Business Marketing & Finance Resources

You have heard how easy it is to make money online but are skeptical about it. Yes, there are a lot of scams out there. However there are also money making gems which you can capitalize without any investment risks on your part.

Yes, internet can give you many opportunities to make money from the comfort of your own home. You can be your own boss without reporting to anyone and without anyone reporting to you. Unlike any brick and mortar businesses, if you know how to make money from the internet, there is with almost no financial risk on your part because there is no investment required if you choose not to invest your money.

The bad news is that, most internet work from home internet businesses are doomed before they can take off. This is because an online business is just like any other businesses which need dedication, perseverance and some educated knowledge.

So, is it easy to make money over the internet? Yes, it is, if you know how to. Many people thought that once they have their websites or blogs set up, they are in business. This thinking is wrong. Having your online websites up is just the beginning of your online journey.

About 3 years ago, I responded to a newspaper advertisement about easy ways to make money online seminar. I booked my seat and was listening to speaker after speaker on how they made a fortune over the internet. At the end of the seminar, I was convinced to part with a few thousand dollars to buy a few websites, some books and CDs about internet marketing education and making money from home.

When my websites went life, I was elated. I started waiting for my first customer. Days and then weeks went by. Then I begin to realize that not only do I not have any customers, I hardly even have any visitors to my sites. My websites are virtual ghost towns.

Then I started to do more research on website marketing, join some online courses and bought some online marketing tools. To cut the chase, it took me another year and plenty of trial and errors to finally see my websites climbing up the search engines and getting thousands of visitors everyday. Now my internet businesses are making me plenty of money, however, it was a long and tedious process.

Since I now know how to get my websites found by thousands of people every day from the search engines, then I can create more successful websites and sell more things. Do you think I was happy? Well in a way, yes. But internet marketing also sapped up a lot of my strength and energy.

You see, I have to reply to customer’s enquires everyday, send out orders, keep inventory etc Just like any other businesses. Yes, these are happy problems because I am getting businesses while 90 percent of internet businesses don’t.

This was until I stumbled across upon a certain website. Upon reading this website, I was reminded that success coaches like Anthony Robbins and Robert Kiyosaki always teach about building multiple passive income streams to be wealthy. Yes, my internet businesses can be classified as multiple income stream and are earning me money which I have never earned before, but they are certainly not passive. There was a lot of work involved.

Now, I got my hand on the internet marketing education book from that website and learned how to make multiple passive income streams without spending a single dime, well, except for the price of the book. I was taught to build blogs. Yes, make money over the internet by blogging.

With the information, I started a few blogs, each bringing me its own income and money without me doing anything if I want to unless I want to improve on them. So what are these businesses without investment risks and products of your own? Some of you may already have known, but not doing anything about it. They are affiliate marketing and pay-per-click advertising.

Investment is the cornerstone of both the politics of democracy and the economics of capitalism. A person in such a place has the freedom to do as he or she pleases with the resources that he or she is able to accumulate for him or herself. As such, there is an opportunity unlike in any other political or economic system for unprecedented gains from directing resources in the right direction: More bluntly spoken, by making the right investments.

Under a democratic capitalist society, each citizen’s responsibility for the welfare of his or her own life is ultimately their own. Government is there by definition to provide opportunities and protect its citizens from undue harm; however, there is no promise of wealth or abundance in democracy or capitalism. Employers are encouraged by market forces to pay employees only what the market will bear, not to make them rich, no matter how hard that employee works. But under this political and economic system, there is more opportunity for wealth and abundance through strong investments than through any other.

The bottom line is this: Investments are meant to be wealth and abundance accumulators. Strong investments are meant to outstrip any and all forces which weigh down upon money and detract from wealth and abundance, namely taxes, inflation, and the cost of everyday living. Strong investments leave real profit in the pocket of an investor even after all of these things have been taken into account.

