Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Finding Niche Market

Finding the nice market isn’t easy as we think. But this is an important way to begin or develop our business plan. Choose the right niche market and get good attention will make our business gain more profit. But How do you find Niche market?
Of course, the first place to start is with a list of the customers you already have! Dig around. Are there any similarities that seem to stand out to you?

Another method involves listing the benefits of your product or service. Think about it... which prospects would benefit the most from this list of benefits? A narrow group of people should begin to emerge. That is your niche market.

How Do You Reach Niche Markets?
Get to know them! First you've got to understand the language of each segment of your client. This is a language that only business thinking can understand (what the client need, that is how we understand what the client want) . Get inside the circle...it's the only way to really gain insight to their special needs.

Insiders get the real scoop on things that outsiders never even know exist. When your customers see you as “one of us” you'll be way ahead of the competition. Your customers will have a loyalty toward you that your competitor will not be able to break through...even with lower prices...because you are the one who understands their needs!

Marketers are always looking for low-cost ways to boost sales volume and profits...it's in their blood...part of who they are. They can't resist the urge to find, explore or invent another method to increase the value of their business...and most of them know that there are niche markets all around - just waiting to be discovered.

Creating a Business Strategy

On a scale of one to ten, having a good business strategy rates about a fifteen!

No matter what kind of business you have -- whether you sell products or a service, as the saying goes, "if you fail to plan, then you're really planning to fail."

Creating a strategy can mean the difference between you working 60 to 80 hours a week all year long -- and then breaking even, or worse, losing money.

On the other hand, many successful entrepreneurs who have a strategy work fewer hours and make piles of money -- and they usually attribute their success to having a strategic plan and following it.

So what is strategic business management? Very simply, it's the process of defining the goals and objectives for your business, creating an action plan so you can reach them and then following the plan.

How do you create a strategic plan for you business?

1. First, know what your vision for your company is. If there were no barriers, nothing stopping you from taking your company as far as you could -- what would that look like?

2. Next, what are your company's core operating values? What are its guiding principles? In other words, why are you in business and how do you do business?

3. Now create a 3 to 5 year plan. Your long-term plan is based on the broad objectives that will help you get from where you are now, to where you want to be.

4. Develop a plan for this year. These are the specific objectives you plan to accomplish this year that will lead you closer to your long-term goals. Remember to be "SMART" when setting your annual goals (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, Time-oriented). Include a list of the barriers that are stopping you from getting where you want to go. Figure out what resources you've already got, and what resources you need to get you past those barriers. And then create an action plan that clearly lays out how you will achieve your goals. Involve key employees with this part of the planning process.

5. Create a set of milestones or benchmarks. This is very important, so that you can measure your progress.

6. Share the plan with your employees, and anyone else who will be involved in the process. Your annual strategy is the roadmap that will make sure everyone ends up at the same destination -- but to be effective, everyone needs the same map!

7. Put the plan into action. Now that you have the roadmap, it's time to begin the journey.

8. Check your progress. Just like any trip, you need to check the map every now and then; to be sure you're still on the right road. If something isn't working, the sooner you figure it out and make the necessary adjustments, the sooner you'll be back on track.

9. Follow the same cycle next year. (Dream, Plan, Act, Check).

Creating a business strategy and following it will ensure that you enjoy the journey as much as getting to your final destination

By: Hans Hasselfors

Starting business – Choose the right opportunity

Millions of people are desparate to escape the 9 to 5 grind. One popular alternative is to look for a business opportunity that turns you from an employee into a self-employed entrepreneur running your own business.

There are many good reasons why this can be a wise move. Being your own boss means you can set your own hours. This can be very important if you have small children, or simply want to spend more time at home. Working from home can also save valuable time, if the alternative is spending two or three hours every day commuting back and forth to your work place. And of course, working for yourself also gives you the opportunity to make a whole lot more money.

In other words, being your own boss gives you that valuable commodity called freedom. It sets you free from the limitations of being someone else's paid employee, and in return makes you responsible for your own future. As a self-employed entrepreneur you are free to set your own hours, establish your own work habits, choose what work you will do or will not do, create your own products, drum up your own customers, and do what you have to do to make those customers happy.

And perhaps most importantly, when you are self-employed you are free to set your own prices and make as much or as little income as you are able. You will not have to answer to anyone other than yourself, your suppliers, and of course, the ever-present taxman, after you become successful.

**How to get started -- Two Alternatives**

There are two obvious ways you can go about starting your own business. The first way is to quit your day job and launch full bore into your new business. We'll call this the "All or Nothing Approach". The second way is to continue on with your current employment and develop a business on the side, in your spare time. We'll call this the "Spare Time Approach".

