» Articles http://occupationalhwy.com Tue, 07 Sep 2010 18:46:14 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.2 en hourly 1 Our Directory listings are now FREE!!! http://occupationalhwy.com/2010/02/28/our-directory-listings-are-now-free/ http://occupationalhwy.com/2010/02/28/our-directory-listings-are-now-free/#comments Sun, 28 Feb 2010 21:20:27 +0000 admin http://occupationalhwy.com/?p=2072 If you would like to have your website, home business or blog listed in our Directoy here on Occupational Highway, it is now FREE to do so!

Either fill out the form in our Directory tab at the top of the page or just leave us your information in a comment here.

All we need is your website name, link and a short description! Once we receive your information, we’ll post it as soon as we can.

We also appreciate any link backs to our site from your websites! You are also welcome to grab a banner of ours off the homepage to place on your site.

Be sure to also check out our Forum at Occupational Highway to connect with other work at home individuals!

]]> http://occupationalhwy.com/2010/02/28/our-directory-listings-are-now-free/feed/ 1 What kind of work from home job are you looking for? http://occupationalhwy.com/2009/11/05/what-kind-of-work-from-home-job-are-you-looking-for/ http://occupationalhwy.com/2009/11/05/what-kind-of-work-from-home-job-are-you-looking-for/#comments Thu, 05 Nov 2009 15:15:55 +0000 admin http://occupationalhwy.com/?p=1109 articles

 

 

 

 

Please leave us a comment to this post and tell us what kinds of work from home jobs you are seeking.

At Occupational Highway, we want to provide you with what you are looking for!
We will cater to finding the types of jobs our viewers are requesting, to make your job search easier.

]]> http://occupationalhwy.com/2009/11/05/what-kind-of-work-from-home-job-are-you-looking-for/feed/ 22 10 Article Writing Tips for Effective Article Writing http://occupationalhwy.com/2009/08/29/10-article-writing-tips-for-effective-article-writing/ http://occupationalhwy.com/2009/08/29/10-article-writing-tips-for-effective-article-writing/#comments Sat, 29 Aug 2009 22:07:46 +0000 admin http://occupationalhwy.com/?p=333 articles

10 Article Writing Tips for Effective Article Writing

If you must have to advertise and write articles on the net you have to do it right. The art of persuasion is by and large carrying out a win-win situation. It is presenting an instance that visitors find favorable to agree with. It is making them an offer they can hardly refuse. Article marketing which can spawn higher tick through rates and lower cost per tick.

1) As in anything there are techniques that can make your job easier and your case more convincing. Although there are exactly no hard and fast rules there are strategies that are used commonly because they simply work.

2) Before anything else, know your audience. It is significant that you have targeted the right audience. Know their knowledge level because people who are able to understand what you are driving at can easily adapt your ideas.

3) Choose a topic that you feel comfortable with. It can be a topic or article which feels good when it can help others that may have struggled with the same problem.

4) Be repetitive. It is essential in creative writing. Repetition gives emphasis. This way a reader can easily understand what you are trying to say. Be repetitive in a good way. It could either be through an example, using a story, or quoting a famous person.

5) The figures of speech like metaphors, similes and analogies can be a writer’s best friends. Comparisons can make it easier for the readers to recognize the picture you are painting. It is like being in common grounds. There is nothing strange or something the readers are not familiar with.

6) Use power words that agitate and stir opinions. Your words have to be emotion-ridden. But at the same time they give solution as an answer that things will be better. These are words that eventually provoke response. But you have to make sure that the specific phrase has something to do with your business. Make every word count.

7) Consistency in ideas shows integrity and rational actions. Being consistent would make it difficult for the reader not to agree with you. It has been established in sociology books that consistency in our thoughts and actions is a valid social trait.

8) Connect to the future. Provide your readers with a glimpse of what is to come. Try to extrapolate recent events into probable future results. Here is where your credibility stands. If you are able to back up with remarkable credentials and obvious understanding of the subject matter, this will become a powerful technique of persuasion.

9) Never bother with commercials in your article. Your readers are humans who have al the right to benefit from your article. With the use of the resource box don’t fill it with commercials. This will establish your credibility as an expert author on your chosen topic.

