Tag: business

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Entrepreneurship

Business Opportunity: Ask “why” As Well As “what” Prospect Looking For

Article Contributed by Tami Stodghill

I read a great ebook awhile back. It actually provided potent pointers on how to set your business apart from all of the other business opportunities out there. And having read the whole book, one suggestion in particular stuck out as a great way to tell if a prospect would really be able to be successful in the opportunity you have.

Most business owners conduct a phone interview with prospects asking what they are currently doing and what they liked about it, and what they are looking for, exactly, in a home-based business opportunity. What they may fail to do is ask “why” the prospect is looking for the opportunity. What’s the difference? A big one!

See, when asking a potential client about his or her present situation and desires, in a great number of the cases, you will get a pretty general response—something like “I want to make alot of money”, or “I want to work from home”. But those responses, although telling, are not the key to what may or may not mean that this person would be a good fit for a home-based opportunity. Because it’s the “why” they want those things that matters and drives a person to succeed.

After reading this ebook, I began making it a point to ask prospects who contacted me exactly “why” they wanted to “work at home” or “make a lot of money”. The answers were surprising and actually very insightful. They let me get to know what the prospect was “about” so to speak. From the single mother who wanted to work at home to avoid daycare costs which were stifling her, to the gentleman who wanted to make lots of money to help his parents pay their medical bills and get health insurance himself, the reasons speak volumes about whether this person will indeed have the drive necessary to succeed.

When a person doesn’t know why they want a home-based business, I believe they are sometimes setting themselves up for failure. Not always. But many people don’t see it as real work and picture sitting at home and waiting for the phone to ring or an email to come in. It has to be much more than that to really be lucrative. Sure…alot of opportunities say “sit back and watch the money roll in”. And I suppose in some cases it might to some degree. But would I want to be a part of a company that didn’t offer continued support and mentoring, a great product or service, new and exciting marketing ideas, and key, ambitious people that were continually striving to expand? No. I want to know that the people out there who are offering the business opportunity and product that I have brought them in on, are willing to take the time to ensure that they are, in turn, selling the opportunity to like-minded people. I value the business we are in and try to work with quality people who are in it because they, too, believe in the product and business.

We only put in part time hours, that’s true. But those are quality, dedicated hours and we continually are seeking new ways to market and advise prospects about our opportunity. We do a few key things daily, but we also explore new options and most certainly have never “sat and waited”. When we aren’t marketing, we are learning more about the product and the company and participate in anything the company has to offer that will further our success.

If you sell to just anyone and their “why” isn’t enough to drive them, will they succeed? Maybe. But I assure you that if you sell your opportunity to someone who is goal-driven, they will make far more of the opportunity and your business will secure key people that will contribute to the continued success of your product or service in the market place.

About the Author

Tami Stodghill was the Press-Relations manager, for a world-wide extensible-technology distributor based in London and the US for 20 years. She was also a freelance writer for several industry publications and is now a home-based business owner with WMI. She makes her home in Page-Lake Powell, Arizona, in the summers and Palm Harbor, Florida in the winters where she enjoys boating and reading, camping, hiking and meeting new people. She runs a blog site exclusively to offer tips for success for any small or home-based business.

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Recommendations

Business Blogging: Keep It Simple and Informative

Article Contributed by Tami Stodghill

It’s pretty much been established that blogging is important in network marketing. To quote a popular Business Week article: “Blogs Will Change Your Business—Look past the yakkers, hobbyists, and political mobs. Your customers and rivals are figuring blogs out. Our advice: Catch up…or catch you later”. Blogs offer an abundance of information from an even bigger variety of sources. They are generally—if done well—honest and provide insights that are tougher to absorb sometimes through news articles and news reporting. The right blog can answer questions you may have in regard to any number of topics related to your business. Subscribing to blogs you find informative is a must. I do. I have perused the internet for bloggers who seem to speak to me and offer another view of things that I hadn’t thought about. And we should never stop learning or being open to receiving new information.

When I was previously in the work force putting in my 8-5 hours, blogging was part of my responsibility as a Press Relations specialist. It was also part of my freelance writing career. I was able to write about software in a way that offered easy reading and a view from a “real-world” user of that software. And now that I own my own business, I approach it from the same way. I write what I know was important for me in my learning how to be successful in my business and I want to offer it to others in the way I perceived it. I write every entry hoping what I write will change someone’s life and help them to better understand what it takes to be their own boss. I take the attitude that if I can help even one person change the level of their success, then I’ll know I’ve contributed.

