It seems that a lot of people want to own their own business. The dream of entrepreneurship is embedded deep within our psyche. Everyone hopes they can be the next Bill Gates or Sam Walton. The real truth and real probabilities are far from those dreams.
Very few people have the knowledge, perseverance, and financing to be in business for themselves. That’s the simple truth. It takes time to build a successful business and you must be able to support your family during that process.
Being successful in a new business takes a specialized knowledge that will set your enterprise apart from the others. It also takes a lot of hard work and long hours to fully reach your potential. Only a tiny fraction of people that start their own business are able to be successful enough to actually earn a living. Only a very few will be in business for at least five years. The odds are definitely against you.
But if you do have what it takes, by all means go for it. Be sure to have a good plan of action, plenty of patience, and have adequate capital to carry you through the lean months. It usually takes twice as much investment as you initially figure, so be sure you have a contingency.
Only if you have a product or service that is not available anywhere else, or has some feature that makes it stand out from the crowd should you pursue your business opportunity. However, if you are selling a product or service that is basically the same as everyone else, without any special attribute or angle, you should save yourself a lot of time and money and keep your day job.…
More often today than ever before, people are realizing the dream of earning a living at home and firing their bosses for good. The internet is making this possible for both savvy business people and new entrepreneurs. The truth is that anyone can make a living on the internet if they have the right information and are willing to work hard now for a payoff in the future. Starting an internet business today is a great way to achieve financial freedom tomorrow.
There are some important rules to follow when starting an internet business and people who know and understand these rules will always do better than those who don’t take the time to learn them before venturing into the land of internet business.
When starting an internet business, especially if it’s a first online venture, the most important thing one can do is to learn from those who have already been a success on the internet. Becoming successful on the internet has required a lot of trial and error for a lot of people, but it doesn’t have to anymore. Many people who have been successful in starting an internet business now help others do the same thing they have done. People who invest in their business by seeking out help are far more likely to succeed faster than those who enter the world on online business blindly.
Another rule to follow when starting an internet business is to set aside time every day to work on your business. This can be difficult for those who work a full-time job and have other obligations, but taking time every day to do something to further an online business will ensure success in the long run.
When starting an internet business, it’s important to understand that patience is key. Things don’t always happen overnight and getting a business off the ground can be hard work. The key is to remember the reasons for starting an internet business in the first place. Keeping those goals in mind will help to keep the online entrepreneur motivated during the start-up process.
Another great rule to follow when starting an online business is to learn from mistakes. Savvy internet marketers and business people learn from their own mistakes, but they also learn from the mistakes of others. Taking the time to learn what’s worked and not worked for other people can save time and money. Investing in an online business by taking courses and reading books is a great way to avoid many of the pitfalls associated with this type of business.
The bottom line is that starting an online business is a great way to make money. Many people have realized their dream of making their own schedule and being their own boss. Anyone can reach this dream with a little bit of hard work and by utilizing the information provided by those who have already done it.…
So you are planning on launching your own start up or are just getting a new venture off the ground, what is the optimal workspace?
For many opening a brick and mortar office or retail store can be an exciting proposition. Going shopping for space and equipment and decorating it can be fun. However, this does not mean that you will be more profitable. In fact, the traditional way of setting up even a small sized office, with equipment and a phone system, etc. will likely put you back at least 10,000 when all is said and done. Then add several thousand per month in on going overhead, which all comes out of your bottom line. If this is an investment which provides a great return every month that is one thing, though very few start ups really need this type of set up, nor will it produce any higher profits. If you are really in love with the idea the consider whether a retail storefront is a better financial move. Though recognize that the odds are you don’t need it and this is just fueling vanity, which is fine if you have the extra cash.
Perhaps you are thinking a home office is the way to go. The lure of being able to work from home and set your own hours is certainly attractive. It definitely means being able to operate on minimal expenses so that you can maximize profits. Plus it packs in many savings that you are probably overlooking right now. This may be the ideal solution for you and truly give you the freedom you have been looking for. However, for some working from home can turn out to be a frustrating experience especially when you have a partner demanding your attention and kids running riot. With a little strategy and cooperation you can make it work, though you may still find moments when you really need to get out and work from somewhere else.
This is where the executive suite concept becomes a great choice for entrepreneurs and business owners looking for the optimal workspace solution. It provides not only a professional business address but meeting facilities when you need them and a fully connected private office when you need it. You can maintain an office full time or simply utilize the business center when you need to by the hour. This is perfect for when you need to get in some critical, uninterrupted work, the kids are on a school break, you have house guests or your home Internet goes out.
