The Internet has created an entirely new way of working and a global marketplace. Now, a person can earn a living or make some side profit right from their home with nothing but an Internet connection, a computer, and some basic software. Web designers, writers, linguists, graphic artists, artists, crafts manufacturers, product retailers, and software developers can all run a home-based business and make a living. However, while the Internet is a great forum for business, it is also a breeding ground and conduit for all kinds of scammers, frauds, and predators. It is a perfect venue for this sort of criminal activity because a person can remain relatively anonymous and never have to deal face to face with the person they are scamming. But for whatever reason you want to work at home. It could be because you were the victim of a job layoff or you want to stay home with your children. Whatever the reason is, you don’t want to start working from home only to realize in the end that you lost valuable time and money. This is an especially bad situation when you have bills to pay yourself and groceries to buy for your family but have realized no income because you were the victim of these scams.
One of the first indicators of a work at home scam is that it promises to make you rich and you will have all the leisure time you would ever want. This is nonsense and the first thing you need to do is stay completely away from any type of work at home proposal such as this. Rule number one in this world is that there are no free lunches. If you want to work at home you will have to work. Yes, you have the luxury of being able to schedule your time but you will probably put in more hours than you ever did at a fulltime job. No one can make promises or guarantees that you will be rich from working at home - especially if they know nothing about your situation.
You should never pay to find work. At least you should never pay much. There are some freelancer web sites that have job listings where you offer your services and quote your fee. The best freelancer web sites are those that both collect no fee or a small fee for your membership to that site and have an escrow payment system available so that you know the money has been set aside to pay you when the work is complete. These freelancer sites also take a reasonable percentage of the invoice amount for their fee. Reasonable percentages range from 8 to 15 percent. Some charge as much as 30 percent and should be avoided.
Some other work at home scams include Multilevel Marketing or MLM, envelope stuffing, assembling products at home, processing insurance claims, data entry, and those that offer to pay you to wire money from clients. The last one is not only a scam but it is illegal and you could actually end up in prison. No reputable company will ask you to forward money from their clients. This is money laundering.
A reputable business is one that moves a product or service for a fee. Any advertised business “opportunity”that tries to get you to recruit others prior to making any money whatsoever is a scam. In fact, you could also be in jeopardy of going to prison as the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) requires that a product or service be moving in order for a business to be considered a real business. Otherwise it is a fraud.
For more information on work at home opportunities visit: http://www.greatestpaidsurveys.com/
The good news about working for yourself is that you don’t have a boss breathing down your neck. The bad news about working for yourself is that you don’t have a boss breathing down your neck.
Working for yourself can be great, but it can also be frustrating, especially if you don’t feel that your self-discipline is in good working order. Self-employment gives you more flexibility to decide when you will go to work, what your priorities are, and when you need to take a break. But running your own business generally requires more self-discipline than you would need if you worked as an employee.
Thing is, self-discipline is critical. It is easy to get distracted or procrastinate. Family interruptions and our own resistance-especially when it comes to tasks that we don’t like doing but that still need doing-can get in the way of making steady progress. Without a boss and coworkers around to help keep you focused, it will be easy to spend too much time eating, sleeping, watching television, golfing, or even working. You must be disciplined.
Here are some initial suggestions to help you increase your work discipline:
1. Treat the business as a business. Simply having this attitude can easily eliminate many problems. When you treat yourself like a real business, others will too.
2. Keep office hours. A realistic daily schedule fosters discipline. For many loan officers, discipline means getting to the office by 9 a.m. and putting in a full day of work. Decide what your standard office hours will be and stick to them. Break an hour or so for lunch as you normally would, but treat it like work.
3. Make a daily task plan. Plan what you are going to do in the course of the day, and when you will accomplish each task. Consider making a rule that when you are done with the tasks on that day’s schedule, you are done for the day. This will help avoid workaholism or burnout.
4. Know your rhythm. Some of us are morning people, some are best in the afternoon, while others thrive at 3 AM. It is important to use your most productive time wisely. Determine your best times of day, and arrange your schedule according to those times as well as to the demands of your work-if you rock and roll at 3 AM, for example, there will be some tasks you can do then, and others (like calling a client) that won’t be practical.