I get contacted by people who ask me things such as “what do I blog about?”, or “what do I say?”, or “what if no one thinks I’m interesting?”. And overthinking and analyzing what you want to say in your blog can actually detract from its effectiveness. If you sit down and expand on one thing that happened to you, or that you learned from, you will, most certainly, have appropriate blog content. That said, however, you should also put it out there in a way that is readable, understandable and appropriate. Thus, the importance of writing skills…

No one is a perfect writer. And writing styles vary person to person. That’s why one person likes Nora Roberts and the other lives for Stephen King novels. And comments, if you receive them, should be received with the attitude that you value the input and will grow and learn from that input. The more you write, the better you will become at it. And there are many people whose blogs I read even a year ago, that I revisit now and am taken aback at how inspirational their content has become. The best writing, to me, is done in a conversational style. If you can say what you want to say the way you would to a friend through your writing, you will reach people.

Ideally, your blog subscribers or readers should feel you there talking to them, and welcome the content as offering a value in it’s information. It should also be simple and follow a clear train of thought. No matter what you are covering, it should be read, and reread before you put it out there as your own.

Sometimes, I will write a blog and read it the next morning and decide the best place for it is in a file. It wasn’t what I wanted representing me and it didn’t offer content that I would have read myself. That’s the true test. Ask yourself, “Do people really need this information?” And if they do, are you including content that is actually supporting the point you are trying to make? Is it guiding your subscribers and readers to the conclusion you want them to come to? When you read it, if it sounds redundant, edit your work. Keep what you need to make your point, and do away with fluff or unnecessary content.

I started a habit a long time ago of keeping a small pad and pen with me wherever I go. If I’m out and about and think of something that changed the course of my day, or try something that I experience success with, I jot down a few words to remind me about that thought. At any given time, I may have 10 topics that are pending as possible topics for my blog. Some may never be used. Others, I can’t wait to write about and they are crossed off the next day. It’s a great habit to get in and will provide you with content to expand on. Even things people say to you or something you read in a book can be a spur for a great blog idea.

The important thing is to get started. Once you do, you will find it comes easier with each entry. Worst case, you find out you need to improve your writing skills and utilize a grammar/spelling checker to help you out initially. Best case, you may discover that you have a hidden talent and actually might have fun doing it.

About the Author

Tami Stodghill was the Press-Relations manager, for a world-wide extensible-technology distributor based in London and the US for 20 years. She was also a freelance writer for several industry publications and is now a home-based business owner with WMI. She makes her home in Page-Lake Powell, Arizona, in the summers and Palm Harbor, Florida in the winters where she enjoys boating and reading, camping, hiking and meeting new people. She runs a blog site exclusively to offer tips for success for any small or home-based business.

