Posts Tagged ‘Business’

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Steps to Starting a Small Business

Friday, May 8th, 2009

What are the necessary steps to starting a small business? What are the things you need to take into account before launching into your entrepreneurship adventure as a small business owner? Starting a small business requires determination, motivation, and know-how. This post does not promise to provide an exhaustive discuss of a successful small business startup. Instead, a concise checklist of the critical steps you need for a successful business launch will be provided with links to articles that gives details of each issue raised.

Choose a Small Business Idea to implement –  You can’t be a jack of all trade in business. Trying to do multiple things and calling yourself a general contractor is not the way to go. Even though there are multitudes of business opportunities, you only need one to succeed. If you are confused on how to create a business idea, read 10 tips for creating business ideas. If you have several and you don’t know how to choose, read Small Business Opportunity. The major factor is for you to determine where your passions lie and do what you enjoy doing as business. Of course that must be aligned with the changing reality in the industry you want to operate in. You should be out to serve others, not to please yourself! Money follows service, not pleasure.

Choosing the Legal Form Of Business – Deciding on the legal form of your business is not a decision to be taken lightly. Whether you choose to run a sole proprietorship, enter into partnership with another entrepreneur or form a corporation; your choice must be made with carefulness. This is because the business structure you choose will have an impact on your business and personal liability, how easy you’ll be able to raise fund as well as what your tax liabilities will be. If you ask for my candid opinion, I will advise you to incorporate your business, my reason for that can be found in a previous post I made, Incorporate Your Business.

Name Your Business – You need to give your business a name that project the right image. The name should be such that will not only distinguish you from others, but such that is easy to remember. Avoid names that are too long or complicated to pronounce. Remember word of mouth marketing is still about the most effective marketing strategy for any business. If your customer can’t remember your business name, something is wrong. If they find it difficult to pronounce it, because it is tongue twisting, then you have a problem.

Develop a Business Plan – A business plan is the blueprint or roadmap that shows how you intend to implement your business vision successfully. It should take note of the nature of the industry you wish to work in, set strategies for handling competitors and spell out the various resources that you will need to invest in the business. Remember those who fail to plan have already planned to fail. Don’t carry your business plan in your head, commit it into writing no matter how small the business is.

Get Startup Capital – The fund for startup is a critical issue to be decided upon carefully. If you are a newbie entrepreneur, I will advise that you avoid as much as possible, the temptation of taking a small business loan from either the government or your banker. You are better off raising soft-loans from several friends and relatives. My reason for this is because the probability of you loosing part or all of your startup capital is very high. Lack of experience is a serious challenge to newbie entrepreneurs, so start small with capital you can loose without going bankrupt.

Select a business location – If you are starting off in your home, then this may not be an issue (depending on the kind of business anyway). When choosing a business location, you need to take into account accessibility to your suppliers and clients. You may need a business mentor to assist you in choosing a good business location.

Get necessary business licenses and permits – Before launching out, it is necessary you get familiar with the government requirement for the kind of business you wish to engage in. ensure you get all the various licenses and permits that are statutorily required for you to operate the business. Playing ignorant in this area can be disastrous. Remember, being ignorance of the law is no excuse from jail term. Getting the necessary paperwork sorted out is always cheaper than hiring a lawyer to prove that you didn’t mean to break the law.

Establish an Accounting System – No matter how small your business is, right from day one, you need to keep accurate record of every transaction. You may not need a professional accountant to keep your day to day record, but you need one to advise you on the kind of record you need to keep so that you don’t get yourself into trouble with the Tax authorities in your locality. If you can’t afford to pay one, make friend with one and ask for his/her assistance. It can be heart breaking when you loose all your earnings or get yourself a jail term just because you fail to handle your Tax matter the way it ought to be. Never be penny wise pound foolish.

Insure Your Business – Wise entrepreneurs share risk. Why must you carry all the risk all by yourself? For a token amount paid periodically, you can share the risks associated with your business with an insurance company. No bother prays for disaster or law-suit, but it does happen. It is better to prepare than to be caught unaware.

Start Your Own Small Business Now!

Now you can’t claim any longer that you don’t know how to start your own small business. This post, has outline in a concise manner all that you need to start your own small business. You can get future updates to steps to starting a small business by subscribing to my RSS feed, that will also provide you more tips on starting up, staying competitive, and taking your small business to the next level.