Strong investments create residual income, meaning that an investor should not have to keep working on the investment after investing to accumulate wealth. In short, the money of the investor starts working for the investor, instead of the other way around. Strong investments pay commensurate to their risk, not below.

Strong investments are able to float above short term market forces such as interest rate changes, increases in cost of living, industry problems, and even individual company rumors. Investments are solid and able to be counted on even in bad times. As a matter of fact, during bad times is the best point in which to reinvest in strong investments.

Investments are easily sold. Many investors mistakenly believe that if they have made a good or timely buy, then they have made strong investments. However, investments are only worth as much as someone else is willing to pay for them. Notice how many of the top companies are valued mostly by market cap and conjecture of what the information that they hold is worth, not by actual dollars in the company. Investments have more than just ample cash flow; although this is hardly a disadvantage. They also have tangible and intangible assets that people want.

I am known for being “cheap.” Some say that my motivations come from a love of money. Both are incorrect. I seek to curtail as much as possible, the money spent on things that do not last. We all want to make our marks in this life and most of have a finite amount of expendable income at our disposal. This article is not going to include specific money saving tips like how to get 50 miles per gallon on or how to clip coupons in order to get ninety-six free bags of noodles. Rather, the mindset of somebody who values money and the ways in which it is spent is what this article will be about.

Poor Richard, or rather Benjamin Franklin in his essay: The Way to Wealth, stated that a fat kitchen makes a lean will. This is not to say that we should live as paupers in order to die rich. That is an empty goal and it is one of vanity. However, as much as I love to eat, spending money on fine meals at fine restaurants, leaves nothing for the individual to show other than a few extra pounds around their mid section. Retaining the motivation that one must curtail the money that he or she spends on things that do not last, will help that individual to have more expendable income in the future.

As important as having a high paying job in order to live the life that you want, so too is the right mindset. It is not how much you make but how much you save which helps you to live the life that you want. Fiscal conservatism, something that our local, state or national government have never adhered to, is something that should be observed in each of our households. Paying only for those things which we have the money for and avoiding the accumulation of debt except under the most serious of familial situations is one of the tenants of a faith in money and the opportunities that it affords its converts.

Realizing that money is a tool to invest and to better the lives of the owner and those around him or her, is what will make one value money more than the majority of Americans who see money as something that one must work for instead of something that works for us. That belief is what separates the rich from the poor, the successful from those who live paycheck to paycheck.

A good credit rating is important you need it to buy many things. You might need a new car to get you back and forth to work, or a boat, so you can take your kids or friends fishing. You might be renting an apartment and want to go buy that first house. Then you must have a good credit rating most people do not have thousands of dollars to just go pay cash for these items. They need to get a loan from a lender to buy them.

A bank or lender will look at your credit score first in considering you for a loan. If they see you have a poor score you will not get one for that item you need to buy. If you do have a good score there is a better chance you will get this loan you need. A good credit rating also will effect the interest rate that you can get with your loan. The better your score is the better chance you will get a lower interest rate.

Some of the things that will affect your score are.

1. Your credit history, do you have a credit card that you have been using and for how long. It is a good thing if you have been using it for a long time. So credit cards can be good or bad for your score depending on the way they are used. If you use them for a small purchase once a month or every other month if you have more than one. Then you make that payment at the end of the month so you do not have high interest payments and keep that card going for a long time it will improve your score and give you that good credit rating. You do not want to over use a credit card to where you are not able to pay it off each month increasing your debt and paying high interest.

2. Your history of payments, have you made all your payments or did you miss any of your payments, it is best if you haven’t missed any. So it is a good idea to concentrate on not having any late or missed payments. Keep your monthly payments up to date and paid on time.

3. Your current debt, if your debt is to high it could effect you getting the loan. If your debt is higher than your income the lender will not like this. They will look at how much money you are paying out and how much money you are bringing in. If your pay out is above your income then getting another loan that will increase your debt is unlikely.

