First Year of Self Employment Part Four

Back again.. The first year of self employment has had its ups and downs and in whatever field you are working in you will need help and guidance.

I decided to try my hand at Internet Marketing because that fitted my needs and circumstances. I was looking after 2 Children following redundancy and this was something that I could do well but needed help on this.

I scoured the internet for help and advice and sometimes you come across people who just want money but give nothing in return. However, it was not all doom and gloom. I came across a webiste which was recommended by a mutual friend Jay Roberts.

To me it was what I was searching for. It had broken down training in a video format with PDF/smart applications to back up the video and started from the very beginning until you were up and running. The aim depending on how hard you worked was to make at least £1 from your own marketing efforts. Now you may think all this and how much did it cost to make £1. I will tell you it cost me NOTHING, thats right NOTHING. The only cost was your time. Now they did recommend a few things to buy such as domain hosting (£5 a month) Market Samuari for keyword research (one of fee of £80 for lifetime use) but that was up to you, no pressure. The fact I spent about £85 to get my business up and running is a terrific return.

Now these guys have updated there training and this will start in September 2011. So if you interested and want to get learning in your own time and not someone elses then click here for this wonderful piece of training. I highly recommend it and often go back just to review what I am doing. It is a wonderful library to use. Click here to get started.

First Year of Self Employment....part 3

Continuing the series of my first year in self employment and what to do, what motivates you and how you can achieve those goals.

An Important part is making a plan or a decision and stick to it. The essence is not to give up. If you have a dream or an ambition, it is possible but it will take hard work, guts and determination to see it through. Also it needs to be in your hands, there is no point saying your ambition is to win the euro millions because that plan is way outside your control.

On monday night I went to Old Trafford to see Manchester United first home game of the season against Tottenham Hostspur. Now things have changed at Manchester United since the defeat against Barcelona in May. That evening they were beating by the better team where the core of the team was through there own academy. Sir Alex Ferguson said that we will get better after that match. Since that day, the old guard have left the team and a new breed of new youngsters have stepped up.

What I witnessed on Monday was mesmeric. After a slow start the team got better and just kept running, moving and a desire to beat the opponents and beat them well. I was interested in Sir Alex quote after where he said the young brood would go through barb wire whilst the older more experienced may look for a gate 200 metres down the way.

Sir Alex made a plan to make these changes and stuck with the decision when others may have questioned him. It was brave but he had faith and when you go with your conviction, things happen. Thats what I did, sometimes you have to make brave decisions but if you are hungry enough and determined then success will be yours!!

For further reading please see the authors below who have helped me

Good reading and see you on part 4

Jim Rohn
Stephen Covey
Anthony Robbins
Jack Canfield
Mark Hansen

First Year of Self Employment Part 2...

Once you have decided to go self employed in your chosen area the next bit you need is advice and help to achieve those goals you have set.

I decided on working on Internet marketing as this looked good, fitted around my lifestyle and potentially money to be made.

As with any venture there are many experts and guru's who can offer advice and help for a fee. Some are good and some are not so good. In these early stages you are blinded a bit by who to trust and who not to trust.

I have found that if you have ideals and aspirations then those who offer solutions should match yours. Now that list is up to you but to get going you need to be honest, hard working, ethical and also ruthless but not being aggressive or abusive.

The key to this is planing. What to do, how to get there and once there how to stay there and grow. Sometimes you have to take a chance. Now this does not mean financially, sometimes you get a gut feeling that something your doing is good and may benefit others either by a product or a service.

Take an example of the Bulmers TV advert. There was a chap on the street flogging his heart and soul into giving FREE tickets to see his mates band in a pub in Islington, London. Countless people walked past and did not take the opportunity and ignored his claims. The ones who did take the chance were treated to some free Cider and free gig by up and coming chart stars PLAN B. What a decision they made!

When they interviewed some of the attendees once claimed 'it was the best decision I made today'. Thats all it takes, if you get a feeling then go for it!

Click here to see the advert to see people take a chance! 

