Is the cliché of ‘be your own boss’ starting to sound pretty good to you? Then it’s time to start thinking of creating your very own business. Where to start? The idea is there and firmly planted, and you’re ready to act on it. To start, make an inventory of all of your skills, experiences, hobbies, successes and failures. A little daunting, but this allows you an idea of where your strengths are and what sort of business you might be interested in. You could even put these in order starting with the most enjoyable. Turning your hobby into a profitable business is the ultimate idea, so if you are able to find something at the top of the list that can be turned into a terrific business opportunity, then you’ve just stepped onto the road to success. Make another list of products or processes that annoy you. Make a further list of products or services that you feel are overpriced. All of these lists are a great way to do some ‘internal research’. Have a think about your current skills – can you invent something that will make an existing idea redundant? Can you significantly reduce the price to produce it? Now that you have some ideas, it’s time to put thought to action. How will you start? 1. Buy an existing business 2. Buy a franchise and open up a new territory 3. MLM or network marketing (I’m personally not a big fan of this one, but hey it may work for you) 4. Buy an online marketing business (beware of scams) 5. Professional Business – ie. Start a law firm with your legal qualifications, start an ad agency with your friend the Creative Director 6. Create something new from scratch Since my expertise is in online marketing, let’s focus on number 6. No matter what business you decide to create, whether it is purely online or offline, you’re going to need online marketing. With over 25 million people accessing over one million websites daily, it is your cheapest, easiest and fastest way of attracting prospective customers. Research is your friend The Internet is the best way to get started on your external research. Chances are that whatever your business opportunity idea is, someone else is already doing it. But that’s okay – after all, most new businesses are variations on existing ideas. However, you still need to find out what’s going on in your industry. One of the best tools for market research for online marketing is a little diddy called Word Tracker. Easy to use with free tutorials, this website allows you to find the things that lots of people are searching for but are not getting good results with. It’s a quick way to see what people want. Scouring the Net will allow you to learn about your chosen market, and what competition is out there. Wondering just how much market share do you need to have a good chance? The number should be in the low single digits or a fraction of 1%. Then all of this research can be put in your business opportunity plan – you have got one, haven’t you?
Article Source: http://bizymoms.com/business
After 3 years developing the client base as Marketing Director for a subsidiary of Draupner AB, Rob was appointed CEO where he worked for a further 2 years before starting his own business consulting practice. Success with online marketing has been central to Rob’s rececent accomplishments, leading to his marketing consultancy, iQuantum, developing a methodology for benchmarking client sites against competitors and best practice. iQuantum has progressively evolved to focus on online marketing