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Archive for category business startup

Have An Idea? Starting A Business? STOP! Read This Article

May 22

Posted by Jim Hart in business, business startup, strategies | No Comments

As a business consultant I am asked a lot of questions about success, especially from younger clients from age 25 35 who are loaded with ideas and the youthful enthusiasm but lack experience. My answers are usually the same each timeyou have to have a good idea, a written plan backing that idea and enough business knowledge to deal with the issues surrounding start-up launch and rollout. And thats where things get a little shaky for most people. They have the ideas. They have the enthusiasm. But they dont have a realistic written plan (if they even have a plan) and they lack true knowledge and experience.

Most people starting in business have never written a business plan and/or dont have enough business acumen to write one correctly. Specifically, they lack real world business education and experience. These same entrepreneurial-types virtually always over estimate sales and under estimate costs. They dont have a firm grip on management, marketing, advertising, human resources and accounting, law or finance. They have a lot to learn and will waste time and money on costly mistakes to gain hard learned and expensive lessons.

And the complexity of an idea kills many projects before they get off the ground. I have heard every business opportunity under the sun for manufacturing, distribution, retail sales, borderline scams and on and on and on and my conclusion is this:

KISSkeep it simple stupid. Keep you start up costs low and human resource requirements at a minimum. The more intellectual your product or service, the more involved you will be in the day to day grind of work product output. You want to be able to clone yourself. You want your business to be so simple a monkey could do it. Let me give a quick example: Lets say you want to set up a mortgage company. In this case, you have to know a lot about a lot and your staff will have to know a lot about a lot and these educated people are going to want a nice big fat juicy payroll. Whereas, a business like an oil change company hires people with little or no education to simply drain car oila monkey could do it! The result is a number of successful business franchises. Simple process, low paid employees.

Then I tell people, before you run off and look for your big success with a new idea stop and think about how you can make money doing something simple, something you can clone, something with low start up costs, something you can test quickly and easily. Something like; washing residential and commercial windows. Why window washing? Whats your up front start up costs? All you need to get started is a bucket, a squeegee and some cleaning fluid! Then, go sell. If you were the company washing all the commercial windows between Chicago and Detroit you would be a millionaire. And a monkey can do it.

The problem here is, like every business, making the sale. But remember something; if you create a new product or service, you will have to spend time educating people about your offer before you can sell it. Thats twice the work. Do something they are already familiar with–that way you can spend your time selling rather then educating and selling. Something like washing windows. I dont care what your business or idea may be; if you cant sell it, the project will fail.

This is why you need a plan. Do you want some free business coaching? Here it is, and it wont cost you a dime. Click the link belowget the Business Planning Ebook, its the best planning tool you will EVER find. I use it all the time. Thanks for reading and good luck!

We have a number of Free EBooks you can download at our site that is related to this article. Our site does not hyper-advertise at you to sell product. Our EBooks are high quality, powerful and worth your time.

Click the link below, go to the freebie section to get your Ebooks. This offer is an Ezine Article exclusive.

Copyright 2006
James W. Hart, IV
All Rights reserved

Author: Jim Hart
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Canada duty

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Starting Your New Business What Happens After The First Excitement Wears Off?

May 15

Posted by Lee Lister in business, business startup | No Comments

Youve got your business idea and enough money to get started everything started off well but now its less exciting and is getting more difficult to make those sales. So what do you do to make your business successful after the first enthusiasm starts to wear off?

Set yourself achievable targets and give yourself a small reward for achieving them be it a few hours off, a new gadget or a night out. Just because you are the boss does not mean that you dont need to be motivated.

Set yourself a working routine for the next three months make sure that you plan to take time off during this period at least a day a week. Review this at the end of the period and see if you can make improvements.

Dont let dejection set in or start procrastinating. Sometimes if things are not working right taking a break and coming back later seems to get things going well again! If things get too bad just set yourself one task and then congratulate yourself. Just keep your motivation high and enjoy being your own boss!

Review how much of your original business plans you have achieved and review your business plan and strategy for the next year.

Review your finances and plan how to improve your profit and turnover. Congratulate yourself if they have visibly improved in the last year.

Review your fulfillment processes thats how you get from taking an order to delivering your product and supporting your customers. Sketch the procedures down on paper and see if you can make them more efficient maybe quicker or cheaper to run. Have a look at your stock at the same time.

Make sure that you keep in contact with your old friends and set some time aside to network with new business friends. It is vital to keep your business flourishing as well as fun.

Believe in yourself and your business plans. After all if you have completed all the above tasks you know that your business is running as efficiently as possible!

