August 31, 2008 at 8:04 pm · Filed under make moneys
When I ask why you don’t start your own business, I always hear, “I don’t have money to start a business.”
This is a common excuse people give for not starting their own business.
There is truth in the statement. You actually need money to make money or to start a business. But the question is “Do you need a lot of money or little to start a business?” and “Whose money do you use?”
Yes, I admit that it does take money to make money but it doesn’t need to be your money!
Recently, one of my friends closed his restaurant business due to staff problems. But he quickly jumped to another business opportunity.
The business idea is so good that I want to share with you.
He is now running a training company. He focuses on corporate training. Basically, what he needs to do is to bring in famous trainers to his workshops. Market and promote the workshops and get people sign up for the workshops.
How much money do you think he needs to invest to organize one workshop? From getting the speaker to marketing, from selling tickets to renting a venue?
It will definitely cost a lot of money! Even if you only talk about marketing.
You know how much money my friend put in to organize a workshop? Close to zero!
How could that happen? How on earth that he doesn’t use his own money to organize a workshop but all the profits go into his pocket
Here is how.
He got the idea to look for sponsors for his workshop. After a few rounds of searching and corresponding, he managed to get big companies to be the sponsors for his workshop.
For companies to become my friend’s sponsors, they need to contribute money to promote the workshop. This single idea helps my friend to save hundreds of thousands of dollars in marketing.
Not only that, his sponsors also help him to market and sell tickets for his workshops. He also can leverage on the sponsors’ client databases.
Of course, my friend doesn’t mind to give some commissions to the sponsors from the sales of tickets. It’s only a small fraction of the whole profit.
By making such an arrangement, a lot of work is off-loaded from my friend. It’s like having a well-oiled machine working for you without much of your involvement.
My friend doesn’t need to invest a big sum of money for his workshops. Someone else will pay for his workshop expenses.
Does this sound like an excellent business idea? Of course, it does.
This is what I call ideas at work. Making money does not necessarily require huge capital, it’s all about coming up with ideas that other people are willing to invest in.
As Napoleon Hill once said, “One sound idea is all that you need to achieve success.” And also stressed by Robert Kiyosaki “Money is an idea.”
Abel Cheng offers small and medium enterprises exclusive global profits insider tips in his free publication, Abel Cheng’s Business Diary. To officiate a bi-weekly subscription, please go to
http://www.abelcheng.com/diary.html
Tags: business, entrepreneurship, money, success, wealthbusiness, entrepreneurship, money, success, wealthShare This
August 10, 2008 at 5:16 pm · Filed under make moneys
Unless you’re a hermit tucked away in a cave somewhere and have no contact with the outside world you will know something about eBay - the world wide online auction website.
I love eBay. I can pick up great bargains as a buyer or make some money as a seller without having to get bogged down in all the techno stuff associated with having my own website based business. And as for making money on eBay well, if you get it right then it can be a real income provider. But how do you get it right?
Let’s assume you have done a bit of eBay buying and selling but now you fancy having a bigger slice of the action. You want to start making some real money and grow a profitable eBay business. First thing to ask yourself is ‘Am I capable and committed enough to devote the time and effort to setting up, maintaining and growing an eBay business?’
Too many people are drawn in to believing that you can make a fortune online doing virtually nothing - put in a couple of hours a week and watch the money roll in! Forget it! It isn’t going to happen. If you want to earn a full time income online then you need to be prepared to put in full time hours and more. Sure you can start off slow devoting what time you can to it but somewhere along the line you will need to crank up the hours.
Right your committed, you know it’s going to need a lot of work and you know you have the ability so you dive in and give it all you’ve got and as is often the case you get nowhere! So before you give up your day job or pile a lot of money into an eBay business, sit yourself down and start putting together a robust plan because without one your running on hope and you won’t know you’ve been derailed until its to late!
The first things to get sorted are - How much money do you need to make? How much money can you invest? How much time can you put aside for it? What are you going to sell? You need to be honest with yourself when you are answering these questions as these are key elements of your plan.
When it comes to what your going to sell make sure you’re not trying to be an online department store selling anything and everything - much better to be focused on a particular market.
Now that you know what it is you think you will sell it’s time to do some market research. You need to get a handle on who will be your customers? What level of interest exists for what your going to sell? What level of demand exists? Is demand constant or seasonal? What’s the typical profit margin? Your aim here is to confirm that there is a profitable sustainable business that can be built around what you plan to sell.
Profitable and Sustainable are going to be key things you will need to demonstrate if you plan to get outside investment or financial assistance for your business.
Let’s assume you have your outline plan and it holds water. Now you’re going to need to start detailing it which is all about defining how you’re going to operate. Let’s assume you’re going to be selling physical goods rather than digital ones. You need to determine where you’re going to get your stock? How much stock you need to carry? Where will your stock be stored? How will you package and ship it? What price will you charge? What are your competitors charging? What profit per sale do you need to make? How will you list your products to make what your offering more desirable than your competitors?
You need to start thinking about auction titles which are fundamental to your success - get them wrong and you don’t get sales because no one looks at your listing!
Now it’s time to step back and re-evaluate your plan. Does it work financially? Does it work from a product perspective? Be honest and if you have to rework your plan to make it work then do it. If your plan works then your set to succeed it doesn’t then kiss your eBay business goodbye!
Right we have a viable plan what next? Before you start setting up your auctions make sure you are familiar with eBay (and PayPal) policies, rules and regulations and make sure you are protecting yourself properly from fraud.
What ever it is your looking for information on take a look at what I’m putting together at http://www.need2knowabout.com
Anne Milne
Tags: business, ebay, eBay business, income, Make Money, online incomebusiness, ebay, eBay business, income, Make Money, online incomeShare This
August 8, 2008 at 2:24 am · Filed under make moneys
When do annoyances in a relationship become too much to bear?
Have you ever worked for a client that drives you up the wall and back down the other side but you keep working with them because you need the money? I am sure most of us have been in that position and were so happy when that relationship finally broke up. It felt like you were finally free and able to do what you do best somewhere else, or you fell into panic because you had no income anymore. In either situation, the annoyances leave a bad taste for that type of business and you will likely seek clients in other industries.
This is not the best solution. You should always try and discover what is annoying you and why. It could be that the company is not aware of how annoying one of their procedures is or that there are problems in completing projects. If you have a good business relationship, you will be able to approach that person and let them know there are problems that need to be solved before a quality job can be completed.
In most cases, people are reluctant to bring up problems in case they are blamed and sent on their way. If you have a solid business relationship, there should be no fear in bringing up the event that is causing pain. If you cannot resolve the problem, then you must decide whether the experience of frustration is worth hanging onto or whether it is time to wrap up your end of the contract early. If you want to preserve your sanity, then follow up with the problems, try to come to a solution that works, and if not, move on.
Your method of communication when experiencing problems on a project will reflect how you conduct business. It is ultimately important that you act in a professional manner no matter what the outcome.
Bette Daoust, Ph.D. has been networking with others since leaving high school years ago. Realizing that no one really cared about what she did in life unless she had someone to tell and excite. She decided to find the best ways to get people’s attention, be creative in how she presented herself and products, getting people to know who she was, and being visible all the time. Her friends and colleagues have often dubbed her the “Networking Queen”. Blueprint for Networking Success: 150 ways to promote yourself is the first in this series. Blueprint for Branding Yourself: Another 150 ways to promote yourself is planned for release in 2005. For more information visit http://www.BlueprintBooks.com
Tags: business, consulting, marketing, meetings, networking, promotions, salesbusiness, consulting, marketing, meetings, networking, promotions, salesShare This
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