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Posted in Entrepreneur, small business | 25 Comments »

Small Business Opportunity

Wednesday, April 29th, 2009

Which Small Business Opportunity is right for me?

You know quite well that a small business opportunity discovered and well executed is actually the only thing you need to turn your fortune around! Afterall, several successful entrepreneurs have testified that the first one million dollar is the hardest to make. So we know that we need just the right business opportunity which if well executed has the potential to launch us into wealth. Unfortunately, even though there are several small business opportunities around, you can’t get involve in all. Yes that is the dilemma. Lack of time, money and other resources will make it impossible for you to try out all the beautiful money making ideas that you fantasize with in your imagination 😉

Due to the present global economic crash, those who were satisfied with working for salary before now are beginning to reconsider their stance on starting a small business. Several of my friend who used to make fun of me when I tell them that it is possible to run an internet based business alongside a paid job are now getting interested. Instead of browsing and spending time on social network sites chatting with strangers, they have now made the search engines their best friend. They spend hours searching online for an internet business opportunity that will be suitable for them. Unfortunately, such effort produces poor results.

The singular reason why many are yet to start their own business is because they have no clue where to start from. Some on the other hand do have a clue, because they have bought and read books on small business ideas or home business ideas. You must have come across such books. The title usually goes thus, 101 Small Business Opportunities (since this title is not yet in existence, I guess I should write an e-book and give it that title). They were all excited while reading the book, and one will naturally expect them to start a small business once they finished. Well that is not usually the result. Many actually become paralysed after reading such books. The fear of failure keeps them back from taking action. If you have been considering starting your own business for more than 3months, you can be assured that it is either you are afraid of failure or you are suffering from information overload. Information overload is the second major hindrance to starting a small business.

How  Successful Entrepreneurs select business opportunities

Since there are several businesses one could venture into that do not require much capital and investment. The best small business startup strategy is Take Action Now!

1. Make a List – Make a list of at least ten of the common small business ideas you know of. There are business ideas and opportunities all around. If you are determined a little creativity is all it takes to succeed. When writing your list, don’t discard any business opportunity as being too small, because what you consider insignificant may end up as the best business opportunity. Some folks have become extremely wealthy by starting businesses that people considered stupid or unprofitable! Also, it is okay to include the idea of purchasing a small business franchise. It is not compulsory that you must invent your own small business from scratch.

2. Use Your Passion As Criteria For Small Business Idea Selection – Study the list carefully and strike out those you are least passionate about. You cannot be successful if you choose to run with a business idea that you hate. Successful entrepreneurs become successful running businesses they are passionate about. When you are passionate about a business vision, work suddenly becomes pleasure. The joy of seeing the progress being made by the business gives you the motivation you need to succeed. It is not all about money! Remember, if you provide services passionately, profit will follow you naturally and you will become wealthy! So your list must be founded on your passion, not what you consider as being the most lucrative business ideas!

3. Select 3 Small Business Idea For Further Research – Next select the best three ideas you feel you are most passionate about. Use your imagination to look into the future, at least 12months from the present. Will you still be enthusiastic working on any of these business ideas? Are you so passionate about any of them that you will continue working to see it succeed even when nobody is there to encourage you? This is the way to sieve the ideas.

4. Get Advice From Experienced Entrepreneurs – Visit successful entrepreneurs who are already implementing those ideas. (It is wise to go out of your locality so that the entrepreneur will not be afraid of you becoming his next competitor). If possible, chat with at least two entrepreneur for each business ideas you have selected. You will be surprise at the amount of information you will gather from such interviews. This singular step will save you a lot of pain in terms of fund, time and energy that would have been wasted due to your lack of business experience.

5.Pick Your First Small Business Risky Adventure! – Life is all about risk. So  face it. Tell yourself the truth, I wan to take a risk because refusal to deliberately and wisely take a risk at succeeding is itself a bad risk! Select a business opportunity to start with based on the tips garnered from your discussion with those entrepreneurs. You are not just taking a risk by so doing, instead you are doing what every successful entrepreneur does all the time. We take intelligent business risk based on quality information and experience gained from the past.

