Small Business Blog

Posts Tagged ‘Idea’

You may have several ideas for a new business or only one. Before you start pouring your effort and money into an idea you need to see if it will stand up to some analysis. Do a Ben Franklin close. Draw a line down the middle of a piece of paper. On one side of the line you will list all of the positives. On the other side you will list all of the negatives of your small home business idea. Then if it looks good you can start to write a business plan for bringing your home business to life.

A high level of skill with a range of equipment, or a friend that is prepared to loan you some money would be strengths. If you have never run a business before that could be a weakness. A ready, enthusiastic market would be an opportunity, while several businesses almost identical to the one you are thinking of starting or a weakening economy would be threats. This type of analysis can show you if your business idea is viable and should encourage you to exploit opportunities and help you decide how to tackle threats.

Decide on your Unique Selling Proposition…

Why should a potential customer come to you and not a rival? Will you specialize in a certain area? You should be able to identify where and how you can contact your potential customers and have an idea of the demand for your type of service or product.

Write a Business Plan…

There are many versions and it seems every bank and business advisor has slightly different requirements. However every version should keep you focused on what you want to do with your business and the strategies to achieve this in a certain time frame. It should identify the services or products you intend to offer initially, and those you hope to expand into later. Remember the plan is a working document. If you miss deadlines you should be able to modify the plan to get your business back on course.

Once you have decided on the type of business you want to start do some research to see if there are any gaps in the local market. Find out your competitor’s pricing. You could get friends to ask for quotes from the competition, or use a more direct approach and have discussions with a local expert. Remember, a company could be a potential competitor or a potential joint venture partner. Perhaps you could approach them with an idea for a product or service that would complement theirs.

When setting prices do not immediately assume undercutting is the only solution. You need enough income to cover your overheads and a low price may give the impression that your skills and work have little value.

Cash flow is another important element in starting and running a business. Make sure you do not have to make too big an investment before you get paid. You should know how much you have to earn to at least break even.

After working through your business plan and giving cash flow a good deal of thought you should know whether your small home business idea is a good one or not. Using the Ben Franklin close and Home Business Plan approach you can repeat this process if neccessary.

At first all new businesses start of as an idea. How do you turn this idea into a profitable opportunity? When the idea grips you so much, that you wake up in the middle of the night and hurriedly scribble down some notes, what do you do next? Some of the best business ideas I have had have come at night but usually they are so bold that most of them end up in the “ideas box”.

What is the procedure to follow when a revelation occurs usually late Friday night, early Saturday morning?

Business Idea…

Now that you have an idea for a new business, how realistic is it? Does it still sound interesting in the cold light of the day? Does it fit into your lifestyle? Can you dedicate the time and effort required to do the next step…

Opportunity Planning…

Now that you have decided to take your business idea to the next level, break down each stage into manageable chunks. To turn your idea into a profitable opportunity, create a plan for each “chunk” and allocate time and resources to it. Your plan doesn’t have to be extremely complicated. You can deal with hurdles as they arise. This now leads to…

Action

Set a deadline for each section and congratulate yourself every time a milestone is reached in the new business. Acting on your plans makes them more real and each time you achieve a part of your plan, it will make you stronger for the next step. This takes us to the next step…

Culmination

When you have taken an idea from just a thought, to planning, then action and eventually to business success, you have to take a step back and think about why you started it in the first place. Take some time off and recognise your achievement. Make sure that you celebrate your success… don’t miss out on the fun!

Summary

It is not good enough to have a good business idea if you never take it to the planning stage. Once you have written down the road map, then you have to act on it. Once you achieve your business goals in your new opportunity, then surely you must give yourself a pat on the back and celebrate.

Looking at the above model, business idea… opportunity planning… action… culmination, which area are you strong in and which part tends to let you down? Now is the time to get the right person to help you in the area you are weakest!

Some of the best work at home business ideas come from yourself, but you never get around to taking action.  Before you know it, someone has taking your idea and is making thousands of dollars a day.  It is frustrating but instead of getting disappointed, you could start implementing new ideas that come to your mind.  

One business idea that has worked for thousands of people is affiliate marketing.  Affiliate marketing is very profitable but must be done correctly in order to gain any financial success. It is fairly simple to implement but it takes years of practice and effort to succeed.  Affiliate Marketing works two ways. One, people that have used products and have seen results with them will help promote the product because they know it works.  The other way is to spam every blog, forum, and web site with affiliate links. Not knowing if the product is legitimate or not, they just simply want to see sales.  As most would agree, the first option will benefit you in the long run.