10) As much as possible make your article short. Let your ideas flow naturally in clear and short article. Write an attention-grabbing title and give it away for free. Make an alliance with others and encourage them to give your e-book as bonus for their paid products.

Article written by Irina M.

]]> http://occupationalhwy.com/2009/08/29/10-article-writing-tips-for-effective-article-writing/feed/ 2 Is Your Family Really Benefiting When You Work at Home? http://occupationalhwy.com/2009/08/12/is-your-family-really-benefiting-when-you-work-at-home/ http://occupationalhwy.com/2009/08/12/is-your-family-really-benefiting-when-you-work-at-home/#comments Thu, 13 Aug 2009 03:35:16 +0000 admin http://occupationalhwy.com/?p=53 articles

You’ve beaten the obstacles and found a way to work at home, whether by finding a job or starting a home business. But is your work getting in the way of time with your family? It may be time to make sure you are finding balance between working at home and your family.
Let’s take a look at some easy things you can do to ensure that you are spending time with your family.

1. Make time for play. Family activities are a great way to relax away from work. It can be as simple as taking a walk or going to the park, or it could be a full day excursion to a museum, amusement part or beach. You don’t have to leave the house, of course. You could play games, make cookies or do other fun activities around the house. The point is to simply have fun as a family and have time to talk to each other.
One way to start is to plan a family night. Tell everyone they have to be home on a particular evening each week and do things as a family. Even if you just rent a movie to watch together, it’s something you’re doing together.
If you’re married, make sure you plan a regular date night with your spouse. Frequency may depend on how old your children are and how often you can get babysitting, but it is important for your marriage to have time as a couple.
You don’t have to spend a lot of money to have fun with your family. Just make time for fun.

2. Be there for your children’s activities. If your children are involved in sports, acting, singing or other activities, make sure you are there for all the games, performances or other important events. It will help your children to know that they are very important to you.

3. Set rules and enforce them. If your children understand when they can interrupt your work you will be able to get more done in less time, giving you more time for your family.
Of course, you need to be consistent. If kids get away with breaking the rules some of the time, they will test the rules often. Consistency will save you time in the long run, even if you aren’t sure you want to spare the time at a particular moment.

4. Pay attention to what kind of attention each child needs. Every child is different. Some demand attention while others are so quiet it’s easy to forget that they need you too. Make sure you spend time with each child as an individual.

5. When the kids come home from school, take some time to talk about their day. They will appreciate your interest. You should also make sure they understand their homework and start it at whatever time they do best at finishing it. Some do best starting homework immediately on getting home, while others do better if they can play for a while first. Be aware of your child’s needs.

6. If your work is something the children can help with, let them be involved. If not, you can still at least talk to them about what you do. This sets a good example for your children by helping them to know what working is really about.

It’s easy to get buried in the needs of your work when you work at home. A little bit of planning can go a long way toward making working at home a wonderful experience for all. Your family is why you decided to work at home, so don’t let your time with them get put aside.

]]> http://occupationalhwy.com/2009/08/12/is-your-family-really-benefiting-when-you-work-at-home/feed/ 0 How Are You Leading Your Team? http://occupationalhwy.com/2009/08/12/how-are-you-leading-your-team/ http://occupationalhwy.com/2009/08/12/how-are-you-leading-your-team/#comments Thu, 13 Aug 2009 03:32:47 +0000 admin http://occupationalhwy.com/?p=52 articlesHow Are You Leading Your Team?

By Dale Calvert

——————————————————————————–

What is your specific game plan to start your new distributors on the right track to success?

Unfortunately today in network marketing, far too many distributors are giving what I call the “go sickem” training program. They are brought into their program by a close friend or family member who has no experience or background in the networking profession.
Let’s face it, the industry is full of the blind leading the blind. Is it any wonder the drop-out rates are so high? Even worse, the internet is full of self-proclaimed gurus trying to distract or steal members of your team, hiding behind the title of “consultant” or “trainer.”

