Have you ever looked around your house and wondered if there was a way to get rid of some of the items you’ve accumulated over the years?  If you have children, finding extra, unused stuff is not that hard.  Turn those unused toys and clothes into a little extra cash by learning to sell them online with eBay.  If you’re a Stay-At-Home Mom, this is a perfect low stress work-at-home opportunity. 

As a parent, you know how quickly your child grows out of their clothes and changes their favorite toy on a daily basis.  If you’re like me, you even have some children’s clothes that haven’t been worn!  Why not turn your excess into a little extra cash?  It’s simple and it doesn’t require too much of your time to accomplish.  Selling on eBay is also a great way to learn some habits and techniques that can quickly be turned into a full-time home based business.  Clothes are just a start, there are plenty of other profitable items that can be sold online through eBay.

Thousands of people sell on eBay everyday and make a good living from it.  Since this is probably your first experience selling, start off small and focus on one idea.  Some of the best items Moms have for selling on eBay are clothes.  Take the time to go through your child’s out-grown clothes and make “packages” of related items that you can group together and sell.  Perhaps you have several articles of clothing left over from last Easter that would make a great little Easter outfit package for some child.  Be creative in designing your assortments.  Your originality is what will catch buyer’s eyes and make them view and hopefully purchase your products.

Understand that eBay does have policies on the types and condition of clothing that can be sold at auction.  Read through the policies so that you have a good understanding of what needs to be done before offering your goods for sale.  Much of the information is common sense, but you’d be surprised at what some people try to sell.

For tips and information on selling online, visit World Wide Brands for useful eBay selling strategies and marketing ideas.  Once you are comfortable with selling online, check out World Wide Brands wholesale directory called OneSource that gives you access to hundreds of legitimate distributors willing to dropship their products directly to your customers.

Remember, start off slow and learn the basics.  Trying to accomplish too much too fast will leave you feeling stressed and discourage you from completing your goals.

From the time the kids wake up in the morning to the time they go to bed, they want Mom!  Non-Stop!  But Mom has some good ideas on how to make some extra money by working from home.  How do you balance family and business?  Answer:  Carefully.

For those of you Moms that have babies or young toddlers not yet in school, time can be a very difficult task to manage, especially if the time is for you.  This juggling act between family and business will mean that you need to be very creative in your approach.  Below are three suggestions to try to help you organize your time so that you can try to get (or start) some of your business activities.

1.  Hire Your Kids!

That’s right, you read that correctly, hire your child.  I don’t mean that you are actually going to include him as an employee on your schedule C, do it as a game.  You need to find time, and if pretending that your son or daughter is an employee of your company doing small tasks will keep them occupied, then everyone wins.

Make them feel useful.  If you have a small work area and desk, give them one too!  Give them some crayons, markers, paper, etc. and ask them to draw some pictures for you to hang in your home office.  Tell them that every office needs decorations, and you are hiring them as little artists to customize your office space.  Most children love doing arts-and-crafts and best of all, their occupied and where you can watch them.  Be creative and come up with different projects throughout the week, and if you’re lucky, you’ll be able to get 30-60 minutes a day to catch-up on e-mails or phone calls.

2.  Nap Time Is Your Time

Most young children sleep about 1-2 hours-a-day as naps (if they’re younger and you’re lucky, maybe more).  Whatever time they give you, take it and make the most of it.  This time is great for important phone conversations where you don’t want to be interrupted every two seconds, or for composing important documents.  Web development and research can be done during this time too since they usually require longer work times.

If you’re a Stay at Home Mom, then you probably can’t be doing this everyday since you’ll have other normal day-to-day tasks to handle, but try to do it several days a week and keep to a schedule.  This way you’ll get into habits of doing certain projects on specific days which will help you gauge progress.

3.  Time Away From Mommy

Mommies need breaks from being Mommies so that they can spend time building their business.  Remember, you’re doing this for your family, so don’t feel that you’re being a bad Mom by taking a day (or at least a few hours) for yourself!  Every 2-3 weeks, try to get a day to yourself to work.