Though beyond, where you will work, creating the optimal workspace for your new venture also means creating the ideal conditions for maximum productivity and innovative thinking. This can be as simple as having your own corner of the house with multiple screens and whiteboards set up. Or investing in a standing workstation that encourages constant productivity and even helps you to keep in shape and avoiding those extra pounds that creep up from …
Successful business ownership is all about gathering information, picking through it to decide what makes sense, and making sound decisions based on all available data. Synthesizing information in this way can be a difficult task to master, but a little time and practice can make you an expert in no time.
Synthesis is the final step in critical thinking — after you analyze, evaluate, and organize information from different sources, this step requires you to put it all together. Many people struggle with this step, but really all you are trying to do is select the best answer, or combination of answers, from a wide range of data. In fact, the odds are that you do this on a regular basis anyway, whether you are aware of it or not.
As you may have noticed, the internet is flooded with all sorts of conflicting information on just about any subject. Trying to find the best answer by surfing the web requires that you consider the merit of a variety of sources and choose for yourself which idea makes the most sense to you. You might find yourself coming up with an entirely different answer than those you read is synthesizing.
Essentially what is happening is that by examining and evaluating a number of sources, you are identifying consistencies and relationships between and among the data. With these connections, you are better able to create a new idea that can be supported by the various knowledge you have picked up along the way. Not everyone will come up with the same solution, and your own solution may not always turn out to be right, but by starting with a wealth of data you improve the odds of missing something important.
In the context of entrepreneurship, synthesis is a critical skill for every step, from planning your business idea to growing your company. Most first-time entrepreneurs do not have a complete toolshed of basic business knowledge, much less the details of their own product, market, and competition. Gaining this knowledge is essential, but very little of it has clear right and wrong answers. In any type of business, there are hundreds of small decisions to make along the way, each of which has the potential to make or break the entire venture.
For example, a critical portion of business planning is developing your marketing plan. In order to create an effective marketing plan, it is essential to study the basic tenets of marketing, the various routes for getting your message out, and the best ways to convince your target market that your product or service is the way to go. Search for “Marketing Plan” on the internet, and you will get hundreds of results, millions of ideas and opinions, and several dozen sales messages telling you that they hold the “secret” to effectively marketing your product. The reality is that there is no right answer for every business, so you must review and analyze a multitude of information, then come up with …
You’ve arrived on this page as you want to know everything about starting a business online.
However, the internet is full of people who want you to spend money on products that don’t get you anywhere. They promise you the earth, but they don’t even bring you back a dime. These sellers seem to want to keep people busy but without any reward for their hard work.
There are some scammers out there that will do anything they can to get your money. They will fill you with all kinds of ideas about making a million pounds by the end of the day.
It’s time to look at a few truths on starting a successful business online:
Truth #1 ‘Free lunches’ aren’t Free!
Every business is going to cost you some sort of financial investment. When you’re getting started it’s very important to spend initial money very wisely. There are plenty of ‘gurus’ who claim that they can help you do this and that. They usually arrive with an expensive sports car, but can often come in other guises and do a lot of exotic travel. They give the impression that they haven’t had to put any effort into making millions of dollars.
Well, let me tell you that the truth is very different from that. Every successful business takes time to work. It’s not easy, you have to put time in when you don’t really feel like it and you’d rather be doing something else. But that’s just the price that has to be paid to make a good living, have fun, feel rewarded and inspired. As an entrepreneur you don’t have a glass ceiling on the amount of money that you can make, the only limit is organising your time and effort so that it’s spent on the right things.
Truth #2 Leverage is essential
If you’re wondering what leverage is – it’s getting everything and everybody optimised for maximum output. When resources and people work together, it’s a lot easier to get better results than if you had one person doing it all.
Imagine, you are giving your house a makeover. If you had four people working on it instead of one, you’d be speeding along and making good progress. With 10 people on the job it would be done pretty fast indeed. That is why leverage is essential.
Truth #3 Friends and Family Don’t Understand Your Job
In today’s economy, it’s rare to find somebody who lasts for 10 years in the same job. Our parents may have witnessed situations where people have had the same job for 40 years, but it’s just not like that anymore.
These days you don’t have to think traditionally – ever read the ‘4 Hour Week’ by Timothy Ferriss? It turns any traditional thinking on it’s head. You really can create your business to fit with your life, not the other way around.
Truth #4: Rome Was Not Built In A Day
In exactly the same way, you won’t have …
Most good leaders and employees are motivated internally through challenging themselves to improve their own skills, experience, and productivity. Internal motivation is very powerful when present, and can be easily quashed by micromanagement and ineffective delegation. The key to keeping challenge-motivated workers at their best is to develop your company culture to encourage autonomy and professional development across the board.
