Finance

Priscilla Y. Huff gives you practical advice on how to work from home and take care of your family. But if you were a degreed professional prior to being a mom, this is not the book for you. But according to the book, you should pursue a home business in candlemaking or crafts. But this is the 2000's, not the 1950's, Priscilla! Many of young professionals are educated in far different arenas than were portrayed here! And I also agree with a reader from Illinois: If you already have the credentials to run your own home health agency, you don't need this book to suggest it. And if you don't this suggestion is worthless.

Take my advice, ladies, do not buy this book. There are a lot of the generic home-based business books; with the careers outlined in them, you might actually have the opportunity to make a great home business.

THERE IS A MAJOR FLAW WITH THIS BOOK AND IT IS SOMETHING YOU MUST BE AWARE OF OTHERWISE YOU COULD FIND YOURSELF IN A BIG LEGAL MESS. In the section for Graphic Artist/Designer, the author suggests using a software program called "Print Artist" for your design business. What she neglects to mention is that YOU CANNOT USE THIS SOFTWARE FOR BUSINESS PURPOSES SUCH AS GRAPHIC DESIGN. I checked with the manufacturer of the software and yes, there are legal conflicts and repercussions for using "Print Artist" for these kinds of business purposes. Basically, you can only use the product for home/personal use. You cannot use "Print Artist" along with their artwork, fonts, etc. to design, print, and publish greeting cards, for example, and then sell them to clients and customers. As a general rule, you can't do this with similar products from other software manufacturers either. So, do not take the author's advice for granted; check and verify it first.
Other than that, the purpose of this book is to provide the reader with ideas and information. It does, but the information is very limited; it only devotes a page or two to each type of business. In addition, it focuses on feminine types of businesses and you need to ask yourself why you are limiting yourself by only considering businesses for women.

I purchased this book a few months back at one of the lowest points in my life. I had just chosen to put in my resignation at a major corporation, Not because of the job itself, but because of continuing increase in childcare expenses. Like many parents who both work, unless you are fortunate enough to have family or friends who watch your children at little or no fee and at the drop of a hat, the stress level of childcare is ever increasing. This book has been an answer to my prayers. There are far more than 101 jobs based at home because of the additional business ideas listed after each entry. Many women will be amazed at what skills they have and never thought it could produce work. My only suggestion of caution is to read ALL of the book carefully, to include some of the drawbacks. Most women with a family to help support may be ready to jump at the chance for a new business. I was. And after careful consideration, my husband and I have chosen to start our own business using our computer. There is a need in our area, and the computer we spent so much money on for sheer hobby is now producing a second income. Is it making us a million? Of course not. But is it legitimate, honest, legal, and productive? You bet it is.

This is an excellent primer of "thought-starters" for a broad spectrum of home-based businesses. Written in an easy-to-read, uplifting style, each entry is an overview of the pros, potentials and pitfalls based on Dan Ramsey's interviews and research. Although Internet-based enterprise is not covered, there are enough good ideas here to get entrepreneurial juices flowing that can adapt to marketplaces across the country or into cyberspace. A must for any career counsellor's bookshelf.

Starting a small home-based business to bring in extra income and help weather economic storms is a good idea. What that business should be isn't immediately apparent to many people. That's the special value of this book. It gives the low-down on a wide range of business opportunities -- everything from antique dealer to wedding planner. You'll learn what each business entails, who your customers are likely to be, what to charge, what you can make, and which resources can help you get started.

this book written by dan ramsey is what i have been waiting for because of low money to invest

I really think this book would have been good if we were in the 1930-1950. We are in the year 2000 and all the extra income opportunities stated in this book are outdated. The author should keep up with the century we are in. You can't expect women in the year 2000 to raise animals for a leaving, nor cook for extra money, don't we do this already. What ever happened to computers? This book was offensive to me as a women!!!!

Great book with over 100 ideas on earning extra income. This book offers great information on marketing, advertising, crafts, publishing, and many useful ideas for stay home moms. this book is well written and easy to follow. I graduated from High school last year. I go to college part-time, have my own place, a full-time job and thanks to the knowledge I gained from this book, I now have a part-time job, putting in my own hours whenever I can. This may not be the best book ever written, but it sure helped me out.... I recommend it highly, especially for young women just coming in to the work field.....

This book is a great source of ideas and information on making extra money. This book has something for everyone. The book also lists additional sources of information, ideas on finding clients, and sample pricing. I highly recommend this book to any woman that would like to supplement her family's income.

In spite of all that has happened in the "dot com" world, this book showcases some of the companies, many lesser-known, who are still prospering from the Internet. I enjoyed every chapter as it unfolded, in usually less than four pages, how a particular Internet-based company was formed. An interesting read and I have recommended it to many people.

