How Can You Find Freelance Writing Jobs?

Do you think that there is a big sign that reads, “Freelance Writing Jobs, Apply Within”? There just is not. In fact, you may have a hard time finding writing jobs of any type advertised in any employment magazine or newspaper either. So, how do you find freelance writing jobs?

Let us talk about this for a moment and see if we can't find an idea or two that will work for you.

1. Begin at the beginning. Get the education you need to have. Learn what there is to know about the field in which you are looking for job vacancies. Having knowledge itself can open doors. This can help with step two as well.

2. When you do have that knowledge, do not forget to look towards the teachers you got it from for help in finding a niche to work in. They may have more resources than you realize.

3. Create a portfolio. Even if you never have any published work, you can still write, right? Write to fill your portfolio. Then, when a prospective employment opportunity arises, you’ll have something to provide in the way of samples.

4. Look online. Vast amounts of freelance writing jobs are offered there. If the work can be submitted online, why not look worldwide? Try doing a websearch for "freelance writing jobs".

5. Keeping striving to meet the needs of your clients 100%. When you make them happy, they will come back with other jobs for you. And, they will provide you with testimonials and referrals as well.

All of these things can work for you when you allow them to. You need to provide yourself with all the tools you need. Most importantly, this is writing. You must be able to meet your client’s needs and therefore will need to present your talents in the right light each time. When you are looking for freelance writing jobs you’ll find them across the world when you look in the right places.

Top Tips For Buying a TV

I want a larger screen and so do you. There is absolutely no reason for this wanting except for the feeling of power that a large screen gives you. I have no idea why it is, but we all seem to want a larger screen for our TVs these days. The question is, how to get a good deal on an LCD TV without paying a fortune. Let’s give you our top 3 tips on buying an LCD TV.

1) Don’t buy a used one if you don’t have to. The funny thing about these TVs is that their prices drop significantly every month and that if you just wait a little longer, the price you’ll pay for a new TV is probably not going to be too far off from the price that you are going to pay for a used one. A little patience might actually save you some dollars here.

2) Compare features, not just prices. One of our favorite places to go to compare prices on LCD Tvs is ConsumerReports.org. Consumer Reports was rating different items way before the internet even become popular. Remember buying your first real car? I do. And I went straight to Consumer Reports to find out that the Honda Accord was the car to buy (and still is according to CR). Shopping for a high end LCD Tv shouldn’t be any different than shopping for a new car. All the resources are at your disposal, so give it a try. I’m sure you can find some gems of information at CR regarding your LCD Tv purchase.

3) Don't buy without HD. High definition television has allegedly been “right around the corner” for years. Well, that time may finally have arrived. Some LCD Tvs come HD ready and some do not. Make sure your new LCD TV supports HD so that when it is finally popularized, you can watch the programs utilizing this latest technology.

And by the way, why would someone want to buy an LCD TV over a “Plasma”. And what is a plasma? Are they different than LCDs? Basically yes. The big difference is that they use different technologies to deliver a picture. Both have pros and cons. However, both deliver a large screen experience to the user.

How to Choose the right camera for you

More people are able to afford digital cameras because their prices are falling but the number of characteristics is rising so it is important to be able to compare digital camera features.

The first step in being able to compare digital camera features is to decide what you want to get out of your camera. If you compare digital camera prices you will see that for shooting family snapshots you can get a good basic digital camera for under $400, while a professional model is over $1,000. When you compare digital camera features you need to know the extent of the use you are going to get out of it.

It is essential when you compare digital camera options to understand the issues of image resolution, which is measured in megapixels. Basically, the more megapixels, the higher the resolutions of the final image but you definitely need to compare digital camera images with your actual requirements. This is best done if you compare digital camera resolution with the size of the images that you want to print and you will find that a 1-mg camera can create a 3-by-5-inch (7.5 by 13 cm) photo-quality print; a 2-mg camera will make a 5-by-7-inch (13 by 18 cm) print; a 3-mg camera will make an 8-by-10-inch (20 by 25 cm) print, and a 6-mg camera will make a 9-by-13-inch (23 by 33 cm) print.

One of the other points to consider when you compare digital camera prices is to look at the complete package that is offered. Some included extras to look for when you compare digital camera packages are if the camera includes a cable for your computer and if it comes with image-editing software that works with your computer. If these are not included it is still possible for you to buy them separately but you need to allow for this when you compare digital camera prices. Another important point to consider when you compare digital camera options is to choose a camera with removable memory in addition to built-in memory.

All of the cameras that you are considering when you compare digital camera features should have an LCD screen for viewing pictures, a built-in flash, a timer, and a time/date stamp on even the most basic camera. You should also look to compare digital camera packages that have optical zoom, not digital, if you need a zoom capability and most midrange cameras should have high-quality optical zoom lenses but it is still worth checking to make sure.

How do I choose a good Insurance Company?

It’s easy to see which company is least expensive, but when you need them to cover a claim, what kind of job will they do? To put it another way, which is the most reliable insurance company?

Here’s some quick tips to help you choose the right insurance company for you.
1. Visit your state's department of insurance and check consumer complaint ratios and basic rate comparison surveys.
2. Get in touch with local body medical practitioners you trust and ask which insurance companies they recommend.
3. Consider contacting an insurance agent for additional information about a particular insurance company.
4. Check out the financial strength ratings for an insurance company by referring to the A.M. Best and Standard & Poor's ratings.