Author: Lee Lister
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Duty tariff

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5 Rules to Reduce Risk When Starting a Business

Mar 31

Posted by admin in business, business startup, internet business, mindset, mitigating risk, strategies | No Comments

5 Rules to Reduce Risk When Starting a Business in the Other 8 Hours

By Robert Pagliarini

I have a metal paperweight on my desk with the inscription, “What would you do if you could not fail?” It’s a nice ornament with a feel good message, but it’s completely wrong and dangerous. Anybody can fail at anything. If you start a new venture without first thinking about and limiting risks, you can put your finances — and worse yet — your relationships in jeopardy. What starts as a way to build a dream life during the other 8 hours, become your own boss, or make a fortune can turn into a nightmare if you don’t limit your risk.

A better and more useful message would be, “What would you do if it didn’t matter if you failed?” To me, that’s much more realistic and powerful. Instead of taking a risk that could end in a cataclysmic strikeout, your goal is to limit the risk of financial catastrophe. This means containing projects so that a swing and a miss doesn’t have the potential to ruin your life.

Here are 5 rules to reduce risk when starting a business in the other 8 hours:

  • Get free help. You should enlist the support of others. Find service partners willing to invest their time a piece of the venture’s future income instead of upfront cash. The same person who would laugh you out of their office if you asked them for a $2,500 investment may gladly trade $2,500 of their services for a small piece of ownership in a promising new venture. Why? Like you, most people are looking for an opportunity to get ahead without risking too much. If someone can invest a little of their time with the hopes of making a huge return, they may jump at the chance.
  • Make small bets. In the investing world, everyone talks about risk tolerance — a measure that determines how psychologically comfortable you are with the possibility of losing money. This is good to know, but more critical is knowing your risk capacity — that is, how much money can you afford to lose without it destroying your finances and your ability to pay your rent? Start small and start slowly. Immediately committing thousands of dollars to an idea is as ridiculous as walking up to a girl you’ve never met and asking her to marry you. You need to put a little out there and get a little back. Then you can put a little more out there and hopefully get a little more back.
  • Negotiate fiercely. You must be relentless about getting what you need. You don’t have the luxury of a six-figure budget. You’ve got to get your ventures up and running as cheaply as you can. One way to minimize risk is to negotiate everything. Don’t accept anything as is. Negotiate discounts, concessions, bonuses, terms, etc. It will feel awkward at first, but keep practicing.
  • Limit liability. If you are producing a product or providing a service that could lead you to get sued, you must protect yourself against lawsuits by incorporating and by having the proper liability insurance. Don’t risk financial disaster by not shielding your personal assets from your business assets.
  • Keep your day job (at least for now). It’s important to have that steady and predictable income during the day while you swing for the fences at night.

Unless you’re sports-challenged, you know if you get three strikes you’re out. But what if that weren’t the case? What if you could swing and swing and swing without ever striking out? A swing and a miss is not a failure when you follow these rules. A swing is simply one swing closer to a hit.

You can download several free resources(assessment, poster, audio interview, video, and more) at www.other8hours.com and learn more about my new book, The Other 8 Hours: Maximize Your Free Time to Create New Wealth & Purpose.

Read More

* Bad Day? 5 Tips to Keep Your Motivation
* Is it Too Late to Improve Your Finances?
* Make Money From Your Hobbies

(Baseball image by Scott Ableman, CC 2.0)

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Are You Cut Out to be an Entrepreneur? Take This Test

Feb 20

Posted by admin in business, business startup, internet business, mindset | No Comments

By Sean Silverthorne

February 18th, 2010 @ 5:49 am

Although it is easy to glamorize the life of the entrepreneur — make your own hours, be your own boss — anyone who has tried it will tell you that starting your own business is one of the hardest things you can do.

Are you cut out for that life? This simple test may tell you all you need to know.

Developed by Babson College professor Daniel Isenberg, this 20-question quiz on HBR.org takes just a few minutes to complete. Here is a sample:

  1. I get an adrenaline rush from selling things.
  2. I have friends who run their own businesses.
  3. I don’t like being told what to do by people who are less capable than I am.
  4. People get excited by my ideas.
  5. I always look for new and better ways to do things.

Speaking of motivation, don’t expect entrepreneurship to be your path toward untold riches, Isenberg warns.

“All else being equal (and all else is rarely equal in the real world), on the average, people who set up their own businesses don’t make more money, although a few do succeed in grabbing the brass ring. But the ‘psychic benefits’ — the challenge, autonomy, recognition, excitement, and creativity — make it all worthwhile.

Take the test and come back here to tell us your next steps for opening your own business.

