Many of the articles on MyWifeQuitHerJob.com are focused on entrepreneurship, personal development and self improvement. Why? Because starting any business requires an enormous amount of motivation and discipline in order to succeed.
The concepts of running most businesses are not difficult to grasp. Anyone can pick up a book and read about the mechanics of starting and running a business on their own. But why do so many people fail even though they have the necessary knowledge?
What sets apart the good entrepreneurs from the bad ones is their strength of will, perseverance, and willingness to adapt to the current situation. A common misconception is that good products make for a successful business or company. On the contrary, it’s all about the people who run the business that make the difference.
I hope that some of these articles will provide the necessary drive and inspiration for your business to succeed.
Starting A Business: You Are The Only Gatekeeper That Matters, The Old Ones Are Dead
This post was written by Aron, a regular contributor for MyWifeQuitHerJob.com!
Every now and again, I find myself trying to play by artificial rules. Like an owner who posts a sign in his store that says something to the effect of “not responsible for lost or stolen items.”
Just because he posted the sign doesn’t mean...
2 Simple Ways to Boost Sales Page Conversions From Personal Experience
I love sales page optimization.
Creating the product is the tough (and often tedious) bit. Meanwhile, optimizing your sales page to boost income offers instant results and can be fun and rewarding. This is coming from someone who knew literally nothing about sales page optimization just a few months ago.
In this post I want to cut...
My Secret To Learning And The Rules To Follow When Outsourcing
Sometimes I get criticized by my peers for the way I get things done with my businesses. And to be frank, I’m fully aware that the way I do things is not always the most efficient.
For example, whenever there’s a problem that I need to solve, I try to spin my own solution before...
What Learning Piano Can Teach You About Success In Business And Life
This post was written by Tom Ewer, a regular contributor for MyWifeQuitHerJob.com!
I started learning piano about six weeks ago. It’s something that I’ve always wanted to do and now I seem to have the time, money and determination to make it a reality. I’m really pleased with my progress to date and seem to be...
My Secret For Boosting Productivity As A Solo Entrepreneur
The life of an internet entrepreneur offers an interesting paradox. Those on the outside look in with envy at our ability to work when we see fit, which is the very same thing that so many of us struggle with.
As an internet entrepreneur who works from home I am fighting a constant battle against idleness....
My Thoughts On Making Money And Planting Money Seeds
A little while ago, I published a post on how to start a blog and why blogging can be better than ecommerce. Now normally, I tend to focus most of my subject matter on ecommerce because ecommerce is where I’ve had my biggest success thus far.
But recently in the past few years, both my...
Three Little Words That Have Changed My Business Career
This post was written by Tom Ewer, a regular contributor for MyWifeQuitHerJob.com
It’s a common trick in blogging (and marketing in general) to suck people in with an intriguing headline — just like the one above. However, it can backfire if you don’t deliver on your promise.
But for people like me, I can assure you that...
The Tipping Points For My Successful Freelance Writing Business
This post was written by Tom Ewer, a regular contributor for MyWifeQuitHerJob.com!
Strictly speaking I launched my business in May 2011 which was when I first decided that I wanted to quit my job. I started building my first website and the rest, as they say, is history.
That is of course the extremely short version of...
4 Skills Every Well Rounded Internet Entrepreneur Should Have
One of the questions my readers often ask me is which theme I use for my online store. And the answer I always give is that I don’t use any theme at all. I designed the entire look and feel of my online store from complete scratch by myself.
And even though my online...
Who Said Making Money Online is Easy? How Shortcuts Have Set Me Back
This is a guest post by Mike Collins who is here to share his story about making money online. Mike is obsessed with building sustainable streams of income online and achieving financial freedom so he can live life to the fullest with his wife and three amazing children. Read more about his adventures...
Should You Save For Retirement Or Invest In Your Business?
The article was written by Tom Ewer, a regular contributor for MyWifeQuitHerJob.com!
Most of you have probably heard about the four hour workweek and are familiar with the general concept of lifestyle design The idea of creating a luxury lifestyle through reduced working hours and increased mobility is pretty attractive and calls into question all that...
How To Do The Same Amount Of Work More Efficiently
I’ve done lots of odd jobs in my time. Gardening, landscaping, painting — a fair number of relatively unskilled tasks that the teenage me was happy to take on for a few bucks.
Photo By Thomas Hawk
I’ve also done my fair share of data entry in the past, including one dreadfully boring 12 hour stint at...
My 3 Step Process for Ensuring That Your Business Succeeds This Year
A new year is now upon us and if you’re anything like me you have big plans for your online business.
There’s one major lesson I learned last year that I will be taking into the new year — success is dictated to a great extent by how well you apply yourself to your endeavors.
Photo By...
Minimum Viable Product – When is the Right Time to Launch Your Product?
In my last post I talked about building a business around an established audience, and more specifically, the concept of a Minimum Viable Product (MVP).
Here’s a brief reminder of the process — you have an idea, validate that idea by consulting your audience, then build the most simple version of a product and build it...
