Tips For Running An Efficient Home Based Online Business

Ashish Jain

Running your own business can be frustrating sometimes, especially if you are new at it and it is online. Gone are the days of running a business without the world-wide-web. Thanks to the Internet, those who are in business for themselves most of the time be done from your computer at home. Getting to know the secrets of running an online business and being successful at it is critical in being profitable.

One of the greatest downfalls to those who start their online business at home is being able to separate their home life from their work. Working from the comforts of home is a dream for most, but when it comes right down to it, the disadvantages turn some away from the whole concept pretty quickly. Those who want to run an online business from home will need to make sure to have a place that will allow them to focus on just their work.

AVOIDING THE DISTRACTIONS AT HOME WHILE WORKING

Setting a strict schedule is the best way to ensure that your online business doesn't take over your home life and vice versa. You need to remember the reasons you started your business at home, yet at the same time you also need to realize that while you are on that computer, you are the same as being at work away from home in many ways. If you have children who are not in school, you will need to set a work schedule around the crucial times for them. The greatest thing would be to have someone there who will take over for you with the kids while you work.

Many stay at home mothers are the ones who are starting online businesses these days. Being able to stay at home with their small ones and work too is a dream compared to sending the kids in a daycare. Nothing is worse for a mom than worrying all day over children while she is at work. The best advice for these moms who want to start their own online business is to plan ahead for the children before diving in and becoming obligated to a client or business associate.

HAVING AN ONLINE BUSINESS CAN BE REWARDING

The greatest feeling in the world for anyone out there starting their own online business is when that business becomes successful and works well at rolling in the profits. Paying the bills from working at home is the best feeling in the world. However, getting there is never an easy task. The best advice here for those who are looking to start an online business is to be prepared to work hard and to put in some hours off the get go to get started. The payoff is great for those who work hard and are relentless. Always remember the outcome you want when you get frustrated and feel like throwing in the towel. Nothing worthwhile is easy in the achievement of it.

How to Make Your Small Business Big Online

Ashish Jain

Years before the Internet came along; small town businesses depended solely on paper and people for advertisement of their products and services. Even with television advertisement, these local businesses could only reach so far in telling the public who and where they were. However, with the Internet, these same small businesses are able to tell the wide world about what they are all about.

Although the whole world seems to be submerged in cyberspace, there are still those who don't have a clue about the Internet except to check their email or surf the web. For those people who own a small town business, they would never believe the increase in profits they would have by simply putting their business on the web.

SMALL TOWNS ARE EVERYWHERE THE WEB IS

If you are running a local business, chances are you are doing business with mostly the same customers over and over again, or with just the people that those customers know. If you place your business online, you will be able to reach people all over the world. You will be amazed at the difference in your business.

HOW TO GET STARTED PUTTING YOUR BUSINESS ONLINE

You don't have to be an expert at computers to be able to figure out how to put a simple website online for your business. You can find many web developers that will help you in building a website for your business that will suit your business purposes. The way your website turns out is only limited to your creativity and how much money you are willing to spend.

Many tutorials for website building can be found online. If you would like, you could hire someone to build your website for you. Whichever way you choose, the results for your small town business will be definitely on the positive side. You can have fun building a website for your small business and enjoy the fruits of cyberspace advertising as well.

How to Make the Most of Your Business Down Time

Ashish Jain

Every business has some down time, even when the economy is up and going strong. However, when the economy is slow and your business experiences that down time, you could feel like you are experiencing a double whammy to your profits.

Using down time to your advantage is the best way to use the time when business is slow. When your business is up and running on a regular basis, it is sometimes hard to make time to get the small tasks done in your business. Using down time to get these kinds of things done down time is one way to use that time profitably so that when business gets back to normal, you won't have to worry about trying to get menial tasks done.

WHAT KINDS OF TASKS NEED TO BE DONE DURING DOWN TIME

One of the worst necessary evils of business is dealing the ins and outs of taxes. During any down time, working on your getting your tax information organized is one of the best tasks to get a jump on. Collecting all your receipts and organizing what you are going to need for tax time will make filing taxes for your business a whole lot easier.

Down time is the best time to get organized and get rid of all the clutter that causes confusion in your business. Get all your files together and update them all and clean up the computer that is used for your business as well. Staying organized means the difference in running an efficient business or not. You should use this time to find ways to bring in more business, to find ways to cut costs, and to find ways to get the word out about your business.

GET ONLINE

If you don't have a website for your business, use your down time to build one. Getting your business online may help eliminate future down time by generating more business. If you already have a website for your business, use the extra time to make changes to your website that will be profitable. You may not to talk to a professional about upgrading your website as well if you aren't an experienced web designer. Your site may just need a little boost to bring in more clients than you could imagine.

Use your down time to add to your knowledge of the business you are in. Takes courses at your local community college or spend some time at the library researching your type of business. You may be surprised at what you may learn that will give you ideas about money making in your line of work.

WHAT KINDS OF TASKS NEED TO BE DONE DURING DOWN TIME

GET ONLINE

Don�t Get Lost in the Idle Traffic!