There’s so much to think about when looking for the right insurance company; we’ve already found the best links below to help you get the right information fast.

The right information can go a long way when you're shopping for car insurance. You can shop for car insurance either online or face to face with a car insurance agent.

Some companies that sell car insurance policies online, as well as the companies that sell car insurance policies traditionally, can make independent decisions about the expenses they incur and the prices of their products. So you might not necessarily get the same quote with the one company either.

When you complete a quote make sure the car insurance company only collects information necessary to provide accurate car insurance quotes. And ensure the information is limited to people involved in processing this information for sales, customer service or claims service.
Also for coverage purposes, sometimes all family members of driving age who are residents of your household might need to be listed on your car insurance policy to protect both you and the insurer. So don’t forget to ask and make sure everyone is either covered or excluded.
What is the car insurance definition of an accident?

Accidents include at-fault, not-at-fault, reported and unreported collisions that you, as the driver, were involved in. Not at fault occurrences in which your parked vehicle was damaged in a collision also are considered accidents.

Tips For Winter Driving

Winter driving can be hazardous and stressful. Wind, snow, ice and blizzard conditions increase the normal dangers of driving. There is a lot you can do before the winter driving season and during a storm to protect yourself and your family.

Before winter arrives, have your car inspected to be sure it is ready for the road conditions. You can do this yourself or take it to a qualified mechanic. Check the battery, wipers and fluid, thermostat, brakes, ignition system, antifreeze, exhaust system, lights, oil level, heater and defrosters. Make sure everything is in good working order to keep you safe throughout the cold weather.

Check your tires to be sure they are road ready. Install tires that are appropriate for the driving conditions. In moderate amounts of snow, all weather radials will do the job nicely. If you live in a climate where you experience a lot of snow, consider snow tires. These have better tread to deal with snow and ice.

Prepare an emergency kit to keep in the back of your car. This will ensure that you are prepared in the event that you get stuck in the snow. Things to include in the kit:

Ice scraper
Small broom
Small shovel
Kitty litter or a bag of sand (to give traction if you get stuck in snow or ice)
Blankets or a sleeping bag
Flashlight with batteries
Flares or warning triangles
Plastic bags
First aid kit
Tool kit
Jumper cables
Bright cloth to use as a flag
Help sign for back window
Extra hat and gloves
Food and water to sustain you if you get stuck
A book or Prayer Cards to keep you busy and calm in the event you get stuck.
Charged cell phone (always carry this, especially in the winter)

Keep your gas tank at least half full at all times. This adds weight to the car and will ensure that you won’t run out of gas in the event you get stuck.

Driving in the Snow

Pay attention to the weather forecasts and road conditions in the winter months. If the weather is bad, stay home if at all possible. If you must venture out, travel in the daylight. You are more likely to find help if you get stuck during the day. Never warm up your vehicle in the garage. This releases carbon monoxide, which is toxic and can kill you.

When driving, always wear your seatbelt. Wear sunglasses to protect your eyes from the glare of the sun reflecting off the snow. Know your car and how it handles in the snow. Features like traction control and antilock brakes can be useful in bad weather conditions. Know how these work and if your car is new, practice driving it in a snow covered parking lot before venturing out on the road.

Take it slow, especially in icy conditions. Don’t tailgate and be sure to allow a safe distance between vehicles. Do everything slowly, stopping, accelerating and turning. Leave plenty of time and space to maneuver. Sliding and skidding usually happen when turning, stopping or accelerating. Going extra slow will ensure your safety.

If the visibility is low, slow down even more. Consider getting off highways and driving even slower. This will take you out of the path of large trucks that can cause accidents. Use only your low beams, as your high beams will reflect back off the snow and won’t increase your visibility. Turn on your hazard lights to be sure other drivers see you.

In the event your car gets stuck, don’t get out. Put up the hood and tie your cloth to the antennae. This will make you more visible to emergency vehicles and other drivers. Keep the windows, air grill and tail pipe clear of snow. Wrap up in blankets and huddle up with passengers to stay warm. Run the heat for fifteen minutes each hour to keep from freezing. Move your body around to stay warm.

Keeping your car clean throughout the winter is important. Salt on the roads is important for safety, but will wreak havoc on the finish. If left on for long periods, it can cause rusting. Wash your vehicle weekly to remove salt and wax to protect the paint. Salt also leaves a coating on your headlights that can impair their operation. This will make you less visible to other vehicles. New Lite Headlight Cleaner and Restorer will return the lights to like new condition.

Tips for Cleaning Granite, Stainless, and Ceran Easily

Today’s new surfaces require special cleaning. Years ago, porcelain stoves and laminate countertops required little effort to keep them clean. A wipe of the sponge is all it took. But, they weren’t nearly as attractive as today’s stainless and granite. Increasingly, though, we are using natural surfaces and stones for countertops and appliances and that range from porcelain to ceramic, from stainless steel to cast iron, from granite to marble. And when it comes to cleaning, it’s become a nightmare. These surfaces, while beautiful, do require more maintenance.

Glasstop or ceran stovetops take their very own kind of liquid paste cleaner. Granite is also a maintenance nightmare if you don’t know how to clean it right, requiring gallons of spray cleaners and three trees’ worth of paper towels. Fortunately, there is an easier way that can handle most cleaning needs for these special surfaces that is as easy as soap and water were for handling the surfaces in our mothers’ and grandmothers’ kitchens.