In today’s environment, more than ever, it is your job to lead your team. If you don’t provide them a track to run on, somebody else will.
There are four dominant leadership styles: DIRECTING, COACHING , SUPPORTING and DELEGATING.

What is your dominant leadership style?
DELEGATING: these distributors bring new people into the program and have them call cold lead lists immediately, or do some other activity that new people have no business doing. Delegating activities and responsibilities to new people too soon is a major mistake.

SUPPORTING: this is the dominant leadership style of most network marketers. They are ready and willing to help; unfortunately the new person doesn’t have any idea what they might need help with. You will hear dominant supporters say things like, “Let me know if I can help you; if you would like for me to do some 3-ways calls with you, just let me know.” The new person is thinking, what is a 3-way call?
COACHING: these leaders have a “tell-show-do” attitude and approach to the business. They tell the person what they want them to do, they show them how to do it, and they do it with them. They coach and monitor systems. Unfortunately, most financially successful network marketers have not built their business based upon systems; they have flown by the seat of their pants and built based upon their own drive, determination and work ethic. Personality is NOT duplicable.

DIRECTION: Directional leaders can come across as a boss. Most people don’t want a boss—this is one of the reasons they get involved in this business. However, directional leaders with proven systems in place are the best at getting new people started and in action. They will tend to be control freaks and have a major challenge encouraging, supporting and eventually delegating to their team members, but in the beginning they get the job done.
So what is the answer?

As a network marketing leader you should learn to use different leadership styles with different team members based upon their time in the business and level of success.
This may sound confusing, but is really quite simple after you get the hang of it, and understand the logical, sequential process of developing people and future leaders on your team.

When people first join your team, they NEED and WANT Directional leadership. They need you to lay out their first assignment— the first steps they need to take. When those assignments are completed, then you move to step 2, then step 3 and so on. The first 90 days are the most critical period of everyone’s network marketing career, and people need strong directional leadership and specific proven systems to get their business off the ground and moving forward.
I call it playing ball, you throw the ball to them, they complete the task or throw the ball back. This back and forth, teacher/student relationship is created from day one and maintained until you have a developed leader who you can delegate to. Directional leadership from day one is where most distributors drop the ball.

People tend to want to support their new distributor. New distributors don’t need a friend, they need a leader that is going to help them get their business off on the right foot and moving forward. They don’t just need someone to tell them what to do with jargon and terminology they have never heard before. They are looking for someone who will roll up their sleeves and go to work with them, someone with a “tell, show, do” mentality who acts like he has done this before.
People are looking for a leader that has a “follow me and I will take you where you want to go” mentality, they don’t need a cheerleader. You can cheer all you want, but if they don’t know specifically, exactly what they should be doing, they do nothing.

When you first sponsor a new person on your team, you need to provide them with strong directional leadership at least for the first 90 days. Then you move into a coaching mode with them, where you teach different methods of lead generation until they have mastered lead generation and recruiting. At this point, their success depends mostly on doing what they already know to do, so you can move more into a supporting mode with them. They don’t need directional leadership or coaching at this point, because success comes down to just doing what they already know how to do. Finally, the numbers and the ratios all come together for them as they are able to devote their full time efforts to the business and at this point you are delegating.
I like to call this, turning over the keys to the McDonald’s. At this point they know what to do, they have done it, and most importantly it can now be duplicated.

]]> http://occupationalhwy.com/2009/08/12/how-are-you-leading-your-team/feed/ 0 Are you ready to start a home business? http://occupationalhwy.com/2009/08/12/are-you-ready-to-start-a-home-business/ http://occupationalhwy.com/2009/08/12/are-you-ready-to-start-a-home-business/#comments Thu, 13 Aug 2009 03:30:42 +0000 admin http://occupationalhwy.com/?p=51 articles

A home business can sound appealing, but it can be hard to know if you’re ready for it. Will you be able to cope with customers, filling orders and solving problems? What if your business flops?
These are normal concerns, and you should try to have answers for them before you start. Let’s take a closer look at what you need to be prepared for when starting a home business.

1. Are you self motivated?
If you aren’t motivating yourself, your business won’t take off. Owning a business means no boss (save perhaps the customer), setting your own hours and deadlines and working even when you aren’t seeing any kind of return. If you can’t work under those conditions, you may not be ready. On the other hand, if you think you will thrive under such conditions, you may be ready to get your home business started.

