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5 Money Making Businesses for a Weak Economy

Make Money in a Recession, photo by Sharon Dominick

Starting a business in down economy may be scary to some, but not having a backup plan and losing your job can be even scarier. Here are 5 money making home businesses that can prosper even when times aren't all that great.

More Money Making Ideas

Randy's Home Business Blog

Work at Home Jobs Shelved for this Week

Monday November 30, 2009
I hope all of you had a wonderful holiday weekend and are getting used to trying to get things "back to normal" - if there is such a thing.

The work at home jobs out there this week are bleak at best. I can only assume it's because of the short work week last week and because a lot of people were out on vacation. In any event, during my research I wasn't finding any decent work at home jobs other than those I posted last week, so this week I'm going to have to let the list ride. I'd rather do that than get desperate and start posting junk.

At any rate, I'll take another look over the upcoming week. Hopefully, maybe my luck will be a lot better. In the meantime, if you haven't already done so, you might want to check out the work at home jobs from last week. There are two pages of jobs - the first has two weeks of listing, and the second page has three more weeks of work at home jobs, although admittedly, the older jobs are probably getting a little stale at this point.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thursday November 26, 2009
Mother and Daughter Preparing Thanksgiving DinnerIf you celebrate Thanksgiving, it's probable that you're not thinking about shopping at the mall or online today. That's one more thing to be thankful for!

But, alas, Black Friday comes tomorrow if you have any money to spend and want to take advantage of the offers available starting at 4AM (and probably earlier in some stores).

Cyber Monday - the Monday following Thanksgiving - is one of the busiest online shopping days of the year because people go back to work and shop online from their office. Hey! Get to work!

Then again, if you have your own home business or otherwise work from home, you don't have to worry about the boss dropping by your cubicle unexpectedly. (It's been so long for me that even the thought of working in a cubicle all day long seems inhumane. Surely, there's more to life than that.)

Because the economy continues to struggle - as it was struggling last year this time - this weekend promises to be a very interesting one for retailers and economists alike, who want to gauge consumer sentiment to see if there are any signs of hope for the near future, at least for retail. And, like last year, this shopping season promises to be an opportunity for shoppers to see exceptional bargains as retailers continue to chase what little spending money is available these days. Especially as consumers have tightened up on their use of credit in the wake of credit card companies making things much more difficult for us.

The thing to remember is that the holidays are not all about shopping. They can also be a warm, wonderful time of the year to share with family and friends and express our gratitude for being able to enjoy sharing our love and fellowship. Many of us continue to struggle this year - but this is not the time to be down in the dumps. Think positive, have a very warm and happy Thanksgiving, and do something nice for someone else this holiday season!

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you around the world who celebrate it! I'm thankful for each of you and wish you peace, love and joy! I hope you'll leave a comment on this post and let me know what you're doing, thinking or feeling this year.

Randy D.

More Work from Home Jobs Posted

Tuesday November 24, 2009
The latest list of work from home jobs jobs has been posted for the week. This week's opportunities to work from home include opportunities for freelance writers, a blog editor and some work for anyone who might be considering doing voice overs or writing scripts for audio broadcasts. As usual, there are a number of tech-oriented work from home positions as well.

The Latest Work from Home Jobs
Convincing the Boss to Let You Work from Home
Home Work Guide

Survey Finds 46% of Small Businesses Use Email Marketing

Tuesday November 24, 2009
Results of a recent survey have been released by Campaigner, an email marketing solutions provider. The results show that 46% of those surveyed with small businesses ranging in size from 1-20 employees currently use email marketing as part of their marketing mix.

The results also indicated that 36% plan to begin email marketing in the next 12 months, while 18% of businesses with 1-20 employees say they have no plans to begin using email marketing. Newsletters, sales and promotional offers and announcements are the most common ways respondents said they use email marketing. Among online marketing tools used by small businesses, email newsletters are second only to marketing through social networks.

The complete survey results, which are included as one of two reports compiled into their 2009 State of Small Business Marketing Survey are available in PDF format through a download on Campaigner's website. The report is free, but requires user registration to access.

Related topics:
What is Email Marketing?
Direct Mail Marketing
Email and Strategic Internet Marketing
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