STAINLESS STEEL
It was most often used for kitchen sinks, but now stainless steel become an extremely popular finish and is used on everything from kitchen counters to refrigerators to stoves, ovens, and microwaves. It’s versatile and practical. However, over time, stainless steel can become dull-looking or lose its original luster.

How to clean: To remove fingerprints from stainless, use a lightly dampened microfiber cloth. For extra stubborn stains or fingerprints, use a mild window cleaner with a microfiber cloth. Do avoid using scouring powders on stainless steel. For all-purpose cleaning, use plain dish detergent and make sure water spills are wiped up right away as water is harmful to the finish of stainless steel.

GRANITE
Nothing is as durable as granite – or as beautiful. It’s tough and extremely handsome making granite a terrific choice for kitchen counters and floors. It resists heat and scorching and is almost impossible to nick and scratch. The problem with granite is getting that shine on it again – especially for that beautiful, deep black granite. To clean, dampen the cloths with a spray bottle filled with regular tap water.

Worried about bacteria on the counters? Don’t be. Microfiber cloths have fibers small enough to pick up bacteria according to a test conducted in Canada that compared cleaning with microfiber and water versus a sponge and disinfectant. The room they cleaned? A men’s urinal. The microfiber tested cleaned 96% of bacteria – cleaning as well as the sponge and disinfectant did! If you have granite floors, use a microfiber mop dampened with water. Soon your counters and floors will be glossy and beautiful and disinfected without harsh chemicals.

How to clean: The most important thing to remember is to avoid using window or ammonia-based cleaners. These will harm granite and its finish. Wiping with a sponge is no good either because it makes a nasty, dull finish. To keep that beautiful, glossy granite shine, the only thing to clean with is microfiber cloth. These cleaning cloths shine without using strong chemicals – so you you’re assured that you aren’t damaging your beautiful stone counters while you’re cleaning.

Ceran & smooth-top Cooktops & Stoves
These beautiful surfaces are wonderful to look at but do require some special treatment – especially with regard to the cleaners used. Ceran and smoothtop stoves usually require a special liquid paste for cleaning. They should be regularly cleaned (about weekly) with this paste to polish the surface, but for daily cleaning, this becomes too tedious.

How to clean: Wipe up spills with a damp cloth as soon as possible, especially if the spill is sugary. Use plastic scrapers to bring up any food particles, or follow the manufacturer’s instructions. For daily cleaning, use a regular sponge and water to wipe up any food particles, follow up with a microfiber cloth to make the stove shine. For deep cleaning, use a cleaner specially formulated for glass tops. Never use scouring pads or cleansers as they will scratch smooth surfaces.

In short, microfiber is a cleaning and polishing wonder. Use it in every room in the house but where it really does some of its best work is on today’s new surfaces. Microfiber levels the cleaning playing field and makes today’s beautiful-to-look-at-but-hard-to-clean surfaces as easy to clean as the ones we grew up with. You can go without using microfiber, but why would you when it makes cleaning easier (especially for today's surfaces), better, and chemical-free?

Original Source of this tip can be found here.

Improve your Eyesight

Near/Far Focusing

Near point stress has often been quoted as a leading cause of myopia. It refers to the fact that people do too much near focusing, such as reading a book or looking at a computer screen. This causes the eyeballs to strain as they try to focus. As a result, the eyeballs adapts by changing its shape, becoming fatter and more circular.

Here's an exercise that will teach the eyeballs to return to their original shape by simply focusing both near and far:

1. Hold up a finger or a pencil in front of you, about 6 inches away.
2. Choose another object that's at least 20 feet away.
3. These will be your near and far points respectively.
4. Alternate between the near and far objects, looking at each for about 2 seconds at a time. Repeat until you feel your eyes really working, then persevere some more.

How to add a second or dual monitor to your computer

more...

Here is a tip on how to set up a second or dual monitor on your computer. Most video cards support an extended monitor, now you can work with two full screen monitors at the same time!

Tips on how to save green by going green

Want to do something good for the environment but unwilling to give up your car, grow your own vegetables or start living off the electrical grid? Relax. Doing something good for the environment is easier than you might think and can actually save you money, too. We spoke to local experts on how you can make your lifestyle a little greener.

“The easiest steps to take are those that are practical as well [environmentally friendly], whether they’ll save you money or improve the health of you and your family,” said Jenna Rose, of A Fresh Squeeze, whose bi-weekly emails give subscribers practical ways to live more sustainably. “It’s easiest to start with those first and progress on to the acts that require more of a sacrifice later on.”

1. Bottle your own water
A bottle of Aquafina at the office vending machine often costs $1.25 or more. Add to that the cost the environment and that drink is a lot more taxing than you think. According to Stephen Bell of the Chicago City for Green Technology, a city agency that promotes “green” homes, workplaces and communities, it takes three times the amount of water you’re buying to produce just the container. The stuff you get out of your tap, he adds, is likely as good as or better than what you buy in a bottle. Adding a filter to your tap or buying a Britta water pitcher can give you filtered water at home. For drinks on the go, you can buy a reusable plastic bottle from Nalgene for about $10. Some people favor aluminum bottles, such as those made by Sigg, which run between $15 and $20 and last longer than plastic bottles.