Depending on your point of view, taking the All or Nothing Approach can be either an act of bravery or just plain recklessness. Unless you are independently wealthy, planning and timing are very important with this approach. That's because once you leave your previous employment your source of income will be gone and you will have a limited amount of time to make your business work. It is "sink or swim". And you can sink pretty quickly without a source of income.

So that means you should plan the changeover to self-employment very carefully. Every situation will be different. An acquantance of mine was able to step from his quasi-government job into a private consulting business because he spent the last few months of his employment developing leads and contacts within his industry. When he went on his own he had customers waiting in the wings and was able to more than double his income in his very first year.

But most of us are not so lucky. We do not have the quality leads or the specialized skills. Nor do most of us have the opportunity to use our present employment to build a launching pad of potential customers before we take off into the wild blue yonder of self-employment. Most of us are starting from scratch with a few vague ideas, a questionable set of yet-to-be-defined skills, and severly limited income. So our venture into self-employment had better take off within a few months or we're likely to crash and burn.

That is why the Spare Time Approach is best for most new self-employed entrepreneurs. The Spare Time Approach lets you test your ideas, develop your skills, and build your business slowly. If you are unsure about the products or services you intend to sell, the Spare Time Approach lets you try out different product lines and see how well they fit in with your overall objectives. Often new entrepreneurs find that their first ideas are not realistic, or there is no market for the services they want to provide. Or they find they cannot charge enough to make any money providing the products or services they have chosen.

**Choose your product carefully**

Like all new entrepreneurs, whether you take the "all or nothing approach" or the "spare time approach" you should be very tight-fisted with your limited resources. That means do not invest any serious money in a product or business idea until you have checked it out thoroughly. The best way to "check it out" is to:

- Talk to people who are already selling the product or service.

- Establish the credibility of the person or company providing the product or service.

- Make sure the company provides on-going support for their product(s).

- Make sure there are no hidden or unexpected costs (such as franchise fees) that will eat away your profits.

This applies whether you are looking at an online product such as an MLM or affiliate scheme, or a more traditional product or service aimed only at local customers.

For example, an associate of mine produces Business Card Displays. The idea behind this product is that it provides new entrepreneurs the opportunity to set up an advertising service for local businesses. With this product, the entrepreneur creates a network of displays placed in high traffic retail outlets like grocery stores, hair salons, and bowling alleys. Then local advertisers can place their business cards in one of the compartments in the displays across the network. If someone browsing one of the displays sees a service they are interested in, they just take a card for future reference.

Sure, it's not everybody's cup of tea. But for someone willing to put in a few months of hard work at the beginning, it is a pretty easy way to create a business that will return a handsome income for years to come.

And this manufacturer stands behind his product. He can show you examples of successful advertising networks where his displays are used. He will also provide testimonials and contact information from real people whom you can ask how well the product is working for them. And to top it off, he uses the product himself in a network of over 40 displays, and can provide hands-on information about how it actually works in a real-life situations.

This is pretty rare in the world of "business opportunities". Many are run by "take the money and run" types who make wildly exaggerated claims about how successful you can be. But in many cases they have never actually made the idea work for themselves.

As any successful entrepreneur will tell you, your choice of products is crucial to your success or failure. Many products are simply bogus ideas with no hope of working. And many others are designed to produce maximum profits for their creators, and minimum profits for people like you and me who sell them. So no matter how hard you work, or how committed you are to being successful, if you choose the wrong product you will be operating with a millstone around your neck.

Avoiding Home Business failure

It’s been said that 80% of all small business dies within the first 3 years. And the rest are somehow struggling along with meager revenues. Only a handful is successful. Home based business has an even shorter lifespan. Every enthusiastic home based venture starts out with a big promise, a lot of excitement and enthusiasm.

However at the first signs of trouble or a slow take off the people become panicky. Having been accustomed to regular pay check, when the money does not roll in week after week and the bank balance hits the low digits, there is a sense of panic and the exciting home business gets trashed.

My own experience tells me this happens just when you are through with organizing, setting up and the difficult transition period of reaching out to the customers, you decide to wind up the business in favor of a job.

Now here are a few tips to persevere and make a success of your home business.

Plan in advance your finances for running your family for a minimum period of 6 months.