5. Set rules for yourself. Decide the circumstances under which you will take time off to play, read or watch television, what interruptions you are willing to allow, and when you will do household chores.
6. Dress for work, even at home. Similarly, some folks find that it helps to dress nice. No suit required, but the casual Friday look, for example, might be appropriate.
7. Create “company policies.” In addition to setting rules for yourself, it is equally important to set policies so that family, friends, and business associates know what to expect from you and how to behave. For instance, you may find that your spouse or a neighbor expects you to do chores while they are at work. You may want to do this, or you may not. Either way, having policies that include this kind of thing makes such decisions easier.
Ameen Kamadia, known as “The Millionaire Loan Officer” offers dozens of free articles about mortgage marketing. Get dozens of great cheap lead generation ideas at his free Mortgage Marketing website.
There are several things people can do to mitigate the stress and strain that can happen in the work place. One needs to remind their self of the purpose. On those days when you have several meetings and all the rest of it, remember what the larger purpose is, and recommit yourself to that larger purpose. That in itself is protective.
Another thing you can do is to develop new skills. What can you refine that would make you feel that you’re doing a better job everyday. Some of those skills can be computer skills, public speaking skills, management skills, things that would make you feel more of a master of some of the everyday challenges that you are feeling. One of the biggest sources of stress relief can be connection to other people. One of your greatest resources is allowing other people to help you and to reach out and help other people, as well just to get to know them and connect with them. Make work be a human experience as well as a task experience.
Thriving in Work and Life
Response to change and proactively managing your life and work is an inside and out job. How often have you noticed the energy level of people who know what they want and what they are willing to give up in order to get it? The world seems to clear a path just for them. We can clear our own paths by focusing on what is truly important in our lives. Bit by bit, we can make those lives as full as our calendars. But it does take resolve and dedication.
Some of the disciplines to place on our workout rotation would be the following 4 items:
1. Protect your time. Now, more than ever, we need superior time management skills and habits to maintain personal space and decrease stress.
2. Make learning a life habit. Learn a new skill at a regular interval. Not only does it expand your options both at work and in your home life, but it engages you in new ways with the world and with your own capabilities. And greater economy will result.
3. Be a great listener. Instead of reacting in debate mode when a disagreement arises, ask that person what experience has led them to their point of view. Learning how to really listen well will help us to re examine our own convictions, to be open to new ideas, and to relate better with our colleagues and family members.
4. Nurture positive relationships. With coworkers, leaders and family, our sense of connectedness can be our greatest source of strength. Finding common ground can be an uncommon asset.
Lastly, it is important to be in top condition, physically, emotionally, and mentally. Keeping ourselves toned will allow health and vitality to enhance every aspect of our lives with positive, energetic action.
Pj Germain
Stress Management
Psoriasis Treatment
Prostate Cancer
Say you want to make a change in your life. What do you do?
Will simply wanting to change your life someday make it happen?
Probably not.
Will putting that wish in writing make it happen? Maybe, but probably not.
To make a significant change in your life, you’ve got to go about it the right way, or else it will fall by the wayside like a wish to start your own business, stop smoking, or learn another language. There’s a world of difference between wish making and decision making. Decision making is your key to success.
The word decision actually means to cut off all other options. That’s pretty decisive. For many different reasons, some people have a really hard time with decision making.
Maybe they’re afraid they’ll get themselves into a bad situation with no way out. Maybe they fear they’ll fail, so they don’t even go for it. Maybe they’re worried about what other people will say.
Even though many people would certainly say they wish they could make more money, be happier, get along better with others, get in shape, or live in a healthier way, for most people, it’s always just a wish. Moving from wish to decision is crucial for anyone who wants to make a big change.
We make decisions all the time, whether we’re aware of it or not. Some decisions are made in auto-pilot mode, and that works well in some cases, but not in others.
When you engage in a bad habit, you’re making a decision to continue self defeating behavior. When you engage in positive behavior, you decide to do that, too.
We make decisions based on our thoughts and emotions. Then our decisions bring about our actions, and our actions bring about results.
So how do you do what you need to do? You start with a committed decision. What do you want? How do you plan to get it? What’s involved, what’s required of you in order to move forward toward your goal?