Building a challenge-motivating culture can be difficult for some entrepreneurs. The same self-assurance and drive to do things right that makes an entrepreneur successful can also make it difficult to trust employees to work on their own. But, if you plan to grow your business, you will have to rely on your staff to do things right on their own. Good employees will not only cover the tasks that you don’t have time for, but will also contribute their own knowledge and skills to drive the success of your venture.
Good leaders are masters of delegation — telling workers what needs to be done but not how to do it. Set clear objectives in the job descriptions for each position, clearly communicate those objectives to your staff, then get out of the way and let them work. Get to know each employee’s individual skills and talents. Assign tasks accordingly and encourage your staff to utilize their skills. Also, find out which areas your employees wish to improve and develop opportunities for them to do so. For example, most people wish they were better at public speaking. Consider starting a lunchtime Toastmasters club for your staff or sponsoring your employee’s memberships to an established club. The better your worker’s skill sets, the more they can contribute to growing the business.
For those employees who are particularly challenge-driven, it is even more important to encourage them to push their limits. Be careful not to burden these workers with too many mundane tasks. Give them assignments that allow them to show off their skills and develop new ones. Let them know how much their skills and willingness to improve are get out of their way!
Building a challenge-driven culture is critical to the growth of your business idea. The stronger your staff is in the skills that drive success, the stronger your business will be. As an entrepreneur, the odds are that you can relate to challenge-driven motivation better than any of the other motivators. Think about the environment required for you to be the most productive, and build your company culture around these ideas.
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In a recent article written by Marty Zwilling (Entrepreneur: Challenge Yourself Before You Invest), he discussed several risks of starting a business. One of the risks he stated was: “Being a startup founder is not a job, but a lifestyle, getting married versus staying single. In fact, it’s more like being single, since founders usually have no one to lean on, no one to make decisions for them, no one to blame, and no vision to follow but their own.”
I completely agree with this statement and propose this question to the audience: When starting a business do you need a business mentor?
The simple answer is “Yes” and here are several reasons why:
Someone to be answerable to. It is often too easy for an entrepreneur to procrastinate when it comes to performing tasks that consume a lot of time, are boring, difficult, etc. A business mentor will help keep you on track by continuing to ask what your goals are and pushing you to succeed.
Someone to help you refine your business ideas into reality. You have great ideas… some of them; however, are raw and need refinement to be put into reality. A business mentor has the experience necessary to help you hash out the details of your idea and bring it into fruition.
Someone who can bring a wealth of new ideas to your business. A business mentor has been there before and understands what works and doesn’t work. As an entrepreneur your goal is to learn as much as you can and then use the lessons he/she teaches you to grow your business and become successful.
Someone outside looking in. As an entrepreneur, one of the hardest things to do is take a step back and see your business from an outsider’s point of view. A business mentor is an excellent resource to get this pivotal feedback.
There are many reasons why an entrepreneur should find a business mentor; however, how do actually find a business mentor? When looking for a business mentor the first place to check is your friends and family. As people who know you extremely well and vice versa there should be a level of trust already established. This should allow you to comfortably ask the question, “What do you think about this?” If friends and family are not for you, these are some other options available: SCORE, people in your extended network, complete strangers, indirect competition, industry leaders, and paid consultants.…
Of all the fundamentals that entrepreneurs need to know to succeed, technology provides the most new opportunity and the most constant change. Computer literacy is not an option, it’s an absolute necessity. Every business needs a website in the same way every business needed to be listed in the Yellow Pages 25 years ago. The marketing opportunities on the world wide web must be understood and evaluated to ensure the best decisions for your venture. The technological tools and capabilities available to small business are expanding every day, and only those entrepreneurs savvy enough to keep up are going to survive and thrive in the new economy.
You Need a Computer
The ability to use a computer is pretty much a given these days, though there is the rare entrepreneur who is still uncomfortable with the idea. The advent of the internet makes most things much easier, from conducting industry and competitor research to keeping in touch with your customer base. Excellent accounting system and contact management software decrease the time spent on these non-core competencies while simultaneously making related data more accessible and useful than the old ledger books and rolodexes ever could. Email is the preferred form of communication for many, from vendors to customers, so current business owners need to be prepared.
Your Business Needs a Website
A website for your business is an absolute necessity. Whether a simple 3 to 5 page business card site or a full-blown ecommerce store, having a web presence is no longer a luxury, it’s a must. What you need depends on your industry and business model, but failing to represent your business online is likely to become a fatal mistake. However, simply posting a website is not enough. Doing so without performing the appropriate SEO (search engine optimization) is pointless. It is akin to placing a billboard on Mars — if nobody sees it, it might as well not exist. Effective SEO tactics are not particularly complicated, but they take some time and research to ensure you are making the best use of your time.
