Providing All The Tools You Need To Become A Successful Online Entrepreneur
This post will explain keyword research and keyword selection and why they are essential part of your daily business. Starting an online business is very similar to building a brick and mortar business. Continue reading “Building a Keyword Foundation for Your Online Business” »
If you are looking to break out of the 9 to 5 grind and thinking about starting a virtual business, one of the questions you are probably asking yourself is “Should I start a brick and mortar business on the street or should I launch a virtual business online?” Although the final decision is yours to make, it may help you to weigh out the comparisons of each to help you make an informed decision.
Brick and Mortar Business
If you start up a brick and mortar business on the street it is all about location, location, location. Depending upon where you live this can be an interesting challenge and at the same time a gamble when it comes to making a profit. What’s more is you have to be ready to handle other tasks associated with starting a brick and mortar business such as:
* Market Research: Starting a brick and mortar business means investing a significant amount of time researching the market and demographics for the area where you want to establish your business. This can mean a lot of hours of pounding the pavement doing surveys and other research related to demographics.
* Start Up Costs: Starting up a brick and mortar business usually requires a significant investment with a hefty down payment. For example, if you are starting a franchise it is not uncommon to for the start-up costs to be in the $200,000 range with a down payment of at least one quarter to half of that amount. If you do not have your own money to invest you will go into hock to the tune of $200,000 and who knows if you will be able to match your return on investment and then some.
* Overhead Costs: A brick and mortar business has a lot of overhead costs which include inventory, taxes, utilities, insurance, store lease, and labor, to name a few. For you to make a profit you would have to ensure that you make enough sales to pay the bills with a little money leftover for your salary. It is not uncommon to have monthly expenses in excess of $5000 easy.
* Long Work Week: Many people start their own business to escape the rat race however, it is important to keep in mind that if you own a brick and mortar business you better be ready to invest a longer work week than the 9 to 5 grind.
With a virtual business strategy you can easily pinpoint your location where you want to offer your products and services. If you want to offer your products to the world that is great. If you want to target specific demographics you can do that instead. You are not limited to a specific location as you are with a brick and mortar business. In comparison with a brick and mortar business some of the other considerations include:
*
: Instead of pounding the pavement doing exhausting market research there are a lot of tools available online that allow you to research your market right from your computer keyboard. Tools such as keyword tools, analytics tools, chat rooms, social networking sites, and others allow you to easily research a product niche and get to know your market without ever having to leave your home office.
* Virtual Business Start Up Costs: A lot of online entrepreneurs start up their business for as little as $50 with as little as $100 per month spent on advertising. This is a significant difference when you compare it to the astronomical costs of starting a brick and mortar business. If you spend $100 per month on advertising and sell $20.00 widgets, you would only have to sell 6 widgets to produce a profit. What’s more is there are so many free online tools that allow you to promote your business with a simple time investment instead of a monetary investment.
* Overhead Costs: If you run a business online there is very little overhead costs unless you choose to store inventory. The only other overhead costs are a laptop computer, Internet connection, and telephone and most business users do not even have a telephone. Instead they opt for VoIP services such as Skype which allows you to make worldwide calls for free to other Skype users.
* Virtual Business Short Work Week: When you set up an online business it operates 24 hours a day 7 days a week. Thanks to automated software you can generate sales with your business even when you are away from your computer and while you are sleeping. Instead of having to limit your customers to specific hours you can be open 365 days year round without having to give up your life. Although you still have to plan and set goals, you have the convenience of setting your schedule as you wish instead of running your hours around a scheduled work week.
So when it comes down to comparison which would you rather do? Pay enormous start up costs for a brick and mortar business and $5000 per month worth of bills or start a virtual business with very little start up costs and low overhead? Each option will require a diligent effort to reach success.
I choose to market my business with an online business strategy. Although the company I market products for has a brick and mortar corporate office, I do not need to have to worry about rents, inventory and payroll. I can employ an internet marketing strategy and run my virtual business from my laptop and my phone. You can sign up for the presentation on this page and see if this is a business model that is right for you as well.
Respectfully Dedicated To Your Virtual Business Success!
If you are trying to start an online business it can be very easy and tempting to fall into some of the money scams that permeate the Internet on a daily basis. I hate to burst your bubble but a lot of these scams are very crafty at making it look like a legitimate online business when in reality only the person offering the opportunity is the one making money.
The truth to matter is that an online business takes the same effort to build as a brick and mortar business on the street and there is no quick fix or easy way around it. If you are going to build something worthwhile you have to be willing to put in the effort. Continue reading “Identifying Pyramids, Scams, Pickpockets and Ponzis” »
There is no doubt that there are a lot of cool tools for increasing the productivity of your online business. The problem is that many online business owners can caught up in understanding and using all the cool little widgets and other free tools that are available online and they forget about offering quality to the end user which is the customer.
So, if you are starting a new business what does it mean to offer quality to your customers and how do you go about doing this online?
