Are you looking for great business ideas? Are you looking to earn extra income on top of what you’re already doing? Are you tired of a dead-end low paying job? Maybe you’re just board with what you are doing right now and want to find something new and more exciting. If you’ve answered yes to any of these questions then you are in the right spot.
You also might be asking this important question about starting a business. Is this a good time for a business start-up with the way the economy is right now? My answer to you is yes. I find that no matter what the economy is, good or bad it is a lot easier to start a business of your own than it is to try to find the right job. The trick is to finding an interesting, low-cost yet profitable business to start. Well, I have a good one for you to add to your list of business ideas.
How about starting a professional window cleaning business? Why? You will never run out of dirty windows, you will never run out of people who would love to pay you to do the work and the skill is not that difficult to learn.
This business is also great because you can generate immediate income as soon as you start. You will also be surprised at the small amount of money you will need to invest for the business start-up. Every day operating costs is minimal compared to the amount of money that you will put into your pocket. Most of the time, you will get paid at the completion of each job.
This could be just the ticket you’re looking for. The window cleaning business is never boring because there is plenty to learn about the industry as you go. You will constantly be meeting new people. You will find that every day is an adventure in itself. You will get to move from place to place, work indoors as well as outdoors.
Another advantage to owning your own window cleaning business is that you can do this full-time, part-time or just do it on the week-ends for that extra income. If you go full-time, you will actually become your own boss. You will be more in control of your own precious time by scheduling the amount of clients that you want. You decide the days you get off instead of the other way around. You will be able to take control of your own future instead of someone else telling you what your future will be.
Just remember that great business ideas start with a dream and then it is up to you to make that dream a reality. I would highly recommend doing further research on starting a business to cleaning windows.…
Established giant corporations are the envy of many. They are run with efficiency we cannot even begin to imagine. Some have huge staffs comprised of all sorts of specialists who attend to the smallest issues to insulate both the owners and the management from what is seen as small matters. As a small business owner, you wear many hats and because of the early complexities of going solo, you are trying your hand at every facet of your operation, even in the areas where you are not necessarily competent. With few exceptions, the other parts of your operation are run on a need basis and as a result some things do not get the attention they deserve which in turn makes you feel as if you were playing catch up.
It is well accepted that success in business favors the swift – the ones able to create the most value much faster than the competition. As such, ambition, energy, industry, and perseverance, are indispensable requisites for success in any business. So far as I can tell, very few people achieve success in business accidentally. Those who do pursue a very deliberate plan, sometimes measurable, sometimes not. Therefore, in order to achieve success in business, it is first necessary to come to terms with your own definition of success. To avoid feeling as if you are going in circles, it is critical to identify those things in which you excel and apply yourself there while carefully, you delegate the other duties to persons best qualify to deliver.
Business success is a matter of application. It’s a matter of experience and skill and intelligence, and wonderfully enough, you can learn what you need to know to be successful. You must be willing to reinvent yourself now that you have chosen the solo route. In her book, the Power of Many, Meg Ryan of eBay fame says: “To run a successful organization in the Internet Age requires constant reinvention”.
Fear not, make a decision and please do not waste time over analyzing your decision as time is of essence; however, be firm in your decision-making process. Masura Ibuka, the co-founder of Sony once said: “You never succeed in technology, business, or anything by following others”. A marathon is won by hitting short consistent strides for the long haul. Celebrate small victories today and you will look like a genius tomorrow.…
Some craftspersons open retail stores to sell their work direct to the public. They may carry a selection of their own pieces or craftwork from several craft artists to help fill the shelves and displays. If you have thought of opening a craft store, this article will help you understand the costs involved and perhaps help you save some money.
The monthly expenses of your new store include (but are not limited to):
Business license. Most counties require that every business have a license. The fee varies but expect to pay around $100 a year. If you plan on opening a checking account for your business, most banks require the business license before opening a business account.