One decision you make stays the same during the whole journey toward your dream, that decision is your goal, what you’re aiming for, what you want.
On the way there, you’ve got a host of decisions to make, too. Each day, you decide what attitude you’ll have, what you’ll do with your time and energy, how you’ll talk and think about your goal, what tactics you’ll engage to move forward. Each decision you make automatically cuts off lots of other options.
One of our clients, Pam, decided to start a Network Marketing business last year. She decided that within a year, she’d be at the level where she’d get paid to drive a white Mercedes-Benz.
She decided that she’d build her business by building a team of other motivated consultants. She decided that she’d do whatever it took to get to her goal, even if it felt uncomfortable. She’d do it even if it felt hopeless. She’d do it even if she didn’t feel like it.
Each day, as she got ready to work her business, she knew what to do. This is because her decision determined her to do list.
She’d cut off her other options, it wasn’t an option for her to spend the day watching reality tv. It wasn’t an option to quit after ten people in a row said, “No thank you.”
Now, a year later, she’s right on the edge of qualifying for that car! If she’d been wishy-washy all along, she’d probably have quit. Making a decision and sticking with it has been her key to success.
Andrew Cocks and Terry Zambri are Certified Bob Proctor Life Success Consultants and Network Marketing Coaches. Their new FREE book, The Life Success Factor, combined with their exclusive 3 step marketing system is creating massive success for their team. Visit: http://www.TheNetworkMarketingCoach.com
Avoidance, procrastination, overwhelmed, perfectionism are all the daggers in the heart of efficiency. Use the following tips to overcome procrastination in your life.
1. Write it down, Write it down. There are many details that you have to remember in any given day, why should you try to keep it all in your memory? At the very moment that you remember something needs to be done, the very best thing to do is get it to your memory device. Then, just when you need to recall it, it will be available for you in an instant.
2. There Can only Be One! Keep it all in one place. Once you have developed the knack of writing everything down, your next step will be to keep your writing/recording it all in one place. Otherwise, you are going to spend valuable time procrastinating. Notice as you tend to search for your notes, you conveniently procrastinate more as you engage in a number of elaborate preparatory activities, all along you are avoiding success.
3. Stay fit, stay healthy. A keen memory is a well-nourished mind. Eat healthy; get plenty of sleep and lots of good exercise. These will all see you through to having the energy to do more and to having a good memory that stays focused and alert.
4. Get it out of your head. Record your every thought. You might find yourself driving when a good idea comes to mind or you might recall something that you really need to write down. No need to pull over and start writing, record the idea instead on that wonderful MP3 player or IPOD that you received for the holidays. If yours does not record, well get one! This way you will be better organized and it is safer then digging around your bag for one more electronic device. Use your handy recorder to be your second eyes and ears.
5. Deliver advance warning. Step into the future and call ahead to yourself. When you are at the office and you want to do something when you arrive at your next destination, call ahead to your answering device and leave yourself a message. Better yet, if you have the new VOIP (voice over internet or cable services,your messages are with you all day. They follow you; hence you have another organizing tool to help stop the procrastination. As soon as you get to your destination, you can listen to your message and execute on what needs to be done ASAP.
6. Have confidence in yourself. Avoid the perfectionist mode. Not everything has to be perfect. You will notice the world is very imperfect and it has survived. If you keep thinking I am forgetting something and saying you have a bad memory, you will probably continue to have a bad memory and you will do nothing. It is important to have a motivated, I CAN remember and I CAN DO success attitude. Remember, some procrastination is purely a lack of self confidence that is being covered over with the perfection syndrome. You end up feeling you can’t get the job done, so stop the excuses and have faith in yourself and stay motivated.
7. Build email reminders. You can type in what you want to remember, such as a buy milk reminder versus the reminder to buy Christmas gadget for your nephew, or special event. You will receive an e-mail reminder when the date is approaching. This is a terrific way to jog your memory by using internet technology.
8. Love those sticky notes. Want to remember something prior to leaving your home? Just mark it down on a Post-It Note and stick it to the inside of your door. Get the ones with the bright, neon colors; post them where you have to see them. Need to make an urgent call first thing in the morning? Leave a Post-It Note on your telephone. Need an oil change, need to pay a ticket; leave a Post-It Note on the windshield.
