Category: Business Ideas

When most people think about selling their signature dishes, they often envision the daunting process of getting a business loan, renting or purchasing property to make into their restaurant or café, and then worrying to death over if they can pay their bills and employees. Not to mention worrying about if they will have customers! However, there is a growing movement to change how a restaurant is born.

It Starts in the Kitchen

Because of the growing number of financial issues that result in difficulties in trying to get those much-needed loans to open an eatery. Most cannot save the money needed for a startup or struggle to find investors. Many people just want to find a way to make extra cash for home repairs or holiday celebrations. So, they turn to their own kitchens and begin shelling out catered meals or baked goods to fulfill their dreams and goals.

How Do They Do It?

So how do they manage to make their dishes and build a business? Quite a few folks use blogging and various forms of social media to advertise beyond just friends and family about their services. While it does begin with a bit of word of mouth, posting to your local connections on a Facebook group will put yourself out there as a serious contender in the food business.

Isn’t the Home Kitchen Too Small?

It can be. Many start out using their home equipment and ingredients from the grocery store. As orders start racking up, they can then save up and get some equipment from a restaurant supply store. Grabbing a mixer from a restaurant supplier will translate into bigger batches and bigger batches means more money made in a smaller amount of time.

When to Transition

Ultimately, when you transition from home based business to commercial is up to you. Some gradually grow into renting commercial kitchens before plunging into an actual restaurant or café space. Some choose to bottle or package their product and sell to local restaurants and grocery stores. Many famous people (Jimmy Dean and Paul Newman come to mind!) start out of their kitchens and move to a production line!

Ideally if you notice that your kitchen can’t keep up with your orders and if you are unable to work your regular job and this side job, it’s time to move. Using healthy money habits as you go will allow for you to take your business to the next level.

Is it Legal?

For a long time, many states did not allow for the sale of homemade foods. Fortunately, many states have now changed their minds and have passed laws and ordinances around what is called the cottage food industry. You should first check with your state to make sure it’s legal and that you are following health and safety inspections. There may also be ordinances about which ingredients can be used in your items for health purposes.

Starting a food business from home is really one of the easiest ways to make extra cash on the side. Building a reputation by word of mouth, social networking sites, maintaining a food blog, and ethical practices are sure ways to increase business. Eventually those businesses can grow into catering companies, food trucks, bakeries, cafes, and traditional restaurants!

Starting a business can be extremely demanding. There’s a constant need to multitask effectively to accomplish more in less time. You’ve to drive your business towards long-term sustainability, while ensuring that everyday operations are managed efficiently. Thankfully, plenty of amazing applications are available to make your phone your very own IT workstation.

With every passing day, technology is making things possible we never imagined. Managing finances, accessing emails on-the-go, making to-do lists, delegating tasks, mobile marketing and so much more is now possible with a simple touch on your smartphone.

Exclusive applications are designed keeping in mind young start-ups and small business owners. Recent statistics show that 71% of small business owners in the United Kingdom run most of their operations through mobile apps. This helps in bringing down the administration cost and scaling the business.

From the endless list of apps, here are 6 mobile applications that assist startups across industries in staying functional, connected and organized:

1. PayPal

Compatibility: Android and iOS

Price: Free

Since its inception in 1998, PayPal has facilitated millions of businesses and consumers through transactions in billions of dollars. PayPal Here, the mobile payment system, was launched in 2012 and has been a delight for small business owners as it assists seamless monetary transactions and instant money deposits. It enables contactless payments from Maestro, Visa or MasterCard credit and debit cards for a small fee. The charge levied ranges between 1.5% and 2.75% of the total sales volume.

PayPal account services are compatible even with your smartwatch. The app charges no monthly fee, and allows you to send and receive electronic invoices, process checks, and perform other payment-related services. Keeping the growing number of small-scale businesses in mind, the brand has launched a complete range of Point- of-Sale (POS) solutions, with countertop charging stations and lockable iPad enclosures.

2. Dropbox

Compatibility: Android and iOSPrice: Free and upgradable at extra cost

One of the most popular and trusted solutions for cloud storage, Dropbox allows you to store, share, and sync important business data through its seamless app. This amazing app has over 500 million users and is growing continuously since its launch in 2016. Dropbox app supports over a billion files that are uploaded on a daily basis, and these files can be accessed anywhere through laptops, desktops, tablets, and smartphones.

The app offers excellent security features such as the SSL encryption, mobile passcodes, and two-step authentication. Opt for its paid version to avail 1TB of cloud space at $8.25 per month, and enjoy unlimited cloud storage at $12.50 per month. The paid version also includes enhanced security features, and support for phone and email.

