Tyler Lessard grips his BlackBerry in a familiar pose, head bent as he focuses on the screen with fingers punching madly. But it isn't E-mail forcing him into a bow sometimes called the "BlackBerry Prayer." An executive at the device's Canadian manufacturer, Research in Motion, Lessard is demonstrating a new side to the ultimate corporate communicator. He's playing Guitar Hero III.
His performance is ok, although unlikely to remind anyone of Jimi Hendrix or Slash—or even infomercial guitar god Esteban. But prowess isn't the point. It's that the game even exists, says Lessard, who works with outside software developers. RIM even promoted Guitar Hero on the BlackBerry home page, which for years kept a staid, corporate tone. "I hope that's a sign of things to come here," he says.
Nearly a decade after unleashing E-mail from PCs, the BlackBerry is breaking free of its own corporate constraints. RIM essentially created the market for wireless E-mail with its private, enterprise-oriented network. Its BlackBerry also embraced other productive pursuits: basics like calendars, address books, and documents and sophisticated software for specialized tasks like dispatching sales, support, and other mobile forces. Along the way, RIM wrapped in a phone to make BlackBerry the most successful smartphone in North America.
Now the company is targeting individual business users and even homebody consumers. Sleeker, more stylish BlackBerry Curve and Pearl models even come with cameras, games, and social networking. They helped push its subscriber list to a record 14 million at the end of February, up from 8 million a year earlier. RIM added 2 million subscribers in the most recent quarter alone—about half were individual buyers. Total sales doubled last year to $6 billion and likewise profits to $1.3 billion. As interest in smartphones accelerated, RIM's stock doubled in value each of the past two years.
Gaudy numbers like those draw competitors. Microsoft's longtime effort to get Windows Mobile onto cellphones has gained traction in the corporate market that RIM has ruled. Nokia already dominates smartphones in Europe and Asia and is eyeing a bigger role here. Consumers are expected to flock to upcoming phones with the Google-backed Android system, much as they did to Apple's stylish and multimedia friendly iPhone. "For years, there was clearly a distance between RIM and competitors," says Ken Dulaney, who tracks smartphones for Gartner, a market research firm. "That's no longer the case."
Rising tide. Executives appear unconcerned at RIM's corporate headquarters, which is less a campus than a scattering of nearly two dozen buildings across Waterloo, Ontario, a college town about an hour west of Toronto. If anything, RIM seems to be benefiting from competitors' success, argues Mike Lazaridis, RIM's founder and co-CEO. Apple is spending tremendously to market the iPhone, he says. That's raising awareness that a handset can do much more than the mainstream "feature phones" that most consumers carry. "People are walking into stores with a feature phone and out with a smartphone," he says.
The worldwide smartphone market grew roughly 50 percent in 2007 to about 122 million units, according to data from Gartner. That's still only about 1 in 10 of all cellphones sold, suggesting lots of upside.
"The opportunity for smartphones is virtually unbounded," says John Traynor, senior director of mobile communications at Microsoft. And while the three big players in North America—Apple, Microsoft, and RIM—compete fiercely, they aren't forced yet to just steal each other's customers. "The day will come when the market is saturated. We're nowhere near that yet," says Jeff Bradley, a senior vice president at AT&T, famously the exclusive carrier for the iPhone but also a leading seller of BlackBerry and Windows handsets.
AT&T and other wireless carriers love smartphones, which typically handle E-mail and more sophisticated functions than mainstream phones. That translates to higher carrier revenue from data plans, a trend that should accelerate as the handsets absorb more functions. Smartphones have become "voraciously convergent," consuming every portable in sight, says Avi Greengart, who tracks wireless handsets for Current Analysis. "The PDA? That's gone already," he says. "GPS navigator, you're next. mp3 player, we've got you in our sights." And hand-held game consoles are just behind.
Not that RIM execs would predict the BlackBerry will become the gaming platform of choice. While the company reaches for more consumers, RIM's personality remains tightly wed to its corporate roots. Lazaridis's comments repeatedly return to basics, including security and reliability—of a "stress free" day for users. He talks of engineering, design, and science and of trade-offs between features like big, sexy touch-screens and drained batteries. "There is a massive set of paradoxes that must be dealt with," he says.
Similarly, the RIM complex almost hums with sober seriousness. The company has been in business for 24 years; it was coincidental that BlackBerry launched amid the Internet bubble. No ping-pong tables or lava lamps of dot-com upstarts at RIM's buildings, despite most of them abutting a university.
That's the University of Waterloo, which Lazaridis, 47, left a month before graduating to found RIM. As an undergrad, he'd won a lucrative contract from General Motors for an early wireless technology. RIM eventually moved into paging. From there, Lazaridis could see that hand-helds would become something more complex. The gamble was if the technology was ready.