Signs. The cost of your signage will depend on the size of your store and local sign restrictions. Some tourist areas have limitations on how high or large a business sign can be.
Rental or lease deposits, first and last month rental payments at commercial rates. Renting a commercial retail space will not be cheap. Expect to pay at least $1,000 a month in low traffic areas and much much more in popular locations. When calculating your expenses, don’t forget to account for first and last month rental fees which are typically due up front.
Insurance against fire, theft and other loss. Full coverage insurance for your retail store may run you anywhere from $50 to $200 a month.
Telephone at business rates. A business phone listing gets you in the Yellow Pages. Business phone rates average around $60 to $70 a month.
Utilities. Some retail spaces may include your utilities in your rental fee. However, even if they aren’t, figure an electric and water bill of around $25 to $50 a month.
Advertising. There are many ways to get the word out about your store without spending a fortune. Do an online search for “guerrilla marketing examples” to learn ways to market your business with free and low-cost methods.
Merchant account for processing credit cards. Having the ability to accept credit cards can boost your sales by at least 40 percent; even more so in tourist areas where travelers use their credit cards instead of cash. A merchant account can run you anywhere from $30 to $75 a month, plus around 3.5 percent of every sale.
Employees. If you will need employees, count on paying the government 30 percent of what you pay per hour. If you hire someone at $9 per hour, you’ll pay another $3 an hour in social security and workman’s compensation.
Inventory. If you intend to open a gallery of handcrafted work, get your inventory on consignment. Consignment means that the artist retains ownership of their items but you display them in your store and only pay for the items after they sell. Consignment costs you nothing except the bookkeeping and many craftspeople prefer to get their work in the stores rather than have it sitting at home in a box.
Fixtures. New fixtures are expensive. Shop around …
Starting a Business Blog is one of the most easiest things to do, what’s more it is the ideal way to build your business reputation and branding.
A blog is an essential tool in the Affiliate Marketers’ Tool Box. It is by far the best way to build lucrative online gateways to make money online.
Anyone can set up a blog, but it takes careful planning. Thought must be given to why you want to start a business blog, who will be your audience and how you plan to set up your blog?
You must provide an introduction and overview of what can be expected from your blog. Why should they read your blog? What can they expect if they decide to subscribe and follow your blog posts?
The more preparation and thought you put in before you start, the more successful it will be. Once the blog is built the main factor will be the amount of time you plan spending to update your blog.
You must be prepared to post fresh, new content at least three times a week. If you have set up a blog to generate leads there must be clear steps that will lead your reader to the subscription opt in on your blog.
Placing keyword rich articles will help readers to find your blog. Consider keywords that the reader would type into Google to get to your blog. Use the free keyword tool at Word Tracker to help you.
As long as your content meets their needs, addresses their concerns, improves their lives and answers their questions, you will always have visitors to your blog.
It is crucial to know what your competition is doing. Search for blogs on Google with the same keywords you are using on your blog. Find out who is blogging in your niche. What are they writing about?
It will take a bit of time and research, but it will be worth it in the long run, because it is important to stay at the top of all the new developments within your niche.
Starting a business blog could be just what your business needs to build an online presence. A blog combined with a website, an e zine or newsletter, database management and e-commerce system is everything you need to grow and run your business, worldwide online.…
While a regular business is usually operated from an office, outside of the home, a home based business, as the name suggests, is essentially operated from the comforts of one’s home.
Most home based businesses have certain features in common, like –
– They are run within the family and primarily by the family members, who retain major share in the business.
– Usually a small operation that is run by one or more persons
– The initial financial outlay is usually very low
For those of you who want to start a business working from the comforts of your home, all you have to do is find an idea that suits your interest, is cost effective, and is lucrative enough to bring in the cash.
Some of the advantages are:
– You’ll save money on setting up a home office by using a spare room in your home
– You’ll save yourself the hassles and expenses of traveling to and from work
– You don’t have to worry about money for lunch
– Great place for those who may be restricted in their movement due to physical disabilities
– For parents who have small children you can work around your children schedule.
