The unsuspecting LaRosa’s delivery guy never would have known that he was in for it. Not only did he deliver our pizza 15 minutes late, he didn’t have his delivery sign placed visibly in his window AND he forgot the extra pizza sauce. I’m referring to my short but rewarding stint as a mystery (or secret) shopper.    

The mystery shopping business has quadrupled in just the past 4 years. Businesses are more die-hard than ever, striving to improve their service and beat out the competetion. A business will contract out to a mystery shopping company for X number of visitors to their-restaurant, hotel, retail shop, etc. There are certain criteria that each place will be looking for in their employees. At Red Robin, for example, they may want to know if their server kept your drink refilled and how engaging he/she was. Once you’ve completed your visit, you follow up with the mystery shopping company-usually with a written report-and share the details of your visit. Your pay can vary depending on what business you are mystery shopping. Typically, you’ll get a portion-if not all-of your food/visit paid for plus maybe some additional pay.   

The benefit for those who want to be mystery shoppers is that there are more and better opportunities than ever. Every good business wants to improve the quality of their service and most importantly their customer service. And this can be a great part-time job for those who want a flexible schedule, as you accept the assignments that fit your lifestyle and time restraints. Really, anyone can use this money making idea.    

And by the way, the delivery guy from my story came back with extra sauce, free drinks and a dessert. Now you can’t beat that for customer service, and I made sure I wrote THAT down! 

If there is a group of people who know alternate ways to make money online, it’s Moms. Moms are a flexible and furious when it comes to taking care of business. So, today I’d like to share one piece of my most valuable advice and will link to a tremendous article compiled by Heather McCarron Allard of The Mogul Mom.

In the article each woman entrepreneur offers some her most valuable insights related to running your own business.   The list of contributors includes Sara Sutton Fell of Flexjobs, Jen Singer from Momma Said, Doreen Foxwell from the Childrens School of Yoga, Kristy Lawson of Prezzi Express, Maria Westerdahl of Gissy Bella, Maia Haag of I See Me and Sophia Chiang of Q Lubb.  I am certain that you will find each tip offers practical ways to help your business move forward.    

My tried and trued advice is to never take “No” for an answer. Whether you are pursuing a new client, negotiating a contract or being turned down for a job, don’t take “No” and then hit the door. Refusing “No” will will make an impression on those around you, change the way that you do business and open doors you thought were closed.    

Enjoy the mix of advice based on experience and self-education. Others will be a great resource whatever place your career or business might be.  

Not very many of us are able to reinvent the wheel.  A few of my favorites are starbucks, the iphone, and the green cone -but let’s face it -coffee, fancy phones, and composting were already around.  Someone else just had to enhance what already existed.    It can be difficult to come up with a novel idea or even an acceptable idea, but like the Small Business Guru (Kelly Andrew Brown) says sometimes it could be a matter of timing and/or engagement.    

Oftentimes, a great idea needs to be recycled for awhile and then reintroduced because the timing just wasn’t right.  A prime example of this (that turned out to be a great way to make money online ) were social networking sites which were frequently introduced to specific groups of people but later released to the general population. This came at a time when people were using the internet to find lost classmates, a new job a new love interest and now in 2008 to just makes friends in a virtual setting. What started as a social experiment, like Six Degrees, spawned into a world wide phenomenon.   

Now we all can’t be responsible for something as notorious as the coffee sleeve, but making improvements and changes, tweeking what was good into something that is great is what makes the world go ’round. Now what entrepreneur isn’t up for a challenge?  

Who would have known, twenty years ago, that this phenomenon called the World Wide Web would have achieved so much success or assisted so many people with a multitude of knowledge and life achievements? How exciting is it that I can have any question that I may have or anything I would want or need to be answered with just a few strokes of a keyboard? When I started my journey with the internet, I did not understand the vastness of its potential. There is so much at my fingertips it is hard not to utilize it…every day! I came across a website that was offering people the chance to have a home based internet businesses. How could I resist? I would highly suggest anyone to look into it for themselves. For those of you who are either unhappy with you present career or if you are just in need of extra cash (or gas money). Set forth on this venture, do not give up and you will not regret it!

I do not wanting to get back into working for a company. I would really like to just do my own thing. Is there really free money online? I was wondering myself. And so I started to do some digging and found out that there are options for me to make money online.

I had to look at my own talents and what I am most passionate about. I then matched those opportunities to my abilities and I found what I was looking for. I found a way to combine my love for writing and now I have a small business working from home. I am making money and enjoying the freedom that comes from working from home. There are so many options to utilize on the internet. I hope you find what you are looking for.

I started out selling on ebay with extra items lying around my house. Things such as picture frames, candles and craft kits were building up in my basement and I needed to get rid of them. I found selling those items to be really easy, so I started buying stuff at the store I saw on clearance and selling it online. Once I had that down, I decided to look into “powerselling” on ebay. Today, I buy merchandise wholesale and sell it on the internet. Selling products online is an easy business to learn and I get instant money from buyers. In a short time, I had made enough money to quit my office job and work from home full time. If you are looking for ways to make money from home, I highly recommend checking