Does your daily task list get overwhelming at times?  Mine does.

There are just so many hours in a day and every day there seems to be an avalanche of new tasks that come up.

Here is a method I use to help organize, prioritize, and take control.   I  call this my “ Five Point Star” method, here’s how it works…

I start with 2 lists:

1. Start by keeping a log of all your incoming tasks and projects that need to be worked at some point.  These aren’t things that you can immediately get done but want to put them on the back burner to get to later.   I prioritize these tasks based on importance and I label each as a short, medium or long term task.

2. Today’s ‘to do’ list. This consists of 5 tasks.   3 tasks are things I can get done within 1-2 hours. 1 task is something that will take maybe 4-6 hours to complete and 1 long term task would take a week or more to complete.

Because I know that I can realistically only focus on up to five things a day and still hope to do a good job, I’ll grab 3  items off the the log in #1 that are labeled short and only after I complete those 3 items will I move on to the other two.

The reason for only three small tasks is that there are a lot of normal daily interruptions that can eat up your time.  Even a one minute phone call can set you back if you have to stop a task and then deal with figuring out where you left off when you stopped to answer the phone.

But here’s the real payoff to this method.   If every task is listed and ranked on a running log I can then forget about them until they float to the top of the five item TO DO list.   As I complete a task I will scratch it off of that day’s list and will replace it the next morning.

It’s important not to replace anything until the next day so that you don’t change the day’s priorities.

Don’t take anything off the master list until it is transferred onto a daily ‘to do’ list.  Conversely nothing comes off the daily ‘to do’ list until the task is complete. This could mean that your medium and long term items will be on your daily TO DO for quite a while.

Occasionally a task will come up that supersedes the list of ‘to do’, for instance if something catastrophic happens like  your computer dies or something of that nature.   These things are rare but when they occur “reset” your five item list and add back onto your log the items that were displaced.

By keeping a log I can “park” incoming tasks until I can schedule them for work.  By parking these tasks I don’t have to deal with them right away and I won’t be feeling so overwhelmed.

It’s a simple but effective strategy that works for me.   How do you deal with your daily task list?

Are you someone that has thought about leaving your 9-5 job and are considering working from home?

If you nodded yes or even if you’re just thinking about it, I want to invite you to a work at home career summit webinar that will be featuring eight work-at-home professionals and eight awesome work-at-home opportunities.

Frankly, if you want to get started working from home, this is a no brainer.

This is a webinar, which means it’s a virtual event that you can attend from home.

The official title is ‘The Work-at-home career summit‘ and it’s brought to you by AWAI, (American Writers and Artists, Inc).  I’ve become  a big fan of AWAI ever since I took their accelerated copywriting course back in 2009.

Anyway the webinar takes place Feb. 19 at noon EST, that’s 10:00am CST or 9:00am PST.

I’m especially excited about passing this on, because these are speakers that have chosen some very powerful online niches and they’ll be sharing their stories.

The stories these folks share will not only inspire taking action, you’ll also pick up critical insight as to how they began their businesses, how they manage them and make the kind of income that most people only dream about.

In other words, expect to learn A LOT! ; -)

The telesummit is completely free to attend:

===>  FREE Awai VIP Pass

Once you sign up you’ll get additional instructions for accessing the Telesummit emailed to you the day before the event so you won’t forget.

If you can’t make the live session, not to worry, the recording will be available afterwords for about a week, but you have to sign up to get access to them.

I’ve signed up, marked my calendar and I hope you’ll join me

If  you want to work from home online, I urge you to go for it, but also beware of the scams.  

Unfortunately, many people are so desperate to make money that they are being taken advantage of.

Have ever received a “Big Money” offer in your email, saw a poster tacked to a bulletin board or one of those little signs on the side of the road?  Then I can almost guarantee you that it’s not a legitimate offer. In fact it’s probably going to lead you to one of the work from home scams listed here:

Envelope Stuffing

This one is a classic and it’s one of the more popular work from home scams. The way it works is once you pay your money and sign up to work from home, you are sent a set of envelopes and ads just like the one you responded to. Then you stuff your envelopes and YOU pay to send them out. The only way you make any money with this is if someone responds to the ad and the chances of that happening are very slim. Don’t waste your money on this one.

MLM (Multi-Level Marketing) Are Often Scams

Many MLM opportunities are scams.  That’s not true for all of them,  but for many multi-level marketing opportunities you are being “hired” to sell products, and you must buy into the program first. This is a classic example of a scam. Any program that requires you to buy into it is a scam.

An MLM is also designed for you to build a downline; the promise is that the more people you recruit underneath you the richer you will become.  The problem is that most people in your downline will never make any money, not to mention that the drop out rate is over 95%.  The second problem is that the majority of MLM programs die after just a few years leaving you with nothing and your long term residual income will be zero.

Home Assemblers Wanted Means sure Scam

This is another one of the classic home business scams. Home assembler jobs will first require you to buy their materials before you can do any assembling.  Once you assemble the products you will find that there’s no one to buy them.

This is a common scam you’ll often see with crafts as well. You might be asked to work at home making toys, clothes or knickknacks of some sort. Everything might seem legitimate, you might even get the materials without paying any money up front, but when you send the work back, the company will tell you that it didn’t meet their ‘quality standards’, and will refuse to pay you.  Never do craft work from home unless you are selling the items yourself.