Ashish Jain

Owning a business is rather easy if you have the cash in hand to start it up; keeping it running smoothly is what takes knowledge, skill and some keen marketing skills. Idle traffic or traffic that moves at a snail’s pace or not at all is annoying and a big let down in real life and is not any different on the internet. Sure you can start an online business with a small outlay of cash and some products or services that you would like to offer to those who might be interested in buying it from you and earning you some cash and some traffic to your site.

After a couple of weeks or months of being on the internet, you see that the sales (your profit) and traffic has dropped to a standstill and you are at your wits end. Don’t despair and give up, start marketing your business a little different. How you market your product or service on the internet will help your business flourish and prosper, but this does take some time and effort. After all Rome wasn’t built in a day, was it?

Whatever product or service that you are trying to sell must reach its targeted market in order to be successful. Getting the word out about your product or service to the targeted market and potential customer will help your business grow and prosper. Don’t just rely on one marketing strategy. You marketing strategy shall include both online as well as offline marketing strategies. Search Engine Optimization (SEO), social media marketing, affiliate networking, Pay per click advertisements are just a few to name. Join as many forums, social media sites and industry associations pertinent to your industry. Start writing about what your business does and problems it solve and blog about it. Go to local networking events and if possible start your own networking chapter. Once you have your footprint at the right places, and gained a few friends through networking, you will see a rise in the traffic again!

Blogging for Your Business

Ashish Jain

The business world changed drastically when the Internet became prevalent in society. Nowadays, if you try to find a service or product offline, you may run into trouble finding it. Now all you have to do is type it in and click. It doesn't matter what you need, you can find online.

A lot of small business owners may not know about blogging, a wonderful way to advertise or talk about their business. Anyone can blog, it's easy. The rewards your business will get will be tremendous, no matter if you are blogging about your business that is online or about one that is off line.

WHY BLOG FOR BUSINESS

Blogging has fast become the biggest thing since the Internet and your business could be left out I the cold without one. You can talk about anything in your blog you's like about your business. Use blogging to your best advantage which is to increase your business profits. A lot of people may be likely to choose your business for their needs than someone else if they read your blog and find out that you are a down to earth person who is willing to share the secrets of your business with those interested.

Blogging is the closest thing to standing up in front of the whole world and telling everyone about your business and what it is all about. A blog can be the path for your potential clients to follow to be able to obtain the products or services you offer through your business. If you have an effective blog, you will have the effective benefits a blog offers for your business as well.

IF WRITING ISN'T YOUR BAG, GET SOMONE TO BLOG FOR YOU

Not everyone has the inclination or talent to write anything other than their name. However, these same people may be running a great business and their business may be of service to a whole lot of people. If you can't seem to find the right words, find someone who can. A blog will reach far more people than the yellow pages ever could, so don't let your lack of writing skills stand in your way of starting a blog online for your business.

Blogging about your business can be about anything that has to do with your business, from how your business got started to how your product is manufactured. The key to a successful business blog is to make your business as real as possible to those out there who are reading it. Although society is a lot different than just twenty years ago, the concept of people being down to earth and good showing in a business blog will do wonders for your business. People want to deal with someone who is on the level and able to communicate about what their business is all about.

How to Manage the Overhead Costs for Your Business

Arvind Jain

Making your business profitable means knowing how to manage money. A business needs a budget to go by just like your household at home needs one. One critical aspect in the survival of your business is knowing how much of your profits needs to be used for overhead expenses. No matter what kind of business you have, whether it's online or not, there will be the costs of running things.

If you run your business from home, your overhead costs will be, obviously, less than those who are running a business from another place. However, don't be deceived bout those costs just because they are less. Having a home based business won't have the overhead costs of rent and power like you would have at another building. But, you will still need to calculate some of the cost of these for your business for tax purposes. Make sure you keep excellent records of every financial detail associated with your business. By keeping accurate records of these finances, the time to file taxes will be lot easier on you and your accountant. You don't want an audit later on due to messy record keeping.

PUT YOUR PROFITS HERE THEY WILL COUNT THE MOST

No business can become successful without the correct management of profits. Many businesses have went belly up that otherwise would have been extremely profitable due to the simple fact of money mismanagement. If you aren't sure you will know what to do in managing the costs of your business, get help from someone who does know that you can trust. Don't take any unnecessary risks when it comes to your business.

Making sure the overhead costs of power, rent, and supplies needed for your business are the three most important costs you need to worry about. Without these the things, your business won't survive. If you are up and running enough to have employees working for you, the cost of paying them will be another vital overhead expense you will need to take care of. After all these are paid, whatever is left will be your personal profit. Always take care of your business costs first out of the end of the month profits so your business will in turn be able to take care of you.

FINDING WAYS TO MANAGE AND REDUCE OVERHEAD COSTS

Running a business will always mean that you will run into opportunities that may seem good at the time, but in the end will cost way too much. Be wary of spending on things that you can do without in your business. Being frugal with your spending works the same way in business that it does anywhere else. Always look for ways to reduce your cost of business rather than adding to it with unnecessary expenses. Making sure to keep don overhead costs is the best way to make more profits.

