Posts Tagged ‘com’

Why Your Business Plan Won’t Make You Rich Or Famous

June 27th, 2011

Searching Amazon.com for business plan books provides over 36,000 results. Few other areas of the business section in Borders is so crowded. Why is this? I believe it is because somehow business owners think that if they have a good enough business plan, they can convince investors to give them money and make their business successful.

Entrepreneurs just like you are constantly seeking the silver bullet of “the perfect business plan” that will get them financing and bring them to the promised land of business fortunes. I have some bad news for you if that is what you are looking for. A plan, no matter how good it is, will not make you rich or successful.

If running a successful business was as easy as writing a plan, very few businesses would fail. Current statistics show that the more than half of all new businesses fail in their first two or three years. This is not news. The majority of businesses have been failing since the first owner put out a shingle. Why? Bad ideas? Bad execution? Some of both? We do not always know.

What we do know is no business ever failed because it did not have a business plan. A plan on its own has little value. What is valuable, though, is the process of writing a business plan. Writing a business plan forces you to put into words all of the ideas and concepts of your business. It leads you to examine your financing, marketing, competition, strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT). This excellent process will increase your chances of having a long-term successful business. That is what you are really looking for. If you have that, investors are easy to find.

Comments Off »

Posted in Uncategorized

Tags:

Cool Business Ideas for Teenagers

May 22nd, 2011

Most people stereotype teenagers as people who are happy go lucky however a good number of them would like to have their own business. According to a survey, 8 to 21 year olds are dreaming of becoming an entrepreneur one day. They think that becoming involved in business is preferable rather than pursuing a career. There are some organizations that are helping young people from low income communities to start their own business. Although young children lack the experience compared to older people, it is best to start early so they can acquire knowledge over a period of time. For teenagers, there are business ideas suitable to them.

They should stick with businesses that require little capital. The good news is that there are business ideas that require little start up cost. The internet is one of the places to do so. Lawn care can start with existing tools found in the home. In venturing in the internet business, it only takes less than $50 to do so. This would include domain registration and hosting charges. There are many affiliate programs that they could join or they could use their talent on writing or web designing. They could utilize amazon.com or ebay.com if they want to sell their own products.

Teenagers should start a business that focuses on their strength. There are some businesses wherein teenagers can be successful compared to adults. This actually includes services related to computer, gadgets and of course the internet. With the knowledge that they have, teenagers can actually think about new products and services. They can also think about things that target people in their age bracket. Because they knew the market very well, the insight is so valuable. The opportunities and the needs of their market are targeted which gives them leverage. Teenagers also have the ability to compete for price.

Since they are living with their parents, they don’t think about expenses. This can able them to charge very low. Still they can still profit from their business. For those young entrepreneurs out there, it is important to do research especially in creating business plan which is so essential. There are specific business ideas that are perfect for teenagers. Website development is something that can be learned by everyone. There are thousands of companies all over the world who are seeking to outsource this kind of work. People can make about hundred dollars an hour creating websites.

For young people who are social networking savvy, online marketing is something that they can venture into. It is easy to learn this kind of job and a lot of companies want their website to be optimized. The pay is good especially when there is a result from the marketing effort. There are adults who don’t know anything about computer. They can start a business that diagnoses computer problems. This is lucrative but with less start up cost. They can sell items ranging from books, clothes and other stuff. Other services like lawn mowing and baby sitting are common as well.

Comments Off »

Posted in Uncategorized

Tags:

Small Business Marketing Ideas – Five Low Cost Ways to Get the Word Out Fast

May 15th, 2011

Do you want to get the word out fast? Whether you are planning a special event, a teleseminar, or just want to tell people about your new book or product, you want as many people as possible to find out about it, and as quickly as possible. Read on for some online methods to get the word out — for little or no cost.

1. Send a Online Press Release

Online press releases are the key to fast publicity. Your news does not have to be momentous to qualify for a press release, though you do have to have a news angle. An event is a news angle, but the more it fits in with something else in the current news, the better.

You have the choice between premium online press release sites, like prweb.com and prnewswire.com, and budget priced press release sites. Of the budget priced ones, by far the best is webwire.com where you can get your release published for $19.

As well, you can even send out press releases for free. There are dozens that offer that service, though most of them try to upgrade you to paid status. The free sites work best if you send your press release to at least a dozen of different ones.

2. Tweet Your News (with an incentive)

If you have a lot of Twitter followers, you can also get great results by tweeting your news. This works best if you create a gift that you offer your followers in exchange for checking out your news. Either that, or send them to a compelling article that gives them some real value in addition to your news.

The reason for the incentive is that it will inspire your followers to retweet your tweets, which will help spread the news far beyond the reaches of your own followers.

3. Facebook Fan Pages

Set up a Facebook Fan Page for your business — or your newly launched line of products or services, or big event. Then work at gather friends. This has to be done in advance, just as you have to build up your following on Twitter in advance.

Then, a couple of weeks before your event or launch, start sending out notices about it, with pieces of valuable information, or maybe the same incentive you offered on Twitter.

4. LinkedIn Events

You can also promote your events on LinkedIn. That’s a great way to build your visibility within the LinkedIn community. Especially when you offer services to businesses or professionals, this will help you get qualified visitors to your website and event. When you post an event all your contact will get a notice which makes it easy for them to share the news to their contacts with just one click.

5. Other Social Networks

There are more social networks beyond the top three above. Like Biznik and Ryze. Ryze is a particularly friendly one — focused primarily though not exclusively on women. There are many different networks within Ryze, and you can join as many as you like.

Of course there are even more places where you can get the word out, starting with your own blog, and with publishing articles. There are also a few teleseminar announcement services, plus other places where you can advertise events, including usfreeads.com, craigslist.org, and the online versions of various newspapers.

For best results, start with online press releases, and then work on social media – building up your Twitter followers and Facebook fan base, and get involved in LinkedIn, Biznik and Ryze or other networks of your choice. When you do that, you’ll soon have lots of people you can contact once you’re ready to announce your news.

Comments Off »

Posted in Uncategorized

Tags: