My kid brother and I are both entrepreneurs. However, we’re very different in the way that we approach business. A fundamental difference between us is that he wants to start a business with a lot of startup capital from investors so that he can get in at the top level of the business as quickly as possible. In contrast, I prefer to invest as little money as possible in a business while exploring whether or not it’s what I really want to do. Either approach is fine for starting a business as long as you know why you feel the way that you do.

Thinking about this topic has brought up an interesting question for me – does it take money to make money? Ultimately, despite the fact that I approach the initial startup of a business different from my brother, I do believe that it takes money to make money. This doesn’t mean that you can’t start a business with no money but it does mean that I believe you have to re-invest your immediate earnings into the business if you want it to actually get off the ground.

What do you think? Does it take startup capital to make a business work or does a gradual process of starting with what you have and then re-investing regularly in the business work just as well?

Tags: business, finance, start a business with no money, startup capital, takes money to make money

I think that one of the most important things that you can do as an employee or business owner is to find a way to make your job unique. You should focus on developing a specific niche, habit or approach that sets you apart from the competition. This may seem impossible in some jobs but if you get creative then you’ll find that you can be unique even if the job that you have is a common one held by many other people.

For example, there are some really cool underwater jobs that would fall into this category. Underwater modeling, underwater photography and underwater welding are all examples of this. After all, there are thousands of people who do modeling, take photos or work as welders. The number of people who do those same jobs underwater is just a fraction of that. Simply by looking at a new location for their work, these employees set themselves apart from the crowd.

Another example might be the person who works as a server in a restaurant. That’s a common job so how would you be unique about it? It might be in the way that you approach your customers – for example, you could have a little song that you sing each time that you approach the table. Or it could be in developing a special talent – you might become known as the person who can juggle full water glasses. Whatever it is, it needs to make you stand out as someone who does the job in a unique and interesting way.

Of course, it’s important that you do your job well. That’s probably more important than being unique about it. But once you’ve mastered the skills of your job position, you should make sure that you go further and create a niche for yourself. This will make you more marketable and more valuable as an employee. And it will probably make your work a lot more interesting to do!

How could you set yourself apart from the crowd? In the comments here, feel free to let us all know what you do and how you could do it in a more special way!

Tags: career, employment, hubpages, kathryn vercillo, niche, underwater jobs, unique job

How many people who work five days per week would love to go down to only a four-day work week? Doing this gives you a three-day weekend every single week. This allows you to really recuperate from your work and get time to do the things that you want to do. But how can you do it?

Here are some ideas for cutting back to a four-day work week:

• Work 10-hour days. The easiest way to maintain your lifestyle while reducing the number of days that you work is to continue to work forty-hour weeks but to do so with ten-hour days.
• Switch to a salaried position. Try to find a job that allows you to get paid based on the amount of work that you do rather than the number of hours that you put in. Be productive during those four days and you can take the fifth day off without compromising your job position.
• Reduce your financial needs. If you can find a way to reduce the amount of money that you need then you can pay your bills with a three-quarter-time job position. Most companies still allow you to retain your health benefits if you work over 30 hours per week.
• Start your own business. It’s a lot easier to make a schedule that works for you when you’re your own boss. If your current job isn’t going to allow you to reduce your work week then maybe you should start a business that will!

Are there other options for taking a three-day weekend every week?

Tags: employment, four-day work week, job, kathryn vercillo, time management, work

When you choose to operate your own small business, you are probably thinking primarily about your own interests. You want to do work that you enjoy and you want to be your own boss. However, every business is part of a bigger picture. That’s something that a smart business person is going to realize and work with.

Some of the ways that a single business is part of a bigger business include:

• There is a chain of events that occurs before a product reaches a customer. When you provide a product or service to a customer, you are not participating only in the simple transaction that you appear to be participating in. You are also participating in a small section of the chain of events involved in the bigger picture. This chain includes all of the businesses that came before you in the transaction and any that the customer will then continue on with. For example, Maverick Hammers sells hydraulic hammers to businesses that do mining. All of the people involved in the invention and construction of those hammers come before them in the chain. All of their customers (such as mines) and the customers’ customers (such as jewelry designers) follow them in the chain. If any of these people don’t do their jobs, the chain breaks.
• Every business contributes to competition within the industry. The chain of events requires that businesses work together. However the nature of business is competition between similar businesses. The amount and type of business that one company does directly affects the other companies with which it is competing.
• Each business is a part of a global industry. The choices that the business makes affect the rest of the Earth. For example, if the business decides to outsource its labor to a developing nation then it may improve job prospects in that nation but will contribute to unemployment problems at home. Likewise, a company that pollutes during manufacturing is contributing to global environmental problems. The company doesn’t exist alone but affects the entire world around it.

Even small businesses have to realize that they play a role in a bigger picture. The independent jewelry maker may not think about who manufactured the hydraulic hammers that allowed for the mining of the stones used in the jewelry but that doesn’t mean that the chain of events is irrelevant to the business. Recognizing this encourages every business owner to do their part as well as possible in order to maintain high standards across the industry.

Tags: business, chain of events, kathryn vercillo, manufacturing, small busines

I have been trying to earn money for as long as I can remember. Even as a child, I was always trying to start my own business or to find a job that I could do even though I was young. I remember one time when I got together with some friends and made homemade friendships bracelets and then took them around the neighborhood to try to sell them.

I wasn’t the only one in my family who earned money with my own business. My kid brother learned early on that he could purchase candy in bulk and then sell it individually to kids at school to make a profit. He and my sister also used to scout the ground at every parking lot we ever entered because they knew that they could find loads of dropped change there which would add up.