See if you can have a family member take your child(ren) for the day or for a few hours so that you can work on your business activities.  Grandparents and close relatives are good choices.  Also, consider swapping days with a relative or close friend who has children.  One week they’ll watch your children, and another week, you’ll watch theirs.  It may not be the best scenario, but it will at least give you the occasional time to get something done.

Remember, there are many ways to make time, but try to find a good balance between your family and your business.  Your children are your priority and they’re only young once.  Don’t get too carried away with running your business that you forget to enjoy those precious moments with your children.

So, you’re considering starting your own home based business, but are a little uneasy and nervous about taking your first steps.  Don’t panic.  We’re here to help answer your questions!  To try and help ease you into making a more informed decision, I’m going to write about some questions I think you might have about getting started.

1.  Do I have the time to run a business if I have children?

This is a tough question, and believe it or not, it’s the most important question you have to ask yourself.  As a stay at home mom or dad, your first priorities are the children.   If you decide to run a business, will you still have the time to devote to them?  If you know what type of business you want to participate in, you’ll have a better understanding of the time and resources needed.  This should help you make a more informed decision as to whether or not you will have time available to do your daily tasks with your children.

No matter what business opportunity you choose to do (and we’ll review many here on SimplyWebtastic.com), you will have to make some adjustments and sacrifices to your lifestyle.  Hopefully, you will be able to find a balance between life and work.  Remember, you’re going to be the boss!  You will need to learn to set your own schedules and stick to them.

Depending on the age of your children, you may be able to dedicate your time to the business while they’re in school.  If they’re still young (like mine), you’ll need to try and get them involved in your business.  Make some of the tasks you do for your business a game for them and maybe they’ll develop some good skills from it and hopefully, they’ll learn to respect what you are doing and give you the space and time to do what you need.

2.  Is it ok to run a business from my home (licenses & permits)?

I’m not a lawyer.  So this question is best left to a little research on the Internet.  You can easily visit your State’s online Business Regulations website and do a little research for home based businesses.  If you’re going to have people coming in-and-out of your home, you should definitely check for any zoning issues.  If you’re going to run an online business, you’re probably all set.  However, a little due diligence on your part is always best.

3.  Will I need additional education to run my home based business?

Again, that all depends on what you want to do.  You know what you’re capable of doing, but try asking friends and relatives if they think you have what it takes to do that line of work.  If you’re choosing an online business, there are plenty of resources available to bring you up to speed on the latest trends and technologies.  I will be setting up resource pages with links to various guides on HTML, web page designing, search engine optimization, and other topics that should help you build your business.

Remember, no one knows everything!  Trial and error is part of that learning experience.  Don’t be afraid to take a chance, especially if you’ve taken the time to educate yourself on what you want to do.  You’ll be amazed at the number of free online training seminars and tutorials that are available on the web.  Use any of your favorite search engines to search out the training you want.  Chances are you’ll find it.

4.  How much money do I need to get started with my business?

It will vary depending on what type of business you choose to enter.  I work primarily in starting online businesses, so I have more understanding of those costs and will try to give more detailed information in future articles.  Just remember to be realistic!  You’re looking to make extra money as a stay at home mom or dad.  You’re probably not in the position to drain your life savings to take a chance on an opportunity, so choose wisely and within your means.

Starting an online business is not very expensive.  Honestly, the biggest expense you’ll probably have, and it’s one I highly recommend, is to incorporate your business for legal and financial reasons.  Unfortunately, there is usually a yearly business renewal fee.  Mine is $500 per year.  Whether you choose to have a lawyer setup your business, or use an online service, ask others their opinion about whether or not you should separate your business from your personal assets.  I think you’ll see that most will say yes.

5.  Should I involve my family in this decision?

Absolutely!!!  As a stay at home mom or dad, you will definitely need the cooperation of all family members to make your dream a reality.  They all have to be willing to back you up in your decisions and willing to give you the time you need to meet your goals.  Talk to them and discuss the future benefits to the family.  Together you’re a team and as a team, the sky’s the limit.

I hope you found these questions and answers helpful.  I hope to have many more of them here at SimplyWebtastic.com.

