I’ve started my own online business about four times now. Not all of them worked out well, and I didn’t work well on each of them. However, the ones that I have worked on have done what I wanted them to do each time. It took concentration each time on each new idea in order to make it work, so keep that in mind and don’t just think it will be easy because you don’t have to go the office every day.

Starting an online business is one of the smartest moves you can make to invest in your future. But it takes some chutspah! Now more than ever, people are putting their ideas into practice and becoming first time entrepreneurs.

Beginning a new business in today’s world is even easier than it was ten years ago when I first started. Booming online businesses make up a huge percent of products sold in our world. It’s evident that e-commerce is here to stay.

The beauty of running an online business is that the start up costs are very low – you can even start some businesses without having to come up with any money at all. Young or old, people of all ages can create a business they love from whatever they’re passionate about. Whether it’s selling antique pieces of history, gift ideas or selling services, there’s a niche tailor made for your talents.

So who are these people who are breaking away from their ordinary routines? Who is it that walks away from their cubicles, taking control of their lives?

Many of the people who are first time entrepreneurs are moms. Whether they’re stay at home moms or currently work in an office, mothers make up a large majority of those running Internet businesses. (shocker, right?)

Baby Boomers are also throwing their hats in the ring by using their years of expertise from both life and business to start their own online business. Often, Baby Boomers are the first to get laid off or fired when a company is facing financial stress. But, guess what? They just take those years of experience and apply them to their own new business!

Another segment of the population is military personelle who come home from active duty to a lack of work. Why not turn their experience in management or skilled labor into a business? Why not, indeed!

Changing from a life of active work or being in a social environment for work, to being home all day can be quite an adjustment. Running an online business can make that adjustment a lot easier on the entrepreneur and his or her family.

So, why did you or would you start your own online business?

Tell me in the comments!

Summer is coming – like you didn’t know – and it might be hard to find ways to save money on family fun this year. Gas prices and unemployment are crunching family budgets like crazy. It can make you feel guilty if you don’t have the money to continually rent video games, take them to costly kid-friendly places, and shell out big bucks for full fare activities.

Even during the school year, it’s important to be able to get out of the house with the kids and do something that won’t break the bank. This is where season passes come in handy. If you live in or near a big city, you can pay once for full, year-round access to a wide variety of entertainment hot spots.

Lets look at ways to save money on family fun around town

The zoo is a great place to save money with a season pass. A season pass to a zoo not only gets you in the door without paying again all year, but you usually get free parking, too.

Zoo membership allows you to access certain events that other pay-per-visit patrons don’t get to attend. And if you have to spend any money at the zoo on things like food, drinks, or gift shop items, you usually get a member’s discount price. Our local Sedgwick County Zoo has live bands, ice cream socials, trick or treating, and firefighters bring the trucks out to hose off the kids during the hot summer months.

Another season pass that will save money on family fun is one for a local water park. Water parks can be horribly expensive, costing approximately $50 per person per visit in major cities. A season pass is about $20-30 more, and you and your kids can visit as many times as you want throughout the open season.

Again, your family will likely save on food, drinks, and gift shop items, but they also have member only days and free perks like rent-free rafts for patrons who prefer to pay for a year at a time.

save money on family fun

Aside from water parks, other entertainment parks like Six Flags offer season passes to families who are on a tight budget. A season pass is the only smart way to go to one of these parks, because you can’t possibly enjoy everything in a single day!

Just two visits to a park would likely pay for a season pass, so if you plan to go more than once, or just want a place that you, your spouse and kids can have fun on a year-round basis, then consider upgrading to a membership that helps you save money on family fun.

Sporting events are another place where you and your clan can sock away money by investing in season tickets. The more games you buy ahead of time, the more you usually save – and you’ll never have to hear the kids complaining that you never take them anywhere!

Season passes and memberships ensure your family will get the fun they deserve while helping you save money at the same time. And in many cases, like with the zoo or an art museum, you’re contributing to the maintenance of the exhibits, too!

So, how do you choose which season pass to pick if you are on a really low budget?

1. How much can you afford to pay upfront?

2. Which place or pass will give the most visits for the family per season?

3. How long is each season pass good for?

Once you weed through those criteria, you’ll find the best choice for your budget and your family to save money on family fun this summer.

Do you have passes? Tell me about it in the comments below. 

Food on the Table is an easy meal planning service that is based on sales at local grocery stores.

With Food on the Table, users will be able to:

• find thousands of easy, healthy recipes
• save money by knowing the items that are on sale
• simplify your shopping experience with a well organized grocery list

For more than 3 meals a week and more recipes, the member can upgrade to the premium version for a low introductory rate of $5/month.

SPECIAL OFFER: Use the service free for life! Use promo code FEBFREE throughout the month of February!

Just a couple quick notes about the Food On The Table – Free For Life offer. There have been a few questions, so we’d like to help clear a few things up. First, the promotion gives NEW Food On The Table users unlimited meals each week for free (it’s normally only 3 meals a week and you pay for the unlimited upgrade). Since it’s a promo code, they may still get encouraged to upgrade, but they don’t have to because they used the promo code.

 

BzzAgent provided me with a coupon for one free pizza, desert, and appetizer from the Private Selection brand, so I made a trip to our local Dillon’s to find out what was offered. In the freezer isle for pizzas, I found about four flavors of frozen pizza.  Since I’d not had this product before I wasn’t sure how big it was and picked out something to share with my mom for lunch, rather than with my family for dinner.

I’m glad I did because this pizza wasn’t very big and it’s oval shape would have been difficult to split up between us all. The pizza had good flavor though, and I’llprobably buy it again to share for lunch with my mom. The flavor we picked was bbq chicken. It had good tangy flavor with a hint of sweet and the crust wasn’t too thick or thin, but it did take a little extra baking than the box said.

The appetizer I picked was Mushroom profiteroles which are like cream puffs, but have mushrooms, chopped up walnuts and cream cheese melted inside them. When I pulled them out of the box, I was sad. They were little! However, eating them just a few minutes after they came out of the oven, they were heavenly – creamy, flavorful and just a little bit crunchy.

On to desert. Molten lava cakes! My personal favorite is rarely chocolate and cake isn’t my first choice of desert = normally. However, a good lava cake is something I’ll pick when I can. These Belgian chocolate lava cakes are good. They have enough flavor, and the melted chocolate was enough, but not too much that it made the cake mushy. In fact, I’m going to go have another one now!

Now, would I have tried these without coupons? Probably not. The cost is prohibitive for the size, for a family of four on a short income. But, with coupons, and a store sale, I’ll buy these again and have even since tried the pre-made hamburgers and the cream puffs for desert.

What we didn’t talk about is how your personality might come into play with your finances, both personal and business related. That’s not today’s topic, but we’ll look closer at that after you’ve taken today’s pop-quiz!

I’d like you to download, print off, and check next to the things that you know or already do. Lets see where you are right now. An assessment, not really a test. There is no pass or fail, but a way to help you understand what you need to know or get a handle on in order to get your finances in order.

Click here to download and print the pop quiz.

Some of what you’ll find in this pop quiz:

Income

_ I know the difference between gross income and net income.

_ I know the difference between active income and passive income.

_ I know about alternative income streams.

_ I use my spare time to create more streams of income.

 

Credit Debt

_ I always pay my credit card balances in full each month.

_ I review my credit report once a year, free of charge, from Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion.

_ I know my credit score.

 

Investing Basics

_ I know the difference between a 401k and an IRA.

_ I know the difference between Traditional 401k and Roth 401k.

_ I know the difference between Traditional IRA and Roth IRA.