Ways to Successfully Start Your Small Business

Arvind Jain

Starting a business can be exciting and scary at the same time. Losing your savings to a failed business won't be the outcome if you take the time to follow these tips. Making sure your business starts outs on a firm and secure foundation is the key to starting a successful small business. Knowing tried and true ways of keeping your small business afloat is also the way to a profitable small business.

One important factor in starting your business is getting yourself out there and known to consumers. Making sure you have good advertisement is one way to ensure you will get what you need in consumer response. If your business is online, making sure to have content on your site that is keyword rich will help in your site being picked up by the search engines.

START BUSINESS BEFORE YOU GET OUT IN THE OPEN MARKET

Many people make the mistake of jumping into a business that they think they know a lot about and then finding out when the business fails that they didn't know what they needed to know after all. One thing everyone should do before diving into business is to do a lot of research and find out what is going on out there in the world of your particular business niche. Even if you are an expert at what you do, there is always room for learning something new that will be helpful to you in your own business.

Getting started in your business will include taking care of legal issues such as naming your business. Make sure to register the name of your company to make sure that the name you choose isn't stolen. You will want to make sure you have all the necessary permits you will need for your particular type of business as well. By taking care of all these kinds of things and knowing when the fees are due again, you will be starting out on the right foot towards a secure and successful start at a business ownership.

ONE STEP CLOSER TO THE STARTING LINE

You will want to make sure you have a sound business policy of insurance before you get started. Insurance will give you a peace of mind like no other when it come to expensive equipment that you need for your business to work. Even those of you who will be running a business from home should check into covering equipment you use for your work.

The location of a business that is not going to be run at home is essential in the consumers you will attract as well. When you start the task of looking for a location, look for one that has other shops nearby that have to with your particular business niche. This may sound like you are inviting competition to close but the goal is to attract that competition's customers to you. Don't place your business too far out from where the mainstream of consumers are.

How to Take Advantage of Your Competition�s Strengths and Weaknesses

Ashish Jain

When we hear the word competition, it instinctually drives us to think about negative connotations and to be on the defense. But you can also use your competition to your advantage. Every business has competition and while that may seem like a bad thing to some business owners, it is a necessary part of what makes a company successful. How can competition be good for your business?

Every time there is a competition, it gives you a reason to make your business stand out and shine. Being able to draw off the competition and use their strengths and weaknesses will help you develop the best products, best services and best strategies to become a natural leader in your area. When your business is faced with competition, it gives you incentive to work harder, be better and achieve more. It also opens up an opportunity for you to show potential clients what you have to offer them.

While it can be easier to focus on the weaknesses of other businesses, you should also focus on the qualities that make them strong. Understanding strengths of your competition not only helps you understand what works for other company but also provides you insight into how to counter-argue their value proposition and position your product or services against there’s. Although you might not get a first movers advantage, but once you understand the positive aspects of your competitor’s strategy, you can incorporate those into your own business as well. For instance, if your competitor has been successful with certain marketing strategies, similar strategies could work well for your business as well. If they have tried other avenues and failed, then you can heed that as a warning and stay away from making the same decisions.

We are often taught to think of our competitors as the enemy, but the truth is without them we would not be nearly as successful. The constant reminder that we are not the only ones offering a product or service also keeps us inspired to be the best. In order to retain your customers, and gain new customers you need to rely on the strengths of your business. Part of the way to implement that is to study your competition. What are they doing that is creating success for them? What are they doing that is not creating success? Addressing those questions can help you better put the success and potential for your business in perspective. Do not make the mistake of belittling your competition or trying to negatively campaign against them. Instead, spend your time and efforts showing how your business is the best and what you have to offer customers against your competitors.

Your business can benefit from learning and knowing how your competition works and by implementing the good and staying away from the bad aspects, you can learn how to use your competition to your advantage.

Build It and They Will Come � NOT

Beth Goldstein

Three years ago I was approached by a startup in Metrowest that had just purchased and renovated a building to develop private office suites. Their goal was to attract business people looking to move out of their home office, expand their business or set up a satellite office. They were interested in developing and launching a marketing program to drive clients to their door. I was impressed with their concept and presented the idea of first conducting a needs-based analysis of the market to clearly define who their potential clients were and how they could best fulfill those needs. I also recommended a competitive assessment to determine how they should position their “suites” and create a powerful value proposition that would resonate with these new clients. The goal was to do the research before they opened their doors to ensure their message was on target and they were spending their limited dollars on marketing activities that would have the greatest impact in the shortest amount of time.

However, they were anxious to launch, believed they understood their clients’ needs and simply wanted to get out there and promote themselves. They thanked me for my proposal and let me know that they would contact me when they were ready for a more research-oriented approach to developing a marketing strategy.

This was not the first time a company has believed they were ready to open their doors before assessing the needs of the market. But just because you build it…doesn’t mean they’re going to be beating down your doors to get in. Market research is not a ‘sexy’ nor interesting project that small businesses want to hear about…most prefer to discuss website launches, designing brochures and creating promotional pieces. Ironically, on a tight budget those are the items that cost the most and are the most risky because if they’re not properly targeted, they cause the fastest drain to scarce financial resources.

