Category: Starting Up

Contributed by Ashleigh-Jayne O’Connell at Smarta.com

The rate of Home Business Start Ups is increasing year by year. The idea of being your own boss and focusing on something you enjoy and are passionate about often outweighs the knowledge new entrepreneurs have on funding and budget. Needless to say, every penny counts and here’s how to make each one stretch that little bit further.

Start at Home
Many successful entrepreneurs started their business from the comfort of their own homes. Renting a premises exclusive to your business is a huge cost especially when you’re profit isn’t steady. Working from home lowers the expenses that could be incurred during the early days and makes the balance between work and home life easier to manage, an ideal option for people with families. However, you still need to make sure that you focus all your time and dedication towards the business. Just because you’re at home doesn’t mean you can lounge on the sofa watching day time TV, there’s work to be done.

There’s nothing wrong with the cheaper option
Obviously we all want the newest, sleekest, fastest gadgets for our company but at this stage are they really necessary? Don’t waste all the money you have on something when there’s a cheaper option available that does exactly the same job. Computers and other gadgets can be so cheap these days that you can invest in this and start off your business quickly with minimum hiccups but still sticking to your budget. Use cheaper and more basic business cards and if you spot the opportunity for a freebie, jump on it straight away or you may regret it later.

Get an Online Identity
An Online Identity helps promote and protect your business. You can get listed for free through various forums such as the UKbusinessforums and 4networking and even through free directories such as craigslist. Becoming more visible in the online world can help your business gain international recognition and expand your business identity worldwide. Remember, think big.

Don’t be afraid to go to friends and family
Your business isn’t going to be a success straight away and even the most budget savvy person will have problems along the way. Maybe you don’t have the funds to put towards hiring an employee but the work load is too much for you to handle alone. You can ask for help. There’s no shame in reaching out to friends and family for financial assistance in the early days and they’re definitely much friendlier than a bank.

Blog!
Blogging is one of the cheapest ways to build your Online Identity and give you a brand name. Platforms such as Google’s Blogger and the ever popular tumblr are free to use and you lovely Apple Users have access to everything you need through iWeb. Update your blog regularly through posting anything concerning or relevant to your business to help develop your brand awareness and expand your following, this could be articles, interviews and even photographs. Commenting on similar blogs and sharing links is a good way to get noticed in the blogging world but don’t do it too often otherwise your posts will be regarded as spam and will be ignored.

Don’t underestimate the power of social networks
Forums and social networking sites grow more popular every day and have become one of the primary resources for users to find and share information. This provides an opportunity for business owners to promote their business services for free to a large audience. Facebook and Twitter have allowed business owners and entrepreneurs to share links, ideas and information to attract a lot of traffic to their blogs and websites.

Increase your Business Network
Networking is essential to business. It can help to ensure business growth through developing partnerships and profit through liaising with potential clients and stockists. Most networking events provide free membership but others are still pretty cheap, some costing as little as £5 to attend. When you’re there, make sure you take the initiative to approach others and start conversations, making sure you’re always listening to what others are telling you. Make sure you take lots of business cards there and away with you.

Reinvest Cash Flow into the Business
One of the requirements of starting a business on a budget is understanding the importance of reinvesting earnings from one project back into the business in order to fund the next one. If the new project is successful then invest in another! Profit can increase from one project to the next and this allows for more financial flexibility when it comes to recruiting staff, developing new services and not compromising on quality.

Get Yourself Noticed with a PR Campaign
It is possible to have effective editorial coverage through the press at very little cost.  Do your research, find out who to contact, write a press release and get yourself out there. It may take more than one attempt and various rewrites but it will certainly pay off. One of the most important aspects to focus on is why you are different from similar businesses. Capture their attention and reap the benefits a successful PR Campaign can bring your company.

Store everything in the Cloud
Cloud computing servers such as Dropbox, Smarta Business Builder and Google docs make your business a lot easier to manage. It’s a place where you can securely store all of your important documents such as business plans and accounts in a place where you can access them from anywhere including many smartphones.

