But in a difficult economy, you need to be smart about the type of business you start. People are spending less, foregoing many of the luxuries they once had. While I do believe that you should choose a business that fits your talents and interests, it should be something that offers products or services that people continue to need or use even in a down economy.

Here are some areas to consider in today’s economy:

1. Products and Services for the over 50 Crowd – With over 76 million baby boomers, this is a big market. Business ideas include the areas of health and wellness, retirement planning, and in-home care.

2. Services to the Self-Employed – This is a growing market as well as more and more people take control of their livelihoods. Services needed include technical support, virtual assistance, professional services such as accounting, and marketing.

3. Sustaining the Earth – Being green is the in thing. Providing products or service that help people while also helping the earth has become profitable.  There are business opportunities that have green products or you can create your own. Helping families and businesses be green and save green (money) by doing a “green audit” is another business option.

4. Health and Wellness – Everyone is concerned about health and wellness now especially since the report by Dr. David Katz that  indicated that children born after 2000 would NOT outlive their parents because of poor diet. Business ideas abound in this area and include diet and nutrition, fitness, organic foods, supplements, and health and wellness coaching.

5. Accessories and Apps – Is there anything you can’t do with an iPhone app? Do you have the carriers, covers and adapters for your cell phone or MP3 player? People are making a great deal of money creating accessories and application to be used on cell phones, MP3 players, computers and more.

Interns Leigh Anne Wilkes and Sherra Humphreys have been top direct sales business leaders for 18 and 16 years respectively.

With recent news about people being take advantage of with work at home job scams, it is more important than ever to be sure that you do your due diligence and research. We don’t want anyone to fall for the schemes that are taking advantage of people trying to earn extra income in hard economic times.

The good news is that even in the midst of the recession there are still legitimate and reputable work at home opportunities.

One industry that is actually seeing growth in spite of the economy is the direct sales industry. USA Today sites that direct sales can be a recession-proof job.

Here are some tips to help you pick a direct sales opportunity that is a good fit for you:

• Choose a direct sales company with products you can be passionate about.
• As you research direct sales companies, talk to field leaders and consultants to get a real feel for the company and the market.
• Be aware that there are no income guarantees – there is a direct correlation between effort and income.
• Visit Direct Selling 411 to get more facts and find a company with an opportunity that is right for you.

Another option for entrepreneurs is to turn a hobby into extra cash. Two great ways to do this are through Etsy or Ebay.

Etsy describes itself as “your place to buy and sell all things handmade.” If you have a love for the handmade or vintage you will love Etsy. Setting up an Etsy shop is easy. Etsy provides you with step by step directions. In no time at all you can be selling your handmade items or vintage finds right from the comfort of your own home.

If you are thinking about starting an Ebay store, here are a couple of great articles you will want to read:

• Is now a good time to start an online store?
• Finding product ideas

We believe this recession is a great time to start a new business. You can build a work at home business right alongside your other job. With more and more people living paycheck to paycheck, a work at home business may be just the safety net that can help you and your family!

Photo courtesy of: Unhindered by Talent

The Internet has made the ability to create multiple income streams much easier. And with the economy struggling, having more than one source of income is a wise idea. If one income stream tanks, there are others to pick up the slack. The big advantage for me is that it keeps life interesting. I’m able to create income in a variety of areas that interest me. And there is never a dull moment.

With that said, creating more than one income stream is challenging. It requires organization and careful planning. Ms. Winters likens it to plate spinning, which requires constant monitoring and attention to all plates to keep them all rotating.

The easiest way to create multiple incomes is to:

1) Create businesses around what you already know. Its faster and easier to start something you already have knowledge about.

2) Keep your income streams related. Branching one income stream off another, or refurbishing and reusing something you’ve already created is easier to start and manage. For example, you can simply redesign your business for a different market or for a difference niche within a market.

3) Start one at a time. The start up is always the most time consuming and requires focus. So start with one stream and once its running, debugged, and has systems to support it, add another stream.

4) Don’t waste time on what doesn’t work. If one of the streams isn’t profitable or enjoyable, let it go. That will free your time to focus on the streams you have, or to create a better one.

Your assets are:

1)      What you do: These are skills you’ve learned on the job, in volunteer work or in your hobby. It could be your typing speed, keeping the books for the recreational soccer league, or growing a garden in winter.

2)      What you know: Again these are bits of knowledge that you learned from your job, volunteer work or through a hobby.  It can include software or other tools that you know how to use, or information you’ve gained through experience.

3)      What you love: These are your passions and interests and can include anything from fighting poverty to being an avid mystery reader.

4)      What you’ve got: These are tangible items that can be used as tools or even sold. A computer is a tool that can be used to make money. The clutter around your home can be sold for money. My favorite example is the family in the southwest that sells the tumble weed that blows through their yard. That tumble weed is an asset.

Make a list of all your assets. Include everything no matter how crazy you think it is. You’d be amazed at all the ways people are taking their unique and unusual assets and turning them into money.

