con-test \noun\(kän-test):  a competition in which each contestant performs without direct contact with or interference from competitors. [purposed from Merriam-Webster online dictionary]

This definition sounds a bit serious, doesn’t it?!  We think so! At The Little Card Company, we believe a contest should be defined by the amount of fun, creativity and inspiration involved… and, of course, there must be some very appealing rewards for the winners!

We’ve tried to be faithful to all those requirements with our CHRISTMAS DESIGN CONTEST 2011. We’re a custom Christian photo card company looking for one-of-a-kind Christmas design submissions … designs that inspire a sense of joy, include an inviting element of Christian faith, attract the eye with a fresh color palette – and come packaged with a fresh, modern twist!  It’s a tall order, we know.

But we also know there are any number of women out there that can accomplish the goal. One of our primary objectives has been to get the word out to moms just like us… Christian, stay-at-home-moms looking for interesting opportunities to use their talents and skills to work from home. We think this contest just might fit the bill! (and, we hope some of you will think so, too!)

Now for the most important information of all… the PRIZES!

• 1st Place:  Apple iPAD2
• 2nd Place:  $150 cash 
• 3rd Place:  $100 cash
• Judges Award:  Canon Powershot Digital Camera
• (Plus 5% commission on net profits for all winning designs!)

Can’t get too much better than that! We hope we’ve inspired you to put your God-given talents to work and submit a design (or a few… there aren’t any limits). We can’t wait to receive your work!  Visit www.littlecardcompany.com/contest2011 for complete contest information and submission guidelines. Entry deadline:  August 12, 2011.

Happy designing!

Disclosure: This is a sponsored post, however we only promote items we feel would be beneficial to our readers and is in line with the CSAHM mission.

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What is a Freelancer?

A freelancer is someone who works for pay. They may work from assignment to assignment. Or they may sign on to work with a company for an extended period of time. Regardless of how they work, they are self employed. This means as a freelancer you are responsible for your own taxes. You’re also responsible for your own insurance.

An example of a freelancer might be a website designer, a writer, a photographer, or even an administrative assistant. In fact, many professions can be freelance. You can be a freelance sales person, a freelance accountant, a freelance attorney and so on. If you have a marketable skill, chances are you can work as a freelancer.

How Does a Freelancer Make Money?

Most freelance workers charge by the hour or by the project. For example, a freelance journalist might charge a flat rate for an article. The flat rate would include interviews and research as well as photographs, the writing and editing of the content. Of course, as a freelancer you can charge by the hour too.

The more clients or projects you have, the more money you make. Many freelancers make quite a substantial annual income.

How to Get Started as a Freelancer

To get started as a freelancer you’ll want to choose a specialty. What are you good at? What are you interested in? For example, if you’re interested in learning more about motorcycles then you could become a freelancer that specializes in writing about motorcycles. You could write for magazines and websites that focus on the topic.

You don’t have to specialize on a topic or industry. You could specialize in a format. For example, you could be a website designer that specializes in creating custom WordPress based websites. You could be a copywriter that specializes in business to business sales pages. The specialty you choose should be something you’re interested in and/or skilled at.

You’ll also need a website to promote and market your services. Your website will have samples of your work along with your rates, policies and procedures and your bio. You don’t have to have real customers to create a portfolio. Create a few samples. Once your business is booming, you can add your new work to your samples.

Getting started as a freelancer is straight forward. Begin with a business plan. Decide what you’re going to offer and how you’re going to offer it. Who are your customers? How will you charge? What are your goals and how will you reach them? With a little planning you can have your freelance business up and running in less than a week. It’s a great way to make a living.

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So at CSAHM we launched a sister website designed to answer your individual work at home questions, whether you have yet to begin working from home, or you’d like to learn how to grow your online business. Our website, CSAHM, isn’t really designed to dive into the topic of working from home, even though we like to encourage the stay at home mom to consider the benefits and possibilities working from home offers, and we hope our articles do offer this encouragement. Working from home takes a bit more knowledge and focus than what we can’t truly offer up here on our website.

We created the WAHM Newbie as a place for you to read up on articles, find answers to frequently asked work at home questions, and we also have a place for you to submit your very own individual work at home questions on a consultation basis. We hope and pray this website will benefit all moms who wish to work from home so that they can stay at home with their kiddos.

Be sure to check out the CSAHM savings center for a special offer to WAHM Newbie!

You can learn more about WAHM newbie by clicking on the banner below!

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What is a Virtual Assistant?

A virtual assistant is someone who provides administrative help. Instead of working in an office environment, they provide the work online. As a virtual assistant you might communicate with your clients via email or a project management system.

You can specialize in a specific task, for example, managing a forum or an affiliate team. Or you can offer a variety of administrative services. You can also specialize in an industry.