Tips on Delivering Value to Your Customers
The main method for keeping your customers happy and getting referrals is to offer more value than you are charging for your product. Your prospects like to feel that they are getting their money’s worth so you have to make the offer bigger than the amount you are charging. Okay, so exactly how do you do this?
* Understand Why People Search the Internet: If you are going to be starting an online business it is very important to understand why people are searching the Internet and more specifically, why they are searching for your product or service. First of all, the majority of people search the Internet because they are looking to solve a problem. As an online business owner it is your job to figure out what problem your target market is trying to solve and then come up with a way to offer them the solution.
* Sell the Process and Not the Product: Once you identify your market and the problem they are trying to solve you must sell through the process and not the product. By this we mean you must lead the prospect through the process of solving the problem. Only then will they think about purchasing your product. The process involves offering quality information that is useful to the customer without initially asking for anything in return. If you successfully help them to solve the problem you have offered a tremendous value and benefit to their life.
* Provide Quality: Once you have provided your prospect with quality information they will naturally see why they need your product however, quality does not end there. You must present your product in a way that adds tremendous benefits to your prospect’s life. To do this you must ask yourself, “What are are some of the benefits that can be offered along with my products?” These could be offered in the form of fringe benefits such as a free report, a free ebook, a set of instructional CDs, or anything else you can think of to create a package deal.
* Backend Products: Once you have established a relationship with the customer you must continue to offer quality in the form of continued free information and in any backend products that you offer. Backend products are products that you can offer to your prospect once you have established a trusting relationship and they have made a purchase. If your prospect trusts the quality associated with your brand name they will be more likely to listen to your recommendations for backend products that are related to their purchase.
* Ongoing Customer Service: Customer service will be the one factor in your business that will make you or break you. Although you may succeed in offering quality, if you do not follow through by listening to the customer’s concerns and needs you will end up losing all of the long term benefits you have worked so hard to achieve in the previous steps we have described here. In addition to offering quality, good customer service is the icing on the cake and one of the main components that will keep your customers returning time and again.
So….yes…tools are cool and they are necessary for saving you time with your business as it grows however, you must make sure not to get caught up in all of the cool gadgets that are available to the point where you neglect to offer quality to your customers.
Respectfully Dedicated To Your Success!!
Rich Dad, Poor Dad is a book written by Robert Kiyosaki that addresses the difference in attitudes between people who are rich to the people who are not as financially independent. It is all about why rich people do things differently than other people and what makes these types of people tick.
The book offers an insightful story of the lessons that need to be mastered in order to become financially independent. Robert Kiyosaki’s father was an educator and public administrator and when Robert asked his father what it took to become rich his father didn’t really know the answer to that. His father continued to say that although many people receive a good education and become employees they never really become well educated in how to handle their finances.
Robert and his friend Mike decided to set out to figure out how to become rich and they began by making counterfeit money. Robert’s father advised them that counterfeit money is illegal and to ask Mike’s father, an independent business person on advice on how to become rich. Mike’s father inevitably ended up being a mentor to Robert Kiyosaki and the inspiration for writing Rich Dad/Poor Dad.
The rich dad represents his mentor while the poor dad represents his real father. The book describes a story of how Robert’s rich dad put him to work for a meager salary of $.30 an hour and told him he must be dedicated. Eventually Robert becomes frustrated when rich dad denies him a raise and views him as a cheapskate. The rich dad tells Robert that he has taught him a valuable lesson which was that most people despise being employed and live their life chasing after a paycheck and job security out of fear.
The rich dad teaches Robert a lot of valuable lessons about being financially independent which he outlines in Rich Dad/Poor Dad. Some of the issues are controversial such as the idea of paying yourself before you pay your taxes or your bills nonetheless, the book has some great advice to offer about becoming financially independent.
Some of the ideas that the Robert Kiyosaki discusses in Rich Dad/Poor Dad is the idea of distinguishing an asset from a liability. Successful investors primarily focus on assets that are capable of producing income where liabilities are what eat up the cash flow. He goes on to explain that liabilities can be dressed up to look like assets such as items that actually depreciate in value. He also stresses the importance of learning how to build assets and create tax shelters by running your own business.
The author also discusses how to become financially intelligent despite the fact that you may have gotten started late in life. He acknowledges that it is never too late to accumulate wealth and accelerate your financial growth by diversifying your assets and developing multiple streams of income. He also explains in detail what the rich teach their children that other people of limited financial means do not.
One of the drawbacks of the Rich Dad/Poor Dad is that the author writes a lot about finding that one magic financial deal that will make you lots of money and then duplicating that success over and over again. For a lot of people this can make it difficult to achieve success since most people become financially successful by diversifying their portfolio of income.
Regardless, Rich Dad/Poor Dad is still a worthwhile read for $16.95 if only to encourage some of your own thought processes about changing the way you think when it comes to finances.
Respectfully Dedicated To Your Success!!
Check Out These Special Offers From Derek Bayer!