2. How easily do you learn new things?
It doesn’t matter how much you know about the area you are starting your business in, you will be learning many new things. A new home business can rarely afford to hire a marketing team, for example, so you’re going to have to learn to market yourself. You might decide to save money and design your own website, but how will you make it look professional? You also need to learn what is worth paying someone else to do versus learning to do it yourself. You need to learn how to figure out when your time could be better spent on making your products or marketing your business than on learning new skills.

3. Are you comfortable promoting yourself?
You will need to talk up your business and your abilities quite a bit to prospective customers, both on the phone and in person, and quite possibly online. You don’t want to exaggerate your skills, but don’t be excessively modest either. You want customers to feel that you are the best person for the job or that your products are of good quality, so know what you are offering and why a customer should want to buy from you.

4. Can you cope with rejection?
Not just rejection – can you cope with customers who simply cannot be satisfied, who seem to want to make your life difficult… you have probably encountered such people in your life already. Customers will decide to take their business elsewhere, they will decide after hiring you that they don’t like the results, and you need to be prepared for this.

5. Do you need immediate results?
It can take a couple years to build a profitable business. Few successes happen overnight. If you aren’t ready to cope with financial hard times, long hours promoting your business with little result and only occasional customers, it may not be time for you to start a business. If spending money on your business will bankrupt you, it may not be time for you to start a business just now.

6. You look forward to not having to dress up for work.
Working from home may not always mean sweats and t-shirts. If you have to meet with customers, you will probably have to dress professionally. Some home business people find it helpful to dress professionally even if they aren’t meeting with anyone that day. How you dress can impact how you work, so casual dressing makes you work less consider dressing up a little.

7. Have you researched your target market?
If you don’t know who will be interested in your products or services, it will be very hard to market yourself. Try to find a niche market to target, especially at the beginning. This will make it easier to make a name for yourself, limit your marketing costs and make it easier to find clients.

8. Do you have the support of your family?
If your husband or children resent the time you are spending on your business it will be quite difficult to succeed. Talk over with your family what starting a business will mean in terms of family time, housework and so forth. If you can involve them in your business, do so, provided they are willing. A supportive family makes running a home business much pleasanter, while an unsupportive family can make it all but impossible to succeed.

Running a home business can be profitable, fun and a great lesson for your children, but it can also be stressful. Make sure you have thought out your business carefully before you begin and keep the lines of communication open with your family.

]]> http://occupationalhwy.com/2009/08/12/are-you-ready-to-start-a-home-business/feed/ 0 Beliefs, Actions & Results http://occupationalhwy.com/2009/08/12/beliefs-actions-results/ http://occupationalhwy.com/2009/08/12/beliefs-actions-results/#comments Thu, 13 Aug 2009 03:28:37 +0000 admin http://occupationalhwy.com/?p=50 articles

Beliefs->Actions->Results
By Wendy Weiss

What separates the people who are amazingly successful from those who struggle? Why is one person able to start a business or begin a new job in sales and succeed, while others with similar qualifications and abilities fail?

More and more I’ve come to realize that what makes the difference between those who succeed and those who do not comes down to thoughts and beliefs.

You see, whatever you believe affects your actions. If you believe that a certain action is negative, you will not want to take that action. If, on the other hand, you believe an action to be positive, why then it will be far easier to move forward with that action.

Taking action (or not taking action), gives you results of one sort or another. If you evaluate your results and if you don’t like what you find, or if you want different results or better results, it circles right back around to what you believe.

In a recent semester of “Cold Calling College — Live,” (the 8-week, intensive, virtual coaching program to help entrepreneurs and sales professionals set more new business appointments in less time) one of the participants said that she was struggling with knowing what to say to prospects. I asked her to tell me about her company. She did so and her company has achieved some amazing results for its customers. I suggested to her that she simply say what she had told me. Her response: “If I do that, I feel smarmy (yes, she said this) and like I’m bragging.”