3. Wave

Compatibility: Android and iOS

Price: Free with country-based charges for payroll and credit card processing

A no-fuss app, Wave offers a free platform for small businesses to manage accounting books and send invoices. If your business has less than 15 employees, Wave is your best option. It takes care of expense tracking, invoices, and scanning receipts. The app allows you to integrate services with PayPal as well.

Wave has over 2.5 million paid and free users all over the world. It aids in both, cash and accrual-based accounting and comes to users at a low cost as compared to the other apps in the same category.

4. Google Drive

Compatibility: Android and iOS

Price: Limited free space, upgradable at extra cost

Straight from the mastermind workshop of Google, Drive comes to young startups and small business owners as a comprehensive system for data management. It allows you to create new documents, worksheets, presentations. You can edit and synchronize them with email, once you connect it to your Gmail account.

New businesses that sign up for the amazing Google Drive app have to pay $5 per user every month. The entire suite including Google Hangouts, Calendar, Drive, Gmail, and Google Docs comes to you with 24/7 customer support and is compatible with Microsoft Outlook along with other email clients.

5. Trello

Compatibility: Android and iOS

Price: Free

Trello can make your life as a manager extremely easy. The app is a brilliant productivity tool, yet simple to use. Don’t assume it to be just a to-do list app. It’s a great help in planning projects and keeping tabs on every project at any given point, thus enhancing visibility across all departments.

You can create task cards board to distribute work and keep tabs on the progress, completion and deadlines of the project. Leave comments and keep your team up-to-date with the developments and announcements. The app also gives you a historical record of the actions and changes you’ve made in a particular project.

6. Local Vox

Compatibility: Android and iOS

Price: Free

Enhancing the power of your business on social media just got easier. Local Vox allows you to publish and promote your services across all major social media platforms. It helps businesses in marketing themselves locally and expand their circle through the network of publishers, email newsletters, search, and also the company’s own website.

Local Vox app facilitates easy communication with the push of a single button and optimizes your ranking on Google and numerous local directories such as CitySearch, Yahoo, Bing, Yelp, and more. The app creates a mobile website and allows to publish updates automatically. It offers monthly reports that enable owners to access productive business metrics.

Conclusion

From among the various great apps available for small businesses, the one you pick for your trade largely depends on the needs of your business. An assessment of the budget, and compatibility and usability vis-à-vis the application needs to be done carefully to select the best app to accentuate the growth of your business operations.

About the Author

Swati is a qualified dietitian at Practo. She has a Masters degree in Dietetics and Food Service Management. She is a strong believer in spreading the goodness of ‘nutrition through healthy eating’. As a responsible dietitian Swati examines her patients’ health history carefully before recommending any diet or workout regimen, because everybody has different requirements.

Article Contributed by Julius Pankoke

College dorm rooms, garages and co-working spaces. If you read the startup news these days, that is where billion dollar businesses are created. An inspired individual is hit with the idea for Uber or Facebook and just like that they are on the unicorn track. But is it really a ground-breaking idea that makes these people as successful? Do you need a unique idea to become a success yourself? No. And here’s why.

Startup Bias

The problem is the definition of the startup itself. Even though it’s usually used for innovative companies in an emerging field of business, there is no set of characteristics to define what is and what isn’t a startup. Is the new coffee shop a startup just because they offer a special kind of coffee and are partly crowdfunded? Maybe it is. But will that affect its success? Unlikely. The quality of the coffee and the service are more likely to attract customers than the status as a startup. So no general innovation is required for this business to be a success. Companies like this make up the vast majority. So to give the people a better chance to become an entrepreneur, we will need to separate being an entrepreneur from creating a startup.

10% Idea vs 90% Execution

That’s a figure you probably have seen around when reading about entrepreneurship. Although it’s quite impressive, it’s also made up. It just serves to emphasize a point that a lot of veteran entrepreneurs like to stress to no end. To be successful you need to work hard. Starting a company and making it a success is a process that will likely take years. These years will be filled with hard work. An idea alone does not make money. You will need to create the company, develop processes, find customers, find partners, hire employees, lead employees, develop strategies and keep innovating the product. That is just a small part of things you will need to do in order to become successful. Or you are smart and find people who do these things for you. Nether the less, an idea is nothing without execution and as such not worth a lot. Some of the biggest companies took years to become successful. Some even faced possible failure more than once, while growing. Just take a look at Apple and Amazon. Nether become a success overnight and both are celebrated as being extremely innovative.