How To Create A Product That Is Guaranteed To Sell Online
This post was written by Tom Ewer, a regular contributor for MyWifeQuitHerJob.com!
If you’re an online business owner then you may well be running a “startup” — at least by my preferred definition. Paul Graham, founder of one of the top startup accelerators in the world, defines a startup as follows:
A startup is a company designed...
How To Use The Competition To Your Advantage And Boost Your Business
This post was written by Tom Ewer, a regular contributor for MyWifeQuitHerJob.com!
Earlier this year I started running again.
It is something that I had got into back in 2009 but it didn’t last the cold English winter. This time around I have managed to keep going and I put that down to two things — setting...
How Long Does It Take To Make Good Money With An Online Business?
I receive many questions via email every single day but my #1 most asked question is…
How long do you think it will take for me to make money with my business?
Here’s another common permutation of this same question…
I need to be able to make money in 6 months, can it be done?
Photo By Eschipul
And finally...
Small Business Owners: Making the Small Tweaks for Big Gains
This post was written by Tom Ewer, a regular contributor for MyWifeQuitHerJob.com!
When starting out in business, you just want to make some money.
Your priorities typically revolve around establishing a customer base and making some sales. Getting to that point is an awesome achievement in itself — many businesses fail before they reach “critical mass”. But...
Why You Should Always Take Pride in Your Business
I believe that one of the most underrated assets of any business is pride. Simple pride in your work can make all the difference.
This goes from the smallest business owners to the biggest corporations in the world. It is something I have experienced myself in terms of working with clients and also in terms of...
When Is It Time To Give Up On Your Business?
This post was written by Tom Ewer, a regular contributor for MyWifeQuitHerJob.com!
I am a big advocate of persistence. That rare quality in certain people that drives them forwards against all the odds is something that I am fascinated by, and aspire to.
Photo By Nikhil Kirsh
Having said that, blind persistence is rarely a good thing. Einstein...
What Nike Can Teach You About Developing Your Business
By the time you read this I will have launched my first ever eBook — Successful Freelance Writing Online: How to Generate a Full Time Income by Writing for Blogs.
The guide is about 30,000 words long and I have been working on it for around six months. If that sounds like a long time, you’re...
Are You Utilizing Your Most Valuable Assets With Your Small Business?
This post was written by Tom Ewer, a regular contributor for MyWifeQuitHerJob.com!
Are you struggling with the very concept of establishing your own successful online business?
The very thought of running a burgeoning business can be completely unbelievable if you have not yet done it.
I understand this as well as anyone — when I first decided that...
Why Books And Canned Business Courses Will Not Help You In Real Life
When I was in college, I used to think that everything could be learned by simply reading a book. After all, throughout high school and college at Stanford, I was able to do well in most of my classes without having to attend or pay attention to lecture.
Photo By Rick
In fact, one of my...
One Simple Process That Your Business Could Benefit From
This post was written by Tom Ewer, a regular contributor for MyWifeQuitHerJob.com!
We all know how it is as a small business owner.
Photo By RyanTron
Getting completely embroiled in the day-to-day running of your business is a near-inevitability.
It’s a whole different experience to employment — there’s no “showing up”. For most, the value of your input directly...
How You Can Adapt Google’s 20 Percent Time to Build Your Business
Those crazy cats over at silicon valley with their outlandish ideas. What use are they to us — the small business owners fighting it out in the trenches? Well, quite a lot actually.
You may have heard of Google’s “20% Time”. The concept is simple — Google’s engineers are allowed to dedicate 20% of their working...
Sometimes You Need To Take A Step Back With Your Business To Move Forward
This post was written by A-ron, a regular contributor for MyWifeQuitHerJob.com!
I was trying way too hard. It was the proverbial square peg in a round hole. And I was banging it pretty hard, to the point of exhausting me, mentally and physically, without even thinking about it. I thought it was what...
My Stress-Free Approach to Business
I don’t know about you, but one of the key reasons I wanted to be self-employed was so that I would be in control of my life.
When you think about it, the notion that someone else dictates what you do with eight (or more) hours of every weekday is quite shocking. I wanted to be...
12 Things I Learned From Starting 3 Successful Lifestyle Businesses
Since my wife became pregnant with our first child in 2007, I’ve created 3 different lifestyle businesses, an ecommerce store selling wedding linens, a blog about entrepreneurship and a course on how to start an online store.
And these businesses were created so my wife and I could spend more time with these two.
For all of...
The Importance of Routine for Breeding Success In Business
I am fascinated by the concept of productivity.
And I strongly believe that productivity can be the difference between achieving great things, and simply existing.
Photo By Greg Turner
After all — each one of us has exactly the same number of hours in the day with which to reach our goals. It is what we do, and...
Why Starting A Business Can Be A Lonely Path And What You Can Do About It
A few weeks back, I wrote an article entitled An Introspective Look At How Fear Has Guided My Life. And in the process of writing that post and reading all of the comments, I started thinking about my entrepreneurial journey and all of the challenges that I’ve faced over the years.
