Start Your Business -- Part 2

The plan is the important things in our life. Realized or not, almost in every part of our life is fulfilled with “Planning”. Cooking without planning will not make any result (no food), work without planning is nothing and etc. Because of that we must know how important planning is.
This is also happen in business. Business without planning will not get profit but maybe will loss much money in short time and confiscating your time and effort.
A business plan is a short brief that explains how a business driver (like an entrepreneur marketer or director) plans to order an enterprising effort that carries out the actions that are necessary in order for the effort to gain success in their subject . Fundamentally, a business plan is the written description of a business model which will be done in next step. In other word is managing what the entrepreneurs must do in their subject of business.
From the statement above, business plan consist of the company background, the business appliances, number of targeted market and etc.

In my posting before about ( ) the plan in business is also the list of what the company does in future. The better prediction and purpose will make good effect in their business.

In a complex company, the business plan also detail about their marketing strategies, environment, their competitors, and the quality of product they offer. Usually, in big enterprise, management of each subject must be done by qualified people in business, so they will not loss their consumer.

Maybe there is any question like this, “That all about big entrepreneur or great business company, and how about “newbie” or individual businessman like us? Does it has the same effect if we do it in our individual business?”.. And the answer is absolutely “Yes”.
We can implement their way of business, we can learn from their strategy for success. No matter you are newbie or an expert in business. So, make the list of what we must do in business, create a good plan which you think you can do it well. Business plan will decide our way in the future, success or not. Without any planning, we will not get any result in every subject we do.

Start Your Business -- Part 1

If we talk about “Business” especially “Online business and marketing” we may think that is about the field for big entrepreneur or expert marketer who has a lot of money and invests his money totally to get profit in his first business. Beside that we also think that the businessman must be a full-time job, so there is no time for relax and for our family. Because of that we will make conclusion like this. “To get high profit in business (online business) field we must have extra money and invest them totally for setup and drive our business”. I think this statement sometimes is imagined by us and we will feel so sad or so hopeless whenever we remember our failure in online business.

Truly, not all of the statement or conclusion above is true, although some of them are true . To start and drive online business we must not have a lot of money and spend extra time. Well, is it possible? Is it true? I answer “Yes”. Before I explain about it I want ask you to imagine about business and marketing in simple case. Have you ever heard about “free business and marketing” field in our daily life? For example is you have a natural skill in Singing (you have sweet voice), then you make a kind of course in your home to the people who has high desire in singing, so this is your chance to gain more money. The other example is if you have “a beautiful flower” in your yard but you don’t want to take this flower as an accessories or decoration in your home. Then you think that there is people needs it. So try to promote it in front of your house. While you hope there is people who wants to buy it..
What do you think about two examples above? Is it a free setup business or non-free setup business?
If we think again, two examples above almost the same with “Online Business and Marketing” field. It can be a free or non-free setup of business field. It depends on “How we exploit chance of business” and “How the way we use to manipulate (improve) our things to get more “valuable” in other people eyes”. If we can focus on this two subjects, we will know the way to get benefit. Less in time is not always make us have minimum profit. It depends on “Effectiveness” in our work. Try to calculate the time of our work and then divide it with our income a day. Make your conclusion by your self, is it effective or not. Lower investment means less money and effort we allocate. By focus in this way of thinking we will try to make more income from our business and respect our time and money…

There are good website you can try about business plan Here and here

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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 !!.