Keys to Success (Part One)

Feb 5

Posted by admin in business, business startup, internet business, investing, Leadership, mindset, mitigating risk, real estate, stocks, strategies, wealth | No Comments

“I do not have superior intelligence or faultless looks.  I do not captivate a room or run a mile under six minutes.  I only succeeded because I was still working after everyone else went to sleep.”
- Greg Evans

Why do some people ‘’make it” and others can’t?  What are the secrets to success?  Why didn’t all of that schooling teach you anything about money?  For the last 20 years, I have been observing and studying the lives of successful individuals and I have noticed some commonalities that may provide some insight for those of you looking to increase the odds of success in whatever endeavor you may be pursuing.  I will be talking about these insights in this series, which we at Black Swan Management, LLC like to call The Keys to Success.

Anthony Sills, CEO
Think about the last time you really accomplished something big . . . what was it? Why were you successful?

Some people believe that success is really about being in the right place at the right time, and they’re (kind of) right. But that’s not really success; it’s more of a mirage.  Successful people are in the right place at the right time…but not by accident.

Everyone wants success, but few find it.

Each year hundred books are published about your lack of success. And each year these books promise to get you on the right track for a life of achievement. Millions are spent on training materials, seminars, and courses. And while some are no doubt beneficial (I have read hundreds of these books and gone through dozens of these courses personally), much of the information is destined to collect dust on a shelf in the closet or to be sold as a used book at a garage sale for most people.

And the majority of the people who buy these programs and literature fail. Why?

They want to be successful….just not bad enough.

Think about it.  If you ask 100 people if they would like to be a millionaire, or if they would like a new car, many of them will say ‘yes’ but if you ask the same 100 people if they would be willing to work an extra ten hours a week to get that $1M or that new car, how many would say ‘yes’?

There is no ‘silver bullet’ to achieving your goals.  The real difference between those who ‘make it’ and those who don’t is HARD WORK.  The love of what you do, combined with your belief in what you do, will not determine your success. It will determine how hard you will work and how dedicated you will be to achieve it. Success just shows up from there.  Here are some suggestions from your friends here at Black Swan Management, LLC to get you started on your journey of personal development—and remember, the keys to success are hard work, belief in yourself and your abilities, persistence, and the determination to succeed!

  • You’re never done learning and school is NOT your only teacher. Most successful individuals are lifelong students.  What do they study?  Their craft, human nature, the world around them, history, business strategy, communication skills, and more.  If you are committed to achieving big things in your life you must also commit to staying abreast of developments in your field and learning how to be successful.  It wouldn’t hurt to know more than your competition either.  Comedian, Chris Rock only has a G.E.D. but he reads several newspapers every day.  Maybe that’s how someone with a high school education became one of the most successful (political) comedians.  If you think you’re not smart enough or you think you learned it all in school consider what Jim Rohn says:  “Formal education will make you a living. Self education will make you a fortune.”
  • Accept responsibility for your own success. Many people believe they deserve rewards before they’ve proven themselves through performance.  In fact, very few people accept personal responsibility for their success.  If you aren’t where you want to be in life ask yourself ‘why not?’  It’s not your spouse’s fault, your employer’s fault, or your family’s fault.  If you aren’t living the life you want to live it is no one’s fault but your own.  When you accept this universal law and come to terms with its implications, you will be light years ahead of where you are today.  Take a few minutes and think about problems you face in your life.  How many of them have you been blaming on other people?  Stop being a victim.  Grow up.  Take charge of your life and assume responsibility for your success and happiness.
  • Learn how to live with risk. I do not know anyone who has succeeded who has not been able to assess and take a risk and then live with the consequence – success or failure. Risk avoidance is a sure way to remain mediocre; being safe does not promote personal growth. Failure or making a mistake is not a bad thing; it’s proof you were exploring new ways to do something, and that’s better than safe success. We learn from our mistakes, not our successes. Really creative people embrace risk. They can sustain a high level of ambiguity; they do not need to know where they are. They do not mind being lost, for they call it just taking the longer, more interesting way around.
  • Persistence, Persistence, Persistence. Even when you don’t know how you will achieve your goal you must keep pressing forward.  Nothing says persistence like Ray Kroc, the kitchen wares salesman who in 1954, at age 52 and in poor health, began a new age in franchising, changed the American landscape, and, for better or worse, diets in much of the world.  If you don’t know, Kroc is the entrepreneur who became the national franchising agent for McDonald’s (which had one location at the time) and developed the system that would enable McDonald’s to expand worldwide. Missing the point?  Ray Kroc was no spring chicken when he began this phase of his career.  Many people doubted him.  He had disagreements with business partners, problems with franchisees, and many other challenges as he pursued his goal.  Did he quit? Of course not.  Today, McDonalds is the single largest owner of real estate in the world. It owns more property than the Catholic Church.  McDonald’s also serves more than 47 million customers each day all around the world! 
  • Discipline yourself to save money, even on the most modest salary. You will never ‘make it’ if you don’t have discipline.  And you will never become a successful entrepreneur, investor, or business owner if you can’t manage your money.  We at Black Swan Management, LLC believe wholeheartedly that one of the major keys to success is saving a portion of your income, even if it seems like such a small amount it won’t make a difference.  As The Richest Man In Babylon teaches us, a part of all you earn is yours to keep.  If you don’t save money, you are working for others, not for yourself.  Not to mention, you will be at the mercy of circumstance and other people which is a rough road to travel.