Photo By IronRodArt –...
Why Your Profitable Business Could Be One Step From Ruin
I don’t consider myself a worrier. I consider myself a realist.
That statement should be placed within the context of what I consider to be one of the most important considerations in business — diversification.
Photo By kenteegardin
Without diversification, you are always just one step away from ruin. With diversification, you can be several steps away —...
An Introspective Look At How Fear Has Guided My Life
I have a confession to make. I’ve lived in fear for most of my life.
When I was in high school, I was terrified that I would not get into a top university.
Photo By ValetheKid
When I got into college, I was terrified that I wouldn’t get a job when I graduated.
After spending too many hours...
The 5 Principles that All Online Bootstrapped Businesses Should Swear By
This article was written by Tom Ewer, a regular contributor for MyWifeQuitHerJob.com!
I love the concept of bootstrapping.
The idea of beginning with literally nothing and building it up stage by stage fascinates me. After all, money is a great facilitator, but we don’t all have thousands of dollars to invest in a business up front (and...
How to Thrive on Pressure And Give Yourself A Swift Kick In The Butt
This post was written by Tom Ewer, a regular contributor for MyWifeQuitHerJob.com!
I was pretty terrified, but trying not to show it.
After all, I had been suffering from panic attacks for a couple of years, and they were typically triggered by any social situation in which I felt that I had no escape from without causing...
2 Important Questions To Answer Before You Invest In A Small Business
Getting started doing anything is hard, especially something new and unknown. I’m the master at dilly dallying around, procrastinating, and trying to think my way into figuring out if I’ll enjoy doing something or not.
Photo By djwudi
It doesn’t work though, because your mind is designed to solve problems, real world problems, and when you...
The Power of Personality in Online Business
There is an apparent misconception amongst some online businesses and bloggers that personality is a bad thing.
If I had a dollar for every bland and uninspiring blog that I had come across (and subsequently left), I would be a rich man. The same goes for websites in general – I am far more attracted to...
Is Affiliate Marketing A Better Option Than An Online Store?
Today’s post comes from Geoff, a fellow entrepreneur whose wife also quit her job and author of the free eBook, 10 Powerful Techniques to Increase Affiliate Commissions.
Photo By Claudio Gennari
Everyone knows Steve (the guy grinning at you above) is a strong believer in the money-making potential of online stores.
And I completely agree! But...
The Importance of Faking it Until You Make it in Business
“Fake it till you make it“: to imitate confidence so that as the confidence produces success, it will generate real confidence (Wikipedia).
When I was just 14 years old, I launched my own web design company. I built my site, then fired off an email to a list of 50 or so small business owners who...
Techniques For Filtering Out Your Best Business Ideas
The flip side of not having any ideas to work with is having too many. Yes, it is possible to have an overabundance of ideas, especially when you only need one to get going.
This creates the same paralysis as not having any ideas. The constant question that drives me to the edge of...
What Do You Want From Your Working Life And Is Starting A Business The Answer?
I recently stumbled across a fascinating article by the Business Insider, in which they revealed the 10 jobs with the happiest workers (as researched and compiled by University of Chicago researchers).
Photo By Tax Credits
I spotted a trend amongst the majority of the job roles – none of them are known for producing huge incomes.
I would...
Where Your Next Good Business Idea Will Come From
I would probably venture a guess that coming up with a viable idea is the number one barrier that most people face when they want to go into business for themselves. It has been for me, and still is when I want to start something new. The truth is, it’s hard to come...
How To Make Money By Knowing When To Work Hard And When To Outsource
After blogging about online stores and helping others with their online businesses for the past several years, I’ve started to notice a disturbing trend among entrepreneurs in the small business community. These days, it seems as though everyone is looking to outsource. And by outsource, I mean everything!
“Steve, can you recommend someone to...
How Your Environment Can Dictate the Success of Your Business
Often, we see success as being dictated by how good our business plan is, or how determined we are to reach our goals.
Photo By Michael Dales
Those elements are of course extremely important (if not required). Invariably, without a good idea and the required work ethic to leverage it to its maximum potential, very little will...
Punch Fear In The Mouth – 5 Actions You Can Apply To Start Your Business Today
This is a post by A-ron, who recently signed on to become a regular contributor for MyWifeQuitHerJob.com. Please give him a warm welcome with his first post!
I have a tendency to leap before I look. The cliche “ready, fire, aim” in my world is “fire, ready, aim.” It gets me in trouble,...
How Embracing the Unexpected Can Lead to Unlikely Success
I have a confession to make.
For the first several months after I decided that I wanted to quit my job in May 2011, I didn’t believe in myself. I didn’t really believe that I would be able to successfully launch my own business.
Photo By Groupon
I think many people share that same self-doubt when heading down...
Why You Are Capable Of Starting A Business And Working for Yourself
Self-doubt is a real killer.
You can be as capable and talented as you like in any area, but it is your self-belief that ultimately defines how far you go. I alluded to this last week when I talked about how average athletes can excel, largely due to their confidence and will to succeed.