2. Shop vintage
When you’re shopping for your first apartment or looking to cheaply furnish your guest room, it can be tempting to head to the nearest IKEA. But new furniture made from plywood and particle board emit volatile organic compounds, or VOCs, toxic gases that can make your living room an unhealthy environment. To avoid polluting your home, A Fresh Squeeze’s Rose recommends heading to your local flea market for second-hand furniture made from hardwood that is a lot cheaper than what you can buy new. “If you are reusing a product, you are reducing the stress on raw materials and also the energy cost of producing and transporting those materials,” Rose says. “You don’t have to track down another tree to make a chair because you’re using a chair that’s already made.”

3. Lighten up your “phantom loads”
Cell phone chargers, computers and other electronic devices continue to draw electricity even when they’re not in use, a process known as a “phantom load.” Rose recommends reducing energy usage by unplugging your cell phone charger from the outlet, plugging your computer into a powerstrip and turning your computer off when you’re done using it.

4. Drive differently
Not everyone lives in a pedestrian-friendly community or has access to public transportation, but there are ways you can improve your energy efficiency in the trips you take every day. The easiest one, Rose says, is to drive the speed limit, which improves your fuel efficiency, lets you spend less money on gas and reduces your carbon emissions. Rose also suggests planning your trips in advance to link your errands together, thereby reducing the number of single trips you make.

Joining a carpool or starting one yourself is another way to save money on gas. At www.erideshare.com and www.carpoolworld.com, you can connect with other people looking to swap rides in the Chicago region and offer your own car up for use.

For those who live in Oak Park, Evanston and the Chicago city limits, the I-GO car sharing service is another option for eliminating or reducing the cost of car ownership. Using figures from the American Automobile Association of Chicago, a 40-mile round-trip commute costs $21.27 per day, $638 a month and $7,657 annually. These figures include gas, maintenance, tires, insurance and more. Members of I-GO pay a one-time membership fee of $75 and a minimum driving fee of $6 an hour and 50 cents a mile, including gas.

5. Eat your vegetables
During the summer season, farmer’s markets are a great way to save money on food, do something good for the earth and get all your vitamins and minerals. “A lot of times you can find organic produce that’s reasonable compared with what you can find at a traditional grocery store,” Rose said. Additionally, the shorter the distance a potato is transported from field to table, the better it is for the environment and the fresher it is. Most towns in the Chicago area have weekly markets. To locate one by zipcode, you can check out www. localharvest.org.

Another way to eat more vegetables is to join a community supported agricultural cooperative. New Leaf Natural Grocery store in Rogers Park delivers boxes of organic produce to homes from Wilmette to the South Loop. A mixed box, including foods such as kale, mushrooms, lettuce, bananas, mangoes, and strawberries costs as little as $15 a week for a one- to two-person household – a cost savings of 25 to 50 percent over a traditional grocery store, according to owner Steve Parkes. “We try to keep it varied and interesting,” he said. “It makes it nice for our customers to eat a lot of different kinds of foods that they wouldn’t ordinarily eat.”

Eating a vegetarian meal a couple of times a week can make a difference, too. The energy cost of planting, fertilizing and harvesting the corn to feed the cow that becomes your $6.50 sirloin steak dinner could be reduced if you chose beans over beef just once a week.

6. Change it up
You’ve heard this one before, but it bears repeating. Bell, from the Chicago Center for Green Technology, says compact florescent lightbulbs use up to 66 percent less energy than regular incandescent bulbs, last up to ten times longer and can save up to $30 in energy costs over the lifetime of the bulb. That can be a bright spot on your next energy bill.

How to Choose a Right Web Hosting Service?

Indeed, choosing a right web hosting service for your website is not an easy task especially when there are thousands of web hosting providers all offering almost identical web hosting packages. Therefore, it is important to know few major considerations even before you start your web hosting search. Below are three major criteria for web host seeker:

Web hosting features requirement

This is probably the most important consideration to start finding a host for your site. You need to decide the technical requirements for your website, this including:

a) Server platform and hardware requirements

If you plan to set up a website that uses programming environments such as Active Server Pages (ASP), Visual Basic scripts, Cold Fusion or Microsoft Access or Microsoft SQL database, in this case, you will need to find a web hosting service that supports Windows platform such as Windows NT or Windows 2000 servers.

Likewise, if you plan to use programming languages such as Perl, CGI, SSI, PHP or mySQL database, then any web hosting plans that support Unix/Linux platform should be sufficient to meet your hosting requirements. Once you have these server platform and hardware requirements in mind, you can decide the best web hosting plans for your need. For more information, you can read "How to select a web server and server platform?"

b) Disk space & Bandwidth requirement

Here is another technical requirement that you need to consider before selecting a web hosting plan, i.e. disk space and bandwidth. If you intend to publish a website that does not have a lot of contents (meaning, web pages), then the disk space requirement may not be a big concern to you.In general, a disk space with 200MB to 1000MB should be enough to meet your hosting requirement if you are just hosting html files or normal site with few mp3, clips or graphics. In contrast, if you plan to host a website with enormous amount of graphic pictures, mp3 or video files, then you should consider a hosting your site on a Virtural Private Server or a dedicated server plan that provide huge disk space, huge bandwidth and server resources, for example, 25000 MB to 160,000 MB.