A good thought out plan, with adequate research on market demands and proper execution is all that is needed to make a success of your business. In addition, you are your own boss and do not have to worry about corporate layoffs, employee downsizing and pampering the boss’s ego!
Don’t get me wrong, it’s not a walk in the park. Just like any business enterprise, your idea must be viable, well planned, researched, and executed in order to make it successful.
Consider the following:
Just like any business write a business plan. The great thing about a business plan is that it forces you to take a good look at your business idea. It forces you to think it though. In this plan you will have to prepare several fundamental components that will clearly let you know if the idea you’re thinking about is doable or not.
You will have to spend time thinking about what the operational costs, when will the business become profitable, who are your competitors, marketing, sales and how your idea is different from what is already available, etc.
After organizing your business plan take a trip and visit a SCORE center. This is an organization that is run by retired professionals who will look at your ideas and advised you accordingly. And the service is absolutely free.
While making plans for your start-up, spend some time educating yourself on the subject, read, read, and read some more. Take some courses on Entrepreneurship.
Finally, know the products and the services you’ll be offering inside out.
Then move forward with your action plan.
800support.org
800support.org
800support.org
800support.org
800support.org
800support.org
800support.org
800support.org
800support.org
800support.org
800support.org
800support.org
800support.org
800support.org
800support.org
800support.org
800support.org
800support.org
800support.org
800support.org
800support.org
800support.org
800support.org
800support.org
800support.org
800support.org
800support.org
800support.org
800support.org
800support.org
800support.org…
Affiliate marketing is a growing business over the internet these days because of the number of businesses vying to drive traffic to their sites and generate more sales. As we all know, website traffic is one of the deciding factors to a company’s success over the internet, be it in search engine rankings or customer following. This is why a lot of online companies these days are paying top money to affiliates who can drive traffic to their sites and generate sales for them. In most cases, commissions as high as 75% of a generated sale goes to the affiliate who is able to sell the product through his or her website or blog.
A lot of people are taking advantage of affiliate marketing because of the high income potential without money going out of their pockets for start-up expenses. This is more promising than the conventional methods of starting a business where you have to shell out a chunk of cash to open shop. What’s better is that affiliates can do business without leaving home and can make money even if they don’t go online on a particular day. If you want to be an affiliate marketer, here is a guide that can help you.
First off, think of a niche that has a need for certain products or services but is rarely tapped because of its size. Large companies don’t market to small niches as this may prove costly for them in terms of the number of customers actually buying the product.
Second, find a very good affiliate marketing program that is related to the niche you’ve chosen to market. You can search the internet for websites that offer lists of affiliate programs that cater to almost any niche. Make sure to compare each program to come up with the best rates with which you will be paid once you become successful in producing a sale.
After you’ve chosen the right affiliate program, create a website or a blog that will cater to content relating to the niche you are trying to market. Make sure that these are optimized so your readers and potential customers can easily find you.
Always provide fresh content for your readers and target niche. Affiliate marketing is only successful if you keep the contents fresh and informative so people can be encouraged to try out the product you are promoting. New posts and write-ups should be done on a regular basis to keep your target audience checking back for additional information.
It may also be a good idea to sign up for search engine and RSS directories and encourage your followers and customers to sign up for RSS feeds. This will keep them updated on whether there is new content available on your site or blog.
Of course, do not expect to earn from these programs overnight as this requires patience and a good network of affiliate sites that you can set up. For each niche that you want to target, create a …
Three years ago I was not a runner. I was somewhat athletic but I certainly was not a runner. Now, here I was, approaching mile 22 of my first full marathon and self doubt was starting to creep in. “What was thinking? The longest I had ever run during training was 20 miles. What made me think I could get to the finish?” Every ounce of my body was screaming in pain. The worst part was the pain was so much more than physical; it was total mental and physical exhaustion beyond anything I had ever felt before.
