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One of the most important decisions you’ll ever make in your life is what kind of career you are going to have. Many people out there plan their career from the time they are in high school and work diligently to make sure they have the education that they need to make their dreams come true. There are also people out there that haven’t had the opportunity, for whatever reason, to get the education they need to work in the field they have always dreamt of working in. These people will often take whatever jobs they can find in order to make ends meet and survive.

Once one starts in a job, even one that may not pay sufficiently or be very satisfying, many people end up staying there while. In order to make a change, one must make a decision to break the cycle and do something that is different from what they know or are comfortable doing. Some people will take on extra jobs in order to get the money they need to go back to school and find a better career while others will adjust their lifestyle to fit the amount of money they have coming in.

There are still others out there that decide to take things into their own hands and start a home based business. These people tend to believe in themselves and are motivated enough to make sure their dream of working from home can be turned into a reality. Frankly, these are the kind of people that will do whatever it takes to make sure they are successful in the line of work or home based business they choose.

You see, building a successful home business doesn’t really require more work than building a successful career in the workforce. The difference between those who work for themselves at home and people who work for a boss in the “real world” usually comes down to a self-motivated mindset and unwavering commitment to work until you are successful. An employee might be motivated to work until their shift is over, while an entrepreneur is compelled to work until they have achieved their goals.

Working from home can be highly rewarding if you are willing to put the effort into making it work for you. You are going to find times when you are pulling long hours and not getting many days off when you start out, but that is part of the appeal of working from home. You don’t have to worry about doing those long hours and then commuting home only to go back to the office in a few hours. You can also take breaks or days off when you want once you are successful because the only boss of you, will be yourself.

Working from home isn’t usually like what some people fantasize about where you walk around in your pajamas all day looking like you just got out of bed… In fact, if that’s how you are dressed while you are working, then you probably aren’t taking your home-based business career very seriously, and your results will be half asleep as well. Just because no one else is around you doesn’t mean that you have to let yourself go and become unprofessional in your dressing habits. Maintaining your professional attitude is the key to having your home based business become a success and is something that you should strive for on all levels whether you work a job, or your own business at home.

Making the decision to build a successful home business is really the primary key to success. Just remember that the word decision means to “cut off from” all other possibilities. When you truly decide that you are going to build a successful home business, you surely will. And if you fall short of the success you dreamed of, well, you didn’t really make a decision, did you? That’s just a hope and a dream, and that won’t take you very far down the road to home business success. Think about it, and go all in.

If you have been thinking of becoming a green marketer – that is, turning your existing business into a greener one in order to attract customers interested in green issues – it is important to understand whether or not your existing customers are green already. If they aren’t yet, they soon could be if you lead the charge and set a good example of how to become more eco-friendly.

What Is Green Marketing?

Green marketing is all about marketing products and services which can be considered greener than what is readily available on the market at present. For example, if you were going to open a green dry cleaning business, it would use less harsh chemicals, recyclable plastic, reusable hangers and shirt boxes, and so on.

You would also need to educate consumers about why green dry cleaning is as good as, if not better than, existing dry cleaning. By explaining what the difference is, you can justify any price difference related to your new green product line.

Studies have shown that customers have indicated they would be willing to spend 10 to 20% more on a green product versus a traditional product – provided that it gives the same level of performance, if not better, than what they usually use.

A Few Tips on Running a Green Business

Green marketing is also about being conscious of waste in the business and trying to have as small a carbon footprint as possible in the running of the business.

The easiest place to lead the charge here is to stop creating paper catalogs and other paper-based sales materials. Instead, create an online catalog with full details of all of your products, and keep it updated frequently. Drive people to the site with classified ads in your local paper or niche-related or industry-related magazines.

Make the most of your email marketing lists to remind people to come to the site and see what’s new. Have regular product launches and promote them on social media and online press release distribution services. You will be spreading the word about your new green products and services, but without having a significant impact on the environment.