I asked this participant, “Are all of these results that you have described true?” She told me they were. “In that case,” I said, “you’re not smarmy or bragging, you’re simply telling the truth. These are facts.”

Just because you feel something, does not make it so. In this case, this participant felt “smarmy” and as though she was “bragging.” These were her feelings and she was truly feeling them. However, those feelings did not necessarily reflect reality. And in this case, those feelings were keeping her from prospecting successfully.

Here is a question that I received recently from an “Opening Doors & Closing Sales” (the twice monthly free e-newsletter ) subscriber:

“Is there a good script I can customize to reach the hearts of my prospects without giving them the feeling I want to ’sell’ them something?”

You’ll notice that the word “sell” has quotation marks around it. This subscriber obviously feels that selling is a negative activity. Selling is actually neutral; it is the ethics of the sales person that makes the activity positive or negative. I’m willing to bet that because of the way this subscriber feels about selling, her beliefs about selling as a negative activity have kept her from taking action, which has kept her from getting the results that she wants.

So what do you believe? And are your beliefs standing in your way? If so, it’s time to change some of those beliefs. Remember: at one point in history everyone believed the world was flat. Most of us no longer believe that. It is possible to change.

]]> http://occupationalhwy.com/2009/08/12/beliefs-actions-results/feed/ 0 5 Selling Tips To Increase Your Sales http://occupationalhwy.com/2009/08/12/5-selling-tips-to-increase-your-sales/ http://occupationalhwy.com/2009/08/12/5-selling-tips-to-increase-your-sales/#comments Thu, 13 Aug 2009 03:22:50 +0000 admin http://occupationalhwy.com/?p=48 articles

“5 Selling Tips — To Increase Your Sales” By: Bob Leduc
Here are 5 selling tips to help you increase your sales. All 5 work for any business. They’re effective for both online and traditional offline marketing. And they won’t cost you anything to implement.
1. PROMOTE ONE THING AT A TIME
Promote only 1 product or service at a time. It limits your prospect’s buying decision to either “yes” or “no”. Every “yes” answer produces an immediate sale.
Avoid promotions requiring prospects to make more choices after making the decision to buy. Some won’t be able to make a clear choice. They’ll avoid the risk of making a wrong choice by making NO choice — and you lose the sale you already had.
You can develop separate promotions for each product or service you sell. Or you can combine several products and services into one package for one price. But always make your prospective customer’s buying decision a simple “yes” or “no”. It produces the maximum number of sales.
2. LEAD WITH YOUR BIGGEST BENEFIT
What’s the biggest benefit you offer to customers? That benefit is your strongest selling appeal. Use it to attract prospects to your promotional message.
State your biggest benefit in the headline of your ads. Put it in the first sentence of your sales letters. Include it in a title at the top of your webpage. Use it as the opening of your audio or audio-video promotions. Leading immediately with your biggest benefit captures your prospect’s attention and provides a compelling reason to continue reading or listening to your message.
3. PERSONALIZE YOUR APPROACH
More people will buy from you when they feel you are talking directly to them about their individual needs. Develop customized versions of your sales message to cater to the specific interests of prospects in each market you target. Use the language and style of prospects in each market to communicate your message to them.
It’s easy to use different versions of your sales message when you control who gets it. But how can you personalize your web site to appeal to prospects in one market without losing your appeal to other prospects visiting your site?
One way is to create special web pages for prospects in each market you target. Customize the content of each to appeal to prospects in that group. Then add a link to each of these special pages on your home page.
4. PROVIDE SPECIFICS
Marketers often describe their product or service with words like, “It’s fast, easy and inexpensive”. But a specific description of how fast, how easy and how inexpensive will generate more sales.
For example, a general statement like, “Our clients get more sales”, is dull. It won’t produce sales. Replace it with a specific statement like, “Most of our new clients enjoy at least a 17 percent sales increase in the first month”. This statement creates excitement. It motivates prospects to sign up now so they can start enjoying that 17 percent increase in THEIR sales.
5. DRAMATIZE FEELINGS
Customers usually buy on impulse, not logic. They base their buying decision on how they feel about your product or service. Get them excited about using your product or service and you’ll increase your sales.
Revise your ads, sales letters and web pages to dramatize the emotional rewards your customer will experience when using your product or service. Use vivid word pictures to help them imagine themselves already enjoying those benefits. For example, a financial planner could describe what it feels like to enjoy an affluent lifestyle without debt.
Each of these 5 selling tips will help you increase your sales. They produce immediate results. And they won’t cost you anything to implement. Bob Leduc is a Sales Consultant with 30 years experience in generating low-cost leads. He recently wrote a manual for small business owners, “How to Build Your Small Business Fast With Simple Postcards”, and several other publications to help small businesses grow and prosper. For more info: Email: BobLeduc@aol.com Subject: “Postcards” Phone: 702-658-1707 After 10 AM Pacific Time/Las Vegas, NV Bob Leduc
Email: ByBobLeduc@aol.com For a list of articles available for reprint: mailto:newarticles@sendfree.com