Plan every aspect of your business – right from creating the product to final shipments - on paper. Don’t leave out anything. This is what is called a business plan. Make it elaborate and group each aspect under a heading and subheading.
Home workers need to set a disciplined work schedule. Having no bosses around or compulsions of commuting may make you take things easy and relaxed. At least for the first 6 month work as if you are in employment and put in the required hours. You can relax and cut down on working hours when you start earning enough.
Don’t procrastinate or put things off for tomorrow. Action is one major ingredient for success. If you need to do something do it today. Do it now.
It is essential to keep your motivation high. Read about the success of other small business and home business owners and learn what they did right. Duplicating someone else who has succeeded makes it easy to succeed yourself.
You may suddenly find yourself alone without the social support of colleagues and friends. Even persons you considered your best friends may avoid you if they feel you are in trouble. That is OK. You get to know who’s who in times of adversity. Learn to depend on yourself than outside support.
Be prepared to take the temporary pain and denials. Robert Kiyosaki of ‘Rich Dad Poor Dad’ fame and his wife slept in their car for a few months and lived in a basement of a friends house for many more months to achieve what they set out - their financial freedom.

Believe in yourself and keep going even if the going gets tough. The rewards far outweigh the pains and temporary sufferings. Remember the darkest hour is just before the dawn breaks out and sun rises.

By: Srinivasan R.G

Home Based Business

Starting a home business is not that easy though. We have to be willing to work hard to get it up and running to the point where it almost makes us money with out you doing anything. Once we have reached that part of our business that is when most people will start another home business. That is how they make even more money by running more then just one home business.
What is the home business that work? It’s not easy to tell, because whatever kind of business if there’s no work hard on them there will not work well and doesn’t gain big profit. But there are some of them that look simple (but not easy) for the newbie. That’s working with the e-currency exchange program. It is simple to start but hard at first because there is a learning curve. Some people (newbie in business) had been trying for it and there is amazing result. Some of the invested $400 in the first step and their money grow into $4000 in 32 days. Look amazing, right? The other is affiliate business (selling other people product). For this business is depend on what kind of product do you promote and your targeted market. If this kind of product is easy to sell we can gain more profit from it without extra hard work. Remember that, your home business is the first step to get the next step of your business in future. Try everything about your home business. Don’t be afraid when you are failure. There’s a big experience behind your failure in business, so you can avoid the same failure in the future. Keep Spirit and Maximize our work !!.

Business Law : What You Need to Know

There are a myriad of things you must think about when opening any type of business whether it is a small business or a large corporation and one of those is how business law may affect you. Failure to pay attention to business and corporate law can land you in a world of trouble-both legal and financial. The good news is that you do not necessarily need to be a graduate of a fancy business law college or have a business law major to brush up on the basic ideas of small business law and corporate business law.
If you've paid attention to the headlines lately, you probably know that employment law for business is one of the number one areas where you can get into trouble if you aren't up on all the employment laws and regulations. There are numerous laws that govern the employment of both regular employees and contract employees. Just for a broad overview, take a look at all the employment business laws you must meet:
· Civil Rights Act of 1966.
· The Equal Pay Act of 1963
· Americans with Disabilities Act
· The Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986
· The Age Discrimination in Employment Act
· The Equal Employment Opportunity Act
· The Bankruptcy Act
· The Occupational Safety and Health Act
· FMLA, the Family Medical Leave Act
· Employee Polygraph Protection Act Labor Law
· FLSA, the Fair Labor Standards Act
And that's not even counting the various state employment business laws that might apply to your business! If you aren't sure of whether you are meeting all the regulations, it's a good idea to get a checkup for your HR department.
Do you happen to work in the international arena? If you have anything at all to do with international business, then you should be aware of the many ways in which international business law can affect you, your business and your bottom line. At a minimum, you need to make sure that you meet general international business laws, specialized export laws, import laws and any laws of the foreign country in which your business operates.
And what about the business law scene at home? Were you aware that in addition to Federal business law and international business law, you are probably required to meet State business law regulations? Do you know whether you need a business permit or license? Failure to obtain one can result in the shutdown of your business and hefty fines and penalties. This is just one of the ways that state business law, such as California business law, can affect the health of your business if you aren't careful to stay on top of things.
Finally, what about Internet and online business laws? Were you even aware that there was such a thing? The Internet has exploded so much in the last decade that the government has found it necessary to institute Internet compliance laws. If you operate a website of any kind and do not meet the compliance regulations, that site could be shut down and you could face criminal prosecution and hefty fines.
Of course, no one should ever attempt to navigate the complexities of any type of business law alone and the best course of action is to always seek the qualified professional advice of a business law firm, but hopefully these tips will help you to understand a little bit more about business law requirements.
Summary: When operating a business, regardless of whether it is a small business or a large corporation, you need to be on top of business law compliance. Even if you hire a business law firm, it's still a good idea to understand what regulations you must meet.
By : Matt Bacak