What Do You Need to Get Started as a Virtual Assistant?

* Computer with internet connection
* Software to support your administrative services
* Telephone and related equipment like a headset so you can talk hands free
* Website to market your services
* Business Plan – Your plan will your business goals, marketing strategy, audience, services, policies and procedures and so on.
* Contact information – Email account/telephone number

Most of this you probably already have and the rest of it can be acquired or created. The one thing you probably don’t have is a website. A one page website is all you need to get started. Once you have customers you can expand your website. You can add content and grow your business.

Making Money as a Virtual Assistant

Most virtual assistants charge by the hour. You might also consider charging by the project. Another option is to charge by the minute, word, or post depending on what service you’re providing. For example, if you’re offering transcription you might charge by the audio minute.

Marketing Your Administrative Business

Like many other businesses, it can be beneficial to specialize. For example you might market yourself as the 24-hour transcriptionist – turning around any transcription order in less than twenty four hours. You might specialize in managing affiliates, scheduling or managing customer service. You might also specialize in an industry. For example, you might focus on offering research for information marketers.

Your website will be your primary marketing tool. It’ll be where people can research your services, rates and view your work if you have any samples or testimonials.

Partnering with another service provider can be a great way to promote your business. For example, you might partner with a website designer who specializes in the same industry you do.

Social networking, advertising, and content marketing all help to build awareness too. Finally, some virtual assistants find great success by offering memberships. For example, you might offer five, ten and fifteen hour memberships. Members get a discount for committing to regular work. And you get regular work.

If you have an interest in offering administrative services and you want to work from home, from your kitchen table, you can do it. Create a plan. Build a website and start making money today.

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What is an Affiliate Marketer?

An affiliate is someone who promotes products or services. In return, they earn a commission. Having a team of affiliates promoting a company’s products is good for them. It’s good for you too. You can spend your days discussing a topic you’re passionate about and make money at the same time.

Here’s an example.

Perhaps you are passionate about technology. You love anything new and advanced. Every day you blog about the technology you’re trying out. You post on Facebook about why you like, or don’t like, a new gadget. In your blog posts and occasionally on Facebook you post a link, your affiliate link, to the company’s sales page or offer. If someone clicks on your link and makes a purchase, you earn a commission.

The great part about being an affiliate is that you’re promoting products that you stand behind. You promote products that you like, respect, and own or would buy yourself. And you don’t have to sell the product, simply talk about it and link to it. In fact, trying to sell the product often doesn’t work.

The most effective way to earn money as an affiliate is to simply discuss the products and link to them. In fact, a simple product review works quite well.

What Do You Need To Get Started As An Affiliate Marketer?

There are really only four things you need to get started as an affiliate.

You need:

* A niche topic – What are you going to write about? The more specific it is the better. For example, technology is a broad topic. Mobile technology is more specific. Android mobile technology is an even tighter niche.

* A website – A website is an essential. It’s how you communicate with your audience. It’s how you promote your affiliate products. It’s how you provide value to your readers.

* Affiliate accounts with products/services that fit your niche – You can find affiliate products to represent by looking on affiliate directories. You can also visit the websites of products you love. Many companies have affiliate programs. If they don’t you might consider contacting them to establish an arrangement.

* Content – Content will be your most useful too. You can create audio, video or print content. Post it on your blog, on your website, on article directories. Podcast and share content on social networking sites. This is your opportunity to talk about your favorite topic and make money.

Being an affiliate marketer requires very little start up money. You’ll want a website or a blog. That’s essentially all you need to get started.

So, what do you love to talk about? Start planning your affiliate business today. Find your topic, choose products to promote and start making money.

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Making Money by Sharing Recipes

There are a few different business models you can embrace. One model is as an affiliate marketer. You can blog about your favorite recipes, create video cooking demonstrations and offer information about food and cooking. While discussing various recipes and cooking topics you can include links to relevant products. When a visitor clicks on the link and makes a purchase, you earn a commission. You can also profit from advertising sales and PPC clicks like Google AdSense. You can also write reviews for restaurants in your area and make money on advertising sales.

The second business model you can choose is an information marketer. You can create cookbooks and sell them online. You might consider creating a blog or website that supports your cookbook sales. For example, you could blog about various recipes and offer cooking demonstrations while also selling your cookbooks.

What Do You Need to Get Started?

First and foremost, you need a love of food! If you enjoy eating, and who doesn’t, then you’re set. The second thing to consider is a specialty. Do you want to focus on sharing soup recipes? What about bread or baked goods? Will you review restaurants? If so, will you focus on a type of restaurant or will you cover them all?

Before you hop online and start blogging or reviewing, create a business plan. Set goals for your business and strategies to achieve them.

