Every day around the world, numerous starry-eyed entrepreneurs in various locations begin anew. Starting a home based business can be an exciting and invigorating time and it can give you a new lease on life and your earning potential. But it can also be frustrating and painfully slow too.When things don’t happen as planned, or sales are harder to come by, the fun an excitement of starting a new home based business quickly fades away. And this is precisely the point at which many struggling business owners make the serious mistake of diversification. That is, they wander off their chosen path in search of riches elsewhere.Essentially, it’s a lack of focus and a lack of focus can be fatal to a new business venture. Shiny new objects and opportunities beckon, making it seem like these other options are far easier and more lucrative. It’s “the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence” syndrome.No question about it, this is a huge problem for anyone starting a home based business today — particularly online. If you subscribe to numerous newsletters and ezines, it’s likely that new offers, specials and discounts are being presented to you on a daily basis. The lures are attractive… the offers strong. But even taking the time to read and consider new product pitches is time that could be better spent growing your new business.Pay attention to the amount of time you spend opening emails and checking out other websites and blogs. Do you find yourself looking at other methods, techniques and promised “solutions” regularly?If you’re willing to monitor your time for just one week, you’ll likely find the major culprit is a lack of focus. Sometimes it’s difficult to admit it because it means accepting responsibility. Also, ongoing learning should be part of the process for every single entrepreneur in the game. But where the trouble lies is in jumping into something completely different because it seemed like the right thing to do.When starting a home based business, you need to be vigilant. Do your research – yes. Create a simple business plan – yes. But you also have to launch into action and stay the course.Considering other options at this point is futile. Remain focused and work your plan. You’ve got to giveyour new home based business a fair shot.Nothing is accomplished by diversifying your interests at this early stage. Once the seed has been planted, you need to nourish it and created an environment in which it can grow. But starting a home based business one week, then trying a different “program” the next, is self-defeating. It’s like digging up the seedling before it has time to root.

Whatever your reasons are for starting an Online Home Based Business, I can assure you that you are taking a step in the right direction. It could be that you are fed up struggling through life paycheck to paycheck. Or you may want to be your own boss. Well read on and I will outline a list of the five great reasons that I truly enjoy about my Home Based Business, and you can too.Great Reason # 1 This is my favorite. You get to be a full time parent to your kids and at the same time earn a lucrative full time income. When I reflect back on my life over the years. All those years when I was working on average of sixty five hours per week. Leaving the house at 4:00 am every morning and getting home maybe around 6:00 in the evening. It;s obvious that I truly missed a lot of quality time with my two sons as they were growing up. Now of course I worked hard and was a good provider, and I was a good Dad when I was around. But take it from me there is no greater you can give your kids, than your time.Great Reason # 2 The beauty of an Online Home Based Business is that there is no cap as to how much you can earn. Now with a regular job, no matter how much time and effort you put into it your earnings are limited. There are many successful Home Based Business owners earning $10,000 monthly or more.Great Reason # 3 You do not need experience to get started and be successful. As a matter of fact when I started my Home Business I did not even know how to use a computer. But just like anything else in life, if you have the burning desire to do something, you will learn and do whatever it takes. In fact in this industry you will have the top earners teaching and coaching you on everything you will need to become successful in your Online Home Based Business.Great Reason # 4 You are the boss.The CEO. The President of your company. You make the decisions, good or bad. Of course being the boss means that you are responsible for the success of your business.Great Reason # 5 Starting your Home Based Business on the Internet is actually pretty cheap. If you compare it to the high cost of starting up a regular store front business where you would have to take out a huge loan to get started.So there you have it. If you are ready to take ACTION then I would like to invite you to visit http://meetalfredsimkins.com to learn more about lucrative Home Business opportunities.

There are so many benefits to starting a Home based business. Firstly the costs will be lower, there are no travel expenses and you can work in the comfort of your own home. Technology becomes more advanced each year, which means that it is easier than ever to run your business from home. Of course there are many legal issues to take note of, and pitfalls to avoid.Remember This IS a Business!Numerous home businesses fail because the owners don’t have the self-discipline it takes to work for themselves. Although you will have more freedom running your own business, it is still a business at the end of the day and needs to make money. Having set working hours and good head for business are two of the most basic skills you will need when starting out.Depending on the type of business you are setting up, a huge start up capital is not a necessity. There are plenty of web-based ventures that cost very little, and providing you have sufficient computer skills, can be highly lucrative. If you choose to start up an Internet company, it should be treated exactly like any other business, regarding the amount of effort you put in and the legal issues involved.Is Your House Suitable?Before you even entertain the idea of starting a home based business you will need to establish if you neighborhood is zoned for home-based businesses? Some municipalities do not allow home businesses at all, whilst others have strong restrictions on them. If you set up a business without ensuring it is legal then you are asking for trouble. It is best to check the zoning bylaws in your area before doing anything else.Secondly how suited to a business is your home? You will need a decent amount of space for all the equipment and paperwork. Do you have a room you can dedicate to your business? If clients will be visiting your home it needs to look professional and presentable. It is also essential you have an area free of distractions such as pets or other household members.LegalitiesWhen you are starting a home-based business, the legalities become your responsibility. Firstly you will need to decide whether you business is a sole proprietorship, partnership or corporation and then register your business name.Depending on what sort of business you have, you made need a business license. There are many resources online that can provide you with further information on this.Finally you must run your business according to provincial and federal laws, and that includes registering for workers compensation insurance.Starting a home-based business may be daunting and seem incredibly complicated. However there are free, government run organizations that will give you advice and guidance. Anyone can start up their own business, with the freedom to work for themselves and the potential to earn a much higher income. There is nothing stopping you from taking your future career into your own hands and starting a home-based business.

Heathrow Airport London is the busiest international airport in the world. Around 35% of its passengers are transit passengers, i.e. passengers that are just using London to make connections.
Just one reason why there are nearly 40 airport hotels at Heathrow serving the local demand for overnight stopovers.

For many of these hotels the businessman with an expense account is their bread and butter. This article seeks to address the leisure traveller, providing a guide to getting value for money locating a bed at Heathrow.

We’ll start off by dividing the hotels into three categories.
There are the large 4 and 5 star chain hotels like Hilton, Radisson and Sheraton aimed at the businessmen, typically charging $US200 during the week, half that at weekends.
Then there are the 2 and 3 star hotels, again mostly chains, like Comfort Inn, Ibis and Premier Travel Inn, aimed at the leisure traveller and the businessmen on a budget. These will typically charge just over $US100 during the week, about $US75 at weekends.
Lastly, there are the small independent local hotels, mostly family owned who offer cheap ‘bed and breakfast’ style rooms. These have the cheapest accommodation.

Room rates can seem good value, especially at weekends when the businessmen are away and everyone deep discounts to fill beds. However, beware, what the hotel doesn’t get in room rates they’ll try and get out of you in other ways.

There are no hotels in the central passenger area where Terminals 1, 2 and 3 are located, though there is a hotel linked to Terminal 4 on the south side of the airport – the expensive Hilton Hotel, not for most leisure travellers.
This means a bus transfer, and unlike most international airports there are no complimentary hotel transfer buses. The airport authority provides ‘Hoppa Buses’, mid-size buses that run every 10-20 minutes on fixed routes to Heathrow Hotels. At 3 GBP per person per journey, thats an extra $US20 for a couple staying at a Heathrow Hotel.

Most hotels will charge anything from $US10-$US30 for breakfast, and at most hotels there isn’t viable competition outside the front door. Dinner is similarly expensive and entertainment is largely limited to an expensive bar.

So, tips for the leisure traveller trying to economise.
Look for a hotel on the Bath Road, this is the northern perimeter road of Heathrow Airport and the main hotel strip.
Public buses run more frequently than the Hoppa Buses along the Bath Road into Heathrow Terminals, and they’re free. (The fees from the Hoppa Buses are part used to subsidise the free local buses).
The Bath Road is the only location where you can escape your hotel. There is a pub serving meals, 2 McDonalds, a bowling alley, a small supermarket and an Italian Restaurant that can provide breakfasts, snacks and meals on the Bath Road. There are also 24 hour public buses running to local towns Kingston and Hounslow for entertainment.
Taking the above together, the benchmark for the leisure traveller is the Ibis and Premier Travel Inn hotels.

The other local option is to consider local Bed & Breakfast hotels. These do not provide an airport transfer but many are on the periphery of the airport on a bus or underground route. Their room rates are similar to the budget hotels but this includes a hearty breakfast and the transfer is still cheaper than the Hoppa Bus.

One other option is to forget Heathrow altogether and overnight in Central London. The Heathrow Express takes just 15 minutes to London’s Paddington Station and there is lots of cheap accommodation around the station. You’ll certainly have a more entertaining evening in London than at an airport hotel, and at a similar overall price.

Social media has become an integral part of our day-to-day lives. Businesses of all size and shapes have started making the most of available mediums. Today we will try to anatomize tips on social media for small businesses. There are a plethora of small businesses eyeing social medium to promote their business/services. However, majorly these small businesses are failing or not being able to make optimum use of social media for their business growth. There are many theories and strategies on how to effectively use social media for established brands, but the topic social media for small businesses is seldom addressed. According to Digital state of eMarketing India 2017 Octane Research:

60% small businesses promote their business on social media. 50% focus on SEO and 35% use multichannel marketing funnel.
70% small businesses consider content strategy as their primary marketing activity.
52% business owners are using social media as to efficiently address customer engagement.
More than 20% of business owners said that they are making 50% plus profit using social media.

The primary reasons for the low turnout are uncertainty on an application of social media, calculating return on investment and persuade employees/stakeholders to clinch social media. Hence it is important to address the elephant in the room and analyze how beneficial is Social media for small businesses.

Social media for small businesses is a great way for emerging businesses to generate lead and build a reputation. If regularly updated, social media can deliver more results as compared to traditional mediums. Social media for small businesses gives brands an edge of control over the content that they want to post. Also, since social media is a two-way dialogue process, it helps businesses to instantly identify what is benefitting them. Social media for small businesses also helps generate Word of Mouth, which is one of the best tools for emerging businesses.

Social Media for small businesses | 10 Tips to effectively use Social Media

Define your Target Audience
The first and foremost important part that small businesses should focus on is to define their target audience. This helps small businesses to device their social media strategy accordingly. The target audience should be defined basis age group, sex, location, users’ online behaviors, their likes, interests, and preferences. For niche products, business owners can even target users based on their birthdays, anniversaries and important milestone. Audience targeting plays a very crucial role in the outcome of the results. For e.g.: a local shop selling footwear should not target users with interest in entertainment. The shop definitely won’t get the desired results.

Set achievable goals
Overnight success is a myth. Small businesses must understand this basic fact. Generally, when a new business starts selling on social media, there is palpable excitement is achieving more than set targeted sales. Businesses need to set goals which are upwards and forward. To achieve enormous goals, small businesses start updating social feed with multiple updates in shorter duration. This leads to user’s disinterest in the product/service. The set goals should be in sync with brand’s core capabilities and expertise. For e.g.: if a business is into selling shoes, they shouldn’t set a goal to repair maximum shoes in their area.

Choose the right medium
By now everyone knows, social media is for free. Even paid campaigns can be conducted at a relatively low cost as compared to traditional mediums. It is in this scenario, that we often see small businesses jumping the bandwagon and creating profiles on all the available platforms. Creating social profile doesn’t hamper brand image, but aggressively promoting a brand on wrong platforms can lead to brand losing its potential customers. Hence it is advisable for SME’s to first identify the right platform through which they can maximize their business. For e.g.: If a shoe selling brand tries to aggressively sell on LinkedIn, they won’t get a plausible response as compared to promotions on Facebook/Instagram.

Promote your core product/services
Since each and every business is riding in the social media wave, it is important for a them to promote their core product/services. Nowadays, we see a lot of businesses promoting their services as well as promoting peripheral products/services, which revolves around their core product/services. Majority of the times, this SME’s doesn’t have capabilities to fulfill a requirement, which can lead to a bad word of mouth for their business on social media platforms. Let us go back to our example; if a shoe seller is trying to aggressively promote socks instead of shoes, it is not going to benefit the business in the long run.

Create quality content
Now that we have covered the topics of identifying the target audience, setting achievable goals, choosing the right medium and promoting the right product/services let us now take a look at the type of content a business should promote on their social pages. A business should always focus on creating good quality content rather than not-good quantity content. Even if the business updates their page once in a day as long as it is relevant to their business, advocates about its core products send across a clear message it is considered as a good quality content. Antagonistically, if a business posts multiple updates which aren’t even relevant to the business’s products and services leads to users considering the business as fake/spam. Also, new businesses should try and refrain from promoting other businesses on their social platforms initially.

Create a content calendar
Making a small business successful on social platforms is no small task. It takes a lot of efforts for the businesses to keep up their conversion ratio. One such effort is to create a content calendar. Small businesses must anticipate important events and create a content calendar accordingly. Ideally, a content calendar must be planned a month in advance but an even weekly content calendar is highly recommended. This helps businesses to avoid any last minute hassles, strategize much more effectively and it also helps in creating curiosity amongst its loyal fans/customers.

Test and re-test
Social media is highly unpredictable. The content a business posts today, might not work for tomorrow. Hence, small businesses must always test their content before publishing it on their pages. Testing content also applies to the platform a small business chooses to promote. Small business owners must always don the consumer’s hat before posting about any product feature, updates, schemes or offers. A consumer’s perspective is the key when testing the content that has to be uploaded.

Look for inspiration
Small businesses must always look for inspiration from a competitor who is successful in the same category. Copy pasting competitors idea or content is not the answer. Small businesses must look for the kind of content its competitors are putting up and derive their own strategies subsequently. Inspiring content/stories always make a business to strive to create their own content that is appreciated by one and all. It helps in increasing brand consideration, brand visibility thereby increasing conversions for the business.

Calculate ROI
Even a small promotional budget is not justifiable if there is no mechanism to calculate its return on investment. It is more important in case of small businesses. It is very important for a small business to keep a tab on the budgets allocated to any promotions and the subsequent ROI related to it. If a certain promotion is not doing well or the business is not getting desired results, the brand custodian can always look for other platforms to generate quality conversions.

Analyze and Re-strategize
There can be umpteen instances where a particular campaign/promotion might not work for a business. That doesn’t mean that the promotion is wrong or the product/service is not good. Doing an analysis of the campaign is as important as setting the objective. This helps the business to formulate their upcoming strategies in more effective ways. At the end of every campaign, brands must note down the learning’s from that campaign and identify if the content/idea was appreciated by their fans or not. This helps businesses to skip the non-performing updates from future communications.