So what could I do now? I had visualized myself finishing this race everyday for at least 100 days. I had given up so much of my summer fun to train and push myself to complete this challenge. I had recruited the support of my friends and family. So what could I do now that my body was screaming NO? I let my vision guide me through the pain.
With my little sister running alongside me, pushing and encouraging me, there was only one answer; just get to Todd. You see Todd is my husband and he was waiting for me at mile 22 so that he could “bring me home”. In preparation for the marathon, I had asked various members of my friends and family to run alongside me during consecutive segments of the race so that I would always have someone to help pace me. It turns out, Todd and Sarah’s job was about much more than pacing. They were great support to help me through the toughest physical and mental challenge of my life.
Why did I choose to run a marathon? It is simple, the search for constant and never ending improvement. I have learned to always keep challenging myself and to make big goals that both excite me and scare me at the same time.
For me, becoming an entrepreneur and starting my own business in specialty medical sales was one of the biggest and scariest goals I had ever set.
I was a nurse. I had transitioned to medical sales after a few years and I found that I was pretty good at it. I had a strong work ethic and I related well to the people I was selling to. But, I was educated as a nurse. I really knew nothing about starting a business. The self talk and self doubt were very loud voices in my head.
These voices are built over time from past experiences. These voices are there to keep us in our comfort zone. I believe most people listen to their inner voices when they have a big idea. A person might see a beautiful house and think “boy, I would love to have a house like that”. And then in the next thought they would have cancels that idea, with a negative like “I could never afford that”.
Well that’s exactly what I did at first. I pushed the idea …
The toughest part of article and blog marketing is coming up with interesting topics to write about. Typically, the way you write up a publishable article differs a bit from what you put on the company’s blog. Articles tend to be more fact-based and educational, while blog posts provide an opportunity for more of a personal, op-ed bent. In either case, you need something to start with. Here are some ideas for each of these writing tasks:
Topic Ideas for Articles
The purpose of publishing online articles is two-fold – to increase the number of backlinks to your site and to encourage potential customers to click through to your business site. Thus, article topics should focus on what your potential clients want and need to know.
Start with what you do and how you get it done. Break it down by product line, single service, or some step in the process. Explain why what you do is important, and how it benefits your customer. Publishable articles typically must be at least 500 words (about 6 to 8 paragraphs) but rarely need to be much longer. This means that you can write a separate article not only for each product or service you offer, but for individual features of each – what the feature is, what problem it solves or benefit it provides, why it’s a great deal, and where to find them. Bam – 500 words. Do not sell in your article… save the sales pitch for your resource box or the landing page on your website.
For example, a hardwood floor retailer has started carrying a line of glues that have low VOCs. An article may compare standard glue to low VOC glues, explain the differences, explain why a low VOC product is a better choice and in what situations, and how to identify a low VOC product. Then, in the resource box, the reader is directed to the landing page on their website that provides more information on the new line of low VOC glues and a way to contact their company to order.
Once you have published an article for each product and feature, you can always start over again. While you generally cannot submit the identical article twice, the odds are that writing a fresh article on the same topic will end up with a different approach than the previous one. Any time you add a new product or discover a new benefit, be sure that idea goes on your article topics list.
Aside from products, services and features, effective article topics include any tangentially relevant subject that would get your target market thinking about what you offer. For example, if you sell dog grooming supplies, write about different breeds of dogs and the best matches of lifestyle and breed. People thinking about getting a new dog look for that type of they will be looking for the supplies you sell. If you sell tile flooring, publish articles about the allergy problems carpet can cause.
If …
New business owners often want to create a business the way we prepare an instant frozen dinner. Pop into the microwave, press a button and enjoy dinner almost immediately. But for long-lasting business growth, think of starting from scratch, simmering slowly and waiting till you’re really ready to serve.
