Do you have a skill or hobby you like to do, but have never had a business before? Would you like to learn how to start a business in your local community that fills a need in your area? Have you now graduated or still going to school part-time? It is a possibility, a good idea, might help local people and may contribute to your future! Then follow these simple steps:
1. See if any other businesses are providing the hobby/service you have in mind. What types of businesses exist? Are they locally owned? Are they franchises? Is there more than one business? Is there a business that has part of their business provide this product or service? Find out what advantages you may provide to these others? Check out how they provide their service? What prices do the service/products cost? If it viable maybe it can be done, if not maybe you can work in one of these businesses?
2. If there is a possibility it is viable then check with local town offices and chambers of commerce to see what information you can find out about running such a business. Try and get some statistical information. Find out what supplies you need. If you can’t find any information locally, check your state website. If this is not enough information check out your national resource site.
3. Once you have some viable information you should put it together in a business plan.
4. Next find out if you can get some information on funding your venture or how you are going to acquire your product or service through loans, leasing and shipping terms.
5. Start testing out your service with family and friends, focus on friends and friends of friends and get referrals written down or emailed to you that you can share with others to build you business.
In closing you can start a small business in your local community with the right resources, connections and help from local government or business referral assistance sources.
All the best, and happy adventures, you may never know where it leads you to or who you may meet and the stories you will learn from others. This is just a basic outline and tips, there are numerous resources online and in your local community.…
One of the great freedoms of entrepreneurship is creating a job that fits perfectly with your personal work style. If you don’t account for your own preferences before you launch a business, you are likely to lose interest in the project and have difficulty keeping yourself motivated. The most successful entrepreneurs are very self-aware and build their business ideas around their own strengths.
Your first consideration is whether to launch your business full-time, part-time, or in your spare time. Each option means different things as far as what type of business to select, how much time it will take to plan and launch, and whether you can expect significant growth. Spare-time startups are the natural result of an existing hobby or interest. If this is the case, be careful. If you take repeated deductions of business losses over several years, the IRS may re-classify your business as a hobby, leaving you on the hook for underpaid taxes.
Part-time startups are typically intended to supplement income or reduce risk in the hopes of growing the venture to a full-time endeavor. If you are looking to supplement income, then your part-time startup will have to limit growth and be a fairly flexible endeavor. Planning to grow a startup from part-time to full-time can be more difficult. Businesses tend to grow in step-change spurts, when a combination of efforts seems to pay off overnight. In these cases, it is critical to prepare yourself and your business through solid planning.
Another work style factor to consider is where you are happiest working. For some, a home office is ideal. For others, the other distractions of home life make it difficult to be productive. Some entrepreneurs prefer to always be on the move, traveling the area or the country on a regular basis. Also consider the level of interaction with others you are most comfortable with. Do you want to be chatting up strangers much of the time or do you prefer to be behind the scenes?
Develop a vision of what you want your work life to be. Define a typical day — where will you be? What will you do? Once you have a clear idea of how you do your best work, selecting the right business will be much easier, and your ability to turn your idea into success is magnified.…
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.…
I am contacted all the time by people who want to start a business and need my services, but who don’t realize that they actually aren’t ready. So then what does it take to BE ready to start a business?
The majority of clients who contact me about starting a business only have an idea in their heads. They don’t have a business plan, they haven’t saved up the cash they need for capital expenditures, and they haven’t thought through the costs of actually running and marketing the business. All of these entities are requirements for setting yourself up for success; skipping any or all of them can cause you to stumble later on down the line.
It’s important to note that creating a solid brand takes time and varying amounts of cash. Have you calculated how much money you need to create a website, create your image and brand identity, and create your marketing materials? Have you saved up the money to cover those costs? And if not, are you trying to get started on the cheap by hiring the most inexpensive (and often least professional) help possible, thereby setting yourself up for failure before you even begin?
Lately my advice to new clients has been this: take some time, research your market and competition, write down your expenses, and save some capital to fund your endeavor. When you have done that, I can do my job and help you grow. And you will be ready for success.
So, think you are ready to start a business? Use this list as a reference:
Have you written a business plan?
Have you researched your market and competition?
Do you really know what you need to get started?
Do you have enough money saved to cover your capital expenditures?
Are you capable of funding marketing activities for your business once it’s off the ground, and do you know what those will be?
Have you set goals and targets for your business so that you can gauge whether or not you are being successful?
Starting a business is not an easy endeavor, nor is it a fast one. Because everything in our society is so fast, people want to get their businesses going quickly without having to put in the time and effort.
