Equipping Yourself for Success—Must Have List of Gear for the Telecommuter
By: Sylvie Fortin

There are few things more aggravating for a business owner than hiring someone to work from home and finding out they don’t have the proper equipment or software. Worse yet is when someone has the equipment, but doesn’t have a clue on how to use it. Don’t be one of these telecommuters!

If you are a telecommuter, you need to equip yourself for success with the best must-have gear available. The actual equipment and software you need will be dependent on the type of work you perform, but the following list of barebones minimum requirements should help you get started down the road to work-at-home success.

Computer
It is critical that you have a superior computer system if you plan on telecommuting full-time. Computers are a lot cheaper these days than they once were. It is worth the investment to have a system that doesn’t crash constantly, can access the internet at high speeds, and can process documents rapidly.

Good Quality Printer
Consider investing in a laser printer. With professional quality proposals and documents, you’ll be stunned with how much more effective you can become as a telecommuter with a quality printer. Definitely recommended!

Fax Capability (fax machine or online fax service)
Whether it’s an inexpensive online fax service like j2.com that allows you to send and receive faxes using the internet or a traditional fax machine, having fax capabilities will be invaluable to you as you create a professional image with your customers.

Second Phone Line (if using dial up access) or use Cable / DSL
If you must use dial up access, rather than have a cable modem or DSL high speed, then you need to have a second phone line. There is nothing more frustrating for employers than to try and reach a telecommuter and cannot because they are online and there’s a busy signal. Remember: the faster your internet access speed, the more money you can make!

Software You Can’t Live Without
Part of what will make you very good at what you do is handling all the stress on behalf of your customers. They don’t need to hear “No, I’m sorry. I don’t have that software, so I can’t do that project you needed done yesterday.” So, make a concerted effort to have a wide assortment of software at your disposal. To save money, consider buying used software. You can keep an eye on local newsgroups to see what people are selling that they don’t need anymore. Also check out eBay.com and Bidz.com for software deals.

Microsoft Office, especially Word and Excel, can set you up to handle just about any telecommuting need. Data entry, research, technical writing, web design, graphics…pretty much everything you’ll typically need to do can be done with this one set of software.

A Good Web Browser
Obviously, you need a good web browser, like Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator, but you also need to know how to use it effectively!

WinZip
As you know, size isn’t everything, but when you’re talking files and download speed, bigger isn’t better. WinZip opens files that are sent to you or downloaded, but more importantly, it is used to compress files that you need to send to your clients. Why is this important? Simply put, with zipped files, your clients won’t have to painfully watch their email being downloaded with large file attachments. Spare your clients the pain, download WinZip for free from http://www.winzip.com.

Adobe Reader
Put simply, Adobe Reader allows you to view .pdf files. Without it, there are very few documents that you will be able to read, including many eBooks. You can download the Adobe PDF reader for free (http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html).

HTML Editor
You will need a good and simple html editor. This allows you to modify sites and website templates, but more importantly, you can take on projects that involve working with html files. The more variety in projects you can take on, the better for your bottom line!

Graphics Program
Even if you aren’t planning to be a graphics designer, you should definitely have a decent graphics program. No matter the reason—whether it’s resizing, changing a file type, or making a minor modification—you will need a graphics program.

Your Own Website
If you don’t have your own website, you’re seriously hurting your chances of getting the work you deserve! A web site shows the business world that you are serious, professional, and ready to get to work on their project. A telecommuter without a website is like a business without a building. Start building yours today!

As you know, to be a successful telecommuter takes hard work, dedication, and a commitment to excellence. When it comes to equipping yourself with the right stuff, make sure you get off to the right start by equipping yourself with the gear you need to succeed. To your success!

 
——————————————————————————–

=================================================
This article is excerpted from “You Can Work in Your PJs”, a real world guide to telecommuting. Sylvie Fortin works from home full time and wrote this book to share her unique techniques with others. You can download your copy of “You Can Work in Your PJs” by visiting You Can Work in Your PJs =================================================

It is inevitable that you will be faced with failures along your rising path toward success. The way that you choose to deal with those challenges and circumstances defines who you really are. Napoleon Hill once said, “Most great people have attained their greatest success just one step beyond their greatest failure.” Be sure you’re prepared to take that step.

Okay, so you’ve been giving it your all.  Well, maybe not your *all*, but a good portion of your all.  And you’re not seeing any progress.  So now what?  Are you doomed to failure and never to succeed?  No!  Keep reading.

One thing that you need to understand is that failure is an event, not a person.  It doesn’t define you as a “loser” for the rest of your life—unless you let it.  Failure happens to you—it isn’t who you are.  You’re not a victim, but it also doesn’t define you.  So when it happens (notice I didn’t say “if”), pick yourself up and get ready for the next event in your life.