Now I am being biased here, but I refuse to eat frozen meals. They taste like cardboard. They tend to have lots of preservatives. Even the dog will turn up her nose when I offer her the leftovers.
When I take the time to cook a meal from scratch – stir fry, simmer or bake – I find the labor often isn’t much greater. The resulting meal tastes about 100 times better and you know exactly where the ingredients came from. It’s also more satisfying.
So how does this apply to business? If you look around the Internet you see all kinds of ads promising to get your business off to a FAST start. You hear stories of people who skyrocketed to success.
First of all, many people who jumped to success have a hidden X factor: a background in sales (the ultimate ingredient in copywriting) or a few years where they plugged away learning – usually some combination of luck and persistence that’s the 90% you don’t see.
But taking the longer path may be more desirable. Why would you ever want to do that?
(1) It’s a good idea to move slowly when you start without a lot of money. You may need to take a j.o.b. so you can invest in your business. This strategy makes better sense than starting a business without any resources. If you can’t afford $97 for an eBook or you’re watching the minutes on your cell phone, you won’t make a lot of progress.
(2) Sometimes you need time to figure out your business. If you don’t have a background in sales (or a business background where you had to get clients) you will need more time to find your way in this new world. “Margaret” spent nearly a year learning her way around her new field. She did lots of pro bono work, studied and began finding clients before investing in a web site.
(3) You’re forced to do one thing at a time. Work on just one eBook and promote that eBook hard. Work on one niche and build up your profitability.
Then take what you learn and start the next project. One step at a time, you’ll reach a more satisfying destination.…
I love entrepreneurs! Generally, I’ve noticed a drive and a determination that takes creative-minded, bootstrapping, do-it-yourselfers a long way. Those who show true ingenuity, persistence, and resilience inspire us all to have a brighter attitude.
I also love entrepreneurs because they ask me to help them with things like logo and graphic design, social media strategy, and web-based user experience. Oh, and I charge for those things, so it’s doubly-nice.
One thing I’ve noticed, however, about super-entrepreneurs is that their minds tend to race about 10,000 RPMs with cool, new ideas. I really wonder how many ideas are eventually left laying in the dust, not because they weren’t good ideas, but because not quite enough thought and planning went into them.
Having received tons of emails with ideas from entrepreneurs hoping to take an idea big-time, I thought I’d throw together this list of the six things I either say, or want to say in response. They are mostly questions, not recommendations, but the questions themselves are often overlooked.
Is it possible?
I know this one sounds obvious. If it weren’t would I be asking about the idea to begin with? And aren’t all things possible to those who believe? Certainly, but quite a few great ideas are laying in graves because the technology was either not ready, or too expensive.
Who else is doing it?
Use search engines and social networks to scout out the potential competition. Sometimes you wind up jumping into an arena filled with insurmountable competition. You’re probably not going to start the business that will topple an Amazon or Apple.
Can it be done well remarkably?
Doing something well doesn’t make it successful. Doing it well enough to get noticed does. Can you execute the idea in such a way that people will buy into it?
Do I have accesses to the resources to get it done?
This thought may sound strange, but some ideas are good (or noble) enough that you should consider handing it off to someone who can get it done. And every good entrepreneur knows that “resources” aren’t limited to the money in your pocket. It includes the money in other people’s pockets as well!
Is the idea something I’m passionate enough about to stick with over the long haul?
Pretty self-explanatory. Most of us have been there, burying an idea for which we had great enthusiasm, but didn’t see the gap between enthusiasm and real passion.
Can it be monetized?
This is the slimy question nobody thinks anyone should ask, but it must be faced. Why? Because if it can’t be monetized, it can’t be sustained or expanded. Sometimes that’s okay. Sometimes a good idea needs to piggy-back some other more profitable concept. Sometimes, the idea needs to go back into the incubator though.
These questions are seeds. You may have more to face. But at least face these and use them as a filter for every new idea. Let your genius lie asoak in the probing process. If an …