6. Get An Initial Capital – Get an amount you know you can afford to loose without going bankrupt. Don’t go for small business loan or empty your life savings. That will be a foolish thing to do.  Taking business risk is not the same thing as gambling or playing lottery.  Invest that into the idea you have selected and kick-off.

7.Get a business mentor – It will be nice if you can ask one of the entrepreneurs you interviewed to act as your business mentor. If you can’t get one of them, then get someone online to act as your business mentor. The fellow must be a successful entrepreneur, but not necessarily one that is in the same kind of business that you have ventured into.

8. Document Your Business Adventure – In conclusion I will suggest that you keep a personal journal where you will keep details of your business adventure for the first six months. Write down your experiences during this period. Record things that helped along the way and things that brought frustrations. Take note of business and personal decisions that work and those that got you into trouble. That journal will serve as a very useful business reference material (more valuable than books written by others on business strategies) in your future business adventures.

Start Your Own Small Business Now!

Ok, enough of the theory, get up NOW and take action! That is the only way to succeed. As you make progress with your small business opportunity, kindly return here (Nigerian Entrepreneur) to share your experience with us in the comment section. You can get future updates to this post and other Small business tips by subscribing to my RSS feed. See you at the top!

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Posted in Entrepreneur, Investing | 61 Comments »

Email Marketing

Wednesday, April 15th, 2009

What is email marketing?

Email marketing simply put is the use of Email (Electronic Mail) for marketing. It is a form of direct marketing strategy whereby a marketer or advertiser communicates information to current or potential customers. Email marketing is one of the oldest online marketing strategies that successful entrepreneurs employ in acquiring and retaining customers for their businesses. Email marketing, has been and will continue to be for a long while, an effective marketing tool.

There are different types of Emails and marketers send them for different reasons. For example advertising messages inserted as footnotes in ordinary emails. You find a lot of such short advertisements you in emails sent to you by friends especially those using free services like Yahoo, Hotmail etc. Many corporate organizations also add little advertisements as auto-signatures to their corporate emails.

Email Marketing Strategies

The various types of Emails and their goals can be easily classified as follows:

1. Direct Email – This involves sending a promotional message to customers or prospects. For example, an announcement of special sales.

2. Retention Email – These are emails meant to retain and encourage customers loyalty. They usually take the form of regular emails and are popularly refer to as newsletters. A newsletter even though it may carry promotional messages focuses on providing value to the recipient in the form of valuable information or entertainment. Its main goal is to establish a long-term relationship between the entrepreneur and the recipient.

3. Rented Email List – Sometimes, online marketers rent other peoples email list for their advertisement. For example, an entrepreneur who is just starting can put his advertisement in another online marketers Newsletter in other to reach a wider audience than he could possibly do by starting his own newsletter. There are many well established online marketers that sell advertisement space in their newsletter to other entrepreneurs.Emails composed and sent with the purpose of establishing, fostering, retaining or encouraging customer loyalty or patronage.

In several corporate organizations, email marketing is preferred to orthodox marketing tools such as Direct Mailing, Print Newsletter and Placing of advertisements in subscription magazines and newspapers. The reason for the preference is not far-fetched.

Benefits of Email Marketing

1. It provides an entrepreneur the ability to communicate with a large audience at a relatively low cost.

2. The entrepreneur has the opportunity to communicate specific details to a targeted audience.

3. The delivery time is short.

4. The effect or performance of the email marketing campaign can easily be tracked.

5. Unlike a website that requires the audience to visit, Email marketing delivers the message to the audience.

6. More than half of internet users spend more time checking their Emails than any other activity online.

7. It affords the entrepreneur the opportunity to interact with potential customers. Messages can be structured in such a way that upon request by a potential customer, a predetermined series of responses are delivered automatically to the potential customer.

So what’s holding people back from using Email Marketing?

1. It takes some effort to design captivating email messages. Crappy email advertisements or newsletters don’t produce results.

2. It takes some effort to ensure that your email is actually delivered to the intended recipients. Email marketing is the most abused form of online marketing campaign. So there are lots of software that have been created to ensure that unsolicited emails, SPAM, don’t reach the intended recipients. We will talk more about this later.

3. It takes some effort to track the performance of email marketing campaigns. As an entrepreneur, you need to know for certain the return on investment from the marketing campaign. You want to know if the emails were actually read by the recipients.