Start Business and Marketing

Most people want to be successful, but few plan to be. Very few people take the time to plan anything. The most important thing you can do right now for your business is sit down and develop a marketing plan. Most business owners fail or they just move along because they don't have a plan or goal for their business. This means that they just hope there is any goldmine given to them freely. Think that, the success never happen without any action, although that’s only a plan. This means that we don’t ask you to your business as quick as possible. We just want you decide right now to make a detailed plan of what you're going to do and how you're going to do it.
A plan is a detailed specific way of how you're going to reach the targets you set out and the date that you want to reach them. For example is that you can set sales goals. Before doing it we can make a list of what we will do.
- Write a scheme of product you want sell
- Write a scheme where do you promote your product
- Make a list of what is your target market an etc.
. This is important, because any preparation will decrease any mistake if we focus on our preparation or our plan well.
The way of our strategy also important. For example is developing a strategy for making those number of product that you sell, decide how you're going to advertise. How am I going to get referrals? Where is the most profitable targeted are? How am I going to get people to buy more often? How am I going to get people to spend more? This is the beginning of your marketing plan. So, keep on this way, you will get more.

Business and Marketing Part 2

The system of business and marketing to collect worldwide society isn’t easy as we think, whereas that is the most important of our business and marketing. There are many competitors around us. So, to get attention from online worldwide society to us we must create any unique things which the other people (especially our competitors) don’t have. For example, physically, the colorful cloth will has many attentions than full white cloth we meet. This is common things we meet in our daily life. Imagine, can we implement it in our online business and marketing ? And the answer is “Absolutely We Can !”.
But, the new problem happen. “Unique things is very easy to be spoken but it is so difficult to be done”. Yes, that is right. I personally can’t do it too. If we want to think again about that, truly there’s no way to get more attention beside doing “unique things”. That’s the final answer for the first way to go to business and marketing. Although we can follow from “successful people” in business and marketing but sometimes we must have different token from the other, we must have different way of thinking from the other and we must have different system from the other to do our business and marketing. This is because if we follow them (successful people) whole it means that we must compete with them. We will be defeated because of their experience and their system. So, we can try to do our unique things right now. We can still follow from successful people, but don’t depend on them in everything. Although we still follow them we must keep our “unique token”. Make your things look unique and different. This is our personal skill and ability that will lead me to success.

Business and Marketing Part 1

Term of business and marketing is well-known in our life. This term has meaning about our things that can be exchanged or sold to another in society in order to get profit from that action. This action can be done by individual or organization that has profit purpose. So, business and marketing has social point of view based on this term, which more effective if more people in them.
In the past, business and marketing hold in the real market or public area. This method has advantages and disadvantages. The advantages are the buyer can know the condition of the product which want to be bought and more believable relationship between seller and buyer. The disadvantages are it needs place to held this action, depend on distance (more distance means more money to be allocated), and the time must be calculated because it happen in the same time between buyer and seller. Because of that there is new system in business and marketing, that is online business and marketing.
Online business and marketing can be done in virtual place, doesn’t depend on distance and no need the same time between buyer and seller. More profitable or not depend on how the seller manage their business and marketing system. Better system they have, higher profit they get. In other words, the system has more effect about their profit.
The internet is worldwide area which has many people on it. The people make group of online society. Online society almost same with society around us, just the place that differs it. So, this condition is effective for business and marketing if we can manage the system of business and marketing well.

Welcome to My Blog !

This blog is dedicated for the people who wants to know everything about business and marketing. Before continue to the next explanation I would like to tell you that I’m not a ‘guru’ , master, or an expert in business and marketing. I’m just a human being that always look for anything about business and marketing. Especially for online business. Should you know that, the chance of business isn’t always come to smart or clever businessman but sometimes come to lucky people who has less skill than that businessman. “The Clever man is defeated by Smart people, but Smart people is still defeated by Lucky people”. Don’t worry to start the business and marketing right now. There is no late in business. So, let’s study about business and marketing on this blog.
Based on my experience, I had been trying to richness my knowledge about business and marketing since 4 months ago. I try to expose all I have after studying business and marketing on this blog. But maybe it can’t be done, because I’m still leak of information, I still need any information from worldwide. Once again, don’t worry about that. We can study together about business and marketing here. We can share and exchange any information one another. There’s no perfect in the world, just our God has perfection. So, keep spirit to study and fulfill our mind with knowledge forever.
OK, let me read any articles from me on this blog. I hope this articles will be useful for us.
MY MOTTO :
“BEGINNER ISN’T ALWAYS LOOSER, BEGINNER IS THE FIRST WAY TO BE A WINNER, THERE’S NO WINNER BEFORE PASSING BEGINNER”

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