You must adjust your attitude as you recuperate from a failure.  You will rise to your own expectations.  Psychologists call this a “self-fulfilling prophecy,” and we are suckers to believe our own words.  So adjust your attitude to the positive side of things.

Remember the guy who came up with the brilliant idea to change Coke?  Back in the 80s (for those of you who were mere babes during that decade), someone had a stroke of genius—or so he thought.  The Coca Cola company decided to compete more with Pepsi, and changed the formulation of their signature product—Coke.

 They called it “The New Coke.”  It bombed.  No one enjoyed the new taste and the calls were immediate to bring back “the old Coke.”  After a few months of hemming and hawing, Coca Cola executives brought back the original formula of Coke and ditched the new stuff—and its creator. 

So what happened to the guy whose idea this was?  He left Coca Cola and began to look for new work.  The trouble was, his name was well known in the business community and everyone connected him to the failure that New Coke was.  He finally landed an interview in which he got a fair shake:  the interviewer asked what he had learned through the problems the New Coke had created. 

Naturally, he indicated that he had many lessons learned from the fiasco.  He didn’t let failure define him, and he ended up landing the job for which he was interviewing.  Good for him, right?  But good for the company that hired him, too.  They were willing to take a chance on a creative risk-taker who had a very public failure on his record. 

Many of those who are considered to be “successful” have had failures dot their lives.  Rush Limbaugh, the king of daytime talk radio, was fired multiple times from different radio jobs.  He also filed for bankruptcy—twice.  So you can see how Limbaugh didn’t permit failure to define him.  Those failures were events from which he recovered and moved on.  And you should take the same tact when confronted with something that didn’t turn out like you hoped it would.

Thomas Edison failed more than 10,000 times before finally succeeding with his light bulb. Where would we be today, if it wasn’t for his persistence. The point is, we learn from our mistakes and improve upon our failures. Those that are willing to stick to their dream and see it through are the ones that will be ultimately successful. Stay on task, see your dream through and you may discover your true purpose.

 

 

When pondering the topics that surround success principles, attitude and motivation are of paramount importance. BUT, the most zealous and outwardly positive salesperson will in all likelyhood, never reach their goal without the proper success skillset and product knowledge.

It’s not necessary to have a PhD to be successful, in fact you don’t need a degree at all! I can think of at least one person with an advanced degree that has gone to waste. Education is worthless without the attitude and aptitude to do something with what we’ve learned.

Whether your choice is to be the Dean of a University or Mr. Greatwrench, there are specific educational criteria necessary in order to do that job well. That advanced degree is worthless without the desire and ability to inform, encourage and educate others. That six foot tall, stacked toolbox, full of the latest techno-gadgets is nothing but a half ton paperweight without the knowledge of how to apply the tools to the needed repairs. Without the proper education it is impossible to reach your fullest potential and be truly successful in your field.

Some career choices don’t necessarily require any form of formal education at all. Professional sports for example gives young, gifted athletes with miraculous aptitude the opportunity to forgo their education and begin a very lucrative career, sometimes right out of high school. These youngsters are loosely encouraged to get an education to fall back on, but most are blinded by the lure of dollar signs and bright lights.

On the other hand, consider the young athlete who received a degree in business management while attending and playing through their college years. This athlete is in a much better position for a secure and successful future if fate or circumstance were to deal a career ending injury. Even without injury, and heading for retirement, the second athlete is better prepared for life outside of sports.

The thing that drives us to become educated in our skillset is motivation. In order to achieve success on your career path you must constantly be in pursuit of the education necessary to excel. When we stop learning, we start losing.

When the three traits of attitude, aptitude and motivation are combined with intent, there is nothing that can stand in the way of success. These are the basic tools of any success in business or in life. Apply these principles for yourself and watch your life change before your eyes.

 

