According to a recent Forbes.com article, over a half a million small businesses get started each month while more shut down than start-up. With this statistic, it’s not a surprise that some would be leery in joining the almost 30 million small businesses in the United States. It may also come as a surprise that over half of the working population works in a small business and that most small businesses are home-based. Why then do people start small businesses with these kinds of odds? Because many of us are still deciding what we want to be when we grow up. And once we’ve learned that, we choose to make a go of it on our own.Starting a small business or a home-based business is not something that should be entered into lightly. More often than not you’ll go through a long period languishing while trying to make your business viable. As with many big decisions in life, starting a business is a very big risk. There’s never an assurance of success. Rather, it is expected and statistically likely that you’ll fail. However, if you’re willing to work at beating the odds and fulfill a professional goal, this may still be the route for you.I’d worked in libraries for over a decade. I spent the majority of that time in library administration. I knew a good deal about how to run a small business because I’d essentially been doing so for quite some time. However, when you go out on your own there are many pitfalls that can be made in your businesses’ infancy. Contrary to the popular song lyrics, the best things in life aren’t free. Shortcuts will likely come back to haunt you and so too will not putting in the sweat equity needed to not only financially succeed, but to also feel emotionally and psychologically empowered.If you want to start a small business it has to be a deliberate process. However, it doesn’t have to be an expensive one. It doesn’t hurt for you to do some research. The Small Business Administration is a great free resource. So too are the books. Really, there are any number of tools to help you start-up or navigate the waters of small business. If you’re like the almost 75% of all U.S. business who are non-employers (self-employed with no additional payroll or employees), then you can be sure that there is plenty of information to help you achieve your goals.Running a small home-based business can be inexpensive, not cheap. Don’t scrimp on the stuff that can really make you appear more professional without breaking the budget. Here are a few startup tips for your business:1. Get a domain name.You may not need to register your business’s name with the state. The fact is, that process may be unnecessary and It can be costly depending on the nature of your business. However, it helps if you have a domain name so that you can have a traditional online storefront and presence. That isn’t to say that you need to sell products through your site, it just means that you have a place that you can send people to online to find out more information about you and your products and services.2. Use social media.No longer can people lament about how they don’t use Facebook or Twitter, being on social media also lends an air of credibility and savviness to your business. Using social media is inexpensive and easy. There are plenty of online tutorials on how to use social media and by getting yourself out there by using the social media networks, it opens you up to more clients and the ability to interact in real-time with them as well. Also, don’t simply have a presence on social media, depending on your demographic, there are still some people who simply aren’t using social media. Thus, you must also have an easily accessible webpage as well.3. It doesn’t hurt to use old school marketing tools.Professional business cards as well as marketing items are now nominal in cost. Don’t just settle for free cards, pay that little extra to brand your items. This way you can be fully in charge of the message you’re putting out there. Think about it, what did you think of the person who handed you a business card that were clearly free ones?!4. Use accounting software.Quickbooks, Freshbooks, Nutcache and the list goes on. You can even use Excel if you’re so inclined. Regardless, it’s imperative that you start consistent and accurate record keeping from the very start. Make sure that all of your transactions, big and small, are in a place that will make it easy for you come tax time.5. Work in the cloud and back it up.Cloud-based software is available for everything. It also doesn’t hurt to use free ones in this case. Google is the gold standard when it comes to free. However, document creation and retention aren’t the only things you can do in the cloud. Accounting software, website administration, almost anything you can think of can be done in the cloud. Plus, it makes your data accessible anywhere that has an Internet connection. And don’t forget to backup your work. If you’re saving your work to your computer or saving it to a virtual drive in the cloud, be sure that you have a backup. Redundancy is key and it can also be very economical. A good rule of thumb is to have a physical and virtual off-site backup because Murphy’s Law always happens.6. Be virtual.Depending on the type of services you offer, there are companies out there that can assist you in getting jobs/projects. Companies like Upwork provide you with a place to offer your services to others and provides you with an online workplace. Being a freelancer has never been so easy. As a freelancer, you don’t have to limit how and how many clients you have.7. You have to pay some to get some.Yes, you can start a new business with no cost, however, by investing just a little money upfront you’ll almost ensure a return on your investment. Pay for a virtual fax service, marketing materials and other little things that will go a long way in ensuring that your business isn’t like every other “mom and pop” business. Just be careful not to go all in too fast. Recurring costs, though small, can add up fast. If you have recurring costs it means that you have to earn at least that much money per month.8. Be tax savvy.You must be cognizant of what kind of tax impact there will be as a result of your business. It’s common, depending on the type of business you have and if you don’t have employees, for you to not withhold any taxes during your first year. Getting a baseline for what your business will be like is important, just don’t forget that Uncle Sam may hit you with a large tax bill at tax time. Visit the IRS website or speak to a tax professional to help you with getting this sorted out before it becomes a very expensive mistake.9. Make time for yourself.When you commit to owning a small business the one thing you’re guaranteed is that it’s going to be hard. Despite how challenging it is, you have to take time for yourself. It’s easy to work long hours and to forget that we aren’t machines. Even if it’s just a 15-minute walk each day or something else that will break up your workday, you must not forget that sometimes it’s best to literally walk away to clear your head. This will do wonders for your mood and your process.10. Be disciplined.Sure, we all think that working for ourselves would be the best job in the world. But it’s not until you’re actually doing it that you realize just how easy it is to be trapped by the pitfalls of having no other boss than yourself. That quick television break inevitably turns into a television marathon, sleeping in one day turns into not setting the right habits you need to be successful. It’s easy to say that you’re going be disciplined and fully devoted to the success of your business, but old habits do die hard.Each day brings challenges and uncertainties. You have to be willing to fail spectacularly. But you also have to be willing to love and nurture your business even on the days when you just don’t feel like it. If you don’t work, you don’t get paid. Despite that, the sky’s the limit and your earning potential is limitless when you’ve devoted yourself to doing what it is that you are passionate about. It’s important to remember that you’re not to give up when it gets hard. Those are the times you have to really dig in and remember why it is that you’re doing it in the first place.