4. Finally there is the danger of violating spam laws such as the United States CAN-SPAM (Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act) and the European Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003.

So, what can an online marketer do? If the Email Marketing System provides such fantastic benefits, there must be a way to overcome those hurdles. Well, there is a way.

Opt-In Email Marketing System

The Opt-In Email Marketing System provides ready solution for each of those hurdles listed above while retaining all the benefits of a traditional Email Marketing System.

Opt-In Email Marketing is a system whereby potential email recipients are requested to give permission that commercial emails should be forwarded to them from an online marketer. The email recipients will be requested via an opt-in form (squeeze webpage) to voluntarily fill in their names and email address in order to be added to the mail list of the online marketer. Once such request is made via the opt-in form, a confirmation link will be sent in an email to the email address filled into the opt-in form. The email will request that the recipient confirm that he or she requested to be added to the email list. If the confirmation link is not clicked by the recipient, no further emails will be sent to that particular email address. However, if the confirmation link is click, then the recipient will be added to the marketer’s email list for future correspondence.

The Opt-In Email Marketing System eliminates the issue of your emails being considered SPAM. Also, the Opt-In Email Marketing System ensures that each email sent to customers have embedded an unsubscribe link that will enable the recipient unsubscribe from the mail list. I recommend that you use an Opt-In Email Marketing System provided by a reputable company like Aweber or Getresponse. Even though the service will cost you money, it is better than getting involved in a lawsuit for unsolicited email.

Two Quick Tips For Your Email Marketing Campaign Startup

To avoid getting your Email Marketing Campaign classified as crappy because of poor design or message, get a reliable professional copy-writer to design each email message. He will ensure that the design and content of the email message is professionally done. That will reduce to the barest minimum the risk of your Marketing Emails being deleted without being read by the recipients.

Secondly, get the service of a reliable firm like Aweber or GetResponse to handle the delivery and tracking of your email marketing campaign. They will ensure that your email marketing campaign will be based on Opt-In Email Marketing System.

Ok, the post is getting too long. I will stop here for now and continue the discussion in future posts. If you have any comment or question, please drop it in the comment section. You can get free future updates and more tips on Email Marketing by subscribing to my RSS Feed. It is based on an Opt-In Email Marketing System. You can be assured that you will never get an unsolicited email from me. Cheers 😉

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Posted in Entrepreneur, Investing | 15 Comments »

Online Business Ideas

Thursday, April 9th, 2009

What Online Business should I Start, please I need Ideas?

Does that question sound familiar? Of course, that is the question so many folks are asking. The most common request new entrepreneurs make online is suggestion on profitable online business ideas to start. The forums and social network websites are full of such requests . Millions of internet users are searching online for business ideas that they can implement to generate residual income. Online businesses seems to be coping better during this economic recession than the traditional businesses. Well, that is my personal observation, let’s get back to the aim of this post. I intend to share with you some hot online business ideas you can implement.

Starting An Online Business

Online Business Ideas

The beauty of some of these ideas is that they can actually be run as internet home based business. That is not to imply that they are  meant for work at home mummies alone or the unemployed. It will do no harm if you have some extra bucks beside the fixed income from your  paid job. Some of these ideas  can actually be developed into small online businesses that are capable of recruiting staff (that means, you can eventually Fire Your Boss and Hire Yourself Some Staff!). Some of the internet marketers currently making waves online started their business from their homes. Their first staff were members of their immediate family who lend helping hand out of solidarity. You can achieve the same feat! You heard me right, you too can become a successful entrepreneur, an employer of labor.

I’ve come across several internet marketers promising to sell 101 hot ideas on online business or best online business ideas for some dollars. If you are not too lazy to do a little research online yourself, you can do without those packages. I can authoritatively say that you do not need so many internet home business ideas, you only need one good online business idea and the sheer determination to turn your dream to reality. Of course your passion as an individual is what determines the best internet business you should start. I addressed this issue in  a post, The Best Online Business To Start.