But remember: you have to do the work first in order to be successful later. Take the time to plan, save, and research so you set yourself up for success. Consult with a professional so that you know what you are doing. That way you have a better chance of achieving the ideas and dreams you are so passionate about.…
How to start a small home based business? Many people ask this question every day. In fact more people are going into business for themselves now more than ever before. Read on to find out how to start a small home based business.
The First step is to Brainstorm
Sit down in a quiet area and really think about what you want to do. Ask yourself what are your likes, dislikes, and talents? What do you do well and not so well. What would you like your business to be about? What are your passions?
Now that you have a better understanding of what kind of business you want to start, you are prepared for this journey.
Why do you want to start a business
You have to make sure this is truly what you want to do. what are the reasons for starting your own company. The perks are nice but can you handle the responsibility?
Reasons most people start a business
More control of work hours, to make more money, being your own boss, controlling your destiny. They prefer working from home, the list goes on and on. Be clear about why you want to be your own boss
What kind of company will it be
Now that we have brainstormed some ideas and know why we want to start a company what kind of business do you want to start? Are you good at gardening? You can write how to garden ebook. There are a lot of people who can use your talents whatever they may be.
Write a plan
Your next step is to sit down and write a step by step plan. How can you get anywhere if you don’t have directions to get there? Once you have a detailed plan you will be on your way to financial freedom.…
There are several businesses you can start on the internet for little to no investment. You can do a lot of different things on the internet, selling advertising, selling products and other services. Whatever route you decide to use for making money online will depend a lot on your personality and the things you love to do.
Firstly, I am going to go through a few things you can do to make money on the internet and then at the end you can choose what direction you would like to take your business in.
Making Money by Advertising
A lot of the big corporations on the internet make money from advertising. These are companies you have heard of if you have ever been online; you probably use their services every day. Companies like Yahoo, Bing, Facebook, YouTube, Google all make the bulk of their sales from selling advertising. Now you don’t have to be a big company to make sales from advertising. You can simply perform advertising by doing something called blogging and attracting a lot of visitors to your personal blog.
The reason advertisers pay these corporations a lot of money for advertising is because these companies know how to get lots of visitors to their websites on a daily basis. Now you don’t have to be able to be able to drive millions of visitors to your site on a daily basis, if you can drive a few thousand visitors, that would be great. You want to do the same thing the big corporations are doing but you want to do it on a smaller scale.
The good news is that these companies will let you tap into their resources and profit with them. For example, Google has a program called ”the AdSense program” where they connect you with advertisers who want to advertise on your blog and split the revenues with you. Google also owns YouTube, a video sharing site where you can post videos for free under any topic under the sun. You can use this site to make a video on your subject matter and direct the visitors on there back to your blog. you can also use article directories like EzineArticles to write compelling content and direct the people from there to your blog. So this is how easy it is for you to make money from selling advertising on a blog. If you don’t want to partner with Google, you can contact website owners with information related to yours and offer to sell them advertising.…
Like any other major endeavor, figuring out where to start in launching a business can be the toughest part. Of course, the path to successful entrepreneurship is long and winding with innumerable steps, but just getting started can be enough to build the momentum you need. Here are, in no particular order, the first five things you can do to get ready to strike out on your own.
1. Evaluate Business Ideas
Some would-be entrepreneurs know exactly what business they want to start, others have no idea but just want to work for themselves. Either way, it is essential to realistically assess your ideas and options before you spend money on it. Do some cursory research into the market and competition. Think about what you would need to get the business started. Talk to others (family, friends, networking contacts) about your ideas and listen for useful feedback. The more background work you do in evaluating your business ideas, the easier it will be to hone in on the best opportunity for you.
2. Make a Commitment
If you are serious about taking the plunge into entrepreneurship, you need to mentally and emotionally prepare yourself. Set a deadline for taking the next step (choosing which business to start, beginning the business planning process, opening date) and figure out what needs to be done to get there. In most cases, finding the time to do the planning is difficult, so work on clearing time in your schedule to focus on your goal of entrepreneurship. Figure out what will keep you motivated to stay on track and set yourself up for success.
For example, gather some pictures or symbols of why you want to be an entrepreneur and place them prominently where you will see them frequently. It sounds cheesy, but can be very effective reminders to get you through the tedious aspects of starting a business.