In her book, 101 Best Dot Coms To Start, Lynie Arden does a great job stimulating creative thoughts among those readers interested in starting their own online businesses. In addition to actually gaining some great ideas from the book, I enjoyed learning about the people behind the 101 Best Dot Coms. These are people from all walks of life who have a common bond of having found success on the internet.

While the author has some good ideas for start-up businesses, she is behind the times. Keep in mind it was most recently published 6 years ago. Read it to get ideas, but don't count on it to reflect current trends. According to the author, typing, word processing, old school computer languages, and pagers are all in hot demand.

I saw that the first two reviews listed here are for the old edition of this book! The new edition, just released last month, is completely updated. Here are just some examples covering virtually every established and emerging field, including the Internet: Internet marketing, designing web pages, ecotourism, gourmet food shop or producer, take-out restaurateur, adult day services provider, play gym operator, home health care provider, personal chef, dating service provider, B&B innkeeper, craft wholesaler, "whodunit" producer, party planner, and the list goes on and on. Each entry gives a complete behind the scenes look and relays success stories from real entrepreneurs, with verbatim comments and must-know secrets about every aspect of running the business. The introductory chapter gives you all the nuts and bolts information about how to succeed as an entrepreneur with topics like the positive character traits of entrepreneurs, and info about generating capital, business plans, finding lawyers and bookkeepers and bankers, marketing, working from home, finding and keeping employees, and more.

lots of fresh item

Author Nelson went to the Internet for a big portion of this book, and I've found that quotes people from the web ("A truly great worker does such and such" --netblabbymom) undermine the credibility of a business how-to book. I want EXPERT advice and ideas, not pithy sayings from the slacker in the cubicle down the hall.

Some of the stories *are* inspiring, but they aren't organized in such a manner that a reader can quickly assess what they address. I don't want to read through 15 anecdotes of how line workers in Wisconsin performed acts normally assigned to management to get the bolts to Michigan overnight-- not when I'm trying to figure out how to break the "we don't do it that way" cycle in my nonprofit association.

If you're pressed for time, leave this one on the shelf.

******As a side note-- "Top 10" reviewer Robert Morris gave this a five-star rating. I noticed that only one out of his last 40 reviews received under five stars-- it got four.********

What a misleading title! This book should have been entitled 'Chicken Soup for the Worker.' It is that genre of books that this one should be compared to, not any book that REALLY provides genuine advice to "take initiative at work" (see some "real deal" suggestions below).

As others have already pointed out, this book consists of anecdotes about people making a difference at work...and that's really it. Some shreds of 'advice' are included, almost seemingly as an afterthought. Save yourself some money and read these kinds of cutesy anecdotes in any number of magazines.

A review of 2 or 3 stars may be defendable but the misleading title annoys me to the point where I took stars away because of it. Not impressed.

For the real deal; for books that REALLY advise you on "Ways to Take Initiative at Work" as well as your career, check out Tom Peters' "The Brand You 50" and Jeffrey Fox's "How to Become CEO." Good luck!

As others have pointed out, this book would have been great if it was called something along the lines of "101 ways to take initiative at work". Lots of useless "examples". I use the word examples lightly, because they are really stretching what they consider initiative. For example, there is a chapter called "Learning and Education". There is a story in there about someone who felt he was due a promotion but didn't get it because he lacked an MBA. So what did he do? He quit and found a different job. I'm not sure how that is showing initiative at work. Perhaps it can be considered showing initiative in his personal career, but initiative at work would have been him either getting the MBA part time or convincing his management that he didn't need it. All this showed me was that if there is an obstable at work, my "initiative" should be to quit and find a different job. Hardly motivating. There are many other anecdotes along these lines. There are a few good ones, but it isn't worth reading through the 900 bad ones to discover them.

What this book does really nicely though is make it easy for you to read the good stuff without reading the warm and fuzzy stories. Seperated from the main text in the borders and at the bottom pages are grey boxes with some good information. I have photocopied a couple to hang up in my cube. There are some great ideas and suggestions in these. But not all the grey box stuff is good. There are alot of quotes that came from an Internet based poll about initiative, such as "If your employer sees your initiative, then all else will fall into place". This quote is attributed to "Maria, from the Internet". Well, thanks, Maria, but if I wanted to read quotes from people who like to post little nuggets of wisdom online, I could save $10 and search through the many job sites out there. Obviously, I know that initiative is a good thing, or else I would have never picked up this book. I don't need to read the wisdom of semi-anonymous people telling me why I need to show initiative. Give me examples HOW.

