The trend towards creating a home based business is not a novel concept. During the last few years, more and more people have sought a solution to the rising threats of unemployment, long commutes and unbalanced family life that traditional business and full-time employment brings. Everyone understands that they need to generate an income but many are now becoming more creative in how they achieve this objective.Creating a home based business is often seen as the solution to this challenge. A home based business gives the person more control over their time and allows them the freedom to work around family commitments and personal preferences. In the case of some parents, it allows them to spend more time with their children and arrange their work so they can be a more engaged parent. In other cases, it allows the person to live in the location of their choice without having to settle for a location simply because their job demands this from them.However, moving from employment to a home based business is a huge move. The person needs to understand technical and computing issues, business law, banking requirements, business taxation, marketing as well as the details of the particular business that they are entering into. It is for these reasons that many who are in the process of researching home based businesses are attracted by a home based business franchise. Some people sometimes refer to this concept as a ‘business in a box’. A home based business franchise is typically internet based, but not always. It basically outlines the steps that the newbie buying the franchise or the opportunity needs to take to get started and to create a successful business. In most cases there’s a step by step training guide that shows the person exactly what needs to be learned. This is often in the form of videos, webinars, or simple instructions. At a time when there are countless other tasks for the new business owner to master, a home based business franchise aims to simplify the business part as much as possible.Typically there is often a forum within these groups. The forum allows everyone to communicate freely, ask questions, give recommendations and post comments. It is invaluable to a new person setting up a business to have this level of support and to have a dedicated resource where their many questions can be answered. The person’s learning curve is extremely steep during this time and a community like this can speed up the learning process. It helps the newbie avoid the mistakes and possible pitfalls of those that have already gone through the process. In addition, they often have physical events where all members meet up and exchange information and successful strategies. This is a far cry from the experience of those who don’t take the home based business franchise route. It is much more difficult to gain momentum when you literally have to create everything from scratch. In many cases, the business owners who do this are ‘reinventing the wheel’ and often times get caught in the ‘busy’ trap. This is when they are extremely busy but aren’t focussed on income producing activities.In addition, a home based business franchise often provides marketing templates, sales assistance, mindset training, supplier discounts and updated software. Although the costs of these are covered in the initial fee and in the monthly subscriptions, they certainly make it easier for the new member to become more successful in a shorter timeframe.From my own experience, when I decided that I wanted to move from my traditional business as a business coach to a home based business, I was very focussed on finding a home based business franchise. I loved the work that I was doing as a business coach – training teams, coaching business owners and creating marketing campaigns for my clients. However, I was driving over a thousand miles a week, working extremely long days and constantly stressed out due to poor diet and lack of exercise. I decided that I wanted to be home based while still doing the type of work that I loved. One of the opportunities that allowed me to do that was YourNetBiz. In addition to the mentoring from my YourNetBiz sponsor, this system provided the step-by-step framework to get started. It provided the products, taught me about online marketing and it continues to provide leading edge support, software and community interaction.If you’d like to find out about this home based business franchise and other opportunities, visit http://aileen-gallagher.com
Vacation Travel Club: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly!
According to Project: Time Off, 40% of Americans don’t use all of their allotted vacation days. Many people don’t even think about their travel options until they have made the decision to take time off and go somewhere. In many cases this is not very far in advance and can be stressful to plan.
There are so many ways to book travel today with hundreds of travel websites, travel clubs, and discount travel companies out there. Travel is something that everyone loves to do if done the right way. Planning travel and creating great experiences make travel so much more relaxing and allows for the recharge that everyone needs.
Let’s look at a couple travel options that many people have heard about: Travel Clubs and Timeshare Ownership. Both offer many different options when planning travel, but these are the two ways of traveling that are the most controversial. Many people love these options and many hate them.
Travel Clubs:
Travel clubs offer a unique traveling experience much like a timeshare; however you pay a fee to receive a specific number of points to use for travel within their network of resorts and destinations all over the world. This membership allows you and your family to use the points in a given time or accumulate those points over time to cash them in at a later date for travel with a larger group.
Other travel clubs offer discounted travel options where you pay a monthly membership fee and in turn you receive discounted rates for trips that are already planned out. All you do as a member is book the trip and pay. In some cases travel to the destination is on your own, but the information is outlined in each trip description.
With some travel clubs there are options for customers who are already members to make money and receive commissions for every person who signs up under them in the travel club program. This is a type of network marketing program where many people have made money or received free travel while others have made nothing and feel they have lost money. Network marketing is a legitimate form of business, but it is not for everyone. It is not a get rich quick program.
The perception of network marketing is that it is a “scam.” Many people have lost money in network marketing and many people have made a lot of money with network marketing. Those who have made a lot of money with network marketing have worked very hard to get where they are within the network marketing business. Yes, they talk about it like they enjoy it because they do enjoy their job, but they treat it as a job and work hard to recruit, sell and build their business.