Similarly, the bandwidth requirement will depend on your site traffic estimation. Obviously, a website that expect to attract high traffic will consume the monthly bandwidth allowance very fast. If so, you will need to find one web hosting service that offer huge bandwidth with 40 GB to 100 GB per month. Depending upon your website requirement, choosing a web hosting service that provide sufficient amount of disk space and bandwidth is crucial consideration to prevent paying extra costs in the future should you overuse the monthly disk space and bandwidth allowance.

c) Other hosting features

While the above requirements are utmost important, there are other hosting features that you have to consider too. Can web hosting provider support video clips on your website, if you have? Is the web hosting service compatible with Dreamweaver or FrontPage web authoring tool? Do you plan to set up a virtual store online? Can the host support the e-commerce features without adding extra cost to your monthly payments? On top of that, you may also want to find out the number of email accounts provided, number of FTP accounts, web statistic software (analyze your web traffic), type of control panel supported (manage your web hosting account), database and scripting languages supported and etc.

Reliability and scalability

A first-class web hosting provider offers reliable server uptime and fast Internet connection. You should only choose a web hosting service that guarantee at least 99% server uptime with high-speed Internet backbones using at least OC3 (Optical Carrier) lines (155 Megabits per second) or above instead of T1 or T3 lines. A reliable web hosting provider usually invests heavily on their data center infrastructure with high performance servers, high speed multiple backbones providers with fail-over redundancy, backup power generators and firewall software protection in place to ensure they meet the uptime guarantee specified in the terms of service.

Similarly, you should choose a web hosting service with hardware facilities that designed for scalability, so that they can grow with your business. For example, if you need to increase more disk space, bandwidth or number of MySQL databases, you should be able to upgrade as needed without any problems.

Customer service and support

The last major consideration in choosing a web hosting service is to find a web hosting providers that offers excellent customer service and support. You should always search for a web hosting provider that offers 24 hours a day, 7 days a week technical support that fielded with highly experience technicians, so that any web hosting problems will be resolved within a reasonable amount of time. You may also want to consider to test how responsive is their customer support by sending few inquiry emails to the web hosting provider. In general, any response in less than 24 hours is considered acceptable. It is a sign of poor customer support if they take more than one day to response.

In addition, a web hosting provider with excellent support should also provide multiple support channels, such as toll-free phone support, 24/7 email support, live chat, online knowledge base, Interactive flash tutorials and FAQ.

Above are few major considerations before you choose your web hosting service. In addition, how long has the web hosting provider in business and the number of customers that they currently have are also a good indication of the quality of their hosting products as well as the stability of the company. Even though cost of the web hosting service is also important but it should not be your major consideration. Because the price of a web hosting service has been declining over the years due to competition, as a result, the price of most of the web hosting services offering quality hosting features has been converging to less than US$10 per month but beware of the hosting companies who oversell, if they are overselling they will most likely be selling obscene amount of diskspace and bandwidth for US$6 per month. Some of the known hosting providers who oversell are HostGator, Siteground.

On the other hand, it is more important to ensure the web hosting service that you choose is able to meet your website hosting requirements, guarantee your website is always accessible with satisfying speed, provide scalability to grow and expand your website as well as offer excellent customer supports.

How to Hack your Laptop Battery

Dead laptop battery? Don't buy a new one...hack the old one!

How To Make Your Own Match

How to make your own home-made match. Use this to make a bunch of matches in bulk that will last you for years.

Tips on Avoiding Home Business Failures

It’s been said that 80% of all small business dies within the first 3 years. And the rest are somehow struggling along with meager revenues. Only a handful is successful. Home based business has an even shorter lifespan. Every enthusiastic home based venture starts out with a big promise, a lot of excitement and enthusiasm.

However at the first signs of trouble or a slow take off the people become panicky. Having been accustomed to regular pay check, when the money does not roll in week after week and the bank balance hits the low digits, there is a sense of panic and the exciting home business gets trashed.

My own experience tells me this happens just when you are through with organizing, setting up and the difficult transition period of reaching out to the customers, you decide to wind up the business in favor of a job.

Now here are a few tips to persevere and make a success of your home business.

Plan in advance your finances for running your family for a minimum period of 6 months.

Plan every aspect of your business – right from creating the product to final shipments - on paper. Don’t leave out anything. This is what is called a business plan. Make it elaborate and group each aspect under a heading and subheading.

Home workers need to set a disciplined work schedule. Having no bosses around or compulsions of commuting may make you take things easy and relaxed. At least for the first 6 month work as if you are in employment and put in the required hours. You can relax and cut down on working hours when you start earning enough.

Don’t procrastinate or put things off for tomorrow. Action is one major ingredient for success. If you need to do something do it today. Do it now.

It is essential to keep your motivation high. Read about the success of other small business and home business owners and learn what they did right. Duplicating someone else who has succeeded makes it easy to succeed yourself.

You may suddenly find yourself alone without the social support of colleagues and friends. Even persons you considered your best friends may avoid you if they feel you are in trouble. That is OK. You get to know who’s who in times of adversity. Learn to depend on yourself than outside support.

Be prepared to take the temporary pain and denials. Robert Kiyosaki of ‘Rich Dad Poor Dad’ fame and his wife slept in their car for a few months and lived in a basement of a friends house for many more months to achieve what they set out - their financial freedom.

Believe in yourself and keep going even if the going gets tough. The rewards far outweigh the pains and temporary sufferings. Remember the darkest hour is just before the dawn breaks out and sun rises.

About the author:
R.G. Srinivasan is a Managerial professional, Writer and Author.
http://www.home-businessresources.blogspot.com

Make Emergency Microphone

Chat in skype, msn and yahoo messenger, AIM... etc without a microphone.