STATISTICS AND DEVELOPMENTS INDICATING THE NECESSITY OF SOCIAL NETWORKS FOR BUSINESS AND MARKETING Provided by SE-Optimize During the summer of 2006, we saw several key indicators that business executives and investors were taking keen notice of social networks and their potential impact on the online advertising and marketing arena. Many popular bookmarking and social networking sites have been acquired by larger corporations – the most famous of which was of course Google’s acquisition of social video network, YouTube. However, what is more interesting to business owners and C-level executives are the large investments now being made into advertising models and programs within social networks. In June, Interpublic Group announced it would be developing marketing programs on FaceBook for its agency clients to the tune of $10 million worth of ad space. In early July, WPP Group invested $2 million into corporate social network, LiveWorld. This unique joint venture will help WPP’s agency clients, such as the skincare company Dove, deploy their own social networks. We find it fascinating, as a company that participates in both the social networking and search optimization spaces, that Fortune 1000 companies and large advertising agencies are recognizing the importance and profitability of social networks far faster then they recognized the benefits of search marketing. However, to the benefit of the small business or medium-sized company, these large corporations will take time to implement their large-scale campaigns, while their smaller counterparts are moving quickly to acquire their piece of the social networking pie. For instance, Forrester’s December 2005 survey of marketing executives showed that 13% were marketing via blogs or social networks at the time, but 51% forecasted “total adoption” of such marketing strategies within the next 12 months. BUT JUST HOW LARGE IS THE SOCIAL NETWORKING SPACE? According to comScore Media Metrix, the total US internet audience has grown by roughly 4% in 2006. Yet several social networks like MySpace, Facebook, and Bolt have seen growth percentages in the triple-digits. According to Nielsen/NetRatings, the top 10 social networks (MySpace, ClassMates.com, Flickr, FaceBook, YouTube, etc.) received roughly 68.8 million unique visitors by 2005 – reaching 45% of all active web users. That means that nearly 50% of all Internet traffic ran through one or more social networks last year. But think of the explosive growth and public acquisitions in 2006… In June of this year, US web stats company, Compete, released some fascinating data that blows 2005’s growth out of the water: Their Key Findings: 1.In June, 2006, 2 out of every 3 people online visited a social network 2. Social Networking sites are now close to eclipsing traffic to search giants like Yahoo! and Google 3. MySpace received 55 million visitors in June 2006 For those of us who participate in the global markets, it’s interesting to note that Bebo overtook MySpace as the top social network in the UK during most of 2006. WILL THE SOCIAL NETWORKING FAD LAST? Jon Gibs, senior director of Nielsen/NetRatings, said social networking sites are the “reality television of the Internet.” “The content is relatively inexpensive for publishers to produce, and social networking is not a fad that will disappear,” Gibs points out. “If anything, it will become more ingrained in mainstream sites, just as reality TV programming has become ubiquitous in network programming.” This means immense opportunity for any business owner or executive. First of all, online advertising is far more affordable than television or traditional media advertising. But more importantly, there are ways to market yourself in the various social networks without spending money on advertising. These strategies include maintaining your own blog, creating profiles for your company on MySpace and other networks to interact directly with your audience (without spamming, as we’ve seen recently occurring on MySpace), producing engaging and buzz-worthy content that gets circulated among bookmarking websites (as well as Technorati), and producing media content for networks like YouTube and BlogTalkRadio. The key to success in marketing with social networks is to understand that there’s no middle man here. No marketing hoopla. And no wall of corporate messaging to hide behind. Social networks are transparent and to effectively engage their audiences you have to be willing to be transparent as well. Then all you need are some creative strategies for communicating with your audience – which we are happy to provide you. Contact us for a free consultation to discuss.

Let’s say you’ve got your attitude correct, the right skill set honed, and the right philosophy. Great! You’re on your way – somewhere. If you don’t have the right direction planned out, you’ll simply wander aimlessly.

You don’t attempt even the smallest of construction jobs without a plan, and yet many people work in a field they just happened to “fall in to” because someone suggested it, or a friend was doing it, or even worse—they didn’t have anything else to do.

Wandering through your career can be just as deadly as wandering through a desert without a compass and canteen—in both places, you can die a slow death of thirst and exhaustion.

You must know where you want to go in order to set a direction for your life and career. You’ve probably heard the adage, “No one plans to fail, but they do fail to plan.” So determine where it is that you want to go (i.e., what you want to do) and set a course for it.

I recommend doing something you love. Not something that you can tolerate or achieve a reasonable pension from after 30 years of work (do pensions even exist anymore?), but something you are truly passionate about.

If it’s music, think about how you are gifted in that area. Do you sing? Would your singing chip paint off a house? Do you have an ear for pitch and tune? Do you play an instrument? Consider the field of professional golf for a moment. Do you love to golf? Would you be willing to commit days, weeks, months, and years to bettering your game to the point when you could hit the pro-circuit?

Do you have a means to support yourself (and your family) while you work on your dream job? Would you be happy and content doing whatever you chose—for the rest of your days, if need be? These are all questions you should ask yourself as you try to set the direction for your life, and ultimately, for your success.

Now that you know where you want to go, you must plan and prepare for your destination. As you plan and prepare, it’s fair to expect that you will achieve that goal—expectations play a large role in success, no matter what the field. If you plan well and are committed to the work involved, then and only then, can you expect to achieve the desired results in your life.