Roll the clock forward to a few weeks ago and guess who called? Finding themselves at 40% capacity and never having reached the success they had anticipated, they paid a heavy price for a nicely designed (but ineffective) website and a pretty brochure (that they stopped mailing after the first attempts failed to attract clients). Without first doing their ‘homework’ to understand the value and services their prospects needed, their effort was untargeted and misdirected…and so was their money. Almost 6 out of 10 new businesses fail before their fifth year. With failure rates this high it’s critical to use limited resources (people, money and time) to target customers as precisely as possible. That doesn’t mean simply getting them in the door but making sure you’re attracting the right people so they’re not exiting as quickly as they came because you failed to offer them services worth sticking around for.

Like an airline seat that goes unoccupied….each office suite that remains vacant cost this business money. If they had held off on their web design and advertising they could have allocated their budget toward a solid assessment of the market and identified organizations and individuals who need their services, leading to a steady stream of revenue-generating clients.

What can they do now? Here are a few quick ideas (pending confirmation from research):

Explore All Target Markets: They need to look beyond small business owners as the only market. They’re located close to one of the largest employers in Metrowest. Therefore, there might be an opportunity to help visiting vendors who need office space when they’re in town.
Study Their Competition: They don’t have a sense of what their competition is offering so it’s impossible to position their value juxtaposed to what else is available or needed.
Network: They must identify groups where a constant flow of small business owners congregate and get the word out about their services. Networking is the least expensive drain on a marketing budget and often times the most effective way of driving attention to a business.

Have a sales or marketing challenge that you’d like some advice on? Send Beth an email at bethg@m-edge.com. Beth Goldstein is President of Marketing Edge Consulting Group (www.m-edge.com). She has over 22 years experience in sales and marketing and is the author of The Ultimate Small Business Marketing Toolkit (Mc-Graw-Hill). Beth runs Boston University’s Online Certificate in Entrepreneurship, teaches entrepreneurial marketing at The BU School of Management and is the Instructor for the InnerCity Entrepreneurs business growth program in Worcester.

Marketing is like a Day at the Races

Beth Goldstein

Early on in my courtship I often found myself at the horse track—my fiancé was a passionate racing aficionado. I knew little about racing so I picked my “winners” based on the horse’s name—names that either reminded me of something noteworthy in my life or were simply cute. As you might imagine, 9 out of 10 times my “cute” horse lost the race while my fiancé’s “luck” was much better. Maybe it had something to do with the seemingly endless amount of time he spent analyzing data before he placed his bets. Although I didn’t know the details, he was certainly doing something right.

So what exactly was he analyzing? I always thought he was calculating odds but it turns out he was actually doing something more sophisticated than that. For those of you unfamiliar with horse racing, here’s a quick primer. Handicappers (folks trying to predict the results of a race) try to determine future performance based on a variety of factors that seemed to influence each horse's past performance. These include "weather" and "class level" of the previous races, track conditions (e.g., were they muddy, good, sloppy, etc…), post positions and decisions made by the jockey that caused the horse to be more or less competitive than anticipated in a given race. Sounds complicated, doesn’t it? Well, probably not any more complicated than preparing a marketing campaign.

And that’s my segue to the question you must be asking: “What does betting on a horse race have to do with marketing?” Simply put, successful marketing campaigns force you to consider a great number of variables, just like successful handicapping does. And there are, unfortunately, no guarantees: marketing is as much an art as a science.

That said, there are steps any company can take that greatly improve the odds of marketing success, the odds of picking a winner whether the track that day is muddy or dry. Call it the Handicapper’s Five Step Guide to Successful Marketing:

Determine Customer Value. Begin by figuring out what your prospects and customers really need and value from you. Think about your response to a prospect asking you “So what, why should I purchase your product/service? What’s in it for me?” Can you answer that with a response that will convince them to become a customer? Do you know your real value to them?
Develop a Customer Profile. If you couldn’t answer the questions in step one convincingly or were a bit uncertain whether you’re on track (no pun intended) this step is vital. Marketing begins with your customers and not your products/services. Therefore, the more clearly you can define who these prospects are and what matters to them, how they makes decisions, how they find out about the solution you offer and why they would even want your solution, the greater your chances are of targeting them effectively. Customer surveys, focus groups, and simple, honest conversations with your customers are all tools that you can use to achieve this goal.
Study Your Competition. Understanding the value your competitors offer is also critical. This includes companies providing similar or identical products/services as well as companies who satisfy the needs you defined in the previous steps. For example, if you run a small café you need to understand if customers come to your café because your coffee is terrific or because your bagels are better than anybody else’s in town or simply because they like to hang out with colleagues/friends. Are you satisfying their need for thirst, hunger or socialization or maybe all three?
Understand External Market Factors. Is the market you’re in experiencing a few too many muddy days? Are there other factors that influence the industry that you simply cannot control? It’s critical that you understand what conditions you can and cannot control and position your marketing to address these, head on. For example, has competition from abroad impacted your ability to deliver the best value to your customers? Were you previously able to offer the highest quality widget at the lowest price but now foreign manufacturers are luring customers away because their prices are better and their quality is acceptable? This is going to impact your overall business and your marketing strategy.
Make Sure You Can Deliver. Can you meet your obligations and fulfill your promise to your customers after you have launched your campaign? Are your sales, customer service and operations teams ready to deliver what you have promised customers? What will you do if your campaign is so successful that demand exceeds supply and customers are left with unfulfilled needs and start jumping to your competitors? Aligning your marketing promise with your internal operations is paramount and unfortunately many times overlooked as we launch out the gate rushing to the finish line.