Photo By Rob...
How to Achieve the Impossible With Your Small Business
Impossible: not able to occur, exist, or be done
Despite its absolute definition, impossible is often a relative term. One person’s impossible can be another person’s easy. We all appreciate that to an extent. For instance, I know that it would be impossible for me to run 100 metres in 9.58 seconds, and yet for Usain...
How to Create a Blog That Can Change Your Life
Blogging sometimes gets a bad rap. People will tell you that the blogosphere is saturated, that there is too much competition, that you will not get a high enough return on your time investment, and so on.
I am here to tell you that I started blogging just 11 months ago, and in that time, it...
Why You Don’t Have To Love What You Sell When Starting An Online Store
I often get asked by my friends whether I truly enjoy running my online store and whether selling wedding linens really floats my boat. In fact, most of my friends still find it hard to believe that I’m in the linens business in the first place.
Most of my friends don’t understand how I can...
Why Owning Your Own Business Shouldn’t Be The End Goal, and What Should Be
For those of you who aren’t business owners, you may dream of one day being in charge. Being a full time entrepreneur is an ambition for many, but as with most things in life, the fantasy can actually be a terrible reality.
If your aim is simply to “own a business”, you could be in for...
Some Behind The Scenes Chaos And A Lesson Learned With Our Business
These last few weeks haven’t exactly been the smoothest in small business land for my wife and I. For starters, our business computer died a horrible death which caused all sorts of mayhem. Ironically, I wasn’t that upset about the computer itself. After all, we bought it a good 4 years ago...
Why Embracing The Turtle Will Help Your Online Business Succeed
When I was a kid, one of my favorite fables was “The Tortoise and The Hare”. But even though I loved this story growing up, I never had any respect for the tortoise because the way he won the race just wasn’t that sexy. So what if he beat the hare this one...
The Consequences Of Taking The Easy Route When Launching Your Business
Every time I publish an article on entrepreneurship that encourages my readers to start their own business, I find myself tiptoeing across a very fine line. On one hand, starting an online business is simple, relatively risk free and doesn’t require a lot of start up capital. But on the other hand, running...
How Sunil Started and Sold His ECommerce Business for $250,000
This is a guest post from Sunil. Sunil owns over a dozen profitable niche websites and is the author of “How to Go from $0 to $1,000 a month in Passive and Residual Income in Under 180 Days All in Your Spare Time”, a FREE report you can download instantly from his Extra Money...
How To Be Good At Everything You Try | A Lesson Learned From My Baby Girl
It has been almost eight months since my wife and I signed up my little daughter for her first swimming lesson. And even though I’ve witnessed her triumphs and her struggles every step of the way, I’m still shocked and amazed that my baby girl is now practically swimming on her own. After...
Why Etsy Stores Are At A Disadvantage Compared To Online Stores That Own Their Domain
As part of my weekly regimen, I like to read and participate in various small business forums and one of my favorites is the Etsy forum. For all of you who have never heard of Etsy, Etsy is a marketplace for do it yourself and handmade goods. Similar to Ebay, Etsy provides...
Niche Affiliate Site Or Online Store | Which Should I Launch If I Want To Quit My Job?
Last week, I received an email from Amazon.com informing me that they just cancelled their affiliate program in California effective immediately. They provided very little notice and in just one day, my Amazon affiliate account became worthless. Now I make a decent amount money with affiliate marketing for various business services, but...
What Makes A Small Business More Likely To Succeed
I watched a very interesting video on Tech Crunch TV the other day where venture capitalists David Lee and Ron Conway discuss some of the key attributes of their most successful portfolio company investments. The video is definitely worth a watch if you have a spare 15 minutes or so. You can...
3 Ways Our Business Improved By Doing Nothing – Sometimes You Just Have To Stick Around And Good Things Will Happen
I don’t know what’s been going on lately, but I’ve been receiving an unusually large number of depressing emails this past month. People have been asking me questions like…
How do I know when to shut down my business?
It’s been over 8 months now and I’m not still not making that much with...
From 0 To Quit: Why You Should Start An Online Store Today And Why Niche Shops Are So Powerful
Once upon a time, there was a man who lived in a 300 square foot house with his wife and 3 kids. Because he did not have a college degree, one of the few jobs he could get was a sales associate position at a local electronics store. While he felt lucky to...
The Secrets To Being Successful With Any Business You Launch
After starting several businesses on the side, helping others with their own online stores and running this blog for a couple of years now, I’ve come to recognize certain patterns and character traits that define success and failure. Running a successful business isn’t just about luck. It’s not just about taking the...
Entrepreneurial Mistakes: Are You Procrastinating Under The Guise Of Doing Work?
The other day, a friend of mine called to let me know that after a year of dragging her feet, she finally decided to take action on launching an online store. And I was ecstatic! One of the reasons I was so excited was that her story was so similar to ours...
