From Entrepreneur.com:

Even Wal-Mart sells organic cotton T-shirts these days, but you definitely don’t have to be a retailing behemoth to take your business in a green or organic direction. In fact, entrepreneurs have an advantage when it comes to reaching customers who care about the cause as well as the products.

“It’s a highly underrated opportunity for small business,” says Dr. Karel J. Samsom, a specialist in environmental and sustainable entrepreneurship and author of Spirit of Entrepreneurship. A study by the Organic Trade Association shows that nonfood organic product sales reached $744 million in U.S. consumer sales in 2005, with supplements, personal care and household products leading the charge. For green entrepreneurs, passion is key, says Samsom: “People who are imbued with this kind of spirit have an incredible imagination to rebuild the value chain and inspire their customers in the process.”

That passion is evident when talking to Jonelle Raffino, 41, of South West Trading Co. Inc., a Tempe, Arizona, business that specializes in earth-friendly, alternative fibers and textiles such as yarns made from bamboo, corn and even recycled crab shells. “This country is seeing that we need to challenge the idea of products that use fossil fuels,” says Raffino, who co-founded the company in 2001 with her mother, Jonette Beck. Business is booming so much, they’ve expanded into ready-to-wear items, and they can barely keep up with demand for their line of plush Soy-Silk Pals toys.

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If you think everybody who works from home wears pajamas and sneaks in housework, Jeff Korona and Cynthia Kidder are here to prove you wrong. These home-based workers make it a point to look and act professional — even though there’s no one around to judge.

It takes some discipline, but Korona and Kidder say it’s doable if you follow the following tips for working at home:

1. Dress for work.
There’s no time to be a slob. Take a shower and look like you’re going somewhere.

“I rarely wear blue jeans to work in my house,” said Kidder, 51, founder of the nonprofit Band of Angels, which advocates for people with Down’s syndrome. “There’s something about being in jeans and a T-shirt that makes it too easy to throw in a load of laundry.”

2. Set a routine and stick to it.
Just like in the office, there should be a certain time of day when things get done.

“Every morning, I clear my e-mail,” said Korona, 46, president of re.Source Partners, a computer hardware asset management company. “I contact my partner with a morning call and then contact clients who need attention. I stick with the same routines as if I were in the office.”

More Tips Here

Even if you never dreamed of being your own boss, you’ve probably pondered the potential joys of working from home.

Maybe you’re among those whose fantasy of how great it would be to wake up at work has already given way to the reality of just how difficult it can be to produce work from home.

Whether you telecommute for a Fortune 500 corporation or a smaller company, or own a home-based business, this column is for you.

It will let you in on how your neighbors are managing.

It will touch on what the government is doing to promote telework (a term used interchangeably with telecommute that’s becoming increasingly popular here, and already is all the go across the globe).

It will take a look at what laws are guiding telecommuting.

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Before you starting hunting for the perfect work at home business you should list some criteria for the home business you would love to promote. Too often people look at a business opportunity and make an ‘impulse buy’ before really thinking about what it is they are getting in to. That’s why it’s better to do this BEFORE you start looking at opportunities.

It’s also important to understand how, where and why network marketing makes sense as a business. It’s not just some get rich quick deal – it’s a real business and as a business it’s all about moving product or services to end customers. The cool thing about network marketing is that satisfied customers have a built in incentive structure to find still more customers.

Leaders Club has a 3 hour audio training course called “The Elements of Creating a Successful Future Through Network Marketing” This is hands down the most comprehensive training on network marketing history, theory, ethics and structure ever recorded. It’s perfect for anyone that is new to network marketing, considering network marketing as a viable business opportunity or getting back into network marketing (perhaps after a failure or an unforeseen disaster). Everything you need to do, in order to start on the right foot and build your own solid foundation for your own success.

What folks are saying about this course:

• Great series of audios. These are a must for anyone looking for a business in network marketing. The information on these audios are priceless. – Yvonne George

• Great Series of audios. It really illustrates what you do and do not want in a network marketing business. This should be accessible first thing when someone googles- Tell me about Network Marketing. – Karen Watson

• This is best set of audio’s I’ve listened to yet. Having been unsuccessful in Network Marketing for 1 year it really help me discover why. Great information, easy to understand and eye opening for me. – Terry Craswell

• This is a great set of audio training. It highlights what is importance in building our business. For many of us it is easy to get lost in the hustle and bustle of building our business. – John T.S. Murphy

HERE’S THE COOLEST PART: if you are a Leaders Club subscriber you download these audios and drop them on your iPod or MP3 player at no cost! If you prefer you can listen to them online but it’s just one teeny tiny part of the most comprehensive network marketing training library and success resource on the planet! (http://www.leadersclub.com/26265/)

BEFORE YOU PICK A COMPANY:

To keep yourself from making an ‘impulse buy’ narrow your search down to two or three companies based on your criteria. The Internet is one way to search but I would also pick up a few publications such as Entrepreneur and Network Marketing Business Journal. There are a lot of ads in there. There is also a benefit to following the ads that appeal to you for a number of months.

When you have a list of a few companies invest into the lowest level so you can get a feel for the company from the inside. This may mean you need to wait, save and build a budget rather than just jump in with both feet and hoping for the best. This is what most people do and unfortunately downing in your own business in a very common end! The truth is that we can make just about anything look good in marketing. Once you are in and see how things feel on the inside, how things are run, you will know what to do.

From Entrepreneur.com:

Most of the best businesses and products for moms come from moms themselves. Your experience as a mom should help you identify with your customers, but realize not all moms are the same. How you market to them may be as important as the product or service you offer.

For business owners, the $1.6 trillion “Mommy Market” is well worth pursuing. In the book Trillion Dollar Moms, Maria Bailey and Bonnie Ulman teach you how to take advantage of this lucrative market. They describe three generations of moms: baby boomer moms, Gen X moms and Millennial new moms. If your company is still marketing to soccer moms, you’re missing two-thirds of the mom market.

Their book examines how recent generational shifts have impacted the buying behaviors of today’s mothers and moms-to-be. Moms today want high quality and are proud to admit when they get a good price. That’s part of why you’re seeing more designer items at stores like Target and K-Mart. Most moms surveyed by Bailey and Ulman say they feel advertising is not geared toward them and many feel that advertising is offensive…..

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