tips that the product owners offer on the Affiliates descriptions of their programs web page. Many offer helpful advice on how to best promote their product, and also banners and marketing collateral that you could use.

Test the affiliate links (Hoplinks) periodically to make sure that they are still working correctly. If something is wrong, you won't be making any money.

Check out your competition. Are there other affiliates who are already promoting these products. How are they doing it?

Read their sales copy, and ask yourself whether it's convincing, true, and believable. Copy what you think works and leave out what does not.

How to choose the best ClickBank health niche blog posts

OK so I am now going to go through the process of choosing one of the best possible ClickBank Health Niche Blog Posts using the information given so far.

So first of all let's choose a good product; I am going to choose one that provides a cure for Hemorrhoids.

OK not a very sexy product but great gravity and commission and the fact that it Pays Up To $417.85 Per Sign Up is very sexy!

Now you will need to find a list of keywords which are the best words to promote people to the page.

As far as I am concerned you absolutely need to be using a Keyword Tool in order to make the next step in the process work; I use Jaaxy but you can choose any of the tools out there.

Let's take what should be a great keyword which is 'Cure for Hemorrhoids.'

Jaaxy shows us the average amount of traffic that each word receives per month, the number of visits you can expect to receive each month to your website assuming you obtain a page 1 ranking on Google, the number of competing websites for your Keyword and a Keyword score out 100 showing how good the Keyword is.

'Cure for Hemorrhoids' has only an average score mainly due to the fact that there is so much competition for this word and you would be better off writing blog post entitled 'Cure for Hemorrhoids Naturally' as this has much less competition and although the page views are less you are much more likely to achieve them using this Keyword.

Therefore, for this ClickBank health niche I blog post I would suggest a title such as 'How To Find A Cure For Hemorrhoids Naturally' and then either research the article myself or pay someone $5 on Fiverr to write it.

So not only have we found a ClickBank product that works well in our niche but we have found an article with high scoring keywords which will be highly likely to rank on page 1 of Google and will bring around 72 targeted visitors to your blog per month all highly likely to click on your affiliate link and buy your product.

All you need to do now is replicate this in your own healthcare niche and crush it on ClickBank!


Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/8865095

Niche Blogging - What is It?

The discipline of blogging has really taken off in the recent times. Now, everyone and their cousin has a blog. With so much clutter, how do you stand out from the crowd? Well, Niche Blogging is the answer.

So, what exactly is niche blogging?

To understand niche blogging, let us understand a 'Niche" first. A niche can be defined as a field of interest and expertise, suited to a particular person or a group of persons. Therefore, Niche Blogging is running a blog, which caters to the interests of a focused group. This focused group looks for specialized information and knowledge, and is served by the niche blog.

How to identify a "Niche Blog":

You can identify a niche blog by identifying the following characteristics:

1) The niche blog is primarily centers on a particular, narrowly focused theme ot topic.
2) The content of the niche blog is such that it cannot be found anywhere else. In other words, it is unique content.
3) The target audience of the niche blog is focused. It caters to the interest of a select group who are looking for more information on a topic.
4) The topic of the blog is such that it commands an appreciable amount of traffic on the various search engines. People are actively looking for the specific information regarding that topic.

Popular Niches for Blogging:

The whole buzz around blogging has really got a momentum since people have successfully started earning money using blogs. Although the successful blogs are few and far between, yet they have a common characteristic - they are focused in their topics, that is, they are niche blogs. Some of the most popular niches are:

- Making / Saving money
- Photography
- Politics
- Sports
- Gadgets
- Career
- Business
- Writing and Blogging

The above list is only an indicative one. For better success, it is advisable to specialize further. In other words, you should choose a "sub-niche". For example, photography is a very wide niche. You could choose a specific area of photography, for example, nature photography.


Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/2074472