Once you have your list, you simply need to match them to income options. The three basic ways to do that are to:

1)      Sell your skills (what you do). This can be done by finding a work-at-home job, freelancing or starting a business.

2)      Sell your knowledge (what you know and love). This involves teaching others what you know or do and can be done through coaching or creating informational products.

3)      Sell your stuff (what you got). You can sell your clutter, your own creations or even join an existing business opportunity that has the products you love.

I understand the desire to find the fastest and easiest money-making opportunity, but searching for work focused on the money will almost always fail. You’ll either end up scammed or involved in a work-at-home opportunity that you don’t like. The shortest path to work-at-home success is to focus on your current assets. You already have the knowledge and experience that you can put to work much faster than learning something new.

Choose a business that you know. The fastest way to make money is to tap into your current knowledge base. Doing so will speed up the learning curve. Plus by starting a business within your current skill set means you probably already have the equipment and other requirements already in place thereby reducing your need to invest in new stuff.

Choose a business that doesn’t require a huge investment. While you can expect to invest some money, offering services (tutoring, consulting, baby sitting, etc), selling at online auctions, or creating information products are great home business ideas that can be started for very little cash. These options require time and use of tools and resources you probably already have such as a computer or clutter around the house that can be sold.

Use what you’ve got to build and run your business. Don’t buy a new computer and expensive software at the outset. Even if your current computer and software don’t quite meet your needs, use them until you’re making money and can use some of your business profits to invest in the equipment you need.

Use free resources unless it compromises your professional appearance. There are a host of free tools and services you can get online such as voicemail, fax services, blogs, conference calls, PDF file makers, audio editors, and more. However don’t use free resources if it will sacrifice the quality of your products or services, or undermine your credibility. For example don’t use a free web host for your business website as they tend to look unprofessional.

Borrow or barter for products and services. There are ways to get the resources you need to build and run your business for nothing or a simple exchange.

Choose low-cost marketing tactics such as business cards, blogs, email, social networking online and off, press releases, and articles. Several of these options are free and often the results can be better than buying traditional advertising.

Amy is a fresh face among moms working to build a business income on the interwebs and she’s proven that having a fresh set of eyes has advantages.  Within weeks of launching her own blog, she discovered an interesting niche offering Twitter based ‘Site Warming Parties’ which has turned into a lucrative business model with lots of great potential.

How many Twitter loving moms are shaking their heads right now, wondering ‘Why didn’t I think of that?!’

I’m telling you, sometimes it’s the new mom on the block who can spot and develop a idea that everyone else has missed.

That’s great news for new work at home moms – being new and inexperienced isn’t all bad.  It’s also a challenge for those of us who have been around for awhile.  We can’t get set in our ways, always doing the same old same old thing.

Want to hear my interview with Amy?  You’ll have to be a Mom Masterminds Member since this recording was made especially for them

When I began my work-at-home quest, I didn’t really know what to do or where to look.

The Internet was no where the resource it is today so my search was limited to magazines and being prospected by direct sales people in the work-at-home section of the book store. Like many people I looked for what could make good money fast.

The result is I wasted time…years… on scams and schemes that cost me money.

Today I work at home earning money from multiple streams of income. What’s the difference? Today I do what I love. It sounds pie-in-the-sky I know, but the reality is that if you want to work at home, you can’t start by looking for the quick buck. You have to start with you.

I receive email everyday asking “What is the best and fastest way to work at home?” and my answer is always the same:

What do you know how or love to do? Here’s the reality about working at home: Do what you love, invest time and possibly a few bucks, and the money will come.

That is why I’m excited to be participating in Kelly’s Summer Seminar Series on the topic of turning hobbies into money.

Taking advantage of what you already know or love to do is the fastest way to make money online. You don’t need to know how to write a book or create a product.

You just need to love your idea enough to do the research, learn what you need to do, make a plan and implement your plan on a consistent basis.

Will you be rich tomorrow? No. Will you be rich ever? Maybe.

There are certainly many very successful online entrepreneurs who have turned their interests into riches. But even better, you can make a living doing something that you enjoy or are passionate about. Gardening, cooking, antiques, reading, collecting, advocacy, and many more ideas are making money for lots of people right now.

Why not you?

My learning curve was gigantic! I had no idea how to make put audio up on the web, no clue how to record a telephone conversation, no experience with editing audio files, etc.

Wobbly First Steps

If you have been around me long enough to listen to those first shows – I apologize I had more enthusiasm than skill and I was using all the wrong tools.

I figured things out eventually. I acquired better tools which made a big difference. I grew in experience and produced better sounding programs.

It wasn’t long before some of my friends started to ask me for help in creating their own internet radio shows. I was glad to help too. It was fun to share with others what I worked so hard to learn.

Eleven months after my first show, I read a blog post about podcasting and quickly set WAHM Talk Radio up with an RSS feed. It’s been four and a half years now and I still love doing my weekly show.