So, you’ve decided on a product or two to sell online and are in the process of finding yourself a good wholesaler for your product.  You sit back in your favorite chair, power up your laptop, open up your favorite web browser and type in Wholesaler or Distributor into the search box.  STOP!!!

Do not use search engines to find online wholesalers and distributors.  The vast majority of REAL wholesalers do not advertise on the Internet.  They simply don’t need or want to!  As a wholesaler, they usually do not sell directly to the public, just to other businesses.  This is why you need to make sure you’ve established your business identity before starting your wholesaler search (see my post on Establishing Your Business Financial Structures for some guidelines on starting your business).  The real wholesalers do not advertise on the Internet because they simply don’t want to be bothered by thousands of smaller companies with marginal orders.  They would prefer just dealing with the larger retailers.

Avoid the Middleman! 

When you search for wholesalers and distributors though online search engines, you’re likely to encounter middlemen pretending to be real distributors.  In fact, they’re just acting as intermediaries between the real wholesaler and you, and charging you more than what they pay the wholesaler.  This cuts back on your profit and makes the middleman big bucks since they’re not competing to sell the product to the public.  You are!

So where do you find the real wholesalers and distributors?  Are they kept a secret?

No, wholesalers and distributors are not secret, but they are hidden treasures because many people simply do not know the proper way to find them.  While finding them does take a little effort and patience, anyone can do it.

How to Manually Find a Wholesaler 

The process is simple.  Let’s say you want to sell a particular MP3 player.  If you own that MP3, look on the back of the device or in the product manuals for the manufacturer of the product.  If you don’t own the product you’re looking to sell, try going to a store that may sell it, like Best Buy.  Take a notepad with you and write down some information from the product.  Look for model and serial numbers and any references to manufacturer.

Once you know the manufacturer’s name, give them a call.  Let them know your business name and ask them if they sell to individual companies.  Chances are they will say no, but this is to be expected.  If they won’t sell directly to you, ask for an authorized list of distributors for their products.  The initial sales rep may not know the answer, but someone at their company should be able to get you a list.

Once you have obtained a list from the manufacturer of their authorized distributors, simply give the distributors a call and setup an account with them.  If they have multiple distributors, see if they have a website listed and visit each.  If no website is available, give each company a call.  You’re looking to see which distributor offers the best services for your needs.  Do you need them to drop ship for you?  If so, this would be an important question to ask them.

Bottom line, if you want a real wholesaler, you’ll have to do some homework.  The process is not difficult, but will involve a little research and effort.  Remember, avoid searching the online search engines for this information.  Wholesalers and distributors don’t advertise, so 99% of the time the ones you see listed online are fake wholesalers run by middlemen.

With Joomla’s release of their new version (1.5.1) patch today, they have also released a security patch for their 1.0.13 product.  Anyone on Joomla 1.0.13 or earlier should upgrade to the latest version release to avoid any problems.

Joomla security release 1.0.14 addresses some serious security vulnerabilities.  As with most of their upgrades, they recommend that you test on a backup copy of your site and then upgrade your live site as soon as your testing is completed.

Security Fixes

• SECURITY [LOW]  Fixed XSS issue in Search Component.
• SECURITY [LOW]  Fixed XSS issue in Search results pages.
• SECURITY [LOW]  Disallowed users from adding extra wildcard filters in search strings.
• SECURITY [LOW]  Fixed multiple typos in back end Content Component making array integer check ineffective.
• SECURITY [LOW]  Fixed case-sensitive flaw in Input Filter.
• SECURITY [HIGH]  Fixed CSRF issue allowing portal compromise - Administrator components.

Other Significant Fixes
 

• Administrator logout problem.
• Fixed bug in Search Component where small word were not properly filtered out.
• Improved efficiency of regular expressions in Search Component (thus reducing CPU resources when called).
• Added “Preview” link to Administrator template (to match 1.5).
• Fixed bug in pagination links (extra space was being added to the link).
• Various core API fixes.

For detailed release information, patch files, and upgrade instructions, please visit Joomla’s website.