9. Create Visual memory joggers. Visual reminders will help you remember and stay focused. Use visual reminders for remembering your goals. If your goal is to take a trip to a Barcelona or Tahiti in a few years, keep a magazine photograph of Barcelona right on your desk or on your refrigerator. If your goal is to lose 25 lbs. in five months, maybe a current picture of the successful new you or for some of us the old de-motivated you is motivation enough to stop the procrastination and move towards your goals.
10. Use timers and alarms. Take advantage of all the electronics that you carry with you. Who doesn’t have an alarm on their cell phone? Do what I do, set alarm clocks and timers throughout your day. Have a 30 minute activity; make sure it doesn’t run over its allocated time for the day. Want to leave for the ladies luncheon by 6 p.m.? Set your cell phone to beep a few minutes before it is time to go and jog your new no procrastination mindset. Make sure you get to the next activity on your schedule.
11. Multitask better. Not enough time in the day, but you need to get more done. The key to successful multitasking is to plan two activities in advance and avoid giving precedence to more interesting, easier, and less urgent tasks. Look at your to do list and combine activities. When going up stairs, take something, there is always something waiting. Do your laundry and exercise. As mentioned in step above, set your alarm and create your wash and exercise period of the day. The key is planning not random multitasking.
12. Do not forget time is money. Time is a precious commodity so remember that the reason we work is to use time to make money and feel a sense of accomplishment. Stop waiting until the very last minute to start working. Why not make the most efficient use of time and improve your chances of making more money in less time. Why self sabotage you? Procrastination means you are being inefficient and therefore stopping yourself from reaching your goals. Build success through the use time and money will follow.
Learn to use your mind, your friends and your colleagues to help you stop procrastinating. We need to force ourselves to use the tools and technologies of the day to help support us in reaching our goals.
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Are you someone who makes lists of all the things you need to do? At the end of the day when you review your list, are you disappointed because you haven’t accomplished as much as you would have liked. Does this sound familiar to you?
We hear a lot about time management and how we need to organize ourselves and manage our time more effectively. In order to regulate our time, new ways of thinking and being need to be developed. Our attitudes and beliefs need to be identified and at times altered in order to make beneficial changes. We need to develop self management strategies. When we manage ourselves better we tend to be less overwhelmed, more productive and happier.
There are various models for time management. One is making daily and/or weekly lists, then prioritizing which items are the most important and tending to those first. Of course the challenge is that is if you don’t like some of the tasks, you probably tend to avoid doing them. (I know this strategy intimately.) It also does not account for all of the complications which arise nowadays on our job. Emails, voice mails urgent requests which must be dealt with immediately, or conference calls; all of the modern technology which has made our lives easier and more complicated at the same time. We are generally expected to do more in less time and with less support.
Steven Covey in his book, First Things First breaks tasks down into 4 quadrants:
* Urgent and Important,
* Not Urgent and Important
* Urgent and Not Important
* Not Urgent and Not Important
There is a great deal of value in this model and certainly gets one thinking about how to define the many things one has to do. The difficulty is that important projects can become urgent if one has procrastinated and that isn’t necessarily a helpful way to operate. It would also be relevant to identify what is important to you and spend time doing that as well, because it might never become urgent. For example, your family may be very important to you, but you frequently miss your child’s school or sporting events. Or your partner wants to spend more time with you, but somehow you don’t make it happen. It’s important, but not urgent. The other concern is when do unimportant things get tended to.
So how can we get things done in ways which are more productive and less stressful? David Allen, author of Getting Things Done, states that it is not about managing time, but rather about managing our actions. What would it be like for you to fully dedicate 100% of your attention to whatever task was present, of your own choosing with no distraction? Allen says it is possible to get things done with minimal effort in both your personal and professional life while staying relaxed. Athletes describe it as being in the “zone”. His strategy is to first get you thinking. What is something you want to accomplish? What outcome do you want to achieve and what is the very next action you need to do in order to move your project forward? Try this exercise and notice if there were any changes in your mood and perspective.
In addition, Allen has identified a five stage method for managing workflow.