Just as past performance, track conditions and other factors are important to weigh before placing your bet at the track; your plans for a successful marketing strategy must include weighing a number of variables, some of them beyond your control. It’s important to be sure you’ve completed all of these 5 key handicapping steps. Next time you are ready to “euphorically” place your bet at the track window and launch a marketing campaign, ask yourself…is this the right campaign and am I really ready to launch it or am I just choosing the campaign with the cutest name?

Beth Goldstein is Founder and President of Marketing Edge Consulting Group, LLC (www.m-edge.com). She has over 22 years experience in marketing, sales and business development and is the author of “The Ultimate Small Business Marketing Toolkit.” In addition to consulting she oversees Boston University’s Online Certificate in Entrepreneurship, teaches entrepreneurial sales & marketing at the BU School of Management and is the Instructor for the InnerCity Entrepreneurs business growth program in Massachusetts. Beth can be reached at bethg@m-edge.com or by phone: 508.893.0976

Passions as a Strategy

Beth Goldstein

Does a business need passion in order to thrive? Why do companies with a leader who is truly passionate about the business fail, while others with the same level of passion and a less compelling business model prosper and grow? Is there a magical formula that makes one business successful while another fails? What separates the winners from the losers, and what role does passion play?

There are several ingredients that go into a winning business, including a great idea, a great team, great passion, and great leadership. All are important, but great passion can be the fire that helps fuel the success. It can also destroy the business when it is misguided.

WATCH THE FIRE

Like all fires, passions can spark other flames and become contagious, igniting the passion of investors, business partners, and customers, as well as employees. If left uncontrolled, passion can consume, destroy, and leave a business with an empty dream. However, when controlled, directed, and focused, it can boost a business’s chance for success. It isn’t, however, the only important ingredient. In fact, time after time, when I’ve asked many venture capitalists and business professionals to identify the most critical factor, they’ve responded, “It’s the team that makes the difference.” A great business idea alone will not make a business profitable, but a passionate team that has the vision and the ability to execute the idea, even if the idea is only pretty good, can help a company achieve success. A winning team has a passionate leader and a team that is equally committed to achieving success.

So is there a magic formula? Is it 50 percent passionate team and 50 percent concept? What’s missing in this formula? It’s the team’s ability to execute on the idea. This ability is fueled by passion, vision, experience, and focusing on customer needs. It’s the use of basic business principles that makes the difference when this is done properly. Therefore, in order to be successful in business, you don’t have to come up with the most ingenious and creative business concept. You must have a solid concept that satisfies a need, and you must be able to properly funnel your passion to execute the plan. There’s no magic, but these elements must exist.

The failure to fuel your passion, however, can cause you to skip or dismiss one of these basic principles. In fact, that’s where you see really smart businesspeople with good intentions make fatal errors in judgment. The difference lies in the use of the passion. It must be directed constructively, with the business in mind and not individual desires and goals. Passion can also be misdirected when you’re caught up in the day-to-day activities of your business and don’t take the opportunity to sit back and think about how to focus your energy.

Joanna Alberti’s business, philoSophie’s® (www.sophiesphilosophies.com), is a good example of the importance of taking time to reflect on your business goals and where you want to direct your passion. In fact, philoSophie’s is a successful start-up greeting card company launched by owner and entrepreneur Joanna Alberti. In 2005, at the age of 24, Joanna was recognized by BusinessWeek as one of the top five young entrepreneurs under 25. Known for her whimsical designs and her humorous illustrations depicting women and their interests, Joanna’s style and creativity fueled her passion to launch a greeting card business just one year after receiving her college degree. As a business mentor to Joanna (a 2003 graduate of the BU School of Management), I had the unique opportunity to work with her as she developed her business model. I also watched her struggle as she worked 20-hour days at her business; often coming into my office covered in glitter from the greeting cards she had hand-embellished. She was doing it all, but was she doing too much?

Joanna was trying to launch her business in so many venues that she was not taking the time to determine who her customers were, why they were buying from her, and what need she satisfied. She was trying to get into as many markets as possible without thinking about which of them made the most sense for her limited budget and time. She was clearly spread too thin and was unable to prioritize her marketing efforts and focus on growing fast and efficiently and on targeting the most likely prospects with the least amount of money.

She became overwhelmed by the day-to-day aspects of the business and lost sight of the big picture. Not all of her customers were desirable, but her passion to become known in the industry and reach as much of the market as possible, and not necessarily the right parts of the market, led to her overlooking the best opportunities for sales and growth.

In stepping back to look at the big picture, she decided to bring in a team of business advisors to help her determine which strategies would generate the greatest revenue and return on her time and financial investment. By assessing the effectiveness of her current strategy for expanding philoSophie’s in both new and existing markets and then identifying how to most efficiently allocate her time Joanna was able to maximize the available sales channels and products to get the greatest return on her time and money.

