Category: Business Ideas

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Business Ideas

3 Steps to Starting the New Year on The Right Foot for Your Business

There’s no better time to take stock of your business than the time between the end of one year and the beginning of the next. It’s “out with the old, in with the new” and that includes out with anything that isn’t serving you or your business at the highest level, and in with what you want your business to look like.

To help you get on track for the fresh New Year and all it’s possibilities, I thought I’d share 3 simple steps to get you and your business started on the right foot.

1. Start by cleaning out the old year. Are you surrounded by stacks of papers or old files? Now is the time to clean those up and make room for all the new business and opportunities that are bound to come your way (unless there’s no room for them).

What about old products or programs? Is everything you’re offering in your business still a good fit? Or maybe there’s something you’ve outgrown or doesn’t work with your brand anymore?

And don’t forget to look at your mindset or your habits. What are you still not doing you know you should be? What habits or blocks are you finally ready to ditch for good?

Get it all out there. Write everything down you want to throw out with the old year. Then you may want to destroy it — burn the paper or shred it. Remember, this is all about clearing away what you don’t want or don’t need anymore.

2. Be grateful for what you HAVE accomplished. Now that you’ve gotten rid of the old and worn out, don’t forget to take a moment and write down everything you’ve accomplished last year. What are you grateful for? What are you most proud of? It’s time to celebrate your accomplishments — take the time to do this. (If you’re anything like me, this is the first thing to go. It’s difficult for me to celebrate anything, I’m constantly looking at all the things I WANTED to do and didn’t.)

3. Now, get set up for the New Year. Some of the things I do include getting my new calendar in place and writing down my goals in it. Then I put together a marketing and promotional plan for the year so I can reach those goals.

You also may want to take some time to lay out a plan for getting rid of those blocks. Is there a program you need to buy? A coach you need to hire? Or maybe there’s something you need to implement. (Ditto for the changing those habits — what do you need to do to ditch those old habits that no longer serve you for good?)

Now, when you set up a plan, make sure you do what many people do when training their dogs — set yourself up for success. Create the plan with your success in mind. Don’t make it so overwhelming or paint yourself in a corner so there’s no way for you to succeed. Push yourself but be realistic too. There’s no shame in taking small steps toward your goal — the only shame is making yourself feel bad because you didn’t give yourself a realistic plan to meet your goals.

And, whatever you do, don’t forget to celebrate! You deserve it.

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Business Ideas

Home Business Opportunities – Starting a Home Daycare

Article Contributed by Amanda Tradwick

Home-based daycare operations present an excellent business opportunity for parents who wish to stay at home with their own children or for any entrepreneur who loves working with kids. It offers the potential to create independent income or a growing small business and it can be started with low capital. If you think starting a home-based daycare might be the right work-from-home idea for you, here are a few things to keep in mind:

Licensing Requirements

Caring for children is a serious responsibility and there are many laws governing professional child care, even for home-based providers. Laws vary by state so be sure to fully research what licensing you will need to start your daycare. Often, this will include a background check and a home inspection. In addition, you will need to make sure that your home meets zoning requirements for operating a home business. Speak with your local Small Business Administration or city office if you need help determining the requirements.

Certification

Some states may require you to become certified as a caregiver or in certain safety procedures. But even if law does not require it, you should consider pursuing these certifications to make parents more comfortable trusting you with the safety and well-being of their children and to make yourself more marketable in a crowded market. Consider becoming certified in basics such as CPR, first-aid care and infant care, then continue to look for ongoing training opportunities.

Insurance

Again, some states will require that you have a certain type of insurance to operate a home-based daycare, but even if law does not require it, you should carefully consider it. You may be liable if children become sick or injured while under your care; and insurance can protect you in case of such incidents. Having the right insurance will also show potential clients that you are a professional who cares about the welfare of their children and will assure them that their children are safe in your care.

Start-Up Costs

Opening a home-based daycare requires few start-up costs. You can open with as little as a few hundred dollars or can spend thousands, depending on the kind of amenities you want to offer and what modifications are required for your home. Basic needs will include toys, child safety equipment such as gates and outlet covers and basic feeding and sleep equipment. More extensive costs can cover: creating a dedicated play space, technology for learning and entertainment
activities, remodeling costs to your home for creating dedicated spaces and much more.

Services

After you have prepared your home and taken care of all your licensing and certification requirements, you can begin to define the services you will offer. What age groups will you accept? Will you provide full-time or part-time care? What will be your hours of operation? These are broader operating questions that you need to answer first, then you should create a more specific day-to-day operating scenario, including what types of activities will be offered, when snacks will be served, and how nap schedules will be accommodated.