]]> http://occupationalhwy.com/2009/08/12/5-selling-tips-to-increase-your-sales/feed/ 0 10 Common misconceptions about marketing on the Internet http://occupationalhwy.com/2009/08/06/10-common-misconceptions-about-marketing-on-the-internet/ http://occupationalhwy.com/2009/08/06/10-common-misconceptions-about-marketing-on-the-internet/#comments Thu, 06 Aug 2009 22:50:54 +0000 admin http://occupationalhwy.com/?p=5 rssnewsarticles10 Common misconceptions about marketing on the Internet By: Pam Renovato

1. You will get rich quick. Marketing on the internet takes
a lot of work. This is not a get rich quick scheme. It
takes much time learning and failing before you will
succeed. Your success is entirely up to you. You will reap
what you sow.

2. You won’t make any money. Again you will reap what you
sow. Your key to success is through consistency and
persistency. If you are willing to learn and accept
failures from time to time, learn from your mistakes and
apply that knowledge- the money will come. Don’t give up.
There are lots of people who truly do make money this way.

3. Anyone can do this. If you tell your self there is
nothing to this , you will set yourself up for guaranteed
failure. A profession such as this takes a lot of
discipline and most of all the willingness to learn. It
takes a lot of hard work and an open mind. You have to be
willing to embrace new ideas as they come and take this
seriously.

4. Not everyone can do this. This is also not true. As long
as you free your mind to skepticism such as these you have
taken your first step. While this profession takes time to
figure out, it is not hard to figure out. Remember the only
person stopping you is you!

5. It is to hard. Look within your self. There is an online
business in you. What do you know? What do you like. What
do you need that has not been created yet? Answers to these
questions and questions like them are the beginnings of you
having the ability to set yourself apart from the crowd.

6. It will be easy. It will get easier, but you will have
to do loads of studying. Spend many hours brainstorming.
You will spend many hours reading, writing, and learning
what works and what doesn’t. It will get tedious and hard
to stick to. Persevere, your reward is coming.

7. It will only require 2-3 hours a day. At some point you
will be able to automate most of your efforts. In the
beginning, long hours are not unheard of. I have spent many
18 hour days in front of my computer.

8. This is not a real job. Yeah right! You will come across
many skeptics. Or worse than that, people who do not reveal
skepticism but merely look at you funny. Believe me this is
a real job. You will be just as exhausted from working and
researching all day as you would slinging 50 pound sacks of
flour all day. When you are mentally exhausted you will be
physically exhausted. You work hard, don’t allow the people
who minimize your efforts get to you.

9. The only good reason to do this is for the money. That
could not be further from the truth. There is a lot to
gain, the money is a plus of course. Learning will always
make you a better person. If you are happy with your self,
everyone else will be to. You can’t beat the hours.

10. It takes years to learn online business. Not true. The
best suggestion is to study hard. Read your newsletters and
the articles in them. Listen to those who are already
successful. They are already telling you what to do and how
to do it. Now you just need to listen and learn.
About the Author Pam Renovato is the web master of
http://thefreeadnetwork.com Your Internet Marketing Power
House. She is also editor of a free ezine featuring 7-10
free business resources in each issue.
mailto:good_thing_better-subscribe@listbot.com

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