4. Your loan applications, did you apply for a loan lately and did you get it or not. If you have a lot of applications for loans recently that could be bad. You do not want to apply for to many loans if a lender sees you have applied and you were turned down to many time they will not give you one.

5. Your loan history, if you have had different types of loans and have made your payments on them this will improve your credit. Different types would be like a car, personal loan and house loan. As long as you made the payments to these on time. Then this shows to the lender that you have had a good history of paying your previous loans and increase your chance of getting approved.

It is important that you watch these things so you keep a good credit rating going. They will help you get that loan and get it at a lower interest rate. You will save money and be able to get the things you need. If you do have problems there is a lot of credit solutions out there that can help you get back on track.

Unless you are a Saint, you are bound to make a mistake or two in your lifetime. The mistakes that you have made can be insignificant or it can be a life changing event. You can make a huge mistake by accumulating so much debt that you only choice out of this jam is to file for bankruptcy protection, or you can make a tiny mistake such as forgetting about your son’s first birthday. Filing for bankruptcy shelter is absolutely a life changing event and most people would not want relive this ordeal in their lifetime. If you had to file for bankruptcy protection, what led you to this financial crossroad, and what do you plan to do to fix this in the future?

Poor budgeting and not watching out what you are spending and how much you are spending can be a major contributor to those who had to file for bankruptcy shelter. Poor financial planning can take the form of many scenarios. During the real estate bubble of the 2000s, many people got into deep financial debt because they bought homes they cannot afford. Even if you are making a lot of money, for example, $10,000 of net income per month. But if you ended up spending more than $7,000 on your home related expenses, can you live off the remaining $3,000? A good rule of thumb is not to spend more than 30% of your income on housing expenses.

By not living within their means, some people find themselves in a financial hole that they had to file for bankruptcy protection. In simpler terms, this means that you are spending more than you are making. During the mid 2000s and even the time leading up to the recession of 2008, using credit cards seems so easy to everybody. People who find themselves with a mountain of credit card debt forgot that charging purchases on credit card does not mean that the debt do not need to be repaid over time. Buying things or services using credit card does not mean that you do not have to pay for it, it just lets you pay for it at a later date. It is a useful tool to help you purchase that new TV that you have always wanted. In order not to abuse the credit card use, you have to know that you can pay for this new purchase in reasonable amount of time. You will know if you cannot afford to pay for this new purchase, because you are hoping to pay for this purchase using the minimum payment on the credit card bill.

The majority of the people who had to file for bankruptcy tend to abuse their credit cards. And to make matters worst, some of these people even use the credit cards for daily living needs. Can you imagine someone who is already heavily in debt, and yet he or she has to use the credit card to buy that food or shelter for the day? Cash advance from the credit card is one way that people tend to abuse the credit card usage. Cash advance is one of the worst financial transaction one can incur in his or her lifetime. The drawback to using the cash advance from the credit card include extraordinary high interest rate which means you will have even a harder time paying back this debt. Some people will justify this action by promising that this is just a one time occurrence. Those cannot manage their finances properly tend to find this cash advance way as an “easy” way to get by from month to month.

For those who are thinking of filing bankruptcy, or have filed for bankruptcy recently, here some advice that you should adhere to (coming from a person who had gone through this ordeal):

You should only spend on what you have earned and not more
Create a budget and use it wisely so that you can follow rule #1
Saving money is the best thing you can do, just in case you will need it one day

The objective to filing bankruptcy is to give yourself financial relief from the wrath of the creditors. Filing bankruptcy is not a get out of jail free card, like the one from monopoly. You should not use it as a way to wipe out your debt so that you can accumulate debt again. Take this chance given to you and rebuild your life without the massive debt hanging over your shoulders each and every day. Look at this from the positive side at all times, instead of focusing on the negative aspects of filing for bankruptcy. If you are uncertain of what is involve in the bankruptcy filing, seek the advice of a local bankruptcy lawyer near you.