These are described as:
* Collect things that command our attention
* Process what they mean and what to do about them
* Organize the results
* Review as options for what we choose to
* Do
This way of looking at things seems reasonable and many of us probably do something which resembles this. However, difficulties arise if there is a breakdown in any of the stages and ultimately it leads to what we choose to do or not do.
Allen’s model for choosing actions in the moment include the following:
Context - Does it require a particular location (office, home) and what tools are required (computer, phone, etc.)
Time Available - When do you have to do something else? If you have a conference call in 15 minutes, then there many things you won’t be able to do.
Energy Available - Evaluate how much energy you have in the moment. Some tasks may require more physical energy, while others need creative energy
Priority - Given your context, time and energy what action will give you the biggest payoff? You are at your office and you have 30 minutes before a meeting and your energy level is low. View this as an opportunity to rely on your intuition to determine what to do next. Perhaps reading your emails or proofreading a report is the most you can manage.
We need to think about our work before we do it. Planning for it, as well as paying attention to what we are thinking and feeling leads to greater productivity with less effort. What better way to then have the time to do more of what we really enjoy!
Copyright 2006, Gail Solish.
Gail Solish, MSW, RSW provides Executive/Personal coaching to managers, directors and executives focused on workplace development and relationship management. Claim your FR-EE e-course “Unleash Your Potential and Increase Productivity and Fulfillment” at http://www.ActualizeYourGoals.com or contact Gail at 416-322-0029.
In some cases, you’re right to be worried. Some careers do require you to possess specific qualifications and experience. But on the other hand, perhaps you don’t need to be concerned at all…
You see, you may be a victim of “credentialitis” - where you’re convinced that you need to get a credential or qualification to get a new career, job or promotion… but you really don’t.
It’s really quite strange. The way I look at it, credentials like certificates, diplomas, degrees and the like are just convenient communication devices - they instantly communicate that someone has a certain body of knowledge. But they’re not the only means of communicating someone’s knowledge, and often not the best either.
For instance, let’s say you’re a high school dropout who’s built and sold a business and now wants to get a job as a marketing manager within another company. If you’re a credentialitis sufferer, you may be worried that you lack the qualifications to be the marketing manager. So much so that you seriously consider going to business school and enrolling in a marketing program.
But will studying really be all that beneficial, considering you’ve already acquired hands-on business and marketing skills? Couldn’t you present yourself as someone with unequalled business experience, skills and knowledge - someone who has built and sold a company, as opposed to someone with theoretical knowledge acquired from a business school?
Obviously, in some instances, you will need to do a course to be qualified for a certain career, like law or medicine. However, for many other new careers you want to venture into, you don’t need to do a formal course. You probably already have the foundational skills and knowledge needed for the job, and anything else can be picked up on the job.
I know, I know - you may be confident in your own abilities, but how do you convince a potential employer who wants to see that certificate, diploma or degree? After all, it seems our entire society has credentialitis. Well, although it’s difficult to change people’s beliefs and attitudes… it’s definitely worth attempting. Especially if it saves you time and money and gets you the job you deserve.
So, firstly, even if you’re changing careers, I urge you to develop your self-confidence, and in particular, your confidence in communicating that you have the required skills and abilities for the new career. And if you still think that a formal course or program might be worth doing, ask yourself this question: Will you be undertaking the course to acquire new knowledge and skills or to acquire a credential that proves your possession of that knowledge and those skills?
You see, overcoming credentialitis and becoming more self-confident will not only save you money, time and energy… but it will also enhance your sense of self-worth and happiness.
Now, if you are ever questioned over you lack of credentials, you simply reframe your background and experiences to show how they have ideally positioned you for the new job. As an example, someone once asked me why I didn’t get an MBA. I just said that I had a “real-world” MBA acquired through hands-on experience working in advertising, marketing, law and my own business.
Of course, not everyone will be satisfied with an answer like this. In that case, you need to ask yourself whether working for people and companies that have credentialitis is really for you.
In turn, when you’re the one doing the recruiting, don’t let credentialitis get in the way of making a good hiring decision. Sure, consider qualifications - they do have value - but also consider alternative backgrounds and on-the-job experience that may be just as, if not more, indicative of an individuals abilities.