Most business owners, like Joanna are so busy with the day-to-day management of their company that they don’t realize the importance of finding unbiased, skilled advisors who can objectively help them focus their business passion to reach their goals more rapidly, more efficiently, and with greater overall success. If you’re like Joanna, make sure you spend the time finding advisors to help you shape your company’s and ensure your passion fuels your success, not your demise.

Beth Goldstein is Founder and President of Marketing Edge Consulting Group, LLC (www.m-edge.com). She has over 22 years experience in marketing, sales and business development and is the author of “The Ultimate Small Business Marketing Toolkit.” In addition to consulting she oversees Boston University’s Online Certificate in Entrepreneurship, teaches entrepreneurial sales & marketing at the BU School of Management and is the Instructor for the InnerCity Entrepreneurs business growth program in central Massachusetts. Beth can be reached at bethg@m-edge.com or by phone: 508.893.0976

Perils of Being an Entrepreneur

Beth Goldstein

Do entrepreneurs’ minds operate differently than other mere mortals? Are they hardwired to be on constant search for new opportunities? As an instructor for the InnerCity Entrepreneurs business accelerator program based in Massachusetts and Lead Instructor for the nationwide, 10-city launch of the program, I work with hundreds of successful business owners in a variety of companies ranging from construction to high tech to healthcare. Based on my interactions, I suspect there may very well be differences in how entrepreneurs seek and approach opportunities, challenges and risks.

While I consider myself a serial entrepreneur (and yes, quite vulnerable to the constant wrap on the door of the next opportunity), I haven’t conducted any brain scans to confirm my theory that entrepreneurs are attracted to new ideas and opportunities in a different way. Louis Pasteur once said, “Chance favors only the prepared mind.” Do these opportunities naturally find entrepreneurs or through preparation and a willingness to take risks, do they simply find themselves surrounded by them. One of my enlightened students, John Carroll, founder of Moss Hollow, luminously coined this “ODD �] Opportunity Distraction Disorder” when he got into the solar business and found himself confronted with a plethora of opportunities which clearly presented a significant distraction. Is he onto something important?

If you’re an entrepreneur running a successful business, perhaps you can relate to the notion of always looking out for the next “big thing.” The thrill of the hunt and passion for creating something new or improved drives most entrepreneurs and allows them to take the risks involved with launching a business or growing it to the next level. It is also the force that gets them into trouble because not every opportunity is one that should be seized, no matter how appealing it seems at first blush.

In the race to pass your competition and accelerate the growth of your business, it’s critical to identify the right opportunities as quickly as possible. Below are 8 critical questions to help you recognize the opportunities that will likely enhance your business goals and avoid those that are merely wolves disguised in sheeps’ clothing:

1. How will I define and measure success specific to this opportunity and will the effort required to achieve that generate adequate rewards for my business?

2. Will the investment in time and other scarce resources produce a profitable new business model without damaging an already successful company?

3. Do we have the expertise and resources necessary to market and sell this service/product?

4. Is there a synergy between our expertise and the actions needed to achieve success?

5. Does this new opportunity enhance or detract from my current business goals?

6. What do I need to know about the market place, the customers, industry dynamics and competitors before I get involved with this?

7. What impact will this have on my personal and professional goals?

8. What risks, if any, will my current business face if I don’t take on the opportunity?

Good luck with your business venture. If I can help you turn your vision into reality, please don’t hesitate to contact me at beth@m-edge.com or by phone: 508.893.0976.

What is Market Research and Why you need it

Ashish Jain

Market research is a process of collecting data on consumers, competitors, marketing and sales channels and other forces that affect your industry. It is an integral part of any business and is a way to get answers to important questions before investing a lot of time and money in creating a new product or service. No matter what techniques you use for doing market research, your goal is to ask a set of questions and get back with a set of answers to your questions and new ideas. Market research isn't just something you do when you're working on implementing your business plan. It is in fact an integral and an ongoing process of your business' development. It's essential to analyze your market and targeted clients before you waste money on advertising that won't get you the desired results you expect.

Market research or also called as information research or business intelligence is a method of collecting data that will make you (as a business) more aware of how the people, you hope to sell to, will react to your products or services. The most important reason behind conducting market research is to get the unbiased answers of many critical questions mentioned below:-

Whether your products and services are needed in the market?
Who wants to buy your products and services?
How much demand there is for what you are planning to sell?
If there is any possibility of changes in the market trend, then how it is going to effect your product
What price people are more comfortable to pay?
Who is your competition and what do they offer?

Research is not a onetime activity. It shall be performed on an ongoing basis and whenever a major business decision needs to be made. It usually needs to be done:

before starting a new business
when introducing a new product or service
to maintain your existing business

It is to your advantage that you do at least some of your own market research for your business by using Internet, conducting surveys, reading market research reports, or by consulting a research professional. The more you do more you will come out to know regarding your product/service and the market you are in. At One2oneresearch.com you can get plenty of information pertinent to your industry in the form of business tips and advice, business trends, and market research reports; as well as connect with reliable research professional to meet your research needs ranging from short queries to comprehensive research reports.

