Are you leaning towards starting your very own small business? Then, consider these business ideas:

1. Online jobs. If you want to make money at the comforts of your own home, I recommend that you find business that you can operate online. Depending on your skills and expertise, you can offer SEO, ghostwriting, link building, and website creation services. You really don’t need much to get started in this endeavor. All you need aside from the required know-how is a reliable computer and internet connection.

2. Specialty store. You may also opt to set up your own specialty store. When deciding on the items to sell, I recommend that you consider the things that you do best or your hobbies. If you are into water sports, you can sell snorkeling gears, scuba diving tools and equipments, and swimming lessons. It’s important that your business is aligned to your areas of interest so you will wake up each morning excited to go to work.

3. Franchising opportunities. If you don’t want to spend time and energy on thinking about products that will sell like hotcakes and if you don’t want to struggle building customer base, franchising is perfect for you.

4. Massage parlor and spa. More and more people are now rewarding themselves with spa and massage after a long day at work. You can take advantage of this demand by setting up your own massage parlor and spa. Just make sure that you offer something different to easily get ahead of your competitors like home service or week day promos.

Financial Advice

The dream of running a small business is something that many people wish they could attain. The idea of being their own boss and having things done the way they want is a goal for many people. However, this dream is not something many people will ever achieve or attain. In addition, many of those who do try will ultimately fail according to statistics.

So if you are still set on the idea of running your own business just remember it is not a simple goal to achieve. You truly need to do your homework before ever attempting to start a small business.

Two important tips I learned:

1. Talk with a small business attorney to make sure you do not get yourself into a lease for a building or equipment that puts your personal finances at risk. Many people rush into their business ventures without understanding the risk.

2. Just because you create an S-Corporation for your small business does not mean your personal finances will be protected if your business goes bad. Many times as a sole owner of a small business you will have to personally guarantee a lease for property or equipment. This is why it is important to get the proper legal advice before ever signing any kind of lease. Leases are completely negotiable so make sure you are not getting stuck with a bad lease.

So the bottom line is starting a small business may sound like fun, but it is also a huge financial risk. Remember most small business ventures fail within the first year.

For more information please visit: www.lucky-dog-investing.com/small-business-investing.html and www.lucky-dog-investing.com/investing-in-a-hobby.html

Show My Shots

When you are choosing among the small business ideas, and looking for the one that is best for you, be sure to look at the long-term possibilities for you new business. While you are in control of the growth and may want to keep the business small, it would be nice to have an option if you should change your mind and decide to spread your wings.

One great idea that would give you plenty of room for growth is a cake baking business. If you are one of those people who is always called upon to bake the special birthday cake or wedding cake, then you can easily turn an occasional cake into a business that will keep you busy. This is a great little business because you only accept the jobs you feel you can do, or that you want. If you are only doing two cakes a week, rather than loosing customers you may find it only adds to the allure of having one of your cakes.

If you decide that you want the business to get large enough to keep you busy all week, go online and set up a website, put up pictures of sample cakes and ideas for things that you would be able to provide, such as figure cakes, or different flavors. It is not necessary to allow the customer be able to place the order online if you don’t want to, the main thing is the advertising.

While baking cakes may give you all the business you can handle, you also have the ability to expand into pies, cookies and brownies if you wish. This business can be as small or as large as you want.

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Small businesses have it rough in America, as they do not have the huge lobbying monies that large corporations do. When the economy gets tight, large companies reign in credit and slow their out going payments. If you own a small business with corporate accounts this means they string you out as long as possible and you will notice invoices conveniently lost and checks 180 days out? Basically you become a bank for the big corporations, isn’t that the silliest underhanded bunch of bull you ever heard? They slow your checks down when you need them the most. More than one small business owner has said to me; “Those Bastards!”

