Will the 2012 snow season be the same with thousands of businesses sending staff home early because of the weather? Companies who employ remote workers and home workers are always relieved and pleased that there will be no disruption to their normal business day.

At least 5.5 million Brits who are home based or work flexibly and remotely will not have to clear a snowed-in drive and battle cold non-starting engines. They will not be affected by delayed or cancelled public transport; instead, they will be able to throw a few snowballs with ‘home-bound’ kids before ambling into their home office and getting down to business as usual.
iHubbub a new social community for business start-ups and freelancers as well as remote, virtual and home workers, highlights how remote and home working benefits the environment, business production and an employee’s quality work life.

The winter of 2009 saw periods of extremely heavy snow combined with strong winds, followed by a big freeze. The treacherous conditions and snowdrifts of more than three metres high crippled road and rail networks and disrupted an economy already in recession.

Millions of people had to stay at home and do very little or suffer the stress, discomfort and danger of getting into work because there was no alternative. With the huge advances in technology millions of people hit by the recession have started up their own home business. Likewise, more and more ‘bang on trend’ companies have been implementing remote and home working solutions to enable their team to be mobile for all sorts of business advantages, including extreme weather conditions.

Founders Ken Sheridan and Paula Wynne are proud that iHubbub will champion the vibrant home business community via a range of social tools, helpful business resources and a growing online platform. They believe iHubbub’s social networking community is welcoming, encouraging, unassuming and above all supportive.

Ken said: “Thanks to the penetration of technologies in the home that enable home based working, the weather may stop transport systems, but it should not hit many SMEs and home businesses in the same way that it did in 1991 and 2009, particularly those that have already enabled staff to access the same information and systems from home that they have in their workplace.”

iHubbub enables its members to get in touch with other home workers and businesses within the community to get ideas, advice and support to make home working a pleasurable and successful way of working. So more than 5m home workers across the UK will not be effected by the 2012 snows.

There are a wide range of online professions open to just about anyone with a level of enthusiasm and aptitude and while most involve a learning curve of some sort, the beauty of online business is that most workers will be able to find message boards and forums where others offer advice and support as well as the benefit of their own experience.

Earn Money Online from Blogging

One popular way of earning money online is through blogs. Blogs, or weblogs to give them their full title, are an online self publishing tool allowing the creator to share content on any subject they wish. While in the early days of blogging these vehicles served as something of an online journal for their creators, modern day blogging is much more targeted and the savvy online entrepreneur can create earning opportunities through their blog in a number of ways, from targeted advertising with revenue share schemes, to affiliate marketing to the promotion of self produced products or services.

Blogging for cash is a competitive market and those new to the game would do well to carry out some research before creating any content and learn about search engine optimisation (SEO) which is essential to anyone hoping to make money this way. The same thing is true for those hoping to gain cash through the creation of their own niche websites – since learning how to rank highly in organic searches is the key to all internet success.

Why Not Turn Pro at Online Poker?

If you want to get into a field that has more of an element of entertainment about it, why not consider trying your hand at casino gaming for cash? Many people enjoy a flutter on the bingo or are happy to play a hand of poker in their spare time but never consider their pastimes’ real money making potential.

For those that find they have a propensity for the game, there is money to be made in online gambling through sites such as Party Poker Bonus Codes available online allow new users to benefit from free games allowing them to hone their skills in this area before having to invest their own money into the enterprise.

While there is no guarantee of winning in any stakes game, some people certainly find they have a talent for taking the pot in this online environment and a number have turned that into a profitable profession.

It does raise a number of questions though. Will the client expect this every time there is a problem? Shouldn’t you be encouraging your customers use the phone and e-mail to save time and money?

There are lots of people nowadays who shy away from face-to-face meetings and prefer to use the phone, but, equally, there are others who relish the opportunity of meeting a decision maker in person. The answer probably lies somewhere in the middle. Don’t reject personal meetings outright but be smart about the ones that you choose.

Develop a process for screening the prospects by asking a few simple questions:

• Do you have a budget for the project?
  

If the person you are talking to does not have the approval for the expenditure, there is a good chance that you are wasting your time. Ask if you can develop a proposal and then meet after the budget has been decided.

• Will you be the decision maker on the project?

If you are not, will I get a chance to meet the decision maker on this visit?

• Have you developed the specific requirements that I will be required to fulfill?

You would be surprised how often the project has not been crystallized. Offer to help develop the project by e-mail and over the phone book before a final meeting.

• What is the timeframe for the execution?

If the project is three months away from starting, surely it is sufficient to meet three of four weeks before the start date.

You can now decide how to proceed.

Remember to travel smart and check out cheap flights so that you get value for money.

• Telephone courses – it’s the world-wide web, but that doesn’t necessarily mean I want to make an international telephone call for the course.  If the course includes a teleconference, publish the area code(s) so I can include the cost of my calls when budgeting, please. Even better, offer a local (UK) number or Voice-Over-IP (VOIP, or internet phone) access for SIP phones, so it won’t cost me extra.
• Web classes – web browsers have plugins, but not all web browsers have all plugins and sometimes I’d prefer to watch your video stream on my TV instead.  That’s easy if it’s a video stream I can load in a standalone player (I can even remote-control some players with my bluetooth phone), but it’s a right pain if it requires Adobe Flash, locked down with javascript, DRM and so on.  Make video streams that can be used in Videolan or MPlayer, please.
• Web classes – if a class uses its own special downloadable program (even if it’s Java), then it’s not a web class.  Please make the class usable in a web browser and please publish a small test class so I can make sure my browser works before the class starts.
• Ordering systems – one site gave me no fewer than three big red error messages while I was trying to buy.  The first said the site requires Javascript.  I changed that setting, pressed back and re-ordered, then the second big red error said it requires cookies .  I changed that setting, then it said it needed Internet Explorer.  I closed the Firefox/Iceweasel window and gave up.  Please test your ordering system and show a full list of system requirements as soon as there’s an error, to avoid wasting my time.

Are there any good online course providers out there which do all of the above?

This blog will draw on our 10 years of commercial experience in online or internet marketing and website development and design in bringing you  success tips, expert advice and news to make your business succeed online.

There are too many SEO and SEM experts with their “techie” blogs.  But most of them are from the USA and some of them talk a different language to businesses here in the UK.  So our promise is to offer expert help and free advice for UK business.

Any questions or problems please get in touch.