I know that the radio show/podcast is the main reason I’ve experienced as much success as I have and I continue to be enthusiastic about seeing other work at home moms and entrepreneurs get involved.

Every WAHM Can Benefit from Podcasting

I really believe that. One way or another, a work at home mom doing business on the internet can use podcasting to:

• Establish expertise
• Reach new potential clients
• Improve customers relationships
• Share information in a new medium
• Market themselves creatively
• Develop partnerships
• Be found in more places

I’ve had some great conversations with internet marketers who have a strong interest in the concept of podcasting but feel stalled as to how to get things rolling and fear that they would not have enough to say to keep a podcast going in the long term. If you would add yourself to this group, I would like to encourage you to check out my upcoming learning course being offered through our new SparkplugU.

There are actually two courses being offered. The first is all about developing your plan for a new podcast or developing a plan to improve on you already have. As a group we are going to work through our ideas, goals and vision for our own podcast. By the end of four sessions, you will have a plan to move ahead with.

The second course will get into the nitty gritty of podcast recording, editing and publishing. This is for the DIY podcaster.

Quit Yer Dollygagging

I’ve been behind the times on a few things in my business. I waited too long to start affiliate marketing. I waited too long to start my own mailing list. I’m darned glad I was ahead of the times in the realm of podcasting because it helped me to make up for what was lost in those other areas.

If you’re worried that you’re ‘too late’ to jump into podcasting, put that thought out of your mind. Podcasting isn’t the shiny new apple that it was a couple of years ago so you may not hear as many people talking about how it’s the next big thing – but that shouldn’t be taken to mean that podcasting is ’so last year’ because it isn’t.

Podcasting is here to stay. Listenership is growing day by day with the number of portable listening devices being sold. Every people group is out there looking for audio to download for their iPods and they are thrilled when they find niche content just for them.

If you know in your gut you should be podcasting – take my class and let’s get it rolling

Tracy and Crystal are a great example of work at home moms taking advantage of everything that Web 2.0 has to offer them.  Tracy lives in the US and Crystal lives in Canada.  They’ve never met but they share a strong interest in moms, blogging and building something big!

By creating a busy community blog they plan to build an income through selling advertising and affiliate marketing.

Moms in a Blog features several mom bloggers who will be writing on specialized topics.  One of these writers just happens to be my niece, Tracy Jo, mom to five year old Macey and nine month olds Max, Brody, Piper and Willow. (My precious Quad Watch!)  Not surprisingly, Tracy Jo will be writing about infertility, high risk pregnancy, preemie babies and raising multiples.

Other than posting pictures and brief updates on her family blog, Tracy Jo is a brand new blogger and I’m so proud to welcome her to the web!

I hope you’ll pop over, subscribe to their RSS and post a comment congratulating them on their launch

Moms love to share their advice and skills with others. Most do so freely on the web via blogs and forums. Some realize that their experiences and wisdom has true value and create information products or offer specialized coaching and consulting services.

The next step after that, one that only a few have taken is to launch a paid membership site where information is shared on an ongoing basis.

I have been co-coach in a membership site since the summer of 2004, it’s called Mom Masterminds. (In fact, we’re celebrating our fourth birthday this week!) MM has been an awesome experience for me and most importantly, very profitable.

Several internet marketing mom friends of mine have launched paid membership sites for a variety of niche topics, products and services:

• Alice Seba & Mila Sidman launched All Private Label Content
• Alice Seba launched Outsourcing Sweetie and the Sweetie Saturday Report Club
• Michelle Waters launched Product Sellers Club
• Melody Spier and Kit Singleton launched Virtual Assistants Mavens
• Lynette Chandler & I launched Easy Internet Survey
• Vera Raposo launched ScrapventurePro.
• Crissy Heron Gipson launched Quick and Easy Newsletters
• Alice Seba launched
• Melissa Ingold turned Special Report Club into a paid membership site.
• Jenn Cangelosi & Heidi Marshall own Toy Auction Profits and Boutique Bargains
• Nicole Dean & Darina Loakman launched Shelancers
• Arika Liddiard launched Yummy PLR

If you’re interested in exploring ideas for creating your own paid membership website, I have two recommendations.

First, Lynette Chandler and I have just released Membership Site Intensive as a self study product.

Second, Jimmy D. Brown has just re-opened doors on his Membernaire program.

I adore Membernaire. Even though I’ve been running a successful membership site for four years and have helped other launch their sites, I signed up for Jimmy’s course because he’s so freakin’ awesome and I knew I’d learn more from him.

He teaches a ‘fixed term membership’ program that anyone can take an use to develop a membership program of their own. I’m so enamored with it that I have used his teachings to launch me latest membership site: Blog Evangelists.

Blog Evangelists is a 12 month membership program that will teach members how to launch a local blog design company and teach local small business owners how to make use of Web 2.0 tactics.