Around the office there are likely many things you can do to make it leaner and greener. And in this way, you can show your target customers that you are not just trying to cash in on the green trend, but are genuinely concerned about the environment. For example, use recycled paper in your printer, along with soy-based inks. Use recycled toilet paper, tissues, and paper towels as needed.

In terms of paper towels, consider buying cotton hand towels and washing them regularly rather than using up a lot of paper towels. Use mugs instead of disposable cups. Use a regular coffee machine instead of those pod thingies to reduce your daily plastic waste.

Use a stainless steel reusable filter in your coffee machine basket so you don’t have to waste paper on coffee filters. Buy water filters and filtered water jugs to cut back on bottled water use. Use BPA-free plastic (or stainless steel) water bottles and travel mugs to cut down on trash and plastic in the environment.

There are many things you can do to educate your customers about green issues. But first you have to learn about them yourself. Once you do, you can take a 360-degree look at your products, services, office, and vendors. In this way, you will be able to clean and green your company, and impress customers who are interested in green issues.

Maybe we’re overthinking this whole video thing. It can take days to make a high-quality video, but even then there is no guarantee anyone will watch it. Or you can do what this guy did: Take one photograph, add music and a title and post it.

No script. No voice over. No nothing but a photo and generic elevator music. It’s called, “Gentle Understanding Cat” and as of this writing it has 86,000 views and 303 comments.

Even the creator is surprised, as he writes, “Damn this blew up. Please check out my other content with actual effort put into it.”

I did check them out, and his other videos have just 5 to 46 views each.

Then there’s YouTuber Charlotte Dobre. All she does is play social media posts of Bridezillas, Karen’s and other annoying people. As the clips play, you get to watch her reactions. Whoop-de-doo. It sounds stupid, right?

Nothing against Charlotte, but her videos contain essentially no original content other than her smirky remarks (which generally aren’t witty or funny). Even she appears surprised that so many people are watching her.

Charlotte has 570K subscribers, and here are a few of her viewership numbers:

•    The Fake People of Instagram, Part 2 – 1.1M views
•    Entitled People that are on Another Level – 881K views
•    Entitled People that are on Another Level, Part 3 – 839K views
•    Entitled Brides Getting Called Out on Social Media – 626K views
Essentially, she is earning a full-time income as a YouTube partner through advertising simply by reading OTHER PEOPLE’S social media posts and adding her own reactions to it.

When it comes to your own videos, you might take stock of what you’re trying to achieve with your videos and whether or not you’re on the best path to do that. If you’re making outstanding content that no one is watching, it might be time to recalibrate your video making methods.

If nothing else, here is a trick that works wonders for providing great ‘how-to’ content to viewers and still making the video entertaining and share-worthy on social media:

Use a polar-opposite partner.

For example, if you have strong views on a topic, your partner will play the part of the ‘dummy’ on the other side of the argument. The two of you bickering back and forth with you generally coming out on top while teaching something works wonders.

Your partner could also play the ignorant student who needs the super simple explanation to things. This makes the viewers feel smart and it’s an excellent way to come in under their resistance radar and bring them over to your way of thinking.

Don’t be afraid to be goofy, make mistakes and so forth. Today I discovered an animated series called “Suction Cup Man”.

The creator now sells a plushie Suction Cup Man doll at the end of video 4. To advertise it he uses video clips where the doll isn’t functioning as he wants it to, and it just adds to the appeal because it’s REAL.

You don’t need complicated videos. Simple is usually better. Entertaining is best. Combine the two – make it simple and entertaining, and you’ve got something.

That video you’re about to make outlining the 10 best things to know about your topic? Make it into 10 separate videos and find a way to be entertaining in each one.

The video you’re about to make to recruit affiliates to your launch? Please don’t read a script and try to look all stuffy and business-like. Be yourself. Speak from the heart about why your product rocks and how much you’re going to do for your affiliates. Be real. Make mistakes. Be goofy or silly. Leave your ego at the door, strive for the opposite of perfection and imagine you’re talking to friends… because you are.

Maybe the best analogy for creating videos is the old KISS method: Keep it Simple, Silly.