You’ll also need basic equipment. You’ll want a computer with an internet connection. You’ll also want to create a blog or website. If you’re creating video content for your blog or website then you’ll also want a camera.

Chances are you already have a computer, an internet connection and you may have a video camera. That means all you need is a domain name, hosting and a website or blog. You can create that for just a few dollars. Of course you can spend thousands on a website too. However, there’s no need to spend a ton. You can create a great blog or website all by yourself for very little.

Marketing Your Business

As an affiliate or information marketer your biggest marketing tool will likely be your content. Content will help you rank on the search engines. You can also use pay per click advertising to drive traffic. Social networking is free and it’s a great way to increase awareness for your website.

Create a newsletter. Email newsletters are a great way to stay in touch with your readers. They’re also a fantastic way to promote a few affiliate products and earn extra money.

If you love food and you enjoy talking about it, consider building a business around your passion. Create a food blog. Write cookbooks. Share resources, recipes, reviews and information and earn income at the same time.

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What is a Professional Reviewer? How Do You Make Money?

A professional reviewer is someone who makes money reviewing products or services. There are actually several ways you can make money doing this. The first way is to create a review website that caters to a specific niche.

The easiest example is a book reviewer. If you love mystery books you can create a mystery review website. Read books and write reviews for them. You can make money in two ways. You can sell advertising space on your website. The more visitors and followers you have the more you can charge for ad space on your site. You can also make money by AdSense or affiliate income.

The second way you can earn money is by being paid for your reviews. Many companies pay for reviews. You can sign up with several review companies to become a professional reviewer. In this case you generally don’t need a website. The reviews are instead posted on other websites. The average pay for a review is between seven and thirty dollars.

What Do You Need to Get Started?

To become a paid reviewer you’ll need to have a few review samples in your portfolio. You’ll want to research potential review opportunities and sign up for those that meet your needs. You’ll also need a computer with an internet connection so you can submit your reviews and get paid.

If you create your own review website you’ll still need a computer with an internet connection.

You’ll also need:

• A website with a theme or niche – what are you going to review?
• An account with Google AdSense – if you intend on earning money this way
• Affiliate accounts with relevant companies – earn affiliate income on products you review or on banner ads
• Content – you will need reviews. This is the fun part. Create a personality and a style for your website. Research other review websites to explore possibilities.

That’s all you need to get started. To grow and market your business consider:

• Social networking
• Partnering with relevant business owners
• Creating a business plan that outlines your goals and strategies.

If you enjoy sharing and discussing your opinions, start making money at the same time. Choose a specialty or niche. Create your website and start profiting from your kitchen table today.

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What is an eBay Business?

eBay is an auction site. People look for items they need and they bid on them. The highest bidder wins. As a seller you can sell items in your home. For example, you might sell that old leather jacket that you never wear anymore. You can also start an eBay store to sell goods. In this case you might choose to sell a specific type of product. For example, you might sell house wares in your eBay store.

Your job as an eBay business owner is to find products to sell. Then you sell them, hopefully for a profit. You then ship the product to the buyer. It’s as easy as that.

What Do You Need To Get Started?

To get started selling on eBay you’ll need a few things:

• A camera – to photograph your products.
• Products to sell – this is the fun part!
• An eBay store – you can set one up for less than twenty dollars a month.
• Knowledge – you’ll want to make sure you’re buying items that can be sold at a profit. In many instances this means having knowledge about the demand and value of your chosen products.
• You might also consider creating your own website, though you certainly don’t have to. An eBay store may be sufficient to reach your sales and profit goals.

Note: You can sell your own home made products on eBay too. Many people sell jewelry, handmade clothing, art and even food on eBay. You can also sell information products.

Tips for Marketing and Growing Your eBay Business

#1 Research your competition. Spend some time on eBay browsing through other stores. What stores do you like? What do they do well? Why do you like them? What stores don’t you like and why? This research session will help you create a store that meets your needs and those of your customers.

#2 Plan your store first. Before you create your store, plan it. Depending on the level of store you’ve purchased you’ll get:

• A home page
• An about us page
• Logo
• Store description
• Promotion boxes
• Search box
• Store categories
• Gallery view

Designing your store on paper will help you create a great online store.

#3 Use eBay’s marketing tools. The more you market your store and your business the more profits you’re likely to make. eBay offers a number of marketing tools including:

• Email marketing
• Keywords
• Advertising
• Print materials
• Cross promotion tools

If you enjoy buying and selling or you are skilled at making products consider setting up an eBay business. It’s simple, cost effective and easy to use. Create your plan and start making money today.

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What is a Craft Business?