We weren’t particularly unique kids as far as this goes. In fact, I think that most kids are pretty creative and I would say that most of them want to do something that allows them to earn spending money of their own. The problem is that it’s really frustrating for kids to figure out how to earn money when they aren’t old enough to work yet.

There are definitely options for kids with all different types of skills, though. Take a look at my article on 30 ways kids can earn money to get some ideas!

Tags: businesses for kids, earn money, home business, how kids earn money, kathryn vercillo, kids, kids business, Personal Finance, work

I have been thinking about offering some sort of summer promotion for my writing services. I’d like to get some new clients. I want to spread the word about the blogging and social promotion services that I offer. And I really just want to be trying out some new personal marketing techniques.

Summer promotions seems like a great way to do this. There is a bit of downtime in the summer so I can focus on creating a cool promotion. The people I’d be interested in reaching are people who are probably spending hot summer afternoons checking out blogs and social networks anyway. And since it’s seasonal, I can try it out without committing to it for a long period of time.

I’m not sure what type of summer promotion I want to offer. I’m kicking around different ideas. I’d love to hear some thoughts from you about good summer promotion ideas for bloggers. Leave it in the comments or drop me an email!

Tags: blogging, business, freelance, kathryn vercillo, marketing, self-employed, summer promotion, work

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the issue of productivity. I have particularly been interested in the way that productivity is encouraged in small businesses. The small business offers an interesting dynamic because it’s got a sense of community to it but it’s still got a boss and employees. The sense of community tends to increase the employees’ personal investments in the business and to drive up productivity but the fact that there’s still a boss always causes a little bit of resistance on the part of employees.

I think that one of the most important things that a small business can do to increase productivity is to work on promoting that sense of community. Although the boss may set the rules in the place and may even do things like monitoring employee internet use, the employee needs to feel that he or she has a real say in what’s going on within the small business. That feeling of being needed and valued will cause the employee to want to contribute in a meaninful and productive way to the business.

The first thing that a boss should do to increase productivity in this type of setting, then, seems to me to be to focus on increasing his or her own productivity first. (You can do this easily with a 5-day productivity plan.) This allows the boss to not only improve productivity but also to identify ways in which employees may also improve productivity. Setting this example is a great starting place for creating a foundation of trust within the business and moving everyone forward into more productive work together.

Tags: productivity, small business, work

I’ve been writing a whole lot lately about how hard it is to work from home. I’ve been thinking about productivity and how to make it better in the home office. I’ve been wondering if multi-tasking helps or hinders these goals. And I’ve been putting together tips for increasing home office productivity. All of these things are based on my own experiences working from home for so many years.

But the truth is that I don’t always do what I recommend that others should do. And yes, my productivity probably falters because of it. Some of the things that I do wrong when it comes to working from home:

• I turn on the TV at lunchtime. It’s supposed to be a quick distraction but usually I get sucked in and leave it on for several hours in the background while I try to do my work which tends to mean that I’m only half paying attention to what I need to be working on.
• I check my social networking sites and IM throughout the day. This means that I’m regularly getting distracted by non-work conversations during my work hours.
• I often work from bed. I don’t have a good work space in my house and I frequently spend hours working from my bed even though I don’t think this is healthy for the mind or body.

However, there’s a lot I do right which is why I can make things work as a full-time freelancers. Things I’ve gotten down include:

• Scheduling. I’ve learned to create a schedule that works for me and I’ve learned how to adapt that schedule as needed when other things come up.
• Setting boundaries. When I don’t want to be bothered during working hours I have no problem letting people know that.
• Getting up and dressed. Even though I work from bed a lot, I always get up first and shower and put on clothes that are nice and make the bed before getting back into it.

Learning to work well from home takes time. I’m getting there.

Tags: advice, business, freelance, hubpages, kathryn vercillo, productivity, small business, work, work from home, working for yourself, writing

Many people have told me that they would love to work from home but that they don’t think they could be productive there. It’s true; it’s really easy to get off task when you work from home. Your home life and work life tend to blend and you could easily find yourself watching TV when you’re supposed to be working. However, if you put a few simple things in place at your home office then you can have the benefits of working from home without the drawbacks.

To be productive when working from home you really need to make a commitment to doing this work. If you’re fully committed to the idea that you’ll work from home then you’ll be able to put an effective plan in place for being productive during your working hours at home. This plan includes when and where you will work and how you will separate that from your home life.

It’s not easy to figure out this plan. You will constantly be adjusting things (especially your schedule) to see what works so that you can be productive at home without feeling like you’re constantly tied to work. It’s true that this type of balancing act isn’t right for everyone. However, it’s great for some of us when we can figure out how to make it work for us!

Tags: business, employment, productivity, self-employed, tips, work

As the result of many years of working as a freelancer and playing around with my own schedule on a regular basis, I have come to conclude that some days are going to be more productive than others. I have also learned that there is a steady rhythm to this ebb and flow of productivity for me.

The most productive days of the month for me seem to be the ones during which I do my organizing and planning. Although more may actually get done on days when I’m plowing through my projects, the act of getting it all sorted out on a calendar and a spreadsheet is really what makes me capable of being steadily productive.

For me, these days are the first few days of the month and the last few days of the month. I don’t do a lot of “work” on these days but instead take the time to review the month that has just passed, organize the month’s finances and then plan out the goals for the new month.

I don’t limit this to just work either. I also use these days of the month to make my personal To Do lists, set forth some creative goals for the month and figure out what I want to do with who and when. Of course, these plans are flexible and subject to change on a whim but the organized approach makes me feel like I can handle the ebb and flow of the rest of the month with ease.

Tags: be more productive, freelance, increase productivity, most important days of the month, productivity, schedule, working