Some people get upset when they see that someone is being an affiliate of a product, but if done correctly, you don’t have to worry at all.  The best affiliate marketers test out the products they are promoting to ensure their customer will get a legitimate product. They will test out the products, implement the tactics in the program and see the results.  A poor affiliate marketer, will see quick profits but will never gain financial freedom through affiliate marketing.

So what is affiliate marketing? Affiliate marketing is promoting other peoples products that you know will help other people in what they are interested in.  From golfing, horse racing, or Internet money making, you can promote a product that you have purchased and used yourself.  Every time someone buys a product through your affiliate link, you receive a commission, sometimes up to 75%.  If done correctly, affiliate marketing can create a full time income online.

This work at home business idea will not come easy, but if you have patience and are willing to work hard you can become very successful.  By creating a blog or a Web site, you can drive traffic to your affiliate links.  Getting ranked high in Google Search engine will also have a huge impact on your success.  Although it doesn’t come easy, with a little dedication and hard work, you will be well on your way to creating a full time income online.

“From charcoal to gold,” This was a heading a read from a book in a certain supermarket. Though I did not purchase the book, I went home pondering on those words. Many times we have heard stories that are really motivating on how a small business turned out to become a multi-billion venture. The amazing thing is how some people started from very humble backgrounds and no one could predict their future, even they themselves.

It is from such stories you see the truth in this common saying, “do not despite the days of humble beginnings.” Realize that these kinds of people or businesses do not just happen, but it is a matter of determination and focus that contributes to them achieving success.

In anything you set to do, have an original idea. I truly admire the success of the coca cola company. The founder had an original business idea of what he wanted to offer to the market. To this very day none of his competitors have succeed to match the business idea of the coca cola company.

Acquire sufficient knowledge about the business idea you have before implementing it. This knowledge can be sourced from your own thoughts, business books that others have written or from your friends and colleagues.

Once you have an idea, create a proper business plan. The plan should include every detail or aspect of the project, from the simple to the most complicated. All these would be in vain if implementation is not done.  Implement the business plan depending on your ability. Carefully, consider every detail that has been stated in the plan.

When the venture has commenced, remain consistent and patient on what you are doing and in due time you will make money.

Anyone who starts an internet home business idea has high hopes for success. Many feel that with just a few simple ads the business will boom and take off into a major business. However, many find that customers are actually few and far between when it comes to an internet based business idea. With the following tips you can help to market your internet home business idea and turn it into a success.

1. Brand your name and business. You can easily do this by just writing articles and submitting them to e-zines or web sites for republishing. When people see your home business idea consistently they will become more curious and eventually will click through to your offer.

2. Remember to take a little time out of your day or week to brainstorm. New ideas are usually the difference between business success and failure. The more time you spend online promoting your home business idea the more ideas that you will find. Some you might not be able to take advantage of right away because of time or money. In that case create a swap file, or but the site you find into your favorites so that you can come back to it when you are ready to put that idea into motion.

3. Model yourself after other successful businesses or people. I’m not saying out right copy them, but practice some of the same habits that have made them succeed. One idea is to look up their website in one of the major search engines and find out who they are linking to, or where they are submitting their articles, that should give you some more ieas as to where you could be linking to, or submitting articles yourself.

4. Take risks to improve your business idea’s reach. Sometimes businesses don’t want to advertise unless it’s free, sometimes you have to spend money to get results. Make sure that before you do this, you set a monthly budget and stick to it! It’s common to hear about people overspending unnecessarily and running up huge credit card bills. Maximize your advertising budget and don’t go broke like the big web sites. All you need is a small group of loyal customers to sell back end products.

5. Include emotional words in your advertisements. Use ones like love, security, relief, freedom, happy, satisfaction, fun, etc. The goal is to make your offer sound so great that the person cannot wait to recieve it. But never so great that he or she does not believe your ad, or trust you.

6. Make people feel like it’s their idea to buy, they will be less hesitant. Tell them in your ad “You’re making a smart decision for buying our product”. Tell people what they’re thinking and feeling as they read your ad. Most people will actually do it. Your statements should help sell your product.

7. Out source part of your workload. You’ll save on most employee costs. You could out source your secretarial work, accounting, marketing, etc. If writing is not your area of exptise then get an expert to write your ad copy for you. One good website to go to if you need copy that sells for your home business idea is www.guru.com.

Every person now seems to see the Internet as the Business Holy Grail… ha… ha… ha!

What we find when we look deeper is greed… greed… greed. Sorry, no exclamation. If you believe different then you are naive.