Advertising

The final step in getting your home-based daycare started is to advertise your services and find clients. Start with your own circles, including friends, play groups, church members, former co-workers, and so on. Create a Web site for your business, join social-networking sites and consider starting a blog (parents will love being able to check in on their children this way, as well). Buy advertising in your local newspaper or family oriented trade publications.
Starting a home-based daycare business is a great opportunity for stay-at-home parents. The low start-up costs and minimal preparations (no need to hire staff, buy inventory, or create company manuals) make this home-based business more accessible to many, as well.

About the Author:
Amanda Tradwick is a grant researcher and writer for CollegeGrants.org. She has a bachelor’s degrees from the University of Delaware, and has recently finished research on student grants in alaska and student grants in colorado.

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Business Ideas Sales & Marketing

3 Crucial Elements Every Money-Making Website MUST Have

I’m about to make your life so much easier.

Putting up a money-making website can be as simple as 1, 2, 3 — just as long as you have these 3 crucial elements in place.

(And, if you don’t have a website, I’m going to share just how easy it can be to get one up TOMORROW. Yes, it really can be that simple — so no more excuses about “I need to get my website finished before I can do X,Y,Z.”)

Let’s get started.

1. Have a place for people to opt-in and download a special free gift from you. This can be as simple as a box located at the upper right-hand corner of the screen.

Why do you want to do this? Because having a list of prospects you can build a relationship with is crucial to your business success. People buy from people they know, like and trust. A website, no matter how extensive, is only going to take you so far. Relationships are built over time and through communication — which is why publishing a regular ezine can be such a great marketing tool.

Now, I want to point something else out — notice how I said “a special free gift” I did NOT say that opt-in box should say “subscribe to my ezine.” No one wants more email — what they DO want is solutions to their problems. If you give them trusted solutions to their problems, they WILL take the time to read your emails.

2. Post a photo of yourself. People want to do business with people. They want to build relationships with people. Why do you think major corporations pay big bucks for spokespeople? Sure part of it is benefiting from the spokesperson’s credibility, but part of it is also putting a face on an otherwise “nameless, faceless” corporation.

Folks, this is where YOU have the upper hand from the corporations. You really CAN reach out and build relationships personally with your ideal clients. So proudly post your photo — you’re a real person, let your ideal clients see you’re a real person.

Now, I’d prefer a professionally shot photo if at all possible. And I would also prefer for all you ladies to get your hair and makeup done (yes, it’s worth it). It really does make a difference to your professional image. However, if you’re going to use that as a reason to not get your site up, then put up the best photo that you have RIGHT NOW.

What if your goal is to build a big business where people would be working with your team or your employees? Should you still put up a photo? Well, that depends on where you’re at in your business development. If you’re just starting out, it is easier to build momentum and get the ball rolling if you put yourself out there. If you’re already established, you probably still do (because, remember, people do want to do business with people) but there will probably be other changes you’ll need to make to your site so it’s clear there’s a team involved and not just you.

Bonus tip — you could use a video instead of a photo. Video is a great way to increase your conversions (i.e. turning prospects into paying customers or encouraging your visitors to give you their email address) but again — if you’re going to use video has an excuse to not more forward, then just get a photo up.

3. Make it VERY clear what the next step should be if they want to move forward working with you. Now, I’m a big believer in getting the opt-in, so if you look on my home page you’ll see I do encourage people to move forward by getting my free gifts. But I also give them very clear instructions on what they should do if they want to move forward as a paying customer.

Now, how do you get started if you don’t have a website? Just put up one page that has your photo, a description of your free gift and a place for people to give you their name and email address. (This is also known as a squeeze page).

That’s it. Yes it really CAN be that simple to get started.

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Business Ideas

Do You Even Need a Website or Blog Anymore? A Simple Assessment

It’s official. Social networking is here to stay.

Forget using it just as a business tool. It’s everywhere. You can’t get away from it. (And we’re not even talking about, ahem, inappropriate uses of it such as sending nasty pictures of yourself over Twitter when you really ought to know better)

Anyway, I digress. The point is social networking is so prolific and so everywhere that websites and blogs are starting to look like something your grandpa used to market himself. After all, now you have gurus proclaiming Facebook fan pages are the absolute MUST HAVE little black dress and you are seriously behind the times without one. (Here’s an example of a fan page if you want to check it out: http://www.facebook.com/michelepwkaching — feel free to “like” it once you’re there too. J )

So are websites and blogs even worth it? Should we just throw all our chips in the social networking pile and not spend any more time or money on websites or blogs? And what if you don’t have a website yet — should you even bother?

Okay. Let’s all take a deep breath here. Feel better? Good — now let’s look at the facts.

Social networking is still in its infancy.  I know, I know. It feels like it’s a rebellious teenager. But honestly — this is still very, very new. It’s really only seriously caught on in the past few years. And let’s look at what happened during those few years:

* MySpace was THE place to be if you were an entrepreneur (Does anyone else even remember MySpace? Anyone?) Facebook was this weird, red-headed stepchild. In fact, when I first opened an account, when you sent out a friend request, you had to indicate how you knew the person and one of the options was (I kid you not) “hooked up.” Yeah. I think there was only one option, something like “know from a group or an association” that was safe for business purposes. Linked In was basically for “corporate only” or if you were looking for an actual job (I had an account and I really had no clue what to do with it.) Twitter was still being programmed in someone’s basement.

