Freebies
Jan
24
Poetry & Art Contests for Homeschoolers
I know this is a little off the beaten track, but we are always happy to promote activities that will benefit homeschool families.
Here’s a message from Dixie from Celebrating Art :
Hi!
We have three contests that we would be delighted to see on your website. Each year we have several homeschoolers accepted in our contests and we admire their impressive work. The following is information on each contest, if you have any questions please feel free to contact me!
Art Contest
Students submit a digital photo of any art (other than photography) and submit it online at http://www.celebratingart.com. Two contests each year — Next deadline is April 3rd. There are 10 winners in each grade division of K-3, 4-6, 7-9, 10-12 who will receive $25 and a full color book that includes their art. Other artists of merit will be invited to be published. There are no costs to enter or to be published. Open to all students in the US and Canada. Each year we have several home schoolers who are among our national winners.
Poetry Contest
Students submit one poem 21 lines on any topic and submit it online at http://www.poeticpower.com or mail it to Creative Communication, 159 North Main Street, Smithfield, UT 84335. Three contests each year with upcoming deadlines of April 12 and August 15. There are 10 winners in each grade division of K-3, 4-6, 7-9, 10-12 who will receive $25 and a book that includes their poem. Other writers of merit will be invited to be published. There are no costs to enter or to be published.
Our website at http://www.poeticpower.com also includes a database that is divided by grade and subject and contains over 1000 lesson plans on how to teach poetry. You can also subscribe to our newsletter with tips on teaching poetry.
Essay Contest
Students submit one non-fiction essay, 250 words or less on any topic and submit it online at http://www.poeticpower.com or mail it to Creative Communication, 159 North Main Street, Smithfield, UT 84335. Three contests each year with upcoming deadlines of Feb 15 and July 18. There are 10 winners in each grade division of 3-6, 7-9, 10-12 who will receive $25 and a book that includes their essay. Other writers of merit will be invited to be published. There are no costs to enter or to be published.
Thank you again!!
Aug
26
Thinking of Starting an Online Information Marketing Business?
If you’ve been thinking of starting an online business, then you are not alone. Starting an online business is a very broad subject, but like retailing, you may have a wide variety of options to choose from but there are basics you MUST know. Choosing the right niche, packaging it to appeal to your target market, ideal ways to market it, and more. There is so much to learn from those that have found success and know what works and what doesn’t. Eben Pagen is one of the top ‘internet gurus’ and has created an online empire larger than most without succumbing to the darker side of internet marketing.
Transparent, honest and quite talented in teaching complicated subjects in an easy to understand format, Eben has a habit of sharing a large chunk of his knowledge for free. I’ll warn you up front, he is going to tell you about a new product he has in the last 10 minutes of the video, but not before you have gleaned a great deal of VERY valuable information. It’s sort of like those resorts you are invited to spend the weekend on in exchange for sitting through a sales presentation. The nice part here is you can simply close the window in the last 10 minutes if you aren’t interested.
Marketing an information product is ideal for homeschoolers because it’s a wonderful way to share your unique homeschool experience with others. It just fits most homeschool families. Regardless of where you may be in your journey, you have much to gain by what Eben is willing to share in this webinar. Watch the video and learn the following cutting edge techniques:
- How to package what you know into “information products” that you can sell for high prices online
- The 2 key things you must have in order to build a successful “information business” online
- The common denominators of “winning” online niches – and how to target one that works
- A new type of marketing that is actually much easier and more fun than “high pressure” stuff from the past
- The one question to ask to figure out exactly what to include in your information product – so it has the highest chances of success
- Which type of product to start with if you’re building a new information business online
You will not have to jump over an opt-in or squeeze page, either. Or give up your email address. Just watch & learn! Take notes.
(I promise, this is NOT an attempt to sell you anything, there are NO affiliate links whatsoever, and I have no connection with selling their product. I simply want to share this great information with you, honest-in fact, if you do want to buy his product, let me know so I can get an affiliate link! )
http://www.andyjenkinsblog.com/2011/08/25/eben-pagan-guru-mastermind-webinar-replay/
Aug
20
15 Free Accounting Programs For Small Businesses
When it comes to accounting, most business owners grimace. It’s a good feeling, however, when you have it all done and up-to-date even when the bottom line isn’t what you hoped. The sense of accomplishment and having it all done (and behind you) is worth all the time it took. TIME being the key word here. One of the most valuable resources in an entrepreneur’s toolbox, finding the time to do all there is to do is always complicated. An intuitive and efficient accounting program can make all the difference, given the ease of use. Naturally, cost is a factor even when most entrepreneurs would pay most anything to find the right program for the job.
Surprisingly, there are many free online accounting programs available. Given what most entrepreneurs would pay for the right program, I’m guessing that these free programs won’t be free indefinitely. However, entering all your data into a program takes time so trying out different programs is not an option. PC Magazine has rated the top programs, and we are trying a few of the top ones out to see if we concur. Most HOMESCHOOL entrepreneurs have different needs than the average entrepreneur, so we thought it would be worthwhile to check them out, also.
Note: Although PC Magazine’s article is fairly recent (March 2011), I thought I would mention that Intuit’s Billing Manager is discontinued as of Sept 30th, 2011.
Here are PC Magazine’s top accounting programs:
1. Quick Books Premier Edition 2011 – 4.5 stars; Starting at $79 first month, $39/month thereafter
The only one that is not free, QB Premier Ed 2011 is at the top of the list but is overwhelming for many small businesses. As you grow and your needs change, QB is where most end up. All the following online systems are very aware of this staunch competitor and work hard at making theirs easier and more thorough. In time, they may succeed.