Quick tip: Anyone that asks for money up front is a clear indication of a scam.  A legitimate company would be willing to deduct any ‘fees’ from your first paycheck. If they won’t do that for you, then that’s because they don’t ever plan to pay you.

Typing and Medical Billing offers

Ever see home typing and medical billing offers? These are work from home scams that will lead you to believe that they have more work than they can handle so they need people to work from home.

They will tell you that you will be typing documents or entering medical bills into a computer but these scams have one thing in common, they tell you that all you need is your computer and all you have to do is buy their special software to do the job.  Don’t be fooled. It’s simply a clever way to get you to buy their software.

In some cases you might pay for and receive a large guide full of business that you must call yourself to find typing jobs.  The scam is that the businesses listed in the guide either don’t use home typists or the business simply doesn’t exist. With this scam you’ve just wasted your money and your time.

If you want to work online and you are capable of doing things like data entry, typing, writing virtual assistant work and other online tasks, instead of falling prey to the scams check out a close colleague of mine, Laura Kauth of Data Entry Online jobs. Laura runs an online business that seeks out affordable work from home jobs.  When you work with Laura she not only gives you the training you need to get the job, she gives you the job and tells you how you will get paid.

Not everyone wants to have an online business that requires building a website or selling products online.

In fact I have friends that tell me all the time they'd love to make money with their computer but they don’t really want to build a website and do the whole internet marketing thing. 

Just the other day while having coffee, one of my closest friends told me she wouldn't even begin to know where to start when it comes to finding something to sell online yet alone go through the logistics of building a website and then marketing it.  Of course being the good friend I am, I offered to help her get started, but that's just not what she wants to do.  She's a stay at home mom who simply wants to use her computer to do something that she already knows for making money right away.

But that doesn't mean she's out of luck, quite the opposite actually, in fact there are tons of things a stay at home mom, college student, part time worker, disabled or unemployed person can do to make money online and there's no selling required.  I'm talking about offering services like online data entry.  That also includes things like virtual assistant jobs, typist, proofreader, article typing, etc.

If you look around the internet there are tons of online data entry jobs everywhere and you stand to make quite a bit of money doing them but the kicker is that many people looking for these jobs end up finding programs that either don't pay, have no customer support, have no money back guarantees or you find that you simply hate the work that comes along.  Those to me are scams. 

Why take that chance? There are companies that are legitimate, there aren't many, but there's one in particular that impressed me the most and that was Laura Kauth's Online Data Entry Jobs.

Laura has built a business around helping people find these data entry job opportunities. Her membership site trains you and gets you signed up with the right companies and accounts.

This is not an ebook training guide with outdated links and useless information.  Laura keeps her materials and information completely up-to-date. This is step-by-step training devised from Laura’s own personal experience. She’ll get you signed up with companies and accounts that ARE actually looking for people and you won't be left on your own to figure things out either or have to guess about what to do next. 

With the exception of the field of transcription, most of these opportunities require no past experience and Laura will do all of the training.

Here is what is required of you:

If you have a reasonably good computer and you have general computer knowledge, an internet connection, speak and type fluent English with decent spelling and grammar, are able to follow instructions and are 18 years of age or older, you qualify. 
 
Laura offers a whole wide range of extra bonuses and guides that really make this opportunity one of the best I've seen.

So if you want to make money with your computer but hate the thought of selling stuff online, then check out "Online Data Entry jobs" and get the help of Laura's personal assistance.  You’ll get a 30 day “personal happiness” money-back-guarantee if you're not completely satisfied with her services.

If this sounds like a perfect fit for you, pay a visit to Laura's Online Data Entry Jobs and tell her Elizabeth sent you

I'm a successful online 'work at home' business owner so of course I preach the value of having your own business and I try to help as many people as I can do just that, however I know that not everyone has the time it takes to create, start and promote a business of their own.
 
Many people need to generate cash 'Now'. 

While I'm skeptical of many online companies, I know one company that can get you started earning cash fast, it's GoFreelance.com

GoFreelance.com is just what the name implies. They are real site run by real working freelancers.

Rob Palmer, the site owner, is himself a Freelance Writer.

Rob Says:
"I'm committed to helping you find work and make money."

I think this is an excellent way to work at home making some quick money. You can choose to work part time to start and if things go well, who knows, you might be able to do it full time.

Whether full time or part time, it's an excellent way to generate a few extra paychecks a month.

For $2.90 you can get a 7-day trial membership. Try it, see what they have to offer. Even if you found only one job you could do at home, you've recovered the cost of your trial.

There's no commission fees paid to freelance.com, they simply provide you with information on the latest projects and work-at-home opportunities available today, things like:

• freelance writing opportunities
• work-at-home internet jobs
• home business possibilities
• telecommuting jobs
• medical transcription work
• freelance web page designer projects
• proofreading jobs
• virtual office work

Twice weekly you'll receive bulletins packed with freelance jobs, news, advice and information.

Because they are supported by membership income, they can afford to invest in quality editorial with two new editions every week – packed with job news, professional advice and freelance resources.

Plus you'll get access to their jobs database and so much more.

Don't give up on starting and promoting your online business but if things are going a little slower than you'd like, try your hand at a few freelance jobs and pull in a few extra quick paychecks.

Try Gofreelance.com and work from the comfort of your own home.