Get Involved with Social Networking
Social networking is the new frontier for marketing a business. It’s hard to say whether that will continue or if and when consumers will become immune to the constant barrage of messages, but for now it is essential to exploit the opportunities available on these social websites. The contacts you gather through your activity on social sites and from opt-in mailing lists from your own site provide excellent direct marketing opportunities. Email newsletters and promotions are extremely effective, and cost you only a bit of time and effort. Email blasts to your customer base keep your company in mind. Even if they don’t open all of them, they are repeatedly exposed to the business name, a psychologically important outcome!
Consider a Smart Phone
In addition to basic computer operations and internet opportunities, the newest technologies can help entrepreneurs stay organized and manage their time more effectively. Smart phones are not …
When setting up a business, it is important to know what records and accounts you need to keep from the very beginning. Starting up any business and dealing with the practicalities makes for a busy time, but neglecting your records can be costly and time-consuming. In the long run, staying on top of your records will ultimately help you to: keep track of your finances and cash flow; avoid penalties; hold accurate information about your business; plan for your business’ future.
The records you need to keep will depend on the type and size of your business, however all businesses must follow basic bookkeeping procedures.
All businesses
All businesses need to keep track of two areas: incomings and outgoings. For incomings, you will need to keep hold of any accounting records, till rolls, paying-in slips, sales invoices and bank statements acquired. Important outgoings records will be: receipts, cheque book records, purchase invoices and bank or credit card statements. These are basic essentials which any business must take care to record properly and keep safe.
Limited companies
If you are a starting up as a limited company (i.e not a sole trade), there are further records to keep. All limited companies must keep the following: dividend allocations and payments; articles of association; details of company share ownership.
Any company which is registered limited must also complete and return a number of documents each year. These include: Company Tax Return (with form CT600); statutory accounts; Corporation Tax; return to Companies House; a signed set of accounts to Companies House.
Depending on the nature of your company, there are number of other records which you may have, such as a register of members or directors.
Employers
All businesses employing workers will need to organise their documentation relating to employee payment. This is very important as it ensures that you are paying the right amount to your employees and allows you to keep track of these expenses. You are required by law to keep the following PAYE records: payments to employees; National Insurance, Tax and Student Loan payment deductions from wages; benefits and expenses paid to employees; statutory payments (sick or maternity leave).
VAT
All VAT registered businesses are required by law to keep the following records for at least 6 years: VAT sales and purchase invoices; a VAT account; all export and import documents.
VAT registered business will need to complete and return a VAT return form every quarter (4 times a year). This will include details of the following: what you owe or are owed by HMRC; what you have paid any supplier; what you have charged any customers.
Whatever kind of business you are setting up, getting to grips early on with your records can ensure that your first year of trade runs as smoothly as possible. With modern computing and accessible data programmes, it is easier than ever to produce a bookkeeping system which works for you and your business.…
Whether you are still developing your business idea or already know exactly what you want to do, it is important to define the best distribution channels for your product, for your customers, and for you. The distribution channel is the way your product gets to your customer. Traditionally, businesses relied on a single distribution channel. These days, the most successful startups use multiple routes to reach a broader customer base.
For some products, the route to getting it into customers’ hands is self-evident. For specialized, service-only ventures, you or your employees will personally deliver to the client, either on-site or at your place of business. Selling retail products, on the other hand, allows multiple options for distribution — online sales, brick-and-mortar storefront, direct sales through sales reps, etc. Consider the distribution routes used by your closest competitors. Are they using the most effective channels? Is there any way to modify or improve on the standard methods that will still be appropriate for your product?
Your target customers also play an important role in the distribution channels you select. If you are selling directly to the end user, you probably have more options than if you are targeting distributors to market your product. Think about it from your target market’s perspective. What is the easiest way for them to access your product? Under what circumstances are they most likely to be looking for what you offer? If it is easier for your customers to buy from you than your competitors, they will come.
Your own work style and personality are also relevant in considering distribution channels for your product. If the idea of spending your days chatting up strangers is distressing to you, then a brick and mortar storefront is probably not the best option. If spending countless hours in front of your computer sounds agonizing, avoid any wholly web-based options. Be honest about your preferences — one of the greatest advantages of starting your own business is the freedom to choose how you get work done. Don’t sabotage yourself by choosing a business that requires you to be out of your comfort zone for every sale.
Many modern startups have a broad range of choices about how to distribution their products. Consider all three factors — your product, your customers, and yourself — before deciding the best routes for your business. If possible, consider developing multiple distribution channels within your startup, even if you only start with one initially. The more ways your product can get to your customers, the bigger your potential market.…