Part 3 to follow

First Year of Self employment..Part One

I am going to share some insights into my first year of self employment. There has been highs and lows but in the end I have made that first year and still in profit and still functioning in a difficult market.

After being made redundant from a job I was in for 20 years it definately is a culture shock. I was looking after my young daughters so that kept me very busy but equally I wanted my market worth by child minding and building a business to keep me away from the world of employment.

For me the key factor is self motivation. I went from going to a office for 20 years and now I work from home. I have no boss to tell me what to do, I have no appraisal, No unions, No HR help no nothing all on my own (apart from wife and children).

You need to be very organised and that what you do is productive. Writing lists of what to do but if you dont do it dont beat yourself up things happen! So to help me I needed something to help me. Personal development was key. Unless you change how you are you will always have what you've got.

My source of inspirations came from business philosphers such as Jim Rohn, Stephen Covey, Anthony Robbins, Jack Canfield and Mark Hansen. Even it is a 20 minute read or listen to CD in car on a journey it can help.

I had the fortune to attend a Jim Rohn seminar before his untimely departure, but he had great wisdom and value and in a room with approx 3000 people he thanked us for coming and listening to him. It wasn't about him, he wanted to help people and that is a trait that many forget.

One key Jim rohn phrase I use when working in the midnight hour or starting to feel tired is 'without a sense of urgency, desire loses it value'. You have to keep going and if you want it badly you'll find a way to get it. think back to being a child when you wanted a toy or sweet. You would hatch a plan quickly and implement your strategy by talking, doing things and being persistant. A gift we then lose as we grow older as for some reason it is knocked out of us and we lose that gift.

This week sees the children or young adults awaiting the results of the A Level exams taken. There will be a lot of tension as university places up for grabs and UCAS will be under pressure to deal with. Good luck to all and I want to end by using some of my inspiration Jim Rohn to help you later on.

Formal education will make you a living, self education will make you a fortune.
The book you dont read won't help you.
Miss a meal if you have to, but dont miss a book.
The greatest gift of human imagination is that there is no limits and endings.

YOU CAN DO IT!!!!!!!

but in the words of Mr Henry Ford 'whether you think you can or think you can't, your right'

Good Luck to all

for further reading please click on the names below and enjoy.

Jim Rohn
Stephen Covey
Anthony Robbins
Jack Canfield
Mark Hansen

 

Conclusion of the summer project!

We are now coming towards the end of the school summer holidays and Carmen in the next week or two will need to start editing her summer project on Castles and dungeons.

One thing has made the job very easy is the Flip video. We have been able to do all the videoing in a handy size machine no more than the size of a mobile phone. Now for those who dont have have iphones or 3g phones etc.. this is a great tool to have. It can record up to 2 hours and you download on to your control panel or it has the facility to download to You tube, Facebook, Twitter.

It charges on your pc via the USB so no batteries are needed or wires. Very easy to use and has made life easy in terms of downloading and editing for her final release.

For a full review on the product please read Flip Ultra HD 3rd generation on http://www.barrykilgannon.com/page8.php

or a chance to own this please click here and as again this is done in a secure environment.

Thanks

Football Season started

It's great to have the football back!

I am a season ticket holder on the Stretford end and watching United on Sunday has whetted the appetite for mondays visit of Tottenham Hotspur.

This week we have our godsons visiting us for a couple of days and when I asked the parents what shall we do, the reply was 'get a football thats all they play'. With 2 girls in the house they do not actively play football. The next problem was finding a ball to play. There are so many (when I was young there wasn't much choice but they were usually made of granite!!).

In the end I opted for the Premiership ball by nike. My god it was one hell of a ball. I could strike it no problem. It bought me back to a documentary a few years ago called 'has football gone soft' they interviewed seventies hard man Liverpool full back Tommy Smith. When they asked him about the modern day footballer he snarled ' kicking a balloon around a bowling green pitch' He went on to add they only time they played on grass was in August and late May. That is how I remember football. 11 men in battle on a mudbath of a pitch where the fans stood up and sang during the entire match with each stand taking it's turn.