RIM chose to make sure by building an end-to-end system, a private network that links every BlackBerry to operations centers whose exact locations are treated as corporate secrets. They control the flow of data between corporate servers, such as those that handle a company's E-mail, and the 350 wireless networks on which BlackBerry operates. "It's why your BlackBerry just works when you step off a plane anywhere," Lazaridis says. It's also why RIM's service can fail, as it has in occasional, hours-long outages. RIM executives say they understand and are investing to minimize outages. "I get it. I get it," says co-CEO Jim Balsillie.
But the hiccups have helped competitors, particularly Microsoft, which has taken dead aim at RIM's corporate clients. "Routing data through a single point also makes it a single point of failure," says Microsoft's Traynor. Even Apple, whose iPhone was originally a consumer product, is targeting corporations by improving security. RIM, in turn, is said to be developing a touch-screen model to compete for customers drawn by the iPhone's big monitor and slick software.
Analysts say RIM needs new models to appeal to consumers, moving beyond its versions with a full qwerty keyboard and the Pearl's traditional keypad. RIM has proved an innovative company that's willing to do the unexpected, says Gartner's Dulaney. The company successfully moved from its hugely popular trackwheel to a trackball, which is better for Web surfing. Stay tuned for more handset changes, adds Balsillie at RIM: "There is no religion to what we do in packaging." The genuflecting instead is left to reliability and security, which RIM execs hope will be as important to consumers as to corporations. They think those basics will keep new customers bowing, with equal fervor and serenity, to new generations of BlackBerrys.
July 20, 2008
Entrepreneurs Make Money and Lead Happy Lives
Entrepreneurship is often seen not just as an approach to business but as a way of life. In the process of writing Life Entrepreneurs: Ordinary People Creating Extraordinary Lives, Christopher Gergen and Gregg Vanourek interviewed 55 successful entrepreneurs from a variety of industries, both for-profit and nonprofit.
U.S. News spoke with Vanourek, who has run a consulting firm and worked in the education sector, about how there's competitive—and personal—advantage to be gained from pursuing entrepreneurship as a way of life. Excerpts:
In your book, you define entrepreneurship as something more than just starting your own business.
I think a lot of people confuse owning a small business with entrepreneurship. They are closely related but not exactly the same thing. Most definitions of entrepreneurship include this notion of innovation. It's possible for a small-business owner to take the existing model and do the same thing. Innovation and entrepreneurship really go hand in hand. You can't be entrepreneurial without being innovative.
We define the entrepreneurial way as opportunity recognition, innovation, and action. A lifelong entrepreneur is creating a life of significance through opportunity recognition, innovation, and action.
You don't have to be a business entrepreneur or social entrepreneur to be a life entrepreneur. You can live your life in an entrepreneurial way and work for corporate America, or be a small-business owner who we wouldn't think of as entrepreneurial in the pure sense.
How can someone be a "life entrepreneur"?
Part of that is just being innovative and recognizing opportunities in your whole life. There's a guy we interviewed named Max Israel. One of the things he builds into his professional life is his own "secret office." He builds [into his schedule] 25 work days out of the year to go out into the woods and go canoeing and adventure biking, that sort of thing. He has fun, but he also has his best ideas there. So he's building his quality of life into his annual professional calendar in a way that's restoring and renewing.
Do people really want to incorporate entrepreneurship into their daily life? Many people prefer to keep work separate from the rest of their lives.
What we're not talking about is having your work life so pervasive that it consumes your whole life. We believe your professional life should be challenging and exciting, a dynamic part of your whole life, but it's only a part. The key is to integrate your personal and professional life. What we mean is being the same person in your personal life that you are at work. We [write in the book] about having a strong personal foundation and core identity—knowing what your values are, what your strengths and passions are, and bringing those to bear in your work, and your personal life, so that you're the same person across all of those different roles.
A lot of people get caught in the trap that "I'm the CEO, or I'm the marketing professional, or I'm the HR person, and I bring this persona to work, but I leave it behind when I go home." They don't bring their sense of humor or values or personal characteristics to their work, and there's a real danger there.
What's the danger?
You become this self-important executive, and you feel that your whole identity is wrapped up in the success of the initiative. A lot of people end up cutting corners because their identity is so wrapped up in the bottom-line numbers.
What's an example of someone integrating their work and personal life?
One of the best examples is Gary Erickson, the founder of Clif Bar. When he started Clif Bar, he was this young kid who was interested in three things: One was jazz, two was adventure sports, and three was organic, healthy food. He had the vision to start a company to make organic, healthy energy bars. He integrated those passions into his approach and the way the company is run. The company has a very exciting, dynamic culture—they have weekly jam sessions in a company theater to bring that jazz aspect forward. They have community service programs and company wellness programs where people get paid time off to use the company's personal trainers to exercise. They give back some of their profits to the community. He's created this company that reflects who he really is. He allows other people who share those values to have a fun, interesting job where they can also make a contribution.