Online Classified Advertising – Better Substitute for Ordinary Advertising Methods
People use many advertising media such as television, radio, news paper and magazines. These are traditional advertising media people who use for decades. But at present business people are seeking for different kind of advertising media. As a better solution, internet advertising or online advertising is doing a great job.
Now there are lots of online advertising websites available in the internet and people have the opportunity to publish their classified ads such as vehicles, electronic items, laptops, cameras, mobile phones as well as can advertise hotels, holiday resorts, spa, rent a car services, lands, houses, commercial buildings, apartments and many more.
These online advertising websites work the same with other media and sometimes they provide more features than those ordinary sources.
There are several advantages of online classified advertising. Mainly most of the barriers that affect to other media such as geographical and legal barriers will not affect to online promotions. Also advertisers can target huge potential customer by advertising online because your advertisement can be accessed from anywhere of the world.
Another advantage of this is it can be published within a short time period and it can be done for lower cost than print or other media.
Because of the advantages of online advertising, most of the news papers are also maintaining their online editions. Also most of the small & medium size enterprises advertise online because they have the opportunity to target wide range of customers for cheaper prices.
Also in the near future, people will not have time to read newspapers or watch televisions for long time period because of their busy life style. Hence they will addict to the internet much more because it will help them to find what they need within a short time period even at their office or at bedroom.
Another advantage of online classified advertising is it will allow to present ads with various audio and visual combination. As an example, if we take a paper advertisement, we can use only still images or visual contents and audio or animations cannot be used. These kinds of limitations are there in other promotional media as well. But in online advertising, we have the opportunity to use audio, visual and animating contents.
Also there are time lags in other advertising media but online advertisement will be available in the internet during 24 hours a day for long time period.
Likewise there are lots of advantages in online classified advertising and it will become the number one advertising option for business people in near future.
How to Make Money From Home With an Affiliate Marketing Home Based Business
Have you ever dreamed of being financially independent? Free of the 9 to 5 job and the boss who is only looking for the bottom line?
If you answered yes, you are not alone. Many of us dream to be free to be on our own and set our own hours. We would like to be free of the demands our jobs place on us and of the feeling of being ineffective at making the money we deserve.
You, probably, long to be able to take vacations whenever you wish and to work the hours you would like so that you can spend more time with your family and on yourself for your hobbies. Like many of us you see this as something that is out of your reach and is only a pipe dream.
Why is that so? It is likely that you like many people, fear losing the stability and security of your job, even though you know that this is not true at any time. You also feel you do not have the money or the time to really give to start a business of your own. Additionally, there are the opinions of your family and friends that you will only fail if you begin your own business and you, like many others, do not want to fail, especially if you invested your time and money.
You would like to have the following question answered:
How can you make money from home?
The answer to this question is to start an affiliate marketing home based business. You will be surprised to know how easy it is to start your own affiliate marketing business without any money and without spending too much of your time doing it.
Why should you consider affiliate marketing for your home based business?
Consider the following advantages of affiliate marketing:
- Requires little or no cash to start
- Require little space to do your work. If you have desk, with some clear space, then you are able to do affiliate marketing.
- It provides you with the opportunity to promote a product or a service.
- Once you have succeeded with a campaign with a good product or service, you can repeat the process with another product or service.
What does it take to start an affiliate marketing home based business?
You will need the following to start an affiliate marketing home based business:
- A computer of your own or access to a computer.
- A reliable connection to the Internet for the computer you use.
- A little space for you and the computer.
- A phone line, which you probably already have. If you do not have a phone line you would like to use for the business, you can go to Google Voice and sign up for an invitation to Google Voice where you can have a dedicated phone line that you can have redirected to any phone by setting it to do so with your Google Voice account.
- Time to do the work necessary for the business, which is not a lot once you get going.
- The final thing you need is the patience to learn how to market. There a lot of resources on the Internet which can help you out as well as some books you can get at Amazon or Barnes and Noble.
When you decide to begin your affiliate marketing business, you can do the following methods in your campaign:
- Design a mini website which promotes the single product with a sales page.
- Design a Squeeze page. The Squeeze page is a much targeted sales letter designed to get an action, which is usually for building a list to which you can market more affiliate products or services in the future.
- Design a Presell page. The Presell page is a like the mini website except that it appeals to people directly with a story that is more personal than what is used for a sales letter.
Each of these can be marketed in the following ways:
- Listing the site with Yahoo! Publisher Network or Google AdSense network with Pay Per Click ads to get traffic.
- Sending email marketing to your email list you
- Writing articles for article directories related to the content on the website
- Writing articles which are related to the content on the website
- Writing posts to forums with links to your website.
The number of ways you can do your affiliate marketing campaigns are endless and limited only by your imagination.
You do not need much money or very much time to start your affiliate marketing home based business to make money from home. This business can be done while you are still working and can generate extra income at first. The one thing that an affiliate marketing home based business can do for you is to get you believing that you can have your dream of being financially independent and all of the advantages that accompany it.
Isn’t that what you want? Your dreams coming true. Start marketing now and get clicking.