Why Doing What Is Cheap And Easy Can Cost Your Business Time And Money
I receive many questions about how to open an online store every single day. But lately, I’ve been noticing a disturbing trend. It seems that several of you are looking for the easiest and cheapest solution possible and making detrimental business decisions along the way. You are searching for a single magic...
Starting A Business: Convincing Yourself To Take Action And The Key To Behavioral Change
I’ve been writing this blog and helping would be entrepreneurs for nearly two years now and one thing I’ve discovered is that you can’t really push someone to take the entrepreneurial plunge. Either you have the desire to start your own business or you don’t and most people can’t get over the uncertainty that’s...
10 Ways To Mitigate Risk When Starting An Online Store Or Business
When most people think about entrepreneurship or starting their own business, the first thing that comes to mind is the risk that is associated with being your own boss. Perhaps that is why entrepreneurship is such an exhilarating and sexy term. It takes guts to go out on your own.
Photo By Better Than...
Why Every Business Needs A Duct Tape Entrepreneur
Whenever I think of duct tape, I think of my favorite television superhero MacGyver. What?!? There’s a ticking time bomb set to explode in 10 seconds? Take that stick of chewing gum, some duct tape and disarm that bad boy. It wasn’t always pretty, but MacGyver always got the job done...
Why Most Online Businesses Fail And Why You Should Start One Anyways
Starting and running a successful small business does not require intellect so much as it requires common sense and perseverance. Don’t get me wrong, starting a business is hard but the reason most people fail is not because they aren’t smart enough but because they don’t follow through or they get distracted and...
What Type Of Entrepreneur Do You Want To Be?
The other day, I came across a heated forum discussion that went back and forth debating over the definition of a “true” entrepreneur versus just a regular small business owner. The thread was over 5 pages long and participating in this discussion were a wide variety of different business owners. Some of them...
Why These Businesses Aren’t Getting My Referral Even Though They Did A Good Job
Ever since my wife and I bought our new home, we’ve been using a variety of contractors to help change a few things around the house. For example, we had new tile and carpets put in, changed the layout of the house a little bit and had the outside of the house painted as...
Stop Thinking You Are Going To Fail Just Because Someone Says You Should
Many would be entrepreneurs don’t start their own venture because they are afraid of failure. And quite frankly, they have every right to be afraid. After all, we are constantly bombarded by vague sayings like “9 out of every 10 startups fail” or “chalk up your first startup as a learning experience”, or...
Why Being Frugal Can Only Take You So Far On Your Path To Wealth
In order to build wealth effectively, we all have to be frugal to a certain extent. We have to watch our spending. We have to analyze our expenditures and cut back on the fat. We have to make sacrifices to make sure that we can save enough money for college and retirement.
Photo...
How Much The Average American Can Save On Taxes By Having A Business
Many would be entrepreneurs hesitate to start their own business because they think it is too risky from a monetary perspective. In fact, most people don’t think starting a business is even worth trying unless they can come up with a grand slam profitable idea. Of course profitability is an extremely...
What Running A Business And Having A Baby Have In Common And Why It Matters
As many of you know, my wife and I recently gave birth to our second child Kyle. It’s only been about a month but we’ve already discovered that taking care of Kyle has been drastically different from taking care of our first child. For one thing, we are much more confident this time...
How To Find Time To Start A Side Business
Whenever I mention to anyone that I work a full time job, help my wife run our online store and maintain MyWifeQuitHerJob.com all while having two kids in the house, one of the first questions I always get is how I find the time to do all of these things.
Photo by Morbuto
Believe it or not,...
Things You Must Consider Before Starting Your Own Business
I’ve heard a ton of business ideas. I’ve listened to and read many business plans. And the one thing that always strikes me is how little most people think about the viability, profitability and end goals of their small business. Is the goal to become a millionaire? Is the goal to...
Prevent Your Online Store From Becoming a Money Pit By Learning Some Basic Skills
“I have no idea how to create and manage my own website and I have absolutely no interest in learning either. I’m just going to hire someone or pay for a service.”
Believe it or not, most people that I encounter who want to create their own online store or business have this attitude. ...
Starting Your Own Business Does Not Have To Be Risky
When most people think about starting a company or business, they think of the Microsofts, the Googles and the YouTubes of the world. They tend to think big because the media focuses on these multi-million dollar success stories and over glamorizes the risks and rewards.
Photo by MarkyBon
In fact, the media tends to portray entrepreneurs...
Step 0: The Key To Quitting Your Job For Good
This is a guest post by A-ron who quit his job over 2 years ago because he decided that cubicle life was just not right for him.
I’d like to think that everyone on this planet has the ability to thrive running their own business. That everyone in existence, especially in the US, has...
Are You A Cruise Control Addict?
For the past few years, our online wedding linens store has been a cash machine. The store website hasn’t required much work at all and sales have been more or less on autopilot. Each and everyday, orders come in, orders get packed and money is deposited into our bank account.
Photo by Gibsonclaire
In effect,...
A Less Scary Way to Look at Self-Employment
Every entrepreneur takes their own unique path and it’s always interesting to hear things from a different perspective . In this guest post by Jack Busch, Jack tells his story of how he became self-employed. Jack is a freelance writer and blogger specializing in debt loans, personal finance and credit cards and...
