(Here’s an article of great value to small business owners, www.GBN-Online.com)

Top Reasons to Work at Home
With the internet and online capabilities becoming a more
and more dominant force in the world, it has increased the
popularity of people starting to work at home. There are,
like anything, reasons not to work at home; it’s not for
everybody. But, depending on your career and lifestyle, it
can be the best option available, and is starting to be
that way for more people everyday. Below are four of the
best reasons to work from home.

Closer to your family

The most important people in our lives are our families,
right? If you work at home, 99% of the time you will be
closer to them. Schools that your kid(s) goes/go to will
undoubtedly be closer, and you’d probably be closer to your
spouse’s job location, too. This is especially important
because by working at home, it essentially gives you the
power to set your own hours of work so you can be more
available to your family if they ever need you. You do not
have to be afraid to ask your boss to leave for any reason,
because you are your own boss.

Saves Money

Working from home can, and will, eventually save you untold
amounts of money, depending on your situation, of course.
If you have young children, you can watch them yourself
while at work and forget about worrying about daycare. The
most obvious reason would have to be the money saved on
gas. Obviously, by commuting to work everyday, that costs a
lot of gas, and, with the state of the world and global
warming, you help lower car pollution in the process. Even
if you take public transportation, you would no longer need
to buy a bus pass. This also leads to time saved, which is
the next reason to work from home.

Saves Time

If you are discipline enough to get work done when it needs
to be, you can use time to your advantage. A big part of
the time-saving comes from getting ready for work, and
commuting to and from it as well. Again, as long as you are
efficient enough, you can start when you want, end when you
want, and take breaks whenever they suit you best.

No Dress Code

Working at home gives you the power to wear whatever you
want, which saves time and stress, to a certain extent. If
you are more comfortable just working in your pajamas or
something like that, then it increases the chances of your
work being better because of it.

—————————————————-
Kerry Johnson is webmaster of
http://www.skoshabizonline.com your Online Business Ideas
site.Sign up for his free home business newsletter and
receive free affiliate marketing and home business related
ebooks.

(Here’s an article of great value to small business owners, www.GBN-Online.com)

10 Tips for Improving Your eBay Response
The buyer is in front of your auction, and they’ve read the
description. They must be interested, but how do you push
them over the line to place a bid on your item? Here are
some tips.

Improve your picture: In all that description writing, you
might have missed the vital importance of your item’s
picture. A picture with bad lighting or an intrusive
background looks unprofessional and won’t inspire anyone
want to buy from you.

Add an About Me page: You’ll be surprised how much you can
reassure bidders just by creating an About Me page and
putting a little bit about yourself on your business on
there. It gives your business a personal touch. You can
also have a few special offers there for people look at the
page, and let people subscribe to your mailing list so that
you can email them updates and maybe special offers.

Use SquareTrade: Signing up at SquareTrade and displaying
their logo on your auctions shows that you are committed to
have them resolve any disputes that arise. You always see
this on PowerSellers auctions - it makes you look more
professional and committed to customer service.

Write terms and conditions: Have the details of things like
shipping times and prices, your refund policy, and any
other business practices you might have clearly visible on
all your auctions. This helps build confidence with buyers
and helps prevent confusion.

Use your feedback to your advantage: Copy and paste a
selection of the feedback comments you’re most proud of to
each item’s description page, instead of making bidders go
and look for it. If you have 100% positive feedback, be
sure to write that on every auction as well.

Add NR to your titles: If you have extra space in a title,
put ‘NR’ (no reserve) on the end. Bidders prefer auctions
that don’t have a reserve price, and doing this lets them
see that yours don’t.

Benefits not features: Make sure your description focuses
on the benefits that your item can give to the customer,
not just its features. This is a classic sales technique.
If you have trouble with this, remember: ‘cheap’ is a
feature, ’save money’ is a benefit. A benefit answers
“what’s in it for me?” for the buyer.

List more items: If you want more people to respond to your
items, then list more items! You might find you have better
luck listing items at the same time, instead of one-by-one.
There’s no need to use a Dutch auction - you can just keep
two or three auctions going at once for an item you have
more than one of in stock.

Accept unusual payment methods: To reach those last few
buyers, accept payment methods that many sellers don’t,
like checks. Not everyone likes or uses PayPal.

Buy some upgrades: Upgrades such as bold, highlight, etc.
can help your auction stand out more and improve responses.
In competitive markets, these upgrades may be worth the
price.

—————————————————-
Allen Owen is an enthusiastic home business entrepreneur
and engineer. Have a look at his eBay tips e-zine:
http://www.thedigitalresevoir.com

(Here’s an article of great value to small business owners, www.GBN-Online.com)

You’re Not a Loser…and Other Deep Insights You May Have Missed Along the Way
Lately, I’m noticing a certain drop in confidence among
some outstanding people. Three clients in two days have
shared the following:

* “I’m so incompetent in this job.” (He isn’t.)

* “My boss is so smart and so visionary, I feel like he’s
way up there and I’m way down here. I don’t know why he
picked me to join this team.” (Her boss is my client, too.
I know why he picked her. It’s because she’s good, she’s
trustworthy, and she can handle the big stretch.)

* “I’m not an expert in that.” (She is. She’s just not a
deep technical expert, which at her level, she shouldn’t
be. That would mean doing her team members’ work instead of
her own.)

And this is a pretty typical week for me lately.

I’ve worked directly with countless bosses at all levels
and in every imaginable industry of every imaginable size.
We’ve partnered together to do succession planning,
organization design, and talent management, under good
circumstances and during times of great organizational
crisis.

This insider status helps me get something you may not be
getting - direct insight into how your boss picked you and
what he or she really expects. I’ll let you in on few
secrets:

1. Odds are excellent that you were chosen for the role
you’re in because you were the best choice out of several
strong contenders. You were not, however, the perfect
choice, because that’s a fairy tale. It does not exist.
Stop imagining that there’s a perfect CIO, VP, Architect,
Managing Attorney, or whatever you may be, that you need to
hold yourself up to.

2. Even if you were just best of several bad choices, or
the only person they could find, who cares? It’s a chance
to prove to yourself and to others that you are capable of
a lot more than you or they think.

3. The same applies if you were part of an acquisition.

4. Your boss knows you’re not the expert in much of
anything. He or she just doesn’t care. You’re there to be
an excellent leader who delivers results and continuously
strengthens the organization for the long term.

This is not to say you can get by with knowing nothing
about the function you lead. If you feel a little unsteady
without more education, ask your direct reports for a
mini-tutorial, or attend a conference with them or invest a
little time in some training, but dedicate most of your
ongoing development to your leadership and management
skills. That’s how you add value to the business. You’re
better than you think. Cut yourself some slack!

—————————————————-
Jennifer Selby Long, Founder and Principal of Selby Group,
provides executive coaching and organizational development
services. Jennifer’s knack is helping clients navigate the
leadership and organizational challenges triggered by
change and growth. She knows firsthand that great plans
often fail because companies don’t take into account the
human factors that come into play when implementing them.
Visit Jennifer at: http://selbygroup.com