About the Author:

This is a post by Ashleigh-Jayne O’Connell at Smarta.com
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Everyone will have a different definition of success. As you proceed to set up and run your own lawn care business you should have a clear idea of what success means to you. Your goal may be to become a millionaire or it may simply be to reach a level of income that allows your family to live a comfortable lifestyle. You may want to become the dominant market player in your area or you may just want to have a business that can run smoothly without your presence, allowing you to take time off whenever you like.

Some lawn business owners reach goals like these. However, there are many that do not attain a reasonable level of success. For some, their lawn business becomes just like a job. It can even become a stressful low paying job if you are not careful.

Below I have listed out some of the factors that separate the successful lawn mowing business operators from the others. Here is what it takes to become a success in lawn care.

1) Marketing Expertise

When you start a lawn business you are really starting a marketing business as you success will depend on your ability to attract and maintain customers. You have to do solid research to find out who your customers are and what they are looking for. Only then can you tailor your brand and your offers to suit them. It’s all about being in the right place, at the right time and having your offer in front of the right people. It’s going to help immensely if what you have to offer is unique and allows you to sparkle amongst all of the other dull looking local lawn services.

You need to think of marketing as a system that must be constantly refined so that it brings you better and better results over time. Focus on generating more leads, test advertising and make it easy for prospects to contact you. Once you have generated an enquiry you have to know how to go out and sell your service to them.

Once you do acquire a new customer you have to know how to maximize the revenue that you get from them. You need to be selling multiple services and premium services. You always need to be ready with another up-sell so that you can politely push for more business from them.

Part of your success in marketing will involve accurate estimating. You have to come up with prices that allow you to seal profitable accounts without losing out due to quoting prices that are too high. You have to become good at knowing what you can get away with.

2) Reputation and Referrals

Once you have acquired customers you need to know how to keep them over the long term. This is not difficult if you continuously strive to provide a quality service as satisfied customers will naturally refer their friends to you. The best lawn business operators introduce referral systems that encourage customers to spread the word about them and refer new business.

3) Industry Knowledge

Whether you are going to be mowing lawns yourself or hiring employees for this purpose you need to understand the practical side of the business. To get the job done right you need to understand lawn care and the equipment that you’ll be using.

4) Productivity

You can have all of the accounts in your city, yet if you are not able to service them in an efficient manner you will struggle to stay in business. It’s all about getting the most out of the precious resources that you have; your money, your time and the time of your employees. Your daily business operations need to be refined so that you are getting as much done in a day as possible. Introduce systems to streamline your operations and help keep you organized. You’ll need to be running good software, know how to set up efficient routes and schedules and know how to increase productivity when you are out in the yards of your clients.

5) Attitude

Your success will also come down to your character and strength of mind. It is not easy to develop a successful business and many people give up along the way. You must understand that every failure gives you an opportunity to learn. If you have determination and are persistent then your success will be inevitable.

6) Leverage

Most successful people know how to use the resources of others to create wealth for themselves. While you can become a reasonable success in the lawn business by yourself you will not become rich unless you are hiring teams of employees to go out and mow lawns for you.

Leverage also applies to financial capital as well. Those entrepreneurs that take calculated risks by borrowing money to develop their businesses are usually able to grow faster than those without access to funding.

The lawn care business does not have to be difficult if you know what to expect. Focus on the fundamental ideas listed above and everything else should follow along nicely. Before you know it you will have the income and lifestyle that you are dreaming about.

About the Author:

Steve Sutherland runs StartaLawnMowingBusiness.com, a site dedicated to helping beginners get started in the lawn care business.

With the economic crisis around the world still in full swing, it seems that it won’t be any easier to strike out on your own and start up your own business in 2012, especially if you do not have a lot of money saved up for the endeavor. However, nothing is impossible, and you can still start up a quality business on your own, as long as you have a vision and play it smart.

Here are some useful tips to take into consideration if you are looking to become your own boss this year.

1. Avoid loans

Taking out loans immediately and not being able to pay them back in time can be crippling for a new business and might force you to shut down your operation even before you are able to get it off the ground properly.

The most important thing to do is to think small and start out small. No matter what your final goals are, there are methods for starting your business in a way in which you will be able to naturally and slowly work up to your goals without getting into serious debt.