I know events shook things up and it had to in terms of people safety but the footballers have become movie stars and untouchable. Years ago you could meet your hero in the pub and have the crack. These days with sports science they cant even eat a McDonalds without it causing a ripple. Anyway I am going of at a tangent.

For these new balls click here and see how your shooting will improve. 2 days of football with the boys to come. wish me luck!

Now Thats what I call Nostalgia

As I write I am a youngish 40 year old and most of my mates are now at that milestone. One of my mates decided to have a 40th bash in Royal Leamington Spa as it was a place he was familar with and was a change from the normal night out.

We all landed around tea time on the friday and once we had a wash and supper we went out. Now for our generation the nightlife has radically changed. We were in between the trendy bars and the old established bars and the difference between the two was quite apparent. The trendy ones were all youngsters with the lads in spiked hairs and tight t-shirts and the girls in short dresses and sun bed tanned bodies. The established were a mixture of professionsals or older ones out for a quiet drink.

We managed to fit in both (albeit had to hold our tummies in at the trendy bars!!) we then ended up at a an old bingo hall converted into a music venue and to our suprise it was a Cortina Night which was a mixture of late 70's and 80's music. Now this place ticked all the boxes it was a mixture of all those people i described and all having a great night out. We felt ok as a lot of tunes we had either forgotten or not heard in years.

So when these marketing people get together to define what market they are penetrating there is nothing better than going agaisnt the norm and for me this was what the eighties was all about. Work hard and play hard, excess to the excess and the music wasnt bad either!!

This when i got home got me looking for old tunes and came across my first now album on vinyl and this bought back memories. If you are feeling nostalgic then click here for the first Now Album (sadly not on vinyl but progress has to go on!)

Sportmanship Does Exist

For those who know me i am a bit of a sports mad person and the wife becomes a football widow when the new season starts. However, as the years increase I get increasingly frustrated by the 'gamemanship' that goes on in football and one likes to hark back to the old days when players played hard and never showed pain or be very sporting and accept the refs decision.

As the football season draws nearer I also watch a lot of cricket and love the sport. It's not without its controversy but what I witnessed yesterday has restored my faith in sports people. As we know they are winners and no one likes losing. To coin a Allan Border phrase (Australia cricket captain) 'Nice guys never win'.

The scene was Trent Bridge, Nottingham and the teams are England and India. Last ball delivered before tea break and Ian Bell strikes the ball towards the boundary and the indian fielder Kumar makes a vain attempt to stop the ball but he goes over the fence and the ball stays on the field. To be fair Kumar does not know where the ball is and eventually finds and returns to the howls of laughter from the crowd. The england batsmen are on the way to the pavillion thinking they scored a boundary and declared tea themselves. At this point the umpires had not called tea and Ian Bell is Run Out. The umpires are in a predicament and go the video ref to see what happended. By the letter of the law India were correct and Ian Bell was out. Cue scenes of anger and disenchantment from the crowd as the umpires and the India team leave the field.

Those in the ground were possibly upset as the spirit of cricket and sportmanship was in tatters. However, to everyones amazement behind the scenes was frantic talks. The Indian team felt not happy at the manner in which Ian Bell was given out and the team decided to call him back, it has to be said also that the England Team captain and coach went doen to ask if they could appeal on there better nature. The decision was made that Ian Bell would be called back. As the umpires and the Indian team re-entered the field the boos and hissing started then the England team appeared on the balcony clapping (Was this sarcasm we thought!!) but no Ian Bell walked out to cheers and amazement. The umpires declared he was back!

From that moment the whole mood changed and the two teams fought valiantly on the field and the relationships between the two teams thawed and was good humour between the fielders and the batsmen. It was great to see.

The Indian captain MS Dhoni will take a lot of plaudits and rightly so buit the cynics may say that his team may lose the no.1 ranking to England if they lose this test match. The good guy on this occassion might not win but what he does take is honesty, respect and good sportsmanship.

For those interested in cricket, I recommend this book By Simon Hughes called 'and god created cricket' Excellent read click here for more information and on how to buy.