U.S. News spoke with Vanourek, who has run a consulting firm and worked in the education sector, about how there's competitive—and personal—advantage to be gained from pursuing entrepreneurship as a way of life. Excerpts:
In your book, you define entrepreneurship as something more than just starting your own business.
I think a lot of people confuse owning a small business with entrepreneurship. They are closely related but not exactly the same thing. Most definitions of entrepreneurship include this notion of innovation. It's possible for a small-business owner to take the existing model and do the same thing. Innovation and entrepreneurship really go hand in hand. You can't be entrepreneurial without being innovative.
We define the entrepreneurial way as opportunity recognition, innovation, and action. A lifelong entrepreneur is creating a life of significance through opportunity recognition, innovation, and action.
You don't have to be a business entrepreneur or social entrepreneur to be a life entrepreneur. You can live your life in an entrepreneurial way and work for corporate America, or be a small-business owner who we wouldn't think of as entrepreneurial in the pure sense.
How can someone be a "life entrepreneur"?
Part of that is just being innovative and recognizing opportunities in your whole life. There's a guy we interviewed named Max Israel. One of the things he builds into his professional life is his own "secret office." He builds [into his schedule] 25 work days out of the year to go out into the woods and go canoeing and adventure biking, that sort of thing. He has fun, but he also has his best ideas there. So he's building his quality of life into his annual professional calendar in a way that's restoring and renewing.
Do people really want to incorporate entrepreneurship into their daily life? Many people prefer to keep work separate from the rest of their lives.
What we're not talking about is having your work life so pervasive that it consumes your whole life. We believe your professional life should be challenging and exciting, a dynamic part of your whole life, but it's only a part. The key is to integrate your personal and professional life. What we mean is being the same person in your personal life that you are at work. We [write in the book] about having a strong personal foundation and core identity—knowing what your values are, what your strengths and passions are, and bringing those to bear in your work, and your personal life, so that you're the same person across all of those different roles.
A lot of people get caught in the trap that "I'm the CEO, or I'm the marketing professional, or I'm the HR person, and I bring this persona to work, but I leave it behind when I go home." They don't bring their sense of humor or values or personal characteristics to their work, and there's a real danger there.
What's the danger?
You become this self-important executive, and you feel that your whole identity is wrapped up in the success of the initiative. A lot of people end up cutting corners because their identity is so wrapped up in the bottom-line numbers.
What's an example of someone integrating their work and personal life?
One of the best examples is Gary Erickson, the founder of Clif Bar. When he started Clif Bar, he was this young kid who was interested in three things: One was jazz, two was adventure sports, and three was organic, healthy food. He had the vision to start a company to make organic, healthy energy bars. He integrated those passions into his approach and the way the company is run. The company has a very exciting, dynamic culture—they have weekly jam sessions in a company theater to bring that jazz aspect forward. They have community service programs and company wellness programs where people get paid time off to use the company's personal trainers to exercise. They give back some of their profits to the community. He's created this company that reflects who he really is. He allows other people who share those values to have a fun, interesting job where they can also make a contribution.
Write a Keyword Article Quickly
Writing keyword articles is vital to internet marketing. To get the most for your efforts, you must learn to write keyword articles quickly.
- Pick your keyword. This word or phrase is chosen based on what you are marketing or your website niche.
- Write your article headline. The best headlines have the keyword phrase at the beginning or close to it. Popular choices for keyword article headlines include "How To," "Top Ten," and "Secret Method."
- Write the introductory paragraph. This paragraph should include a hook, often in the form of a question, that pertains to the keyword topic. Include your keyword in the first line of the paragraph and then again one more time.
- Create two to four subheadings. These should also include the keyword phrase. Focus on two to four topics that pertain to your main topic. List these in bold on the word processing page.
- After each subheading, write a topic sentence about that subheading. Include the keyword in each of these sentences in your article.
- Write two to four detail sentences for each subheading. Give the reader information they want in clear, concise language.
- Proofread, spellcheck, and edit until your keyword article is perfect for marketing your website, blog, or product.
July 18, 2008
Secrets Of Getting Free Advertising
The opportunities for getting free advertising for your product or services are limited only by your own imagination and energies. There are so many proven ways of promoting your objectives without cost that it literally boggles the mind just to think of listing them.
One way is to write an article relative to your particular expertise and submit it to all the publications and media dealing in the dissemination of related information. In other words, become your own publicity and sales promotions writer. Get the word out; establish yourself as an expert in your field, and "tag-along" everything you write with a quick note listing your address for a catalog, dealership opportunity, or more information.