Make Batteries at Home from coke

Make your Own batteries at home using cola and pennies. It is a fun experiment to try at home. LOOK and see how you make them yourself.

How to turn a PENCIL into a LIGHT

How to make up to 20 mins of bright white light from a pencil, its perfect for emergency break down and survival situations.

Tips on getting the right Blogging Software

Choosing the right blog software for your new blog requires that you ask yourself some questions and make a list of all of the features and tools you need as well as your budget. Once you have this information written down you will be prepared to start shopping for blog software. However, keep in mind the following seven tips for choosing the best software for you.

Tip 1. Ping Updates
These allow you to update your blog and are very important in blog software. Make sure the blog software you are interested in provides automatic ping updates.

Tip 2. Comments
Whatever blog software you choose, you'll want to make sure that it has an area for comments from visitors. This will help you understand what is successful in your blog and what is not, as well as guide you in future blogs. This is a really great tool and should be part of your blog software.

Tip 3. Trackback
If you are discussing your blog on another blog, or simply adding information to another blog, trackback will allow you to update this information. This is a little confusing, but trackback allows you to talk on your blog about information on another blog and ping the writer of the other blog to let them know what is going on. Trackback is certainly a feature you want in your blog software.

Tip 4. Pingback
Pingback is similar to trackback, but it just sends a URL to the other blog to let them know you are talking about their blog on your blog. This is not used as much as trackback, but you will want a blog software that has at least one of these two functions.

Tip 5. Web-based
The point of a blog is you can post information instantly online, so you want your blog software to be similar to a word processor and web based without a shadow of a doubt.

Tip 6. Archiving
You want a blog software that supports archiving, and most of them do. The reason for this is you will want to save all of your past blogs by the date they were published and archiving allows you to do that.

Tip 7. Categorize
Another great tool you will want in your blog software is the ability to categorize. You want to keep your blogs organized and in categories, if you have them, so this option is really a great one for most bloggers.

Make An Glowing Ice Bulb

What do you get if you put an LED inside a balloon and freeze it? The Ice Bulb. It looks really cool yet is dead simple to make.

Bid your way to a Great Deal

Getting a deal out of EBay auctions is an art. Buying from auctions can be a costly proposition or a very economical option depending on your tactics. Buy wisely by learning from my (sometimes costly) experiences.

1. Is the Seller Trustworthy?
Both EBay and Yahoo auctions have seller ratings. Read these and their associated reviews. If the seller has a great rating from buying and a poor one from selling, you probably don't want to buy from them. Look at both praises and complaints as they may or may not apply to what you are bidding on.

2. Read the Description Throughly
It is very easy to read what you want to see in an Ebay auction rather than what is actually written there. Read both what is in the Ebay description and what is NOT in the description. Often your mind will want to fill in details with what is your dream interpretation. You need to re-read the description until you find out whether what you are searching for and what the seller is selling match.

* Used or New?
Is the item you are buying used or new? If it doesn't say new, you are most likely buying something that is used.

* Real or Fake
Is the item you are interested in "real" gold, sterling silver or pearls? For example, a description saying: "gold necklace for sale" does NOT say 14 kt gold or 18kt gold. That most likely means a gold COLORED necklace which may or may not have actual gold metal. This also applies to pearls as many call plastic fake pearls simply "pearls".

If the seller is selling beads, those beads could be plastic, glass, stone, scrap metal, crystal, chips, wood, clay, gemstone or some other material.

* Item Details
Does the EBay description really say how much you are getting, how long the item is, and quality of the item? Selling by the pound can be a great deal - or a horrible deal.

* Beware of Hidden Costs
Look at shipping and handling costs. I've seen many penny auctions that have $13 or more shipping. Some auctions even have handling fees.

* How Fast Will it Ship?
I've been seeing a fair amount of auctions that note that the product will ship in 2 months or that shipping time is 2 months. If you are buying for a particular holiday, be sure that you will get the item in time.

3. Is it a Bargain For You?
Many times an EBay auction will say that the items are "worth $XXX". In many cases, that price is inflated. Often you can find similar items much cheaper than "$XXX" at normal stores. (However, the auction price may still be cheaper than you can by elsewhere - it really helps to know how much you usually pay for items!) If you are only interested in some of the items in an auction, adjust your bid to reflect how much you are willing to pay for just those items unless you plan to sell the rest as that is how much you would pay for it elsewhere.

4. Auction Fever
Compare prices on the net at the same time to avoid overpaying. Know that usually you can get the item later elsewhere. Wise buyers know to walk away when the price is higher than the item is worth to them.

Tips on Free or Cheap Effective Advertising Methods

1. Use bulletin boards. Place copies of your circular or catalogue on bulletin boards throughout your community, such as in coin-operated laundries, grocery stores, barber shops, etc. Concentrate on Fridays and Saturdays when shopping increases.

2. Check with local newspapers for ads. Before going to press, many smaller newspapers have space left that needs filling. Your ad may be just the right size to occupy this unfilled space and they may run it for free.

3. Ezines or electronic magazines are also a good place to advertise your business. Some charge a fee for placing your ad in the best location, some let you advertise for free.

4. When you have envelopes printed with your return address, have them also print your best ad directly beneath your address. It costs noting additional to have this printed on the front of your envelopes.

5. If you publish a mail order magazine, newspaper, adsheet, etc., contact other publishers, If your circulation is equal to theirs, many will be happy to exchange an equal amount of ad space with you.