A craft business is a business you can operate online and off. You can create your own website and store. You can also use services like etsy.com and eBay.com to sell your products. In fact, many people sell handmade jewelry, candles, clothing, accessories and home goods. There’s a growing demand for unique, handmade products. If you have the skills, you can make good money.

What Do You Need to Get Started?

Getting started is fairly simple.

You’ll need:

• A computer – so you can communicate with customers and market your product
• A camera – to photograph your items.
• Product – you’ll want a few items for your inventory and to photograph for your website or store.
• A business plan – how much do you want to make? What expenses do you have? Who is your audience? How will you market your business? How much will your products cost?
• A website or store – Check out services like Etsy and eBay. eBay is an auction site however you can sell handmade goods at a fixed price. Etsy focuses on selling vintage and handmade items. It’s the perfect place to sell your handmade items. At both sites you can create a store. There’s a monthly membership fee but it’s generally less than twenty dollars each month. Both have a built in shopping cart system and payment and fulfillment system.

Tips for Marketing and Growing Your Business

#1 Research other craft businesses. Get online at Etsy and eBay and review their stores and websites. What works? What doesn’t? Before you create your store or website, plan it on paper.

#2 Prosper with partnerships. As a craft business owner you might even partner with other business owner to support each other’s success. For example, if you know someone who makes hand blown glass holiday ornaments and you make hand knitted holiday stockings you might band together to promote each other.

#3 Consider choosing a niche or specialty. It’s easier to find an audience if you have a specialty. For example, if you’re a painter you might enjoy painting a variety of scenes and using a variety of mediums. However, if you specialize you will have an easier time marketing your products. You might specialize in watercolors of fish or painting people’s pets. Specialization makes you the go to person for a specific type of product.

If you are a skilled artist or crafter you can make money with your hobby. Research your audience. Choose a specialty and set up your store. With a small investment you can begin making money right from your kitchen table.

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There are 5 traits every good leader possesses. If you don’t have these traits I strongly suggest you learn them. Yes, leadership can be learned. You don’t have to be a natural born leader to be a good leader. As a matter of fact, I know some natural born leaders who aren’t good leaders at all. (That brings up the question of whether or not they are really leaders then. We will leave that for another discussion however.)

A Good Leader is a Leader

I’ve heard the saying: “If you’re leading but no one is following, you are just taking a walk.” That is so true. Have you ever seen someone who is in a leadership position but no one is following them? I’m willing to bet you have.

Even some of the best leaders are not natural born. They’ve had to learn certain skills and what it takes to be a leader. You can do the same. When you lead people, you are actually teaching them, standing by their side and serving them. Yes, I said serving them. They will grow because of your example.

It’s like teaching your kids. You can’t teach your son to do the dishes if you don’t ever do them. You need to stand with him the first few times and do the dishes with him. Then when he is ready to do it by himself, the dishes will be all nice and clean, rinsed, dried and put away properly.

The same applies when you are in a leadership position in direct sales. Show your recruits how to do it and then do it with them. Next, help them when they first step out on their own. Yes, it takes time and energy, but there is no place better to invest your time and energy than in helping someone else.

A Good Leader is a Good Listener

A good leader isn’t one who thinks they know everything or who acts like she doesn’t have time to hear what her recruits or clients have to say. A good leader is one team members can go to when they need help with something or assistance in fixing a problem.

A good leader also knows what to listen to and what not to listen to. As a leader, you should not encourage gossip or negative talk about another person. You don’t have the time or energy to listen to someone who is a constant whiner and complainer. You’ll need some discernment and will also need to know how to politely turn away from this type of talk.

A Good Leader is Available

A good leader will make time for their recruits and clients. Some leaders have a set schedule for seeing recruits, but they also know emergencies arise and don’t get disgruntled when they do.

Set your own schedule, but be aware that your recruits will need you at times other than those you specifically set every once in awhile. Open your door and help them when they need it most.

A Good Leader is Organized and Knows How to Prioritize

This is not only true in business, but it is also true in a leader’s personal life. You’ll need to realize your family is most important and how to balance family and business. If you do not know how to organize and prioritize your business and personal life, don’t worry. There are tons of materials out there that can help you with this part. Look on the Internet or in your local bookstore for starters.

A Good Leader Doesn’t Let Obstacles Stand in the Way of Goals

In other words, you’ll need to know how to overcome obstacles or work around them. Also, don’t let negative people stand in your way. You should know how to block the negative and absorb the positive. Believe me, when you are in a leadership position, you will hear it all. Some of which you don’t want to hear, but have to just because you’re the leader. Filter out the bad and keep the good. Don’t let these obstacles stop you from reaching your goals.

There is a ton of information available on leadership qualities. Get some books, attend classes and learn from someone who is a good leader in your personal life, like your pastor, a teacher or sales director. Good leadership can be learned, you just have to be willing to study it.

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