Categories
Business Trends

iPhone Based Businesses for Entrepreneurs

Technology is an entrepreneur’s best friend. Today’s gadgets make it easier to stay in touch and manage your business than ever before. As e-commerce reinterprets the brick-and-mortar business as a virtual storefront, Smart phones like iPhone and Blackberry reinterpret the office as a mobile communication center. Make your smart phone a virtual office, and run your business from wherever you are.
Your Smart Phone
Think of how much more business you could get done with a personal assistant. Smart Phones can do even more. Small business owners rely on their iPhone to:
• Stay in touch with customers, anytime and anywhere using business networking tools
• Connect and collaborate with business partners. Smart Phones let you find, communicate, and share data with business partners and service providers.
• Keep an appointment calendar. Automated alerts make sure you’re on time for appointments with potential customers and sales leads. Some smart phones offer more robust apps for prioritizing and managing your tasks and to-do lists.
• Manage customer contacts. Your handheld rolodex keeps client and business colleague contact information at hand at all times.
• Manage your money online. Access Web-based interfaces to pay your bills or transfer funds among accounts. Some iPhone apps also offer expense-tracking applications to “track money in real time”: record business purchases and update financial reports instantly. This is an especially useful feature if multiple users are drawing funds from the same account.
• Manage PPC campaigns. Pay-per-click advertising campaigns call for constant oversight. Make instant adjustments to your PPC campaign via your iPhone.
• Track time spent on different projects. If you bill by the hour, this feature helps you track the time you spend on each client’s project, and create invoices and reports.
With these features right at hand, it’s easier than ever to build a profitable business with little overhead and lots of flexibility.
iPhone-Friendly Business Plans
For a business you can manage from the palm of your hand, consider these ideas:
1. Wedding Planner. Staying in touch is ninety percent of any event planner’s job. Wedding planners coordinate an army of service providers: caterers, invitation and program printers, graphic design companies, florists, entertainers, venues, and so on. An iPhone helps wedding planners act as a liaison between these players and the client.
2. Massage Therapist. Your massage therapy skills and your iPhone adds up to a business as a massage therapist. Rely on your iPhone for managing appointments and marketing your business online.
Clients can reach you anytime to set up an appointment. An automated calendar makes sure you’re in the right place at the right time.
You can reach clients by managing your online marketing services from your palm. Work with Website design and SEO services to set up a Web site for your massage business. PPC management can help get the word out to local clients searching on terms such as “Portland Oregon Shiatsu” or “Hot Stone Massage Honolulu.” Adjust your campaign via your iPhone’s wireless access.
3. Electronic Components Broker. As an independent sales broker of used computer and electronics parts, you’re a liaison between buyer and seller. You need to be in touch to locate buyers and sellers and negotiate a deal between the two parties. iPhone-Based Business Idea: Take your electronics brokerage business an extra mile by establishing a virtual marketplace. Once you set up the infrastructure for trades, this business can easily be managed via your iPhone. A Web design service can help you build a robust marketplace where sellers and buyers can connect and trade components. Armed with point-of-sale (POS) and credit card processing capability, your online marketplace offers a forum for your clients to negotiate prices and complete transactions directly.
4. Personal Financial Advisor. The financial markets won’t pause and wait for you to reach the office and log in. To keep your eye on your client’s investments, rely on your smart phone. Today’s smart phones offer more than a continuous ticker-tape report with real-time data from Wall Street. Customized reporting on investments lets you manage multiple clients’ portfolios on the go. The ability to stay connected helps you:
Respond to opportunities instantly, reaching out to investors and completing the transaction on the go.
Respond to clients instantly, providing them with real-time account information or making adjustments to their portfolio.
Your iPhone also lets you take care of administrative functions on the go, such as recording billable hours per client.
Your iPhone may prove to be your most valuable business partner. In today’s virtual world, the three pillars of a successful business are “communication, communication, communication.” Stay connected with clients, with business leads, and with information, and you’ve got a winning foundation for any business plan.

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Entrepreneurs Entrepreneurship People & Relationships Starting Up

Could You Succeed as an Entrepreneur? Look for These Signs

Entrepreneurs have a knack for seeing opportunities where others don’t. If you see 2010 as a good time to start a business despite the recession, then you may have an entrepreneurial perspective. Now you need to know if you have some of the other characteristics of successful entrepreneurs.
What helps entrepreneurs these days is that virtual business models put more emphasis on talent and less on administration and infrastructure. After all, e-commerce solutions can give you an instant storefront presence and credit card processing services can handle your receivables, and SEO can give you access to online customers with a minimal up front investment.
So now all you need is the right set of skills and characteristics. Consider whether you have the following ingredients of successful entrepreneurship:
1. Talent.
You should be able to identify at least one area of ability that makes you stand out from the crowd. This can be anything: technical expertise, sales skill, marketing insight, or logistical know-how. Since small businesses are talent-driven, you have to start out with the belief that you have the raw material with which to compete and succeed. It helps if your skills happen to be in areas with growing demand, such as health care or computer technology. If you have medical knowledge or a skill such as Web design, you may have a little wind at your back.
2. A new or different perspective.
“Me-too” businesses have a tough time making a mark, especially during a weak economy. Your business should be founded on the idea that there is a better way to do things. Ideally, you should have enough experience in your chosen industry to be familiar with the normal way business is done, and to have developed some unique insights as to how that can be improved. Being able to clearly articulate a differing perspective should be central to your business plan. In turn, it should also become the vision you communicate to everyone you hire, and the selling proposition you use to pitch potential customers.
3. A business network of connections and affiliations
Experience is valuable not only for knowing how other companies do things, but also for helping you form a business network that will get your new company up and running more quickly. Remember, people–especially business-to-business customers–can be reluctant to do business with a start-up. You should have some contacts who respect you enough personally to take a chance on your new business. Of course a network of contacts can also help you identify potential investors, suppliers, and talented employees. If you need to build your network think about joining a business community of interest.
4. A war chest.
Don’t start your business venture unless you have identified sufficient funding to not only get started, but to keep your business running through the inevitable lean months at the beginning. Many businesses are forced to go under just as they would be starting to gain some momentum, simply because they underestimated the amount of time it would take for profits to start rolling in. Funding can be from your own savings, outside investors, or loans. Of course, external sources of funding are harder to come by in a recession, but you can use techniques such as virtual offices to reduce the need for this type of funding.
5. Ability to take risk.
You should start any new business with a commitment to succeed, but an acceptance of the risk involved. Entrepreneurs are often people who are willing to trade a sure thing working for someone else for even a risky chance at running their own show.
6. An eye for complementary talent.
Once you start hiring people, you should think in terms of rounding out the team rather than looking for people just like yourself. It can be a mistake to have too many would-be leaders in one organization. If you have an independent and visionary outlook, you might do well to complement that with a strong administrator who can take care of the details.
7. Persistence.
Not only does it take a long time for a new business to gain traction, but entrepreneurs often don’t succeed on their first try. As long as you have confidence in the first two items on this list–your talent and your unique perspective on the business–you should be willing to keep trying.