I also wish to disabuse your mind from assuming that the only successful online business idea is that of becoming an affiliate marketer or earning peanuts via Google Adsense placed on some crappy website (I don’t mean to be rude, just trying to drive the point home). Beside affiliate marketing and Google Adsense there are other great online business ideas that you can implement as a newbie entrepreneur. My personal policy is to engage in any legitimate online business that will give me residual income. I am careful to only implement ideas that can run as a system without me being tied down. I don’t want another job. I want a business that runs on its own. So, I avoid crazy online business ideas that aims at turning human beings to clicking or surfing robots. Sitting behind a screen and clicking for hours just to generate $5 dollars is a stupid online business idea as far as I’m concerned. Look at it this way, how many clicks will it take for you to generate $100,000 per year? If the answer is mind boggling, then it is a pointer that it is not the right online business strategy for you to implement.

Ok, enough of the ramblings, lets look at some top online business ideas for you to kick start your entrepreneurs journey. They may not be rated as the best online business ideas and opportunities, but you can be rest assured that anyone with access to the internet and a little determination can use any of these ideas to build a home based business or a part-time business that has the potential of recruiting staff in the nearest future. Note, these are not new online business ideas, but they have been tested and proven by veteran internet marketers and webpreneurs.

10 Online Business Ideas

1. Online Secretary – You can offer services as a virtual secretary to busy executives.

2. Online Tutoring / Internet Trainer – Online Tutor and trainers are becoming common.

3. Online Desktop Publishing – A little knowledge of word processing and one or two graphic software will put you into business.

4. Infopreneur – You can package information and sell online to people who need such information. That is what ebooks are all about.

5. Online Consultant – Are you a professional? Expert in a particular field? Turn your years of experience into a money minting machine by providing consultancy online.

6. Online Unique Party Organiser – Hey, some of us are not just good in getting things organized. If you are a good planner, you can offer your service for money.

7. Website Designing – Get in touch with the owner of crappy websites and offer to redesign for them at a cheaper rate. You can get serious jobs if you can package a presentation to convince those entrepreneurs that are yet internet shy to establish an online presence for their business.

8. Internet Researcher – you may not believe it, but some folks consider Googling as too much work. If you love searching for information online like  Shelock Holmes (a freelance detective 😉 ) this business idea will suit you.

9. Online Book-keeping Services – Are you a trained book-keeper or accountant? You can help many folks that are getting into trouble with the Tax Authority as a result of muddled up books. You can employ the use of telephone calls, instant messenger and email to get their transaction details while you prepare a professional book of account for them for a fee.

10. Ebay Seller – Do I need to explain this? You or someone close to you must have bought something from EBay before. Go into your attic and look around, you will be surprised that there are items lying down there that you can sell for some little money on Ebay. By the time you exhaust that, you can go to GrandMa or Friends Attics and help them dispose off (at a profit to yourself) all those old toys, books, magazine, music CD/DVD etc.

This post is getting too long, so I have to stop here. I’m planning to give greater details on how to implement some of the online business ideas mentioned above in my subsequent posts. However, if you love playing Shelock Holmes, you can get information by conducting a little research on any of them using the free search engine, Google! I encourage you to bookmark this page to Delicious so that you can return to it later. You can get the future updates to this post Online Business Ideas by subscribing to my RSS feed. The subscription is free. I look forward to feedback from you through comments. If you need any assistance don’t hesitate to make a request. See you at the top. Cheers.

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Posted in Entrepreneur, Investing | 73 Comments »

How To Hire The Ideal Employee

Tuesday, March 3rd, 2009

Every serious entrepreneur desires an employee that does more than he is paid to do. As business expands, even a solo-entrepreneur will be forced to engage at least an extra hand to cope with the demands of the business. Often time, this task is not as easy as it seems. If you understand the fact that an organization is only as good as its employees, then you will be careful who you engage to help you run your business.

Who is an ideal Employee?

The question is best answer with an illustration. I will use a story I got from a friend sometime ago. I can’t remember the actual source so I don’t know who to give the credit. If you know the original author, I will be glad to append the credit in an update.

THE RESULTS OF INITIATIVES

Some years ago, three brothers left he farm to work in the city. They were all hired by the same company at the same pay. Three years later, Jim was being paid $500 a month, Frank was receiving $1,000, but George was now making $1,500.

Their father decided to visit the employer and find out the basis for the difference in pay. The employer listened to the confused father and said, “I will let the boys explain for themselves”. (more…)

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Posted in Entrepreneur, Investing | 4 Comments »

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