The internet first gave us all great hope that a new dawn was beginning. That here was a great place to be, where everyone could be equal. Where every person could communicate honestly with each other. Where everyone could set their stall to making money any way they desired. That certainly holds true for the crooks and scammers. Sorry, but again, no exclamation.

We get bombarded with emails from what are called opt in lists. We see something we like, so we sign up with our email to get a regular sample of a supposedly new product or information that will change our lives for the better. You must be joking!

Our email address then gets sent about the internet to various joint venture lists, known as JV lists. And then we are called the simpleton list. The easy touch list and many other names.

What is happening now, and always has happened with the internet, reminds me of the old wild west of America, during the Gold Rush days. The old pan handlers had this inner desire to strike gold, much the same now with many people having a desire to win the lottery. Or start a home business online with their great idea. Every person wants to obtain great wealth quickly.

Those old westerners went on a great walkabout, searching here, searching there, searching everywhere for the business holy grail of quick, easy money. They were mostly hard working honest men, desperate to better themselves. And that is what made them easy pray to the vultures of greed. Just like now on the internet.

However, where there is money there is always ingenuity and greed. Some people realised that the gold prospectors would need equipment to search for gold. Some realised that tools would be needed, so they started a tool business and made a lot of money. Some realised that food would be needed, so they started a food business and made a lot of money.

But, the person who probably made the most money was the person who invented the trousers, called jeans. Well… except for the odd miner who struck gold. The people who made great wealth quickly and gave the rest of the gold prospectors hope for the future.

Is that now the same with the internet? Do we see, or more likely read about, some person gaining great wealth because they sold their internet business… and then believe we can do likewise? So how do we start to make money online? That is the burning question we would all like to know. Because what will probably happen is that an internet scammer will get us first.

The greatest desire with most modern people is probably to start their own home business. A business working from home that will give them their own financial independence. A home business where they can make money selling internet goods. However, where do we find such a home business idea that can generate great wealth for us? Or even just a regular above average business income.

First, we need to find something to sell. Next, we need to get lots and lots of internet visitors to our website. Oops, I should have probably mentioned the website first. How can we sell goods online without a website? But, then again, how can we sell something if we do not get visitors to our website? How can we sell something if we do not have something to sell on our internet home business? It is all starting to get rather confusing now. What came first… the egg or the chicken? Who cares. We must keep focused on our business idea. What business idea? I have not found one yet!

The above paragraph probably applies to the vast majority of people who have a great desire to break away from their mundane life and start their own business. However, what most people need to realise now is that internet selling does not only apply to the future. It applies to the here and now. If you want to be successful, then you need to learn to sell online. You need to keep focused and hopefully avoid the internet scammers.

Once you have an idea for your home business and have set it up, you then need to know how to get visitors or traffic to your website. The search engine Google seems to have a monopoly in that area. There are other search engines, like Yahoo and MSN, but for now, Google is king.

But for how long, I wonder? Nothing lasts for ever. Most large businesses start to lose a direction from their original roots with their thirst for expansion and over-expand. That usually makes a business ripe for takeover. A rising business will eventually reach a pinnacle. It can either stay there or meet another rising business on its way down.

What makes Google a lot of money is their ingenious Adwords system. You agree to pay Google a certain amount of money for certain types of keywords connected to your business. Then, when people search Google using your keyword a small ad box will appear, describing your product. If they click on the ad box your website will appear, where you can hopefully sell your product. You will also pay Google the agreed price for people clicking on your ad.

Would it not be fantastic if we could find an idea where we could obtain free ads from Google? A business idea that brings us thousands of visitors to our website from Google for free. Such an idea would save us thousands on ads. It could also make us extremely wealthy.

In 1999 a New York physician did come up with such an idea. Although he was a medical practitioner, he always had a dream of having his own home business. He wanted to work from home selling products instead of having the daily stress of attending to public health problems.

The business idea he brought to the internet originated in the offline business world. It was kept secret for many years by a select few business people, to ensure they made millions from it. What those business people did and still do, was use a simple method to obtain free ads in top class magazines. Ads that would normally have cost their business thousands were obtained free! And 100% legal.

By 2007 this New York physician had amassed a personal fortune of $75million with his free Google ads idea. But he always kept quiet about his free ads system.

Now retired from business, he decided to release his idea in e-book form. You can read how his business idea became a reality by downloading his ebook. It contains 124 pages with step-by-step clear instructions on how to obtain free Google ads.

This is one home business idea that turned into a multimillion dollar empire. The real deal.