Categories
Entrepreneurship

Become Your Own Boss For Less Than $10K

As 81 million American baby boomers begin to move into their retirement years, they are redefining what retirement means. For many, it doesn’t mean they’ve stopped working, but rather that they are exercising more choice over how they work. According to a 2009 survey, some 75 percent of people who chose to engage in some form of work found the work satisfying, and in four out of five cases, they were able to find white collar jobs for what are known as “encore careers.”
Picking the perfect second act for your career can involve trying a field that’s always interested you, helping out with a cause that you believe in, or getting a chance to run your own business.
If it’s running your own business that appeals to you, chances are you don’t want to sink a large chunk of your retirement savings into a new venture at this point. Therefore, the key is getting started with minimal investment up front. This is very possible these days, depending on how you set up your business, and what type of business you choose to go into.
Getting Started with a Shoestring Budget
To start a business with relatively little up front capital, the key is to minimize fixed costs. Variable costs–expenses of the pay-as-you-go variety–are preferable because they allow you to ramp up or scale back investment depending on how the business is going.
Here are some key tools for keeping fixed costs to a minimum:
• E-commerce Solutions. Who needs a business location when you have the Internet? The ultimate low-overhead storefront, the Internet gives you access to a world of potential customers. Utilizing e-commerce solutions is much cheaper than having a physical place of business where you receive customers. For example, it allows you to avoid the many expenses of having a retail outlet, such as rent, utilities, staffing, and insurance.
• Outsourcing Back Office Infrastructure. Rather than building a complete organization from scratch, try to outsource anything that isn’t central to the unique value proposition of your business. For example, functions such as customer support, credit card processing and human resources are only needed occasionally or periodically. Therefore, it makes more sense to utilize outsourced call center services for telemarketing or customer support or HR outsourcing for human resource activities than to try to staff it internally.
• Use Online, Social Media Strategies to Promote Your Business. Developing a full scale online social media strategy can seem overwhelming at first. But you can implement simple things by hiring interns to do the leg work such as starting a blog or using Twitter, and tracking different programs making adjustments along the way.
Low-Cost Entrepreneurial Business Ideas
If the above are some techniques for structuring a business with minimum up front investment, what are some lines of business which lend themselves to getting started with minimal capital?
One rule of thumb is that services generally require less investment than manufacturers or retailers, though with e-commerce some re-sellers can operate cheaply if they have tight supply lines and add value in the process. Focusing on services, the following are some examples of businesses that might be right for the current environment, and can be started on a shoestring.
• Business consulting. If many retiring boomers are going to be starting their own businesses, why not use your business experience to help show them how to do it?
• Green consulting. People are striving to become more energy-efficient, for economic and environmental reasons. If you have expertise in this area, consulting with businesses and homeowners on how to reduce their consumption is a natural.
• Public relations. If you have media and promotional experience, you could be in demand with the new wave of entrepreneurs starting their own businesses. In particular, bringing knowledge of modern promotional techniques such as social media strategies could be valuable to these new businesses.
• Employment counseling. Between a weak economy and an aging population, there are many people facing a career crossroads these days. Helping them find the right niche can be a good way to make use of any personnel experience you have.
• Online Lead Generation. Sales Lead Generation is growing by leaps and bounds as far as start up industries are concerned. This is a very special industry that affords flexibility and freedom that is unparalleled. And, there is even a significant demand for highly specialized lead generation consultants to help companies generate qualified sales leads in this market.
Running your own business may not have been your parents’ idea of retirement, but things are very different today. If you have the entrepreneurial itch, starting a venture might just give you the satisfaction and extra income to make your “golden years” more than just an expression.