Tips for Effective Business Strategies

Ashish Jain

When it comes to your business and the success of your company, you are probably always looking for ways to increase your profits and expand your client base. What sets you apart from your competition can be as simple as developing effective business strategies to help you stand out of the crowd and lead the way.

The success of your business is determined by a number of factors, and can be influenced by fluctuations in the market and economy. While there is little you can do to change what the national economy is doing, you can change the course of your business by implementing effective strategies that drive business to your door or web site. What are these strategies? Knowing that each business is different and has different goals, it can be a matter of marketing, advertising, managing and upgrading your web site, and how to effectively manage your company. Following are some of the key strategies that can bring great difference to the business:

Set Measurable Goals: Developing strong strategies right away with your business is one of the best ways that you can ensure the future success and growth of your company. Starting out with clear, concise goals is one of the most effective ways to address the needs of you company and to define objectives. See what works for other companies and businesses and what does not by comparing some of their strategies to your own and see what you need to do differently.

Online Marketing: Creating an innovative approach with online marketing is another effective way to grow your business. When you have a web site, everyone views that as the image of your business. You want to make sure that you are projecting the image that you want by having a web site that shows professionalism and quality. Focus on the aspects of your business that truly make it stand out and use those to your advantage when you are implementing your marketing or advertising strategies.

Highlight Value Proposition: Show potential customers what your business can do for them, what problem you solve for them, and how are better than your competition.

Innovation: Do not be afraid to try new and fresh approaches with every aspect of your business and stay up to date with the changing technology that drives so much of today’s business. By implementing small changes into the way you run your business, you can create effective ways to realize your success.

The key to success is to institutionalize these principles in your business strategy and day to day operations.

Thought Leadership � What is it and Why it is Important

Ashish Jain

Is it possible to think your way to success? While there are many factors that have to work together to create the success of your business, one of the most effective methods is actually the way you think about your business and the approaches that you take. Thought leadership is a powerful idea that suggests projecting goals and ambitions for your company to become successful.

Why is it that the way you think is relevant for leadership skills? Whether or not you know how much your leadership skills are determined by the state of your mind, it can be a powerful force when it comes to the outlook and decisions that you make for your business. To run a successful business one needs to have subject matter expertise, creativity, ability to make quick decisions, and leadership skills.

Subject Matter Expertise: You can use your subject matter expertise to display thought leadership and promote your business by educating customer, and employees. People react in a much more positive way when you approach any situation with positivity and demonstrate strong but thoughtful tactics. Setting a good example through leadership could be one of the key strategies to promote your business.

Creativity: It can be difficult to stay ahead of the competition and really stand out to your potential clients. The more innovative and creative approaches you take to build your business, the more potential you have to differentiate your business from others. You can apply the thought leadership approach to your daily business by continuing to implement new and creative ways to market, advertise and connect with customers. A lot of smart business owners tap into creative sources to help them project a unique image of their business. Having a well thought out plan and approach to every aspect of your business can help you define what you need to do to continually take your business to new levels.

Leadership: Leadership is a key to a successful business and you must make sure that you are keeping up with any changes and improvements that your business needs to succeed. It is important to look at your business portfolio and identify key elements that need to be upgraded – be it technology, marketing strategy, mode of communication, or even your entire business plan. Having a creative team of talented professionals can help you reach your goals and inspire you to go further with any business decisions that you need to make.

Marketing Challenges and Solutions for Small and Medium Size

Ashish Jain

Marketing does not come easy to everyone and a lot of professionals, entrepreneurs, and small and medium sized businesses find it difficult to market themselves because of lack of knowledge or unavailability of time and resources.

There are several different ways to do marketing, with the traditional methods revolving more around the print media in the form of brochures/ flyers, print advertisements, as well as telemarketing. As technology has evolved, the Internet has emerged as one of the most popular and widely used mediums for marketing of all type of businesses. Internet marketing strategies include search engine optimization techniques to increase visibility of one’s website on various search engines, pay per click based ads, banner advertising, email campaigns, enlisting on online directories etc. In addition, everyday new solutions are being researched and developed to find innovative ways for marketing.

While innovation may sound exciting to entrepreneurs, it poses a big challenge to the business community in terms of identifying the right strategy that ensures a high RoI (return on investment) on marketing dollars spent.

Although most of the strategies are expensive, there are inexpensive ways to achieve marketing objectives. The core purpose of any marketing strategy is to create awareness about one’s products and services, clearly communicate the value proposition being delivered, establish one’s credibility, create brand recognition and eventually increase sales.

One of the best strategies that meets these core marketing objectives, without being complicated or expensive is educating customers through information that helps them take the right decisions. Education can be in the form of written articles, tips and advice, white papers, tutorials, etc that can be written by the business owner himself and posted on the Internet for mass readership. This helps business owners establish their own footprint in the growing world of Internet users, establish credibility, display expertise and thought leadership, and promote their businesses.

Going one step further, businesses can also use the Internet to network, an emerging trend, which allows them to develop relationships with customers as well as peers. Social or business networking is another form of marketing, which provides businesses a tool to collaborate with others, strengthen existing customer relationships, as well as find new business opportunities.