6. Many publishers will give you free adspace for mailing a few copies of their publication. Simply write to them and ask if they will give you a free 1 inch ad in exchange for mailing 50 to 100 copies of their pub.

7. Write informative articles for mail order trade publication. Most publishers will give you free ad space for the use of your article.

8. Take advantage of advertising specials. Many publishers offer ads on a 3-for-the- price- of -2- basis, or 4-for-the-price-of-3, etc. This saving is the same as getting one ad free of charge.

9. Some publishers offer a free classified ad with your first display ad. Watch for such specials. Use the free ad and pocket the savings.

10. When starting a new publication, many publishers will offer reduced ad rates to help fill space. Watch for ads regarding such offers.

11. Get your business online. The digital age has expanded the possibility of getting across to an almost unlimited number of people and advertising your business. It also has expanded the advertising audience to a tremendous amount of new people, world wide, who otherwise you would never have been able to reach. Although websites will cost you to get hosted, you can advertise it many ways for free. Things like link exchanges and article submissions allow you to get exposure to your website with no cost except for you time. And as we will see in a moment, your website can be advertised many other ways for free. The advantage of a website is that it centralizes all your business and products into one central location. It gives you somewhere to send people so are aware of your products and services.

12. Free Online Classifieds. Use the internet and the many free classified sites on which you can advertise your business. A search using "free classifieds" will give you an almost limitless number of places to submit your website and ad.

13. Place your website address in your e-mail signature. By doing this you can draw attention to your address and also a place where people can check for new offers.

Easy Guide To Car Maintenance

Cars are like electric lights. We often don’t appreciate them until they go on the blink. Regular maintenance checks and simple service can greatly reduce the cost of car ownership and keep you a much happier traveler!

Don’t let the thought of car maintenance intimidate you. There are actually several car maintenance tips you can do – even if you’re totally mechanically-challenged!

For instance, you’ll want to keep your windshield washer fluid reservoir full. This involves screwing off the cap and pouring windshield wiper fluid in the right spot. You can quickly check the fluid levels when filling up at the gas station.

While you’ve got the windshield washer fluid out, pour some on a rag and clean the bug guts, etc. off the wiper blades.

If you see any colored fluid leaking from your car, get it serviced immediately.

If you smell any peculiar odor coming from your car, take it to the nearest service station. Odors mean something inappropriate is going on under the hood of your car!

Every fall, go ahead and replace your wiper blades. You need new ones once a year – might as well get them before winter sets in and you’re wiping away that ice and sleet!

Be sure all your lights are clean and working, including brake lights, turn signals and emergency flashers. You can perform this quick check while filling up your gas tank.

Check your tires once a month – give a look over for cuts, bulges, or nails or other foreign objects sticking out.

Take your car to your friendly serviceman once a month and have the pressure in your tires checked. This service should cost you less than five bucks, if anything.

Every three months have your oil and oil filter changed. Many times an inspection is done during the oil change. It’s worth it to pay a little extra if you have to and have this done. Ask to have your battery checked, too.

Have your air filter changed when it gets dirty. You can ask the folks who change your oil to check the air filter. They’re happy to change it for you.

No matter how non-car savvy you may have felt in the past, finding that you can do some simple maintenance checks puts you in the driver’s seat. You’re likely to discover in advance if your car has a problem that should be taken care of immediately.

Tips to Advance Your Career

To survive and thrive in today's competitive environment, it is not just what you know. You also need to be competent. You must stand out from the crowd - be memorable, impressive, credible, trusted and liked.

1. Exceed expectations; deliver results on a or head of time.

2. Manage your time effectively.

3. Create a career plan with goals and training requirements.

4. Move away from day-to-day operations.

5. Develop strong rapport with colleagues, senior managers/executives.

6. Get a mentor, accept guidance in your career.

7. Know your organization's goals vision, values, business strategies.

8. Create opportunites to further own/business goals.

9. Solicit feedback and assess the decision for purposes of continuous improvement.

10. Communicate effectively to people at all levels of your organization.

11. Build and maintain relationships with individuals who might impact your work.

12. Plan, prioritize and organize your work.

13. Manage own emotions and reactions.

14. Balance the demands of your personal and professional life.

15. Give yourself quarterly reviews, identify your accomplishments.

16. Become your own sales team, market your abilities.

17. Dedicate yourself to lifelong learning.

18. Be decisive and action oriented.

19. Commit to excellence and professionalism.

20. Be self-disciplined.

Ten Basic Principles to Successful Investing

Here are a couple of key points to help you to invest.

1. Do your own research.
Collect and study as much information as you can about the company and investment before making your decisions. A good approach is to analyze a company’s investment prospectus. The investment prospectus is a written document that outlines the data relevant to the investment offered for sale. It includes a summary of the company’s business history, financial data showing assets and liability, past performance figures, fees that an investor will need to pay and a description of the company’s operations.

Another way is to study a company’s annual or quarterly reports. Some of their reports are available from their websites. If they are not available, you can always request for the company to post them to you as most of the companies do not charge a fee to prospective investors.

By reading the prospectus, reports and other important information you know what you are investing your money in and what to expect from your investment.

2. Prepare a strategy.
It is important to plan a strategy before you start investing. You should know which stock you are going to buy, when to buy it, its selling price and for how long will you hold the shares. Try to follow the principles of your strategy and not change it every day.