We’ll be discussing more tips and techniques for personal development and being successful in Part Two of The Keys to Success but for now just remember that, as Jim Rohn  says, “When you know what you want, and you want it badly enough, you’ll find a way to get it.”

About the Author

Anthony Sills, M.B.A. formerly traded FOREX from the Atlanta Financial Center and has worked for stock advisory services, brokerages, Fortune 100 companies, and national banks. Mr. Sills is currently a licensed loan officer and freelance writer. You can reach him at anthony@BlackSwanManagementLLC.com.

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Small Business Owners, Investors, and Entrepreneurs–Don’t wait for Washington!

Feb 1

Posted by admin in business, business startup, internet business, investing, mitigating risk, real estate, Uncategorized | No Comments

Don’t wait for Washington!

The future of health reform legislation is increasingly unclear. While the debate continues, you need to TAKE ACTION to protect your health and financial future by finding new coverage today. Benefit from partnering with the nation’s leading online source of health insurance for individuals, families, and small businesses. eHealthInsurance (NASDAQ: EHTH) has established relationships with over 160 health insurance carriers and offers more than 7,000 health insurance products online. eHealthInsurance is the ONLY site that allows a consumer to view quotes, compare plans side-by-side and apply for health insurance – all online with their eSign technology – greatly reducing the time to wait for a response from a carrier. Through the company’s website, http://www.eHealthInsurance.com , consumers can get quotes from leading health insurance carriers, compare plans side by side, and apply for and purchase health insurance. eHealthInsurance offers thousands of health plans underwritten by more than 180 of the nation’s leading health insurance companies. eHealthInsurance is an online marketplace licensed to sell health insurance in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, making it an excellent model for successful, high-functioning health insurance exchange

Did you know that:

1) Health care is more expensive when you’re uninsured

Uninsured people are charged full price for medical services and don’t receive the discounts negotiated by the insurance carriers.

2) Emergency Rooms aren’t a good fallback plan

If you’re uninsured, an E.R. must treat your immediate needs (for a cost). However, you may find it difficult to obtain subsequent treatment such as surgery and physical therapy.*

3) Medical bills are a leading cause of personal bankruptcy

Over 60% of personal bankruptcies in the United States are related to overwhelming medical bills. A good health insurance plan can help limit your exposure to the crippling medical costs that can come from an unexpected injury or illness.**

4) It can cost less than you think

Upon taking a closer look at health insurance prices, many people may learn that it costs MUCH less than they thought. For example, in many parts of the country, coverage for people under 30 can cost less than $3.00 a day.***

5) You can cancel anytime

There is no annual commitment, so you are free to find a different plan at any time.****

In fact, eHealthInsurance offers:

*Access to thousands of health insurance plans from leading companies nationwide

*Free instant quotes, comparison tools and online applications

*The ability to search plans by doctors across insurance companies

*Unbiased, professional advice from licensed agents

If you’re a small business owner, check out the Small Business Group Plans. If you’ve never heard of eHealthInsurance, by all means, do your homework. What you’ll probably discover is that:

*Kiplinger named eHealthInsurance.com the best website for health insurance quotes in the December 2009 issue of Kiplinger’s Personal Finance magazine.

*eHealthInsurance was named to the Best List in the same category in 2007 and 2008.

*eHealthInsurance offers the largest selection of health plans. Compare & Apply Online, Free instant quotes, Best prices, and Live help!

Get a FREE quote TODAY!

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***Based on a survey of the most affordable health insurance options available as quoted on ehealthinsurance.com on 01/11/10 for non-smoking 25-year-old males and females in the following states: AZ, CA, FL, GA, IL, IN, MI, MO, NC, OH, PA, TX, VA, WA. Does not apply to residents of New York, NY and Trenton, NJ.
****Subject to the terms and conditions of the plan’s cancellation policy.

About the Author

Anthony Sills, M.B.A. formerly traded FOREX from the Atlanta Financial Center and has worked for stock advisory services, brokerages, Fortune 100 companies, and national banks. Mr. Sills is currently a licensed loan officer and freelance writer. You can reach him at anthony@professionalpenwriters.com. Mr. Sills has been published in various trade journals and newsletters, writes regularly for BestGolfWebsite.com and BetterCredit101.com, and is a ghostwriter for several small business owners and professionals. You can reach him at anthony@professionalpenwriters.com

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