By Xenios Thrasyvoulou

When you own your own business you have to learn to blow your own trumpet as there’s nowhere to hide and no company to advertise your skills for you. Women in business often grow in confidence as they not only run their own company but become excellent marketers too. Despite popular belief you can promote yourself on a budget, all you need is a little time and a lot of self belief.

Here are some ways to make sure you reach your target market:

Online Profiles

You may not work for a big organization that guarantees recognition through advertising but you can utilize other websites to ensure your name appears in search results. For instance there are many women in business websites where you can set up a profile, detailing your hourly rate, your skills and even your portfolio. You can then use the sites success to ensure your own skills are noticed. Filling in online profiles on any business or freelancer website takes a matter of minutes. (more…)

By Bridget Sandorford

Working at home can be both one of the most fulfilling things that you do and one of the most frustrating. At times, you may experience booming business and can’t quite keep up with the demand all by yourself. At other times, you may wonder where your next job is going to come from and you may worry about being able to pay the mortgage that month.

Unfortunately, the ebbs and flows come with the territory when you work for yourself. However, you don’t have to sit back and do nothing when you aren’t getting the business you need. Here are a few ways that you can make the most of the downtime in your work when you aren’t getting as many clients: (more…)

By Holly Reisem Hanna

On any given day, I’ll receive an email asking, “How can I work from home… now!?” While I can offer up some general suggestions on different work at home paths, without knowing your background, expertise, passions, and skills it is very difficult to offer up a concrete recommendation. With this said, there is an easy way to start working from home immediately… and that’s by freelancing.

You may say, “I’m not a writer” or “I don’t know how to code websites”… well that’s okay. Being a freelancer is more than just writing, coding and designing. Freelancing is a way to sell services, whether it be writing, performing, editing, bookkeeping, translating, or consulting, without having a formal employer or boss. Freelancers work as independent contractors, filling in gaps where companies and small business owners need help, but the not service of a full-time employee.

The best thing about freelancing (besides working from home, and naming your own price) is that everyone has some sort of freelance-able skill, from software development and recruiting, to project management, sales, translation, virtual assistance… the list goes on and on. (more…)

By Dan Clarke

When you start working from home, getting support from you spouse is very important. Unfortunately not all spouses are willing to give you the support you need. When I first started my small business, my wife was not very supportive for various reasons. Fortunately I learned several tricks that helped me get the support I needed to make my dreams a success and now I will share them with you.

Here are five ways to get support from husband for your at home business.

1. What Is The Future Potential

Your husband may not understand that you have an actual business. Making jewelry, writing, taking pictures, talking to people, those are hobbies not actual work. Sure you may get some pocket change from it, but this is fun stuff. (more…)

By Leon Harris

Anyone who has done the self-employment shuffle will agree that this manner of earning an income is a mixed bag, just like most other jobs. There are certainly some major benefits to working for yourself; you can skip the commute, you get to be your own boss, and you can set a flexible schedule and take vacations whenever you want.

On the downside, you have to hustle for work, you don’t get benefits, and you lack some of the many protections that employees under the corporate umbrella enjoy. As a freelancer, you’ll also face a very different set of legal issues than your 9-to-5 counterparts. And what you don’t know could definitely hurt you. (more…)