What Does It Take To Get You Off Your Butt?
Having recently finished writing 2 multi-part guides on how to start a small business and how to create a profitable online store, I must say that it felt good to get all of that information out on paper. Creating these guides was extremely satisfying for me on so many levels and allowed me to...
Habits Of Successful Entrepreneurs That I’ve Witnessed Personally
I’m not sure why, but my stumbleupon toolbar has been sending me mostly articles lately on entrepreneurship. In just the past few days alone, I’ve probably read more than 5 or 6 articles focusing strictly on the traits of successful entrepreneurs.
Even though I love articles about entrepreneurship, after reading just a few of these...
Did You Really Try? Or Did You Just Give Up?
“Oh yeah, I tried being an entrepreneur a few years back but it was just too hard.”
“I tried the whole blogging thing but couldn’t get it off the ground”
“I tried learning how to program PHP but I never could get the hang of it”
I don’t know why, but lately I’ve become increasingly sensitive to people...
How To Make Time Equal Money 24 Hours A Day
I never understood how the phrase “Time is money” could ever apply to my life. After all, no one was paying me 24 hours a day so how could my free time possibly translate to money? How could wasting time watching television or playing video games cost me anything when no one was...
How Working From Home Has Helped Me Get Through the Recession
This is a guest post by Kathryn Vercillo. Kathryn is a writer for Promotionalcodes.org.uk which gives away free coupon codes and also publishes a save money blog. She quit her day job long ago so she could work from home and discusses why she is now better able to cope with the recession...
Should You Stay At Your Cushy Job?
You may have experienced this pattern before. You start a brand new job and work extremely hard in the beginning to establish yourself and your reputation. At first, the nature of the work is extremely challenging. You are constantly learning and trying to keep up with your coworkers. You find yourself staying...
Reader Response: Overcoming Negative Thoughts About Starting A Business
This particular reader was feeling a bit discouraged about her situation so I thought that I would try to lend a few words of encouragement. A, Thank you for emailing me. This post is for you.
I have been following your blog for about 3 months now, I work retail so I absolutely love...
Do You Feel Stuck At Your Job Because Of The Economy?
I’m not sure why, but lately I’ve been listening to a lot of people bitch about their jobs. And honestly, I’m getting a little tired of it. “I hate going to work, but I gotta to pay the bills somehow.” “I want to change jobs, but I’m afraid of getting laid off.”...
Things About Our Business That Didn’t Go According To Plan
If there’s one thing that I’ve learned from starting our online wedding linens business, it’s that good planning can only get you so far. You can spend hours and hours putting together the most intricate and well thought out plan only to have it blow up in your face because of one false assumption.
In...
Is Your Business Just a Job?
A reader emailed the other day asking whether our business could continue to function if my wife and I took an extended vacation away from it all. He then followed up that question with a proclaimation stating that our business was really just a J-O-B disguised as a true business.
“A business is only real...
The 6th Age Of A Business – Leadership
I’m proud to present a guest post from Dragos Roua. He’s doing something extremely unique here today. Dragos has put together a 7 part series on the 7 stages of a business all to be simultaneously published on 7 different entrepreneurship blogs. And I’m proud to be one of the 7 blogs...
Entrepreneurship Doesn’t Have To Be About The Next Big Thing
I admit it. I used to be ashamed of telling other people about our wedding linens business. When we first opened our online store, not only did we not receive many orders in the first 4-6 months, but the idea of opening an online wedding linens store seemed almost silly compared to what...
Growing Pains That We Are Experiencing With Our Online Business
There’s a point with every successful business where the level of sales slowly begins to exceed the infrastructure required to support it. While this generally indicates that business is good and fundamentally strong, the volume of customer support issues can be overwhelming especially if you don’t have the necessary manpower or capital equipment.
Overwhelmed is...
How Giving Up $70,000 a Year is the Right Financial Choice
This is a guest post from David Ning, who runs a well established personal finance blog aimed at helping people spend responsibly, invest intelligently and live happily.
In fact, David’s blog at www.MoneyNing.com was one of the first blogs that inspired me to start a blog of my own. So it is a great honor...
Powerful Quotes And Why They Resonate With Me
Starting and running any small business requires inspiration and constant dedication. But maintaining a high level of intensity can be extremely difficult at times especially when things don’t go as planned.
Whenever I’m down about my business, I always take a step back and look for outside sources of inspiration. Sometimes just talking to...
What Motivates Me And Why I Love Running Our Business
My wife and I run an online wedding linens store and I absolutely love the products that we have to offer. I love weddings and the clientele I interact with on a day to day basis. I love helping customers make their weddings special.
But I’ll be honest with you. While I...
Starting A Business Is Like Asking Out A Girl For The First Time
Perhaps it’s due to the bad economy, but many of my friends lately have become increasingly frustrated with their day jobs. Taking an informal poll, over 80% of them would much rather be working for themselves than for their current employers. Of these 80%, many of them are staying at their current...