For example, if you want to start any type of retail business, thanks to living in the Internet age, there is no reason to go out and rent or buy a store for yourself. Start out at home and save that money. If your business takes off, you will then be able to take the next step and get a physical space for yourself without taking out loans from banks or borrowing money from friends and relatives.

Having a new bill to pay every month is the last thing you need when going out on your own.

2. Start at home

As mentioned in the previous point, your home is your best friend when starting out. Just about any business is able to succeed these days being run from home. The Internet is your friend, and getting the word out about your product or your services has never been easier. No longer do you have to rent an office or buy a store in order to make yourself visible to the consumer.

Instead of spending money in physical space put that money towards a professional looking and fully functional website. If you don’t have a lot of money to start with, you need to use the money that you have to the best of your ability. Investing in your online presence and getting the word out via the Internet is a much better way to spend your money than getting yourself a new office to sit in.

Additionally, no one has to know that you are working from your bedroom or kitchen. Thanks to the Internet, you can look like a big company with an excellent online presence and no one really has to know that you are working from home. A PO Box is one of your best friends, too.

3. Follow your interests

More often than not, people who are successful in starting up their own business are people who have a real interest in what they are doing. Hoping on a bandwagon in hopes of making money, even if this type of business does not interest you, is probably the worst thing that you can do.

People who recognize something as a potentially good business, but have no prior knowledge and experience in it, often end up playing catch-up to the rest of the industry they are aspiring to join.

The best thing to do is follow your heart and follow your interests. Your business needs to deal with something that you are not only genuinely interested in, but also something that you are knowledgeable in as well.

To roughly paraphrase one of the greatest entrepreneurs of all time, Steve Jobs, one of the key ingredients of starting a successful business, and one that is often overlooked, is having a passion for what you are doing.

4. Do the research

Heading into the business world on your own is not a decision that should be taken lightly. You should not be starting a new business on a whim – there is a lot of research that needs to go into this decision.

First and foremost, you need to ask yourself one question – Is there a demand for my business idea? Getting real research done can take months, and this is one of the most important aspects of the process, meaning that it should not be rushed under any circumstances.

Get your pencil and paper out, put your ideas together, fire up your calculator and count the initial costs – planning is vital. The more you know ahead of time, the better prepared you will be for potential bumps in the road that may occur.

5. Call on your friends

There are more ways that friends can help you out in your cause than just loaning you money. As stated earlier, taking out loans from the bank or borrowing money from friends or family is not recommended, but there are different ways to get your acquaintances involved.

For instance, everyone knows someone who works as a professional web designer these days, right? And even if you don’t know someone, you definitely know someone who does.

Asking friends to either get things done for you or to get their friends to do things for you at a fraction of the price is something that many start-up businesses depend on. Do not be afraid to ask friends for favors, if they really are your friends, they will be happy to help out.

You probably have friends and family in many different places and lines of work that can help you out, you’ve just never thought about it earlier. Get them all involved as much as you can.

At the very least, get your Facebook friends to spread the word about your business.

Starting your own business is a daunting task; there are no two ways about it, especially in times of economic recession. However, the rewards that come with being your own boss are well worth it. As long as you have a plan, play it smart and don’t get ahead of yourself, with the will and the passion to make your business goals a reality, the sky is the limit.

About the Author
David Lazar is a regular blogger at PDF Converter blog. With a background in journalism, he specializes in writing blogs on a variety of topics, including business, finance, careers, technology and new media.

Looking for a startup or business in the video entertainment venue? Well, Dance Heads is one such company to be looked at, which offers compact and mobile video attraction that can be used at weddings, parties, bat and bar mitzvahs, corporate events, exhibitions, trade shows, fairs and festivals or can be placed permanently in amusement parks, shopping centres, cinemas and many other public places. Every event organizer wishes to cause the most pleasant emotions in the guests circles and leave unforgettable memories.

Call it Experiential Marketing. You may draw huge attraction from crowds and make successful events by renting Dance Heads video equipment to be placed in your organised party events. Dance Heads’ video studios advertise themselves, attract crowds of spectators and bring lots of fun to any event. Grow your events business this way and you could retain your satisfied customers and even draw in new potential customers.