Get career help! Discover Anna’s 7 myths of getting a job and the truth most job seekers and recruiters don’t know and won’t tell you! Get her free email mini-course now.
Today’s culture teaches us to be constantly aware of time’s passing, and we must always stay busy because time is “slipping away.”
There’s a popular expression in Africa that pokes fun at us: “Westerners have all the watches, but Africans have all the time.”
Ana Weber, a relationship coach and financial executive, has learned how to stop racing against Time and become friends with it. You might be able to recognize yourself in the following story.
Ana Weber reached a point in her life where she felt miserable from past experiences and didn’t have enough motivation or time to help everyone who needed her. In other words, she was living in the past.
Ana realized she could never be happy unless she went insane because she couldn’t actually change the past. She was spending all of her time trying to relive her last conversation, yesterday, two years ago, etc.
Ana decided to do something different. Her first change was to make a solid, organized plan for her personal and home life and then prioritize every step. So she made lists on paper of short-term goals and long-term dreams.
She achieved a few of her goals but she had less time than before. She didn’t even have time to celebrate before moving on to the next goal. Now she was living in the future.
Life in the future meant she could only be happy when (fill in goal)… and her “when” kept moving further into the future as she would near it.
Instead of enjoying her life, she was constantly thinking about the next project or about what she would say in the next conversation.
Ana decided to make another change. She liked the motivation she got by thinking about the future, but not at the expense of never enjoying now and killing herself with stress. She decided to treat time like a person and make it her friend instead of racing against it.
Ana spent time getting to know both Time and herself. It was like going on dates. The more she liked Time the more she respected it. By treating Time differently she actually is able to get more things done in less time when she needs to.
Tips to live now AND have a great future:
1. If you catch yourself trying to improve a past event, STOP.
2. Before you go to sleep, imagine a whiteboard with the highlights of your day listed on it, then erase it.
3. Think about who you would like to have good relationships with and how to develop those.
4. Go on dates with Time. Make sure you treat yourself well and give yourself some respect.
5. Don’t try to be everything all the time. Wear imaginary hats for every occasion. Just one at a time. Take off the work hat before you go home.
6. Stop and smell the roses.
7. Spend more time on people than things.
Time is the most precious thing you can give another person because it is the only thing that you actually have as part of being alive.
Ana says, “Through my personal experiences and challenges, I’ve developed an incredibly intimate relationship with time. I love time. I have all the time in the world.”
And so can you.
Dr. Proactive a.k.a. Randy Gilbert had the pleasure of working with Ana Weber when she was interviewed on The Inside Romance Success Show with Kevin Decker as host.
Ana’s latest book, Lemons Into Lemonade Without the SUGAR shares inspirational stories and practical ideas to enjoy your Now. Listen to her interview free http://www.insidesuccessradio.com/Guests/Ana-Weber
You’ll never hear the end of it if you decide to press charges. And besides you’re not even sure you really want to do that. They might pay you back the money. Not. The burden is on you to sort this mess out and the worst part is once a relative or friend steals your identity, it’s almost impossible to trust them again.
We hear about the high profile cases of hackers breaking into the databases of Lexis Nexus or DSW Shoe warehouse, yet most instances of identity theft never make the news. Usually it’s something basic like a neighbor stealing a credit card application from your mailbox or a relative going thru your personal belongings
In the Better Business Bureau’s 2005 Fraud Survey report they found relatives, close friends and neighbors make up 50 percent of all identity thieves. They also cost you more time and money trying to fix the problem. Javelin Research calculates that the average cost to identity theft victims is $15,607 when the perpetrator is known.
But even that figure is misleading. Many children are falling victim to identity theft (a half million last year according to the Federal Trade Commission) which means the full impact of the damage may not be known until years later when as adults they apply for credit.
For some parents, stealing their child’s identity is a stop gap solution. Their own credit is destroyed, so “borrowing” their child’s social security number becomes a necessity. All the while, they assure themselves the money will be paid back. Yet the same pattern that destroyed the parent’s credit, now puts a negative on the child.
It doesn’t matter if the thief is a parent, sibling or best friend, the process of recovering your identity is a tough one and it gets more complicated. Should you report the crime?