Mental Tips On How To Start A Business For Lazy People
Most people are lazy. When it comes to doing something relaxing and leisurely versus something you consider work, your inclination is to always choose the path of least resistance. That is why it is so difficult to make progress on any project even though deep down you truly want to do it.
Take it...
How We Stopped Short Of Becoming Lazy Pieces Of Crap
I admit it. I’m a lazy person at heart. If I’m watching television and I can’t find the remote, I’ll watch whatever channel happens to be on. If I have a craving for a certain food but have to cook it myself, I’ll just eat leftovers instead. If I’m lying in...
Are You Stuck In A Mental Rut With Your Small Business? Learn How We Got Out
Every entrepreneur has gone through it at least once. It’s not pleasant. It’s not fun. But things will go wrong and you will feel like quitting.
Especially early on when your business is fragile, it doesn’t take much to get yourself into a rut. It could be something as simple as...
Your Small Business: 3 Ways To Take Advantage Of Being Small
One of the many worries of starting your own business is getting stomped on by large hulking competitors in your market space. Large companies have more money, more manpower and more resources so how could a small business possibly compete?
First of all, if you are trying to go head on against a large company,...
Starting Your Own Business: How To Improve Your Luck
Every business requires a little bit of luck in order to be successful. Most of the time, it’s a matter of timing or being at the right place at the right time. But do you ever wonder how some people keep getting lucky over and over again? It might just be a...
Healthy Sacrifices We Made To Start Our Online Business
There are only 24 hours in a day so something in your schedule usually has to give in order to find the time to start your own business. When my wife and I first started our online business, both of us had full time jobs which left only about 3 hours of free time...
Starting Your Own Business: Do You Have To Risk Your Life Savings?
Most people think that starting their own business has to be an expensive endeavor. While it is true that many successful entrepreneurs self-fund their startups by racking up massive debt on their credit cards, it definitely does not have to be that way.
Thanks to the internet, starting your own online business is as inexpensive...
MyWifeQuitHerJob.com Featured On Television – The Rise To The Top
I’m very proud to announce that MyWifeQuitHerJob.com was featured on the January 4th episode of The Rise To The Top hosted by David Siteman Garland.
I’ve been a big fan of The Rise To The Top since it started airing Sunday mornings on ABC(Check your local listings) several months ago and I even published my own...
Reader Response: Should I Go To College Or Start A Business?
Much to my surprise, a good number of my readers are either in high school or college and I regularly receive questions about our online store from students currently in school.
This one particular student became inspired after reading about our story and now wants to start a business venture of his own. The only...
Dealing With People Who Doubt Your Business Ideas
“I don’t think that your business is going to work”
“Your chances of success are very slim”
“I had an Uncle that tried to do that and failed”
Anytime you start your own business or take any risks for that matter, you’ll inevitably meet people who will doubt you. These people often mean well, but their negative...
How These Businesses Made Me A Customer For Life
Are you a loyal customer of a particular store or business? Are there any services or restaurants that you would go out of your way to recommend to friends? What do these businesses do to attract repeat business and referrals?
In a previous article, I discussed ways that stores and businesses alienate their customers...
The Hidden Benefits Of Owning Your Own Business
Most people start their own business hoping to find the answers to a few key questions. How can I be my own boss and make money doing things that I enjoy? How can I be in control of my own destiny? How can I become wealthy and rich?
Don’t get me wrong, these...
Review: The Rise To The Top With David Siteman Garland
These days, television is all about sex, drugs and action more than anything else. There aren’t many educational shows at all let alone shows about entrepreneurship so I was pleasantly surprised to discover the hit show “The Rise To The Top” hosted by David Siteman Garland the other day via the web.
The Rise To...
Why Your Job Conditions You To Take Things For Granted
Last Friday, an engineer in the office complex where I work brutally gunned down the CEO, VP of Operations, and the Head of Human Resources of his company before fleeing the premises. This engineer, named Jing Wu, had recently gotten laid off from his job and decided to take revenge on the executives who...
A Peek Into The Glamorous Life Of A Small Business Owner
Everyone knows that starting and running a small business is glamorous. In the past few weeks alone, I’ve read at least a half a dozen stories ranging from “How I made $1027.53 in a single day!” to “How you can work 4 hours a day and be rich with a small business!”.
Clearly, these...
When Getting Good Grades And Entrepreneurship Don’t Mix
Students often have to make certain sacrifices in order to earn good grades in school. I used to be a model student in both high school and college and I always thought that earning good grades would take me the distance in life. It was only when I graduated did I realize that...
The Secret To A Healthy Relationship With Money
Do you believe that money is the ultimate panacea? Have you ever thought to yourself, “If I just had more money, my life would be so much easier and less worrisome?” Most people tend to think this way until they amass some wealth and the opposite happens. Their life gets harder...
Why Our Online Business Almost Failed And How We Recovered
In a previous article entitled mistakes we made early on with our online store, we outlined 5 early decisions that hindered the growth of our business. While those mistakes slowed us down, none of them were showstoppers by any means.