3. Don’t trade with money you cannot afford to lose.
Don’t invest with money that is supposed to be used for important aspects in your life such as money to pay for bills, mortgage, loans, or tuition fees. This means that you will be trading based on your emotions and feelings of fear. It will then be wise to adopt a more conservative approach to investing.

4. Diversify your investments.
Diversification can help reduce your investment risk. It is a good idea not to invest all your money in one stock. It is tempting to do so especially when you have found a hot stock but remember choose wisely as the odds might be against you.

It is also a good idea to invest in a couple of stocks from different industries and not just concentrate on one particular industry. Select industries that have shown growing and strong demand in the market.

Stocks may be a fantastic investment but there are many different asset classes in the market. Choose among bonds, mutual funds, treasury securities, real estate for your investment portfolio to complement it and protect you against the risk of significant loss.

5. Purchase stocks that you understand.
Identify your limitations and only invest in companies that you understand. You must be able to understand how these companies make their money and hence be able to make reasonable assumptions in forecasting their future performance. Many investors make the mistake of investing in a stock that they do not understand just because they fear missing out on a hot stock. The key is to avoid the lure of an attractive industry unless you really know the economics of that industry. By recognizing your strengths and weaknesses, you are able to prevent making major investment mistakes.

6. Market indicators
To help you follow the progress of a stock you have bought or are thinking of buying, it is a good to know how to read stock tables. However, if you are interested in tracking the progress of the market as a whole, market indicators will let you know how strong the markets are in general terms. To better understand this, you will want to take a look at a stock market index which is a listing of stock and a statistic reflecting the composite value of its components.

7. Read and understand price quotations
By reading price quotations in daily newspapers, on television or on the Internet, investors can keep track of the changes in prices of their investment. Investors will need to know a history of the investment’s prices and not just its current price. By understanding this, investors will be able to follow their investment without the help of a stockbroker or adviser.

8. Avoid buying stocks just because they have gone up.
It is unwise to rush into purchasing stocks that have gone up just because your friends tell you how much they’ve made on a stock. Often, momentums in stock prices attract investors who quickly purchase without doing any research on their own about the stock.

9. Choose companies with new styles, ideas and products or services.
Stocks that are the best to invest in are those that have something new to offer. Something new does not necessarily mean that it needs to be a high tech product or service.

10. Do a post-analysis of all your trades.
By posting on a daily chart of where you bought and sold your stock, which stocks you made money from compared to the stocks you lost money on, you will be able to evaluate and identify your mistakes and learn to become a better investor.

Make Instant HOT ICE

Sodium Acetate is really cool because it has a "freezing" point of around 130°F (54°C). By heating the sodium acetate in water, you're bringing it past it's melting point. When you cool it, you're actually supercooling it below it's freezing point without letting it crystallize.

Once you touch the solution, a nucleation site is formed, allowing it to recrystallize. The solution quickly jumps to its freezing point once the crystallization process begins, bringing it back up to about 130°F (54°C).

To reproduce the experiment, you can buy some sodium aceteate or if you'd rather make it yourself, sodium acetate is one of the byproducts of mixing baking soda and vinegar.

Get relief from Credit Card debt

Credit card debt relief is what every debt-struck credit card holder is looking for. Credit card debt relief is not just about reducing or eliminating credit card debt; credit card debt relief is also about getting de-stressed. Credit card debt relief is about working for oneself and not just for the credit card debt that you have on you. Yes, it’s unfortunate but true. In fact, you can hear statements like “I have got a better job, now I can pack up my credit card debt even faster”. So, in that sense, credit card debt relief is really about getting your life back on the normal track.

The most important credit card debt relief comes in the form of de-stressing you. Everyone knows about the harmful effects of stress; so, if credit card debt relief means postponing your purchases for later, you should do so. There are no goods out there that can give you as much joy as credit card debt relief can. Besides postponing the purchase of your favourite goods, there are few more things that you need to bring into practice in order to get credit card debt relief.

Most of these credit card debt relief mechanisms advocate restraint spending e.g. preparing a (tight) monthly budget and sticking to it. Using cash instead of card for making the payments for your purchases is another advice. Debt consolidation is another popular way of getting credit card debt relief. You will find a lot of advice (and you can even hire a consultant) for ways to achieving credit card debt relief. So, there is no dearth of advice on credit card debt relief or credit card debt consolidation or credit card debt elimination. However, what is not so common is the advice on how to act in the post ‘credit card debt relief’ period i.e. after credit card debt elimination. It goes without saying that if you don’t exercise care in the post ‘credit card debt relief’ period, you might again fall a prey to credit card debt. So, if you have been refraining from making purchases, you should not, all of a sudden, start purchasing all those favourite goods that you had been avoiding. The recommended guidelines for post ‘credit card debt relief’ period are not much different from the ones for achieving credit card debt relief.

Here are the top 5:
1. Plan your expenses using a monthly budget
2. Do not buy anything that you don’t need
3. Do not go for too many credit cards (just one or two should be sufficient)
4. Always make full payments of your credit card bill and do it before the due date
5. Never use more than 60-70% of the credit limit available to you.

Tip on how to Remove a small Car Dent

Remove Car Dent With Air duster. You can remove small or medium Dent on your car What you need is just a Hair Dryer and a Air Duster for computers.

How To Solve A Rubik's Cube Easily

Trick to Unlock Car

An unique way for women to recover keys they forgot in a locked car.

Basic Apple iPhone Tips

Basic Tips to work around Apple iPhone.