When we are in an up business cycle the corporations suck up all the labor, making it tough to get good help and when the business cycle goes South, all of a sudden the Corporations start laying off all those folks they promised all these great benefits to, that the little guy could not compete with. Interesting that the corporations are now not honoring such promises and reneging on their pension contributions, after preventing you from recruiting the labor you needed in your small business. You know damn well if you did something like that, they would throw you ass in jail. If you are a small business you need to plan for those slow downs in the business cycle to survive. It is a rough world out there and you need to face reality. So, consider all this in 2006.

Credit Cards

Small business loans for women involve a number of procedures. Firstly, they have to submit the loan application that seeks comprehensive information about the project. Specifically, the application form covers aspects like promoter’s background, particulars of the industrial concern, and particulars of the project (capacity, process, technical arrangements, management location, land and buildings, plant and machinery, raw materials, labor and schedule of implementation).

In addition, the loan application form seeks the cost of the project, means of financing, marketing and selling arrangements, profitability and cash flow and economic considerations. When the application is received, an officer of the recipient institution reviews it to ascertain whether it is complete for processing. If it is incomplete the borrower is asked to provide the required additional information. When the application is considered complete, the recipient institution prepares a ‘flash report’ which is essentially a summarization of the loan application, to be evaluated at the Senior Executive Meeting (SEM).

Once the SEM, on the basis of its evaluation of the flash report, decides that the project justifies a detailed appraisal, it nominates the lead financial institution. The factors taken into account for designating the lead institution are location of the project, prior experience of institutions in handling similar projects, and existing workload of the institutions.

The detailed appraisal of the project is done by the lead institution. The appraisal covers the marketing, technical, financial, managerial and economic aspects. The appraisal memorandum is normally prepared within two months after site inspection and placed before the SEM for a decision about approval of the project and determining the sharing arrangement among the institutions. Once a favorable decision is taken at the SEM forum and the sharing arrangement worked out, the case is referred to the Board of Directors of the lead financial institution. After the Board of Directors of the lead financial institution approves the proposal, a financial letter of sanction is issued to the borrower.

Weight Loss

Small business owners may find selling awkward or difficult at best. Here are some tips and sales techniques to help understand the process.

Sales is not a dirty word. People seek answers to problems and if you provide a quality solution at a fair price, delivered on time and willingness to service after the sale, the buyer and seller each win. This is key to making repeat sales.

A sale is identifying a need (problem) and offering a suitable product or service (solution), yet there’s more.

You know the value of what you offer, so how do you convince a prospective customer? Understanding the psychology of what happens during the sales process requires empathy. You need to know what the prospect is thinking. Here are a few sales tips with answers to that part of the mystery.

Tip #1

People buy based on emotion more often than reason. They purchase what they want, not necessarily what they need. First impressions are crucial, so your initial approach must establish a professional image. You have 5 seconds.

Tip #2

People will buy from someone they trust. Your credibility must be evident, and how you open after those critical first 5 seconds will often determine your success. Do not try a hard sell up front. Avoid talking about the weather, current events, or the latest joke. It is time to listen. A brief introduction is usually enough which gives the prospect a chance to explain their business and situation.

Tip #3

People are not looking just at you. What you have, what it does, and how it will help doesn’t matter until you understand fully what they want. If you start out with an open ended question, you show respect for the buyer’s time, and a willingness to listen. Any question that may be answered “yes” or “no” won’t work. Open ended means you begin by asking or stating something like “Please take a moment to explain your business and a few details about what you need.”

Tip #4

People will open up if given a chance. Do not dominate the conversation until you understand what they want. Be prepared to paraphrase what you hear, and then offer your solution. Your message needs to be direct and to the point to establish the benefits of what you offer. Anything that you can do to create a mental image of your solution and the benefits to the customer shows you care more about them than the sale.

Tip #5

People are usually sold before you ask for the order. Many are presold in those first 5 seconds explained in Tip #1. If you listen first, restate what they have said, and then explain your solution in terms of the benefits, it’s time to ask for the order. A small business owner may not be comfortable here. My advice is simply state “I want to do business with you. From what I have learned, I’m ready to help, so let’s get started today.”

Tip #6

People will forgive mistakes if you remain honest. Establish trust, and openly admit errors if mistakes are made, and your customers are more likely to remain loyal. Have a plan when things go wrong. React quickly and state what happened, what you are doing to resolve any problems, and how long it will take. How you handle mistakes will be remembered by your customers a lot longer than what went wrong.

Tip #7

People will not forgive a dishonest salesperson. A sale is not about tricking someone into something they don’t want or need. This is an important and tough rule: Be prepared to refuse an order if you realize your solution just won’t work. In any sales situation if you perceive an opportunity to sell, but doubt the results of your product or service, consider your long term reputation. Credibility lost is nearly impossible to regain, so give your customers the truth up front.

In conclusion, the value of placing what your customer wants, or needs, ahead of your sales quota or personal interests will help you succeed. Repeat sales depend on a business relationship where you care about your customers. Adapt your thinking to solving problems instead of selling something. The best salespersons are still those who are good listeners.

People Mine

As a business owner, one of your concerns should be what you can do to make the service in your area better for the people of that community. If the location is convenient to the customers, and they are pleased with the quality of your work, they will become your loyal customer and they will refer others to you.

Prior to selecting the location, you should find out how many businesses like yours are located in the community, and do some research to determine what the market is like for those businesses. Based on the research, do you know whether or not there is a need for your service or product? This information is critical because you do not want to set up a business on the same block with three similar businesses.

When attracting customers to the business, you may need to offer them something special or unique to distinguish your service from the ones offered by your competitors. Maybe you need additional parking to attract customers and if so, then make plans for it. For a copying service, for example, you could keep the business open for 24 hours, making it convenient for the customers. You might want to give first-time customers a discount to try out your service. You could also offer pick-up and delivery services. You should always make things convenient for the customers even if it is an additional expense to you. Over a period of time, it will pay for itself.

The following is a list of questions to consider before picking the site for your business:

1) Will your customers be able to easily find your place of business?

2) Is public transportation available?

3) Will there be adequate security?

4) Will you pick up and deliver?

5) Will you offer 24 hour service?

6) Do you need a lot of space for the business?

7) If you choose another location, will the savings in rent off-set the inconvenience
to your customers?

Are there zoning regulations in the area?

Copyright © 2007, Dr. Mary E. Waters, all rights reserved.

Are you interested in starting a business?

To the new and experienced entrepreneurs, getting help with your small business is very crucial to your success. Getting the right help will cause you to avoid costly mistakes, and it can also help you to save a lot of time, money and energy. You will need to get the right help to form the legal structure of the business, financial, management, procurement/certification, marketing, pricing products, preparing a business plan, and more. If you are a business owner who is wondering if you can take your business to new heights, contact Dr. Waters at tina.waters@waienterprises.com.

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The market is swarming with opportunities, and anyone with a little budget and a lot of creativity can launch a small business. Read on for some ideas to help you get started.

There are a lot of small business opportunity ideas you can get into inexpensively. No business is ever too small, so take price in what you can do. If you love pets but don’t have a lot of capital to start an animal grooming salon yet, for example, why not start with pet sitting? Be a professional pet care provider and get paid to play with, feed, and walk dogs, or look after other pets in the comforts of your own home.

You can also start a home maintenance company and offer grass cutting, snow blowing, and cleaning services. This is especially possible if you already have basic equipment such as mowers and cleaning tools. You can easily get regular clients who will pay you to clean their houses and maintain their lawns, either on a weekly or monthly basis. Expand enough and you can hire other help and cover more houses.

Some 19.5 million high school graduates want to go to college, and a good half of them do not know how. In fact, families of these students cumulatively spend over $5 billion yearly just researching for financial aid and applying to colleges! Take advantage of the situation by offering college financing counseling services, especially of you have a good background in finance or insurance. Just set up a simple office (or a home office) and maintain an up-to-date database of college loans, scholarships, and grants, and you?re on your way!

If you have sufficient capital and are into pampering yourself and others, why not start a spa? People are very stressed now more than ever, and there aren’t enough detox spas around. Turn a part of your home into a simple sanctuary where you can give massages and aromatherapy sessions, or rent a commercial spot and develop it into a haven for stressed bodies.

People Mine

There was a time when Small business and ERP didn’t go together. Or at least the perception was they didn’t.

If you look at the number of big ERP vendors now going after the small business ERP pie you will know that isn’t the case any more. Whether or not they can truly service the small customer will remain to be seen. There is no doubt more and more SME’s are looking for integrated systems to improve communication, reaction time and overall processes.

The good news for the companies is that there are many vendors out there big and small that are catering to the fact the budgets and staff is smaller. If you look at our offering, ERP123, you will see many tools designed to bring this big business functionality to even the smallest of businesses.

There are tools like Training DVD’s for implementation and training, online meetings and training session as well as new more sensible approaches to implementation and programming. All of these things are driving the price down not to mention with the added competition the initial software price is coming down.

Further to that just like the computer or any other technology the price is coming down over time. There is no reason for any small business to have to pay 100-200k just for software. Then of course there is implementation.

The need for IT expertise in the smaller implementations are becoming less and less, and it a good thing because smaller organizations don’t even have IT internally. A technical mental midget like myself, for example, can install our software, simply by inserting the disk. Everything else gets done automatically. Or to make it easier on your organization you can have your data store of site so you don’t even need to pay for servers.

Innovation, competition and the realization that the SME markets is 85 percent and growing, of business out there, are all driving factors that make ERP more reachable to even the smallest of business. Competition is furious and there has never been a better time to start your small business down the ERP path.

If you do decide to look at ERP be mindful of the issues, not only price but also these 7 key issues:
1. Do you have buy in for this from the top or your organization?
2. Do you have a team to assess the software before buying?
3. Always, always test the software and your processes within it before you buy?
4. Does your vendor have the knowledge to aid you through the process?
5. Is the software flexible enough to be changed if your process does?
6. Do you have the staff administratively to handle implementation and training?
7. Can the software be deployed based on your business needs?

ERP is for small business we see it every day, but like any other decision if you don’t make the right decision it can be costly.

Promoting Unit

You’ve a burning desire, you’re loaded with motivation, your attitude is to kill for, You’ve the tools to realize your small business ideas. Marvelous. Now you only need one more thing. You’ll need to set your mind in a “never give up” mode.

It’s a crucial fact, you and your small business, will face serious setbacks and tough to get by obstacles. Doesn’t matter if everything starts smoothly or work great right now. Sooner or later you’ll experience rough days.

You must prepare yourself for this and you need to learn how to tackle these situations with enthusiasm. You’ll have to learn how to land at your feet. Get back on the bike right after you’ve fell off.

When the time comes the following thoughts might come in handy.

When you feel like you never want to see your business again, give yourself some breathing space. Take scheduled breaks, do something completely different.

When you’re all steamed up and frustrated, Take a few deep cleansing breath. Tell yourself to relax. Think about a funny story.

Get the good habit of daily exercise. There is nothing more stress relieving than a hard body exercise.

You must allow yourself to have other activities. Turn your attention to a hobby that takes your mind off the business for a while. When you re approach your task, you’ll see it with new eyes.

Look in the mirror and say it out loud, you look at a real winner. First class material like that, don’t ever give up. Your success is probably just around the next corner. Let your winners mind run free for a while, when you harness it again, it will be reloaded with power.

Have a look into the future, you’re just one step away from achieving your big goal. Of course you want to take that step. Imagine what a waste it would be to quit, just before you would be able to reap the rewards.

It would be such a shame to have done all the hard work, only to not take the last necessary step. The next action you take might just be the one which make the snowball rolling. Keep going.

Get hold of some motivational books and tapes, it’s an efficient and cheap way to stay at course.

All successful small business owners, have been able to overcome all the humps and bumps along the road towards a successful business. Think about that when you feel like it’s time to quit. If they were able to do it, so are you.

You can’t give up, it’s not in your bag of options. Keep educate yourself in your area of business. The more you learn the more you increase your velocity towards your goal.

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