In this article, I’d like to talk about decisions that nearly put us out...
Starting Your Own Business: Getting Beyond The Excuses
Everyday as we slip further and further into recession, I’m hearing more and more complaints from my friends and coworkers about their job security and overall satisfaction in the workplace. The level of concern and panic is very real, even worse than I can remember from the dot com bust of 2002. Most...
Reader Response: Do They Teach True Collaboration In Schools?
I received an extremely well written and thoughtful comment from Bleu Panda regarding my article on 5 Crucial Subjects Schools Don’t Cover That You Should At Home so I thought I’d respond to his comment in a blog entry as a token of my appreciation. Please take the time to read his...
Entrepreneurship: What Is Your Definition Of Failure?
Thanks to social media sites like Stumble Upon, Digg and Reddit, I’ve been able to easily find and read more than my fair share of articles on entrepreneurship in just this past month. I really love reading about entrepreneurship because entrepreneurship emphasizes taking action through self-motivation. There’s no better way to push...
5 Crucial Subjects Schools Don’t Cover That You Should At Home
If you take the time to sit back and reflect on all of the knowledge and experience you’ve gained throughout your life, you’ll inevitably come to the conclusion that only a very small fraction of practical knowledge was actually learned in school.
Looking back, I used to think school was the be all and end all...
The Secrets to Building Wealth – Do You Have The Right Mindset?
Everyone wants to build wealth but why do very few ever succeed in doing so? It’s because most people don’t take the time to establish a proper game plan on how to grow their money. Building wealth requires planning, budgeting and an awareness of how money can work for itself. The sooner...
Personality Traits That Can Doom A Would Be Entrepreneur
Not everyone is cut out to be an entrepreneur. When I look back and analyze some of the startup companies that my friends tried to start and why they failed, I can immediately recognize certain character traits and decisions that doomed their companies from the start. All of my friends possessed the drive...
Why Writing A Business Plan Is An Overrated Practice
All of the books I’ve read on how to start a business always focus on writing a thorough business plan prior to taking any other action. Having read quite a few of these books and having written a fair share of business plans, I’ve found that writing these documents have largely been a waste...
Are You Cut Out To Be An Entrepreneur?
I used to think that entrepreneurship was only about creating unique and groundbreaking technologies and coming up with new and innovative products. Having studied entrepreneurship in graduate school, I was always surrounded by gung-ho entrepreneurs.
Some of my peers went on to start web technology companies whereas others created startup companies in biotechnology. Almost...
How To Determine If Your Online Business Idea Even Has a Chance
Before you begin any sort of implementation, it’s important to assess the viability of your business plan. Is there a large enough market for you to take a small slice of the pie? Are there too many competitors for you to be successful?
Determining your target customer and the size of the market you...
Business Ideas That Didn’t Pan Out For Us – Part 1
Anyone who tells you that they got their business right on their first try is probably lying, forgetful, or trying to sell you something. My wife and I went through a multitude of ideas in the first month alone that went absolutely nowhere.
A few of these ideas actually made us a few bucks but...
Why You Should Worry About Your Topline More Than Your Bottom Line
My wife and I constantly discuss different ways to build our overall wealth. Our goal is to retire and be able to spend all of our time with our children. We’ve tried a lot of different things over the years, but our most miserable experience arose when we decided to drastically cut back...
5 Reasons Why You Should Quit Your Job
For some reason, it was especially difficult for me to get up out of bed this morning to get ready for work. As I was getting dressed, I stood there looking at my wife who was sleeping blissfully on the bed and I couldn’t help but feel a little jealous....
Choosing the Right Shopping Cart Software Package
So you’ve decided to host your own website and open up your online store. Where do you go from here? There are a multitude of shopping cart packages out there and it’s extremely difficult to compare them all. Hopefully, I can save you some time and tell you what to look for.
At...
Why You Should Never Start an Ebay Store
If you are going to take your online store seriously, you need to register your own domain and implement your own website. Many people who don’t consider themselves tech saavy often question their own abilities and end up relying on 3rd party sites such as Ebay, Yahoo etc… to implement their website store for...
3 Ways to Motivate Yourself to Start Your Own Business
While everyone has different ways to motivate themselves, here are 3 unique ways to give yourself that little extra kick to jumpstart your business.
Look at Your Tax Return
Go ahead and dig up your last years tax return and paste it up on the wall directly in front of your desk. Make sure you highlight...
Finding a Niche Market for Your Online Store
Often times, finding the right market to pursue is the hardest part of starting your store. Here are 5 things to consider when choosing which market segment to attack.
Choose an Area or Set of Products That You Are Passionate About
Many people make the mistake of opening a store and selling a product just because...
How We Got Motivated to Start Our Own Business
In theory, it shouldn’t have required much courage at all for us to start an online business. Opening a business, especially on the web, is about as cheap and easy as it gets.
All it takes is 10 bucks for a domain name and as little as 5 bucks a month for some web...
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