A critical success factor in today’s competitive environment is to establish an online presence, educate customers, gain credibility, network and get business leads on a continuous basis. While there are several online business directories that allow you to enlist your business, freelance networks to get business opportunities, and sites to network, One2OneResearch.com is the only online platform that provides a unified solution to the different aspects of marketing.

One2OneResearch.com is a unique network that connects professionals, businesses and entrepreneurs with customers, while at the same time allowing them to establish a strong, credible online presence. It offers tools for networking, sales and marketing, finding business opportunities, and for educating customers.

So you have got a business idea � what next?

GCS Services

Are you an entrepreneur with a great business idea and want to implement it? Or, are you a business owner concerned about the economic environment and want to know how you can grow your business? Whatever phase you are in and however small your business may be, remember that your bottom-line is affected by innumerable factors that could either make you successful or restrain your growth. Failure, is not an option for sure because whatever you do will be a learning experience and a stepping stone to success. But, remember that a clear understanding of these factors, internal as well as external to your business environment will take you one more step closer to achieving your goals. Hence doing a thorough research of your business idea as well as the business environment is a critical success factor that will result in the understanding of this market dynamics.

Right from the step one where you have an idea, research acts as a great support system for pitching it to potential investors and even reaffirming its validity to you. This reinforces your belief in your own business idea and equips you with the right tools to handle all challenges that you will face. To think that it is a smooth ride to success even for the simplest of the ideas may be a very costly mistake you may be making. So, ready yourself to do the initial research, either yourself or through a professional before actually plunging into its implementation.

Further, even if your idea holds limitless potential, during each and every phase of your business - implementation, marketing, and growth – it is necessary to keep scanning your environment for any threats or opportunities. Analyze what the best strategies for growth could be, who your real competition is, what your customers needs are and your value proposition to them is, and what makes you unique so you can clearly differentiate yourself from others. Again, research will provide you with most of the answers and even help you in continuously evolving your products to best meet market needs.

Information Professionals �Why you need them?

GCS Services

Every aspect of business planning -- Sales, Marketing, Operations, Finance, R&D, Customer relationships, Technology, and others -- work towards a common goal i.e. succeed in business, stay competitive, keep customers happy, and be profitable.

Running a business comes with many challenges and making any business succeed requires not only good business acumen but also a good understanding of the industry one is in. Entrepreneurs and business owners are required to take critical decisions at every stage of their business. Decisions that are based on well researched information can help avoid expensive mistakes and can even take companies to the next level of success.

Information research is thus an integral part of any successful operation. Every stage as well as functional aspect of a business requires reliable up-to-date information that can help in taking smart and intelligent decisions. Understanding customer needs, industry trends, competitors’ strength and weaknesses, financial strategies, and legal requirements are just a few areas where businesses need information.

However, information research and analysis does not come natural to everyone. It is a unique skill that requires a lot of time and perseverance to gather enormous amount of data, an eye to filter pertinent information, and industry expertise to analyze data. Considering the fact that entrepreneurs and small businesses run their operation on a shoe-string budget and do not have the time or resources to do it all by themselves, a great way to do all this would be to seek an expert’s services that are reliable and reasonably priced.

A new category of professionals called information professionals (a.k.a. infopreneurs) is growing these days. An information professional is someone who can provide critical information and advice – either in the form of written research reports, business tips and advice, tutorials, or consultancy - to businesses of any size. Such professionals help businesses save time and money by providing them with customized information research and consulting services pertinent to their needs.

The classification of “Infopreneurs” has created a new style of business which allows independent professionals with industry expertise and specialized knowledge to provide their services to businesses of any size over the Internet – services which were earlier available to only large businesses and were provided by large consulting companies.

One2OneResearch.com is a unique online marketplace that connects information seekers with reliable information professionals. We provide efficient means for businesses, entrepreneurs, and investors to easily find and get business critical information by tapping into a growing pool of infopreneurs. With no cost for our services, we assist businesses in finding reliable and affordable market information as well as identify independent information professionals, consulting companies, and industry experts who match customers’ requirements. For more information visit us at www.one2oneresearch.com. Send us your enquiries at contactus@one2oneresearch.com

Business intelligence � more important than ever for SMBs

GCS Services

Whether you want to start a new business or grow an existing one, acquiring the right information related to your industry, customer demands, and competition is a must to make any business strategy successful.

Information Research or Business Intelligence is an essential part of any business that wants to offer its products or services to a targeted customer base. Business decisions that are based on good intelligence and market research can minimize risk and pay huge dividends.

In today’s competitive environment, it’s more important than ever to regularly monitor industry dynamic. As you begin to research your industry, you will better understand your customers, industry trends, competition, and new opportunities which you may have missed otherwise.

There are many sources through which one can gather market related information: general search on Internet, news, articles, industry reports, white papers, Library, and many more. Although a lot of information is freely available but extracting, analyzing, and synthesizing pertinent business critical information can be very tedious and time consuming. Market research is not a skill which comes easily to every entrepreneur!

Alternatively, one can hire a dedicated staff, subscribe to branded research and consulting companies, and spend tens of thousands of dollars towards the purchase of market reports – a cost that is neither required nor justified. Getting reliable information at an affordable cost is a challenge which every entrepreneur and business phase today.