3. Save Up
Bootstrapping a startup is a good way to keep costs under control, but it doesn’t make it free. Every business requires some capital to succeed, and the cash usually comes straight from the owner’s pocket. Even if you are planning to find investors or loans, you will need to show that you are risking your own assets before they will hand over theirs. Don’t count on finding grants for your startup – they are few and far between for new businesses and those that do exist usually have significant restrictions on how they can be spent. At a minimum, try to save between $3,000 and $5,000, more if your startup requires commercial facilities or inventory.
4. Get Organized
Before you dive into planning your business startup, get organized for success. In most cases your business planning will happen in a workspace at home. Select an office space with limited distractions and the tools you will need to work (desk space, internet connection, good lighting). Gather up basic office supplies and stock your workspace. Start using a planner to schedule your days so you …
There are a lot of ways to ‘skin the cat’ and start a small business. The Internet is no different although it offers quite a few options for the entrepreneur or want to be small business owner. For those of you that prefer to work out of the home and/or have a business that offers flexible hours, then a small business that revolves around an online, internet based model might be for you. In this particular article I am going to share five different options that you can choose from when considering starting an Internet business.
When I say Internet business that means a small business that is using the web as the business model to market, distribute and complete transactions. All of the marketing, distributing and selling of your product or service will be done via the online business model.
First we need to identify the problem and that is that people think that they are going to get online and make money in a flash or overnight. When in reality it’s going to take work and lots of it in order to get an Internet business off the ground or any small business for that matter. Maybe not as much as an offline venture and in some cases maybe more. You need to realize this up front and be prepared to put in the time, energy and money to get your small business up and running.
Here are five different options for you to look at should you choose to start an internet business:
1. Market and sell your own physical products or services via the e-commerce model. You’ll effectively have your own website and be able to have control off all aspects of your business.
2. Market and sell other peoples products through affiliate programs. This kind of model works well for those that like to sell and market but don’t have their own products yet. If you get excited about certain products or services and they offer an affiliate program, then basically what you will need to do is determine if there’s a market and then drive traffic.
3. Sell your product to other online retailers. They become resellers and all you do is provide the product or service to them. This is a great way to market but you’ll obviously need a product that is in demand if you are going to make any money.
4. Create, produce, market and sell info products through your own websites. This model works great for those that have information that can be beneficial to others. It works best when there is demand for the information that you have to offer.
5. Create and sell coaching, if you are an expert or specialist in a particular niche. If you are a people person and there’s a need that you see is unmet in your industry or niche, then coaching might be for you. Info products can also go hand in hand with this model of business. Keep in mind …
Are you tired of trying to impress your Boss? Or are you becoming frustrated of not being able to voice out your creative ideas? Have you constantly wondered how it is to be free from all the work related stress that you encounter everyday but are afraid that you might be broke if you lose your job?
Well, worry no more because there is certainly a way for you to enjoy your life without having to worry about things like deadlines and irate bosses. Start your home based business today!
Here are 5 ideas for businesses from home that you could probably try.
Online Shop
With the demand for online shops these days, you won’t have so much difficulty in trying to look for clients. More and more people feel that it is easier for them to do their shopping online simply because it is more convenient for them. This is especially true to those with busy work schedules.
You would only need a reliable internet connection and a little capital for you to start business. You don’t exactly have to sell brand new items; rather, you can buy and sell online. There are a lot of options that you can choose from when you venture into this business to start from home.
Computer Specialist
Being computer literate can take you very far these days too. Like starting an online shop, this type of business venture is brought about by people relying on computers for their convenience. Because of this, any problem or assistance that they may need is very in demand.
Computers are people’s partner in their daily lives and most are busy with their hectic schedules. So being a computer specialist is one of the most in demand home based businesses to run nowadays.
Events Planner
If you are creative and patient enough to plan details, then being an events planner is just the perfect job for you. You can enjoy being in this job while you earn. This is also perfect because most people nowadays love to enjoy parties and events without having to bother about details.
You can read articles or e-learning websites about new ideas that you could probably incorporate into your own business to add originality and variety.
Arts and Crafts
In starting this kind of business, you also will need to invest a little capital and a lot of your creativity. It actually depends on you and your budget planning on how big you want your arts and crafts business. There are a lot of retail shops that you can supply your products or if you can, you can put up your own shop at home where you can display your artworks.
With the increase in the demand to see beauty and creativity these days, you will be able to attract people with your talent while earning the bucks. Isn’t that a fun way to earn?
Family Restaurant
This is also becoming a common business to start from home. Who wouldn’t want to …