“Frequently when we would break up a ring and get a list of victims and find family members were involved in the crime, relatives are very reluctant to co-operate” says Ken Hunter, former Chief Postal Inspector and current president of the Council of Better Business Bureaus.
According to a study done by Gartner, Inc., the chances of an identity thief getting prosecuted are 1 in 700. However, when a relative is the culprit those odds go through the roof. The attitude understandably becomes, “Yes, they did me wrong but I can’t send them to jail.”
Ken Hunter: “If it’s a matter of pilferage at a very low level, nothing much is really going to happen to that person.”
On the other hand, if your identity is used to commit crimes on a higher scale, by all means report it to the authorities. You may feel guilty and make a lot of people angry in the process. Families get torn apart because relatives feel the matter should stay private.
It’s a tough decision, but remember, this is your good name the identity thief destroyed, not your relatives and it’s you who may be wanted for a crime, not them.
Daryl Campbell is a writer and home business owner. In minutes, a thief can steal your identity. Within a few hours, they can destroy your good name. It can take years to recover. Could it can happen to you? Watch this movie => http://digbig.com/4dwsx
Will we ever get a break? Not right now .In San Diego, police arrested a postal worker for stealing mail and trading it to identity thieves to support his drug habit.
Another arrest involved the hacking of wireless carrier T-MobileUSA’s network. According to Fox News, the attacker gained access to a database of 16 million customers including the personel information of the Secret Service agent investigating the break in.
Then there’s Choicepoint. When last we left the information giant, criminals broke into their 19 billion records database. Choicepoint now acknowledges previous attacks that date back to the year 2000.
The number of identity theft victims as well as the methods of getting personal information continue to increase sharply. Yet while no 100% guarantees exist online or off, safeguarding can’t hurt and one of the best ways for fighting identity theft exist in your own home.
Check your trash.
Going thru your garbage has turned into an exact science and a major goldmine for the identity thieves. The Department of Justice refers to this as “dumpster diving” Check everything you throw away then check it again.
Mark any information including financial statements, driver’s license, address and especially your social security # “Sensitive” then shred it. I recommend a crosscut shredder. Throw it away in different garbage cans on different days.
Shred junk mail credit card offers and get taken off the major credit agencies’ marketing lists.
If you’re not doing it already, get into the habit of taking your mail particulary any bill payments directly to the Post Office. Identity thieves also target mailboxes. They frequently stake out the area and wait for the optimum time. Getting a locked mailbox doesn’t hurt either.
Use anti spyware, a firewall and antivirus programs on your computer system. If performing a transaction online make sure the company provides a secure server. They should tell you but if not look for the yellow lock at the bottom of your screen.
Guard your plastic. Examine your credit card statements and request a copy of your credit report. Agencies will send you one free copy per year. If you request more than one, you get charged a fee anywhere from 9 to 20 dollars depending on the credit bureau.
Handle this with care. Eventhough you’re doing the right thing in trying to protect yourself, too many inquiries are frowned upon by these agencies and could impact your credit negatively. Joining a credit monitoring company can remove that obstacle.
One caveat.You should exercise vigilance in protecting your credit cards but it’s not the total solution that some experts claim. The Federal Trade Commission estimates that 60% of all identity theft cases do NOT involve any existing accounts. Guard your plastic but make guarding your Social security number the top priority.
These methods of protection take on a special significance
due to the identity of the criminals. According to the Better Business Bureau’s 2005 Fraud Survey Report, family freinds and neighbors account for half of all identity thieves. You don’t want to turn someone you know and love over to the authorities so do your best to eliminate the temptation.
Again, no 100% guarantees exists. You make transactions at the restaurant, corner store, gas station and a host of other places. We all need to deal in this world so there’s always a risk factor. Stay vigilant on the things you control and the chances of identity theft can decrease.
Because at all costs you want to avoid what many victims rank as the worst part of identity theft. The nightmare of recovery.
Daryl Campbell is a writer and home business owner.Banks say you should check your credit once a year. No problem right? Except it leaves identity thieves the other 364 days to steal it. Get the professionals on your side to watch your back 24/7. How? Go now to => http://digbig.com/4dwsx