Waiting for the ball to drop

A lot of people, who are interested in starting a business are caught in a kind of entrepreneurial purgatory. Having an innovative, disruptive idea becomes a must have before starting up. In a world where a lot of things are already invented and a lot of problems have already been solved, really innovative ideas are rare. A good portion of these people would be better served to just start a business in an already existing field. Chances are, if they have a knack for entrepreneurship, they will make their business a success.

Innovation instead of Invention

You don’t have to reinvent the wheel to become successful. Instead, you should try to improve it. Find a problem that has been solved, but still has some room for improvement. Develop something or make a process easier, so that you solve the problem better than the competition. This will generate an added benefit for the customers and is a good base for a successful company. Quite a few greatly successful companies are based on this principle. Amazon didn’t invent online shopping, but they made it fast and easy. Uber didn’t invent motorized transportation of customers, but they made it cheap and fast by recruiting people with time to spare.

Conclusion

Having an idea for a disruptive new kind of business is a cool thing. It drives us to reach further and try harder. But there are just not enough completely new concepts to go around for everyone. So instead improve on what has already been thought of and make it just that bit better. That bit easier. That bit more fun. If you stick with it and invest your time and energy into it, you can become a success as well. We can’t all be Mark Zuckerberg and we don’t need to be.

Author Bio

Julius Pankoke is content contributor and start-up enthusiast. His areas of expertise are entrepreneurship, business development, and digital marketing. He enjoys both writing and reading good blog articles. With SmartBusinessPlan he currently helps entrepreneurs write excellent business plans.

Article Contributed by Natalie Smith

Just a seemingly short while ago, business were tied to physical locations. However, along with the advancement in IT, many online business opportunities have emerged within the last decade or so. Most of the work these businesses entail can be performed at home, so they can be a great source of additional income.

If you need some quick cash aside from your current job or you are thinking about becoming a freelancer, the internet abounds in opportunities. The good thing about it is that starting your own business doesn’t necessarily entail a lot of initial investment, and in most cases, it’s pretty easy to get started. There are many jobs you can pursue, and here we bring six such jobs that are currently flourishing.

1. Be Brave and Try App Development

If you have enough courage to try app development, you may find it to be a very lucrative option. Based on the growing trends of smartphone and tablet use, there’s always a need for more apps. All you need is a good and somewhat unique idea to get you started. There are many examples of people who achieved success in designing mobile application.

So, if you are good at this, don’t waste your talent by working for someone else – you can make good money on the Internet developing apps on your own. There are two ways to go about it:

a) you have both a good idea and sufficient knowledge of coding to create an app yourself, or
b) you have a good idea, but you need to hire a software developer to turn your idea into an app.

Either way, with a sustainable idea, your investment in terms of time and effort (and some money) will certainly pay off.

2. Become a Creative Web Designer

If you are talented for visual design and have some HTML knowledge to go along with, you could consider becoming a web designer. Even if you don’t have the required skills in terms of coding, it is not so difficult to attain them – it just takes some effort on your part.

This area is in great demand because there are a lot of poorly designed business websites that 1) ruin credibility, 2) are very repelling and 3) prevent companies from capturing new customers. Due to that fact, you can easily attract small business owners who urgently need their websites improved.

You can first create your own website to show off your talent, and once you’ve created a few good websites for others, you can build a portfolio. Don’t forget to advertise your business on social media and you will surely get off to a good start.

3. Set up a Successful E-Commerce Store

Selling is no longer limited to just brick-and-mortar stores, and you can utilize that fact to make some money online. How? Today you can run your own successful e-commerce business based on products that meet your customer’s demands.

You’d first have to determine which products are selling best online. For example, phone cases are an excellent example of a profitable niche. That’s because virtually everyone has a smartphone these days, and almost all of those people use phone cases. Other products that are profitable consist of toys, jewelry, games and pet care products. Of course, you can find your own passion and pursue your own idea as long as you offer something that people want and need.

To get started, you will have to set up a well-designed e-commerce website, promote it on social media, and connect with suppliers. Following a great business plan will cause things to unfold along the way.

4. Be a Fantastic Organizational Manager

Do you have great organizational skills? If you answered positively, consider putting them to good use by becoming an online personal assistant or task manager. For example, there are companies such as Zirtual that you can sign up with and perform tasks such as data entry, research, and virtual assistance work.

Some other organizational tasks include scheduling meetings, paying bills, and booking travels for your clients. Of course, the list is not exhausted, but the point is that you can easily succeed with this line of work online. Many busy people tend to outsource these kinds of tasks, so here’s your chance to earn extra money.