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2. FreshBooks (Free, 4.5 stars)
According to PC Mag, Fresh Books is easily the best of the free small business applications they’ve tested. Even their website exemplifies their name with its fresh and simplified interface. Good one to start with, I’d say.
3. Zoho Invoice (Free, 4 stars)
Advertised as a complete set of tools for your business, accounting software is just one of many productivity tools you can find here at Zoho.
Calendar
Notebook
Planner
Zoho Office for MS Sharepoint
Collaboration Apps
Business Apps
Even a Bug Fixer!
Check out the wide variety of helps at Zoho.com
4. Outright (Free. 3.5 stars)
While Outright maintains 3.5 stars due to lacking some key components, PC Mag believes their innovation, security, and simplicity make it a good choice for the self-employed and very small businesses owner.
5. Billing Boss (Free, 2.5 stars)
Counter-intuitive due to the fact that users must do (and redo) a lot of unnecessary data entry as they create invoices. It’s recommended only if you want to retire your clunky credit card terminal for the convenience of your smartphone according to PC Mag.
6. Wave Accounting (Free, 2 stars)
What can I say? When you hit the bottom of the list of all these great offerings, why bother? (sorry, Wave…) Or, maybe you would like to give PC Magazine’s underdog a try. They may have changed what the critical reviews accused them of and will climb to the top soon*. I took the video tour and unless they are falsely representing themselves, they look like the option I would most likely try first.
*Editor’s note: It seems that many of these programs PC Mag tagged as ‘free’ are only free on the trial version. It appears that Wave Accounting is the only truly free program.
Then I found this site and another full list of what is referred to as ‘Open Source’ aka ‘free’ of accounting programs. While many of the ones mentioned above appear to only do invoicing, these seem to be full programs and completely FREE. I am not familiar with any of them, but using several barely known ‘open source’ products myself, (like Open Office and FileZilla) I thought they would be worth listing.
Here’s their list: (Read more about each one and find the download link by clicking on each link or find more free software at: I Love Free Software.com )
Track your accounts and balances hassle free, just like you use your register and other books.
The application is known for its ease of use, aims at providing you most comprehensive tool for accounting basic use, and takes very less time for simple set up.
The app is a free account software that simplifies your accounting problems and you can us the app for your small business and personal work. You can create and manage any type of bookkeeping activity and break out the entries and transactions to any number of accounts.
This program is designed to give you set of tools for better book keeping and accounts maintenance.
FrontAccounting is web-based free accounting software and free ERP software designed specially for all small and medium size business…full featured including:
Purchase Orders
Accounts Payable
Goods Receivable Notes
Supplier Invoices/Credit Notes
Payments
Allocations
Items and Inventory
Customer Invoices/Credit Notes
Deposits
Allocations
Stock
Manufacturing
Languages
Currencies
Several Companies
Sales Orders
Accounts Receivable
Dimensions
General Ledger with Budget
SQL-Ledger free web based accounting software for all small-sized business enterprises. The app is downloadable and requires quick installation. The app is very easy to handle and very simple to use. The easy to use interface will help you keep up with the accounts and maintain your books. >>more
13. TurboCash *also offered free in Spanish
TurboCash is yet another free accounting software. The freeware is fully featured with the tools and techniques offering wise packages of accounting that suits all kind of users and business firms. This open source accounting software is loaded with features for full reporting and analysis. You can also maintain more than one company at a time suing this app and add more than one users for better capabilities and division of book-keeping task. This free accounting software aims at making your accounting experience an easy one. However,. . . >>more
14. osFinancials
“osFinancials is a free accounting software that allows you full accounting utility. It is licensed under the GNU/GPL license which authorize the program to be free and can be used any users and free to download. This free accounting software is reliable, easy to install and very easy to administer. One problem I face with osFinancials is that website itself is in Dutch, and lot of parts do not have translation. Even most of the forum posts are in Dutch.” (?!?) >>more
15. PhreeBooks
“PhreeBooks is an open-source accounting program. PhreeBooks is designed to provide an accounting solution that allows businesses to track inventories and plan resources. PhreeBooks’ full-featured, user-friendly interface makes it the perfect solution for both experts and those who are new to accounting.
PhreeBooks was created as a full featured ERP/accounting system designed to run in an internet environment. This free accounting software is based on the administrator interface of the well established ZenCart shopping cart application. . .” >> more
Well, if you don’t find the accounting program you need for your business from this list, then I suggest you just take your shoebox to your local accountant and move on. Accounting is one of those activities like brushing your teeth. It’s something you have to do or you will pay the price later. Have fun!
Has anyone tried any of these programs and liked it? or didn’t like it? Why? You’d be helping others by sharing your knowledge! Thanks!
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Aug
09
These Kids Mean Business!
These Kids Mean Business is a website spawned out of a documentary aired on August 31, 2007. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find a place that it can be viewed online, but maybe YOU can! The website has many useful resources, and practical lesson plans for teachers. Watch the videos, and check out the lesson plans here >>
Did anyone out there happen to watch this documentary when it aired?
More From HomeschoolEntrepreneur
Jun
06
How To Start a Restaurant in 24 Hours
Starting a restaurant in 24 hours is pretty unrealistic, but on the show, 24 Hour Restaurant Battle, it’s the goal of the show to accomplish this. If opening a restaurant is your dream then watching this show would be extremely helpful. Naturally, it would be unwise to try it in such a time frame, but the expert advice the contestants receive is priceless. It’s also helpful to see all the details that it takes to get the job done and lots of tips on doing it quickly! Find in on your area, or watch entire episodes online:
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