Kiva Loaning Money To Overseas Entrepeneurs

Often when we hear the term "entrepreneur" we think of a young/youngish get up and go men or women, we imagine them on their computers with their mobile phones making deals and starting businesses from scratch. Well that's a reality for entrepreneurs in the western world but there are others with just as much drive but not as much good fortune such as those in countries starting small farms or sewing shops to help feed their family or send their children to school.
A fabulous organisation that I heard about on Oprah is called "Kiva". What they do is they have a website that invites people from around the world to act like mini banks by loaning money. What you can do is provide small loans to 1 of the 100's of people on the site and they pay you back. They have detailed descriptions of the person you would lend your money to, what it is for and how they pay it back. Loans can be as little as $25. Its an incredible organisation and amazing to see different people and what they want the money for. Obviously these people would never be able to loan from a traditional bank as they are very poor but nonetheless hardworking and just need some help. The loan is normally repaid in monthly preagreed payments and over 85% are paid back in full. Check it out its a heart warming experience.

Fabulous Inexpensive Business Tools That Will Make Your Life At Least 10 Times Effective & Eons Easier.

Go and visit this site immediately. Its called www.37signals.com. You will not regret it. I stumbled across it while searching for god knows what and 1 hour later i had signed up for one of their products. So what do they do? Basically, they are a company that have designed exceptionally easy software products for businesses to use. They have 4 that are currently available, one is for project management, another is a CRM product and there are 2 others...sorry not quite sure what they are. Each has a 30 day trial free period so you can check it out first. I've signed up for "Base Camp HQ" which is a project management tool. I'm using it to help me keep track of all the different projects that I have going on at the one time. Its easy to use and while its only my 3rd day, I'm in love with it. So for start ups and small to medium sized businesses its great and is used by thousands of businesses now. Check it out prices start from $24 per month. My favorite "business Tool" finds so this year!

Difficult Journey but its worth the trip...well thats what we plan!

There's no doubt that being a "wanna be" entrepreneur is a difficult journey ( I call myself wanna be because I don't think I've quite made it yet!). There are a lot of personal sacrifices that have to be made and a total mind shift in your entire life, the way I think, what I do is all different to mainstream thinking and sometimes I wish that all I wanted to be was employed by someone else and work my normal safe hours and get paid. Theres no doubt that there are thousands of unpaid hours that go by and when my budget it tight and I wish I could go out or splurge on buying something from a "nice" shop rather than Kmart it can be tough. BUT! In saying that, being the master of my domain ( a line from Seinfeld) I am really happy as I get to spend hours and hours creating my life! Making my dreams become a reality and most of all learning. I love to learn and I'm reading some wonderful books and have found some fantast fantastic sites...which I will share with you. So whats this blog about??? When its tough keep going, dont worry about what happening outside in the other 98% of the world. Focus on what you want and I guarantee it will be worth your effort. Keep your dream alive....be a dream believer!

Short Cuts To Help Your Business Grow & You To Get Some Time Back!

A month has gone by already!! Where does it go!!! February literally flew by! Interrupted by a trip to Brisbane that was organised last year I was left thinking how can I make better use of my time! I feel like I have a million things to do and with time flying I have to find short cuts! So let me share a few with you that I have discover this week. Here are my first, email customer contact systems.

No matter what business you are in your going to need something like this. Recently I've been working on how to stay in contact with customers, both brides and advertisers that will be in the magazine. Through zillions of hours on the net and subscribing to upteen different newsletters I realised I now need to be on the other end and find out more about the mechanics of "the automated email system". Best because you can pre-write your emails and the system can run automatically! It was perfect!! Here are what I have found to be the best from my research...which isnt endless but are excellent. The first is http://www.myemma.com/ an excellent website and affordable service that looks flexible and friendly. A great website with easy to understand instructions and loads of customers...always a good sign. The other is http://www.aweber.com/ they will also manage all emails and millions of other business tasks that you can be looked after automatically. They have lots of video, live training and an great blog and definately worth checking out! Good luck!

How To Fight The "Do Do" Disease

An out of the blue call from a lady I met last year got me all excited. She's an incredibly talented dress designer and in her words "I dont need patterns" and "ideas just come from me" got me even more excited. The reason is, one of the many things that I have planned to do in conjunction with IWW is to release a line of chair accessories. I have already made mockup..rough ones and had hoped to get proper samples made in the very near future to help me make my millions....well so I thought.

Until I was reminded of the 2 books I am currently reading in my preparation to do my best for IWW Magazine! One is "Cashflow Quandrant" by Robert Kiyosaki and the other by business expert Micheal Gerber "E-Myth Mastery". While reading the begining of E-Myth I learnt something that really made me step back because I'm not exactly an entrepeneur as I thought! Why??? because "i do do do" all the time or as Gerber puts it I need to work more "on" the business than "in" the business.

I'm having such a hard time because " I'm a chronic "doer" and until yesterday(I have relunctantly changed my mind)I had such an urge to go full on with my accessories idea without doing any real research first(if I'm not doing anything I'm not being productive right??) so I have to consciously slow myself down before jumping on my next new idea bandwagon. So last night I wrote about 20 business questions....how will i distribute it? how much will it cost to start? how much will it likely make? whats it dependant on etc etc and I couldnt answer 1/3! Again I had started "do do doing". So my tip...read these 2 books and work on your business first. Robert Kiyosaki has a fabulous pyramid for business success. On the base of the pyramid is "Business Systems" and at the top "Product". I had started with the with the product first....time to start again. So its time out for me and instead of jumping into "do do" hold back and "think, think" first!!! Oh and read those 2 books you'll love them.

Business Blunders..how to avoid them!

Most of my magazine right now is on about 60 sheets of paper. I am heavily researching and reading lots of books to give myself the highest chance of success. We've all heard the 4 in 5 business fail and with all the ideas I have had...of which none have worked I dont want to go down that track again...especially at 37. With getting older and not having children yet I really need to start earning money from home so that I can be an at home mum....with a homebased business....my ultimate goal. I knows it the only way I will be truly happy as my entrepenueral spirit wells inside of me all the time.

I have absolute moments of brillance and then I think oh know cant do that! Urghh so annoying but that is why I'm writing I want to get over these hurdles this time once and for all. So while researching today I found a fab site called http://www.entrepreneur.com/. Check it out, I've just been on it for 10 minutes and have now have to find the answers to these questions.. "What does my brand mean??" How Do I Create Loyalty With My Customers and "What Is My Story"...crap! But better to work on them now! I'll let you know my answers in my next blog!

Frustrated Entrepeneur and Rising Magazine Magnet to be! xx