5. Consider Writing

Today, providing great and engaging content is a precondition for online success, regardless of the niche a certain company is in. In that sense, writing quality texts for blogs, websites and social media is simply indispensable in the current marketplace. Writing services therefore have to be one of the fastest growing online freelance services around.

If you have a sufficient amount of imagination and a good command of English, consider writing. This can include a wide range of areas such as writing articles for magazines and blogs, creating content for web pages, making e-books or posting comments and updates on social media sites for others. You can also consider writing resumes and cover letters, or even acting as an editor or proofreader if you believe you cannot write. The possibilities are really numerous.

6. Become a Mentor 

If you enjoy working with others and have knowledge in specific areas, you may be able to transfer that knowledge to others. Become an online mentor! There are many things that can be taught through the internet; particularly with the use of free services such as Skype.

Some of the areas that you can consider are teaching someone a new language, providing training in SEO and marketing, assisting others with improving their writing, mathematical or English skills, even giving health or relationship advice. There’s always a large demand for knowledge, so if you utilize your current expertise to teach others, you will be able to make extra income online.

Final Thoughts

To conclude, earning extra income online can be performed from any place in the world. As long as you have a computer and an Internet connection, you will always be in a position to generate extra money or even to start your own business.

While these six businesses are currently flourishing, there are always other interesting and lucrative ideas you can pursue. With a little research, time and effort, you will begin to see the fruit of your labor relatively soon.

About the author:

BIO: Natalie Smith, a freelance writer from Seattle, ardently follows topics related to entrepreneurship, small businesses, social media, and customer service. For more information, reach her @Natalie Smith

In society, transportation is needed by everyone. Transportation mediums can be present in different types, such as cars, bikes, and more, but the truth is that car-based transportation acts as the most basic necessity.

Since every successful business idea is based on necessity and demand, therefore, we researched for most profitable business ideas based on transportation, and while doing so, we found business ideas based around cars to be among the most profitable business ideas.

The Internet has brought many advantages with itself with the biggest advantage being providing a platform for offline business to go online. Aspiring entrepreneurs brainstorm to come up with new online business ideas, which present an excellent opportunity for many to give wings to their entrepreneurial dreams.

Like other online business ideas, car based online business ideas are further divided into several sub business ideas, such as car renting business, car marketplace system, peer to peer car sharing marketplace, car classified business, and more. To know more details about these online business ideas, continue reading.

Online Cab Booking Website

Online cab booking portal is one of the most profitable car-based online business ideas of recent times. This business idea was successfully implemented by many including Uber, which has expanded its reach in many countries.

The main idea behind car booking portal is to provide an easy way for users to order cabs. In an online cab booking business model, the user books a cab on the car booking website. As per user’s current location, the cab driver is notified to pick the user.

Online Car Renting Business

Car renting business is relatively new as compared to other car-based businesses. This business model enjoys less competition and presents the perfect opportunity for entrepreneurs to earn profit. In a car renting business, the user rents the car from the renting website. The payment is made online and the car can be picked from nearby location.

Online Car Marketplace System

Experts predict that around 74 million automobiles are expected to be sold in 2016, which is higher than previous years. The demand for automobiles and the need for a centralized platform to sell cars make the car marketplace business idea one of the most profitable.

In an online car marketplace business, the seller and buyer register themselves on the website. The seller can post images of the car along with other information. The buyer can buy the car after reviewing it and pay through the website itself.

Peer to Peer Car Sharing Marketplace

Online peer to peer car sharing marketplace is successfully implemented by companies, such as Getaround and RelayRides. In a P2P car sharing marketplace, the owner can list the car on the website and car renters can connect with car owners seamlessly.

Depending on the different renting terms and conditions proposed by the website owner, car renters can rent the car for time durations, such as for a day, for few days, a week, a month, and more.

Online Car Classified Business

Car classified website presents a profitable opportunity for an entrepreneur who wish to earn revenue by being a part of an industry that accounts to $73.4 million in projected sales for 2016.

The car classified portal is an important place, where car owners can sell their cars to potential buyers. In such a business, car owners can list their cars on the website, and buyers can buy the car after contacting the owner. Additional features can include showing pictures of the car, reviews, and more.

Want to add more to this list? Drop a comment below.

Veenu Sharma, digital marketing specialist at FATbit technologies, a web development company that primarily help startups in establishing & running their business by building them technology solutions and guiding them on choosing the right business approach through informative blog posts.