By doing this business you can not only search clients by your own but also set up mutually beneficial collaboration with different companies and people dealing with entertainment sphere (wedding and event-agencies, photo operators, masters of ceremonies and anchormen). You will help such companies and people to provide customers with more entertainments and they in turn will help you to find more orders.

Here is a fine example of Dance Heads in operation, see with your own eyes how interesting it is: http://www.dh-business.com

Dance Heads business doesn’t require any huge organizational costs, doesn’t require large a number of employees, assures you of a fast return on investment. Dance Heads is enjoyed by a diversified customer base   – from young children to older customers in their 50?s.or 70; It brings a real sense of joy and also generates great income.

For more details, visit Dance Heads

Article Contributed by Rigdha Acharya

Entrepreneurs, by nature, are great initiators. Think about it: You get hit by an idea and then set out to make that idea a reality. That’s what entrepreneurship is all about and that’s also why most entrepreneurs are haunted by unfinished tasks, enormous stress and dwindling profits.

You see, in order to grow your business and become successful, it is important to learn how to finish the projects you start so you can close more deals and bring in more profits. Unfinished ideas harm more than just your bottom line. Each new idea is like a new commitment, and commitments that are not kept put additional strain on you, as well as waste massive amounts of time.

Look at it this way; do you have a social media account that is collecting dust? How long did it take you to create that account? Wouldn’t you agree that the time spent on a proven strategy would have produced actual revenue?

The reality is most entrepreneurs have at least 10 half-done projects sitting on the shelf everyday amounting to nothing but wasted time, energy and resources because half done projects do not produce revenue.

Here’s what causes unfinished tasks, unnecessary headaches and lost profits for entrepreneurs:

1.       Tasks get boring: Even the most interesting ideas get dull after a while.

2.       Too much to do: Having too much work paralyzes you, preventing you from getting anything done.

3.       Poor time management: Procrastination, distraction, overwork and lack of focus make a deadly recipe.

These 3 prevents business owners from reaching their full potential and earning the money they deserve.

However, there is hope. If you find yourself constantly battling against the idea bug, you can win by countering each of the above factors by applying these 3 proven strategies.

1. Measure your progress

Measuring your progress helps you fight boredom and lack of motivation when a project takes too long or doesn’t go in the planned direction. Create small milestones and celebrate when you pass each one. This will keep you excited and keen.

When you start out with a project that is especially tough to wade through, make a few goals that are easy to meet. For instance, if you’re struggling with a new brochure, one of your milestones can be selecting a font for the headline. This is small and simple compared to writing the content of the brochure. This milestone will get you moving and once you have momentum, it is easier to tackle the more challenging parts of the task.

2. Be objective about new opportunities

Small businesses are restricted by the amount of resources available. By this definition, there is always going to be too much to do and very few resources with which to do it. This requires you to develop an objective eye for new opportunities.

Look at each new opportunity and ask yourself if it will really help you achieve your goals. If it will, try to note it down and return to it after you finish your current undertaking. Just remember, a project delivered is more powerful than ten projects in production.

3. Learn how to manage your time more effectively

Lack of proper time management is a vicious circle. It can cause overwhelming stress, which increases the tendency to quit something before seeing results. This, in turn, leaves you with even more stress. Learn how to prioritize, reduce distraction and plan your day more efficiently to increase the chances of finishing everything you start.

Create small 45 minute blocks of focused time where you can focus on the project at hand and keep a notebook with you so can note any ideas or distractions that occur during the time block. As you get better with managing distractions, you can increase your time block to 60 or 90 minutes. This level of focus will aid you in getting your tasks finished before you rush to the next idea.

So, there you are; learn how to manage your time effectively, take an objective look at new opportunities and measure your focus to conquer the demons of unfinished tasks and generate more revenue.

About the Author:

Rigdha Acharya is the CEO of <a href=http://www.GetYourSuccessNow.com>Actionable Business Training</a>; her company delivers actionable, customized, caring and measurable business training to help entrepreneurs grow their businesses. You can learn how to prioritize opportunities, set measurable goals and manage time effectively by requesting her free course at http://www.ManageMyTimeNow.com.