Timeshare ownership:
This is another perceived “scam” or way for people to take your money according. Timeshare ownership is another legitimate way to travel to one destination every year or every other year depending on your purchased week. Timeshare owners receive a deed to their property that they own for a set amount of days or weeks throughout the year.
Where many people feel this is a scam is when maintenance and taxes come in. Everyone pays for maintenance and taxes on the property that they own, so why would a timeshare, be any different? It is a deeded piece of property much like a house. These fees help with upgrades to the property as well as fixing things that go wrong throughout the year. Refrigerators quit working and walls need to be painted periodically and every owner is required to help pay those costs.
Timeshare ownership works great for those who actually use them. It is when people don’t use their weeks that they feel they are losing money. There are also options to exchange your timeshare into other cities and resorts using exchange companies like RCI and Interval International. These resources can help you get more value out of timeshare ownership.
Want to learn more about these two options check out my free report which outlines several different options when it comes to travel, foreign and domestic. There are so many options and ways to save money as well as programs to help you make money traveling.
Ask Your Local Travel Guru: What’s New on the Travel Industry Wire?
As a travel guru for many years now, I have seen the travel industry wire adapt in so many ways. As you already know, we now live in a world with instant and infinite amounts of information, right at our fingertips. Like everything else, the travel industry has adapted, grown and cultivated a new identity with our present day world of information. Until beaches start disappearing and people can be teleported across continents, there will ALWAYS be the want and need to visit our regular and new destinations.
The travel industry plays a substantial role in the global economy. During 2015, the travel industry wire forecasts global GDP to grow by 3.7% and employment by 2.6%. This demonstrates the sector’s enduring ability to generate economic growth and create jobs at a faster rate than the global economy, which is due to grow by 2.9% in 2015. By the end of 2015, the Travel & Tourism sector will contribute US$7,860 billion, 10% of global GDP, once all direct, indirect and induced impacts are taken into account. The sector will account for 284 million jobs, 9.5% of total employment, or one in eleven of all jobs on the planet. By 2025, the global travel & tourism sector is projected to contribute 357 million jobs and generate $11.4 Trillion dollars. Ask your favorite travel guru and he will show you the various components all contributing to these massive amounts. Let’s check out what the travel industry wire says:
Hotel Industry
Among all the sub sectors of the travel & tourism industry, Hotels is one of the biggest fragments. The travel industry wire explains that hotels generated a global of $457 billion dollars in 2014. Your travel guru has most likely coordinated a recent trip within the Intercontinental Hotels Group. The company contributed the highest revenues, earning $22.8 billion dollars. In the United States alone, the total revenue within the hotel industry climbed to $163 billion dollars. The majority of tourists visiting the United States of America (65.1%) choose to stay in a hotel, where the average daily is a healthy $121.30.
Aviation industry
Although the major corporations, leading sector, seem to always changing names and planes, the industry cultivated a whopping $783 billion US dollars in 2014. Your travel guru may have whispered about some of the airlines not performing, but the industry continues to grow at rate of 7.4% every year. The travel industry wire indicates that Europeans, Americans, Chinese & Brazilians combine for the highest market contributors.
Cruise Industry
Cruises have steadily become a popular choice of travel the past few years. These are an easy sell for your local travel guru… The luxurious ocean liners, offering food, fun & music for the entire family have created a loyal gathering that continues to grow. Due to the growth rate of 6.55% every year, Cruise lines have postured their company growth strategies, by building larger capacity ships, ship diversification, more local ports and more destinations. The travel industry wire indicates that the average cruise traveler spends approximately $1728.00 every year, with over 22 million people jumping on the floating palace. The cruise industry contributes about $39.6 billion dollars in 2014, and is poised for a solid 6-7% increase.
Online Travel Market
Any travel guru, coupled with the travel industry wire statistics, will tell you that the online travel industry has EXPLODED over the past 5 years and will only continue to skyrocket. As more and more people use smartphones and as these smartphones continue to develop into personal super computers, the more information we have, the more we want. Online travel revenue reached $340 billion dollars back in 2011, worldwide and 39% consisted of American bookings. Obviously, the deluge of data & information has contributed to the online travel industry, but hotels and hotel broker websites have been the main proponents to this boom. As everything turns to online information, bookings, etc… the travel agencies, travel gurus and everyone associated with the industry has jumped in. Rarely do you see a corporation dependent on the travel & tourism industry, that hasn’t adapted to the online market.
The Future of the Travel Industry
The travel & tourism industry is an enormous portion of the global economy and will only continue absorb market share. The travel industry wire explains that the sectors and their respective technologies are developing at a rapid rate, procuring the consumer process into a much easier-and faster encounter. Just ask your favorite travel guru.