To put this into perspective — this was 4 years ago.

* Then came the huge “MySpace migration into Facebook” revolution. Everyone was on Facebook. MySpace was SO last year.

* Then Twitter exploded onto the scene. EVERYONE was on Twitter. And a bunch of other social networking platforms suddenly popped up out of nowhere — plurek, plaxo, etc. Suddenly there were HUNDREDS. Yee gads.

Fast forward to today. Twitter is declining in popularity as a tool to grow your business. (Although it remains tops on the list as the best tool to embarrass yourself.) Facebook is back on top. Linked In has rediscovered a new surge of popularity — thanks to never getting away from its roots (keeping it a more formal platform, which serves its core customers) but still adding new bells and whistles (like groups). Many of those other social networking platforms have fallen by the wayside.

And what will the future look like? Who knows? I certainly don’t. For all I know, Facebook fan pages could be as popular as yesterday’s newspaper — heck, Facebook could be as popular as yesterday’s newspaper. MySpace could be back on top and something called “Yowzer” could be the hottest thing.

Which is why those old-fashioned websites and blogs still have a place in your marketing.

You see, you control your websites and blogs. You’re not subject to whims of playing in “someone else’s sandbox.” You don’t have to worry if the rules change, if Twitter decides it doesn’t like your picture and shuts your profile down or whatever. You have your own online real estate that you can do what you want to with it.

So the question is — do you want to have control over your business, your message, your visibility? Do you want to have a hub for your online activities — your “online home” to invite your ideal clients to if they want to learn more about what you do?

Or not?

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Business Ideas

Are You Using Marketing to Sabotage Your Business Success? 3 Danger Signs

Here’s the sneaky thing about mental blocks — they usually make their presence known through sabotage (your business, your relationships, your life, etc.) rather than let you know through more civilized means.

Wouldn’t it be so much nicer if they simply tapped you on the shoulder and said “hey — this is an issue for you, maybe you should take care of it?”

Alas, they prefer to communicate with you by wreaking havoc in your business and your life.

And, when it comes to your business, one of their favorite ways of messing with you is through marketing.

So, how do you know if this is something you’re doing? Below are the 3 Danger Signs:

1. You know what you should be doing to market your business (for instance, getting an ezine out on a regular basis). But somehow it NEVER gets done. Or it gets done very sporadically — like once every 6 months. You say things like “I really need to get this done” and you never do.

Now this could mean one of two things — it could mean this is the wrong marketing strategy for you, your business, your ideal clients, etc. Or it could be a form a self-sabotage, where you find you just “never” have the time to get those things done that will grow your business.

How do you know the difference? Look for a pattern. Do you find yourself often starting a marketing tactic only to abandon it? Or is it just THIS particular one?

Obviously if it’s a pattern, then you’re definitely dealing with a mindset block. If it’s an isolated occurrence then there could be something else going on.

2. You’re always looking for the silver bullet. You constantly are trying, and abandoning, new marketing strategies. Maybe you are constantly buying the newest “blueprint” or “formula.” Or maybe you’re one of those who ask every marketing person in a ten-foot radius what you should be doing, and then you change your entire marketing strategy based on that person’s advice. (Of course, the moment it looks like it’s not working or you meet a bright shinny new marketing person, you switch strategies again.)

Look I know how tough it is out there. And it’s especially scary when even though you’re doing everything you can to market your business and you follow every single step, you still don’t see results (or at least not the results you’re looking for).

But the problem is if you keep switching marketing strategies you’re never going to gain any momentum. And momentum is a BIG part of getting results.

(Note — another way this Deadly Sign manifests itself is if you’re constantly switching your branding or what you stand for. If you find you need to keep reinventing yourself you definitely have a block somewhere.)

3. You give up on your marketing. This looks like not finishing a marketing campaign, not sending out enough emails to do a launch correctly, racing through a launch, or just throwing in the towel.

Look, part of growing a business means you have ups and downs. Some marketing campaigns are more successful than you anticipate and some are less. Some are utter failures. Some are out-of-the-park home runs.

That’s the way it is.

If you let a failure or two derail you, you’re never going to make it in business. And, if you allow your failures or perceived failures keep you from finishing a marketing campaign, that’s a problem. (Especially since you could be pleasantly surprised by sending out “one more email.”)

So what should you do if you find yourself plagued by any of these self-sabotage marketing mistakes?

Realize what the problem is. A block. And get help with it.

Now, this isn’t to say you don’t need help with your marketing. You may very well need to hire someone to help you put together and implement a strategy. But, unless you’re willing to be committed to that strategy, see it through and not be changing direction the moment something happens, it won’t help you grow your business.