Finally, this book was written in 1999. It reflects the Dot Com era of the day. Many examples are how to improve my working condition, and how this person did such a great job showing initiative and bringing a day care center to work. Well, with all due respect, my career is not going to advance in 2003 by pushing an initiative that is going to cost my company money. It may gain me the respect of my co-workers, but I've already got that. I need to know how to impress my management. That's why I read this book.

All in all, the stuff that was good in this book was REALLY GOOD. I would have given it 5 stars if it wasn't surrounded by other [stuff]. Take it out from your local library, but save your cash.

very sad book attempting to manipulate employees with the most pathetic ploys.

BOOK REVIEW 1001 WAYS TO REWARD EMPLOYEES by Bob Nelson Workman Publishing Company, NY, NY Whether you manage a department, oversee a division, lead a company, or run a family business with just one employee, there is an essential principle to follow that is too often overlooked: What most motivates the people who work for you is recognition. The problem for too many of us, however, is that we don't have "employee recognition" as a line item in our budgets. In response to that all-too-common problem, Bob Nelson, author of 1001 Ways To Reward Employees, polled the American business community asking for low-cost ideas, proven strategies, achievement awards, contests, time off, case studies, and praise ideas. And the business community came through for him-and for us. This paperback has 225 pages of great ideas that leaders in the business community use to reward their hard-working employees-from keeping a "treasure chest" brimming with gifts so supervisors can reward employees on the spot (Chevron) to cab fare for workers who have to stay late (Time, Inc.) to pocket protectors, magnetic calendars and notepads imprinted with the slogan "Got an idea? Write it down!" to encourage employee participation in a suggestion program (John Deere). Whether you have a large recognition budget, a small budget, or no budget at all, you will find informal and formal ideas, expensive and cost-free ideas-something that will fit your need to let employees know how much you appreciate their efforts. Ken Blanchard, who wrote the forward, noted, "With 1001 Ways to Reward Employees, praising, recognizing and rewarding employees just became a little easier. You can now provide the rewards and recognition that people in your life so richly deserve...This is one book that should be on every manager's desk!" I have taught first-time manager classes over the past five years, and this is one of the concepts and tools our new managers appreciate the most. I've used many of the ideas myself. I highly recommend it!

Employees are the assets of a company. If you want to earn more profit and success, employees are the tools for helping you. Thus, treating them in the best way is a must for you to success. Thus, this book can give you many ideas.

In the book, it provides many monetary and non-monetary rewards methods, such as recognition and profit incentivs. Besides, it provides many real examples for each method in order to make the theory more easy to understand!

Besides, the book is very interest because it let me to know that even give a flower or a greeting card to your staff can also improve thier relationship and enhance their morale.

After i read this book, i use it in my business. It makes me suprise that it really improve human relationship and my staff are very happy when i encourage them by few words or some low-price souvenirs.

All in all, i think every employer should read this book because it can gives you many ideas to reward your staff.

This a great book to pick and flip through when you're feeling down or need a quick injection of motivation in your day. I could also see using if you are a team leader or coach, to come up with motivational sayings to get the people under you fired up. It's packed with lots of ideas I'd never thought of and also many that I already knew but had forgotten. Well worth the money if you are in a field that requires you to be "up" on demand.

This book is a great source of quick motivation boosters - especially if you are in a field where you need to motivate a team or group on a daily basis. Lots of fresh ideas as well as things you already know but might need to be reminded of. Well worth the money!

This book is a great source of quick pick me ups, inspirational thoughts and insightful advice. I keep it on my desk to turn to whenever I need a quick boost.

I should have know that a book with '1001' in the title would be a total brain fart, but still I bought it. To my surprise I was proved wrong, it was worse. With 'neat' ideas like "Send a press kit to a national producer via overnight mail. Even if they don't know you , they will open an Express Mail envelope since it conveys a sense of urgency"

and this gem:

"Deliberately make some mistakes, either in your promotional material or around your place of business (?) and challenge your customers to find them (!)"

You are kidding right? Wrong. Has Lisa Shaw ever opened her eyes. I pray she never does.

A total waste of tree.

As the title says this book is for Small Business owners. You would find more information on most marketing books but hey, this is a list with 1001 ideas each with a small description. Sometimes it really helps to see lots of ideas easily. And even one applied and successfull idea which you would otherwise miss is surely worth more than the price of this book.

A good resource for small business. I would recommend it and I'm glad I have it. I'd also recommend supplementing it in certain areas, perhaps with Jay Conrad Levinson's Guerrilla Marketing or Guerrilla Advertising. And if you have to be in the yellow pages, you should have Barry Maher's book on Getting the Most from Your Yellow Pages. For basic direct mail, anything from Denny Hatch, editor of Target Marketing, is good. Or Ed Nash. If you want to know about positioning, Al Ries and Jack Trout.