Another really good way is by becoming a guest on as many of the radio and television talk shows or interview type programs as possible. Actually, this is much easier to bring about than most people realize. Write a letter to the producer of these programs, then follow up an in-person visit or telephone call. Your initial contact should emphasize that your product or service would be of interest to the listeners or viewers of the program--perhaps even saving them time and money.
Other ways of getting free or very inexpensive exposure include the posting of advertising circulars on all free bulletin boards in your area, especially the coin-operated laundries, grocery stores, and beauty and barbershops. Don't discount the idea of handing out circulars to all the shoppers in busy shopping centers and malls, especially on weekend. You can also enlist the aid of the middle school students in your area to hand out circulars door-to-door.
Some of the more routine methods include having a promotional ad relative to your product or service printed on the front or back of your envelopes at the time you have them printed with your return address.
Be sure to check all the publications that carry the kind of advertising you need. Many mail order publications just getting started offer unusually low rates to first-time advertisers; a free-of-charge insertion of your ad when you pay for an order to run three issues or more; or special seasonal ad space at greatly reduced rates. And there are a number of publications that will give you Per Inquiry (PI) space--arrangement where all orders come in to the publication, they take a commission from each order, and then forward the orders on to you for fulfillment.
Many publications will give you a contract for space. In this arrangement you send them your ad, and they hold it until they have unsold space, and then at a price that's always one third or less the regular price for the space need, insert your ad. Along these lines, be sure to check in with the suburban neighborhood newspapers.
If you send out or publish any kind of catalog or ad sheet, get in touch will all the other publishers and inquire about the possibilities of exchange advertising. They run your ad in their publication in exchange for you running an ad for them of comparable size in yours.
Finally, there's nothing in the world that beats the low cost and tremendous exposure you get when you advertise a free offer. Simply run an ad offering a free report of interest to most people--- a simple one page report with a "tag-line" inviting the readers to send money for more information, with a full page advertisement for your book or other products on the backside. Ask for a self-addressed stamped envelope, and depending on the appeal for your report and circulation of the publication in which your ad appears, you could easily be inundated with responses!
The trick here, of course, is to convert all these responses, or a large percentage of them, into sales. This is done via the "tag-line," which issues an invitation to the reader to send for more information, and the full-page ad on the back of the report, and other offers you include with the complete package you send back to them. As mentioned at the beginning of this report, it's just a matter of unleashing your imagination. Do that, and you have a powerful force working for you that can help you reach your goals.
One way is to write an article relative to your particular expertise and submit it to all the publications and media dealing in the dissemination of related information. In other words, become your own publicity and sales promotions writer. Get the word out; establish yourself as an expert in your field, and "tag-along" everything you write with a quick note listing your address for a catalog, dealership opportunity, or more information.
Another really good way is by becoming a guest on as many of the radio and television talk shows or interview type programs as possible. Actually, this is much easier to bring about than most people realize. Write a letter to the producer of these programs, then follow up an in-person visit or telephone call. Your initial contact should emphasize that your product or service would be of interest to the listeners or viewers of the program--perhaps even saving them time and money.
Other ways of getting free or very inexpensive exposure include the posting of advertising circulars on all free bulletin boards in your area, especially the coin-operated laundries, grocery stores, and beauty and barbershops. Don't discount the idea of handing out circulars to all the shoppers in busy shopping centers and malls, especially on weekend. You can also enlist the aid of the middle school students in your area to hand out circulars door-to-door.
Some of the more routine methods include having a promotional ad relative to your product or service printed on the front or back of your envelopes at the time you have them printed with your return address.
Be sure to check all the publications that carry the kind of advertising you need. Many mail order publications just getting started offer unusually low rates to first-time advertisers; a free-of-charge insertion of your ad when you pay for an order to run three issues or more; or special seasonal ad space at greatly reduced rates. And there are a number of publications that will give you Per Inquiry (PI) space--arrangement where all orders come in to the publication, they take a commission from each order, and then forward the orders on to you for fulfillment.
Many publications will give you a contract for space. In this arrangement you send them your ad, and they hold it until they have unsold space, and then at a price that's always one third or less the regular price for the space need, insert your ad. Along these lines, be sure to check in with the suburban neighborhood newspapers.
If you send out or publish any kind of catalog or ad sheet, get in touch will all the other publishers and inquire about the possibilities of exchange advertising. They run your ad in their publication in exchange for you running an ad for them of comparable size in yours.
Finally, there's nothing in the world that beats the low cost and tremendous exposure you get when you advertise a free offer. Simply run an ad offering a free report of interest to most people--- a simple one page report with a "tag-line" inviting the readers to send money for more information, with a full page advertisement for your book or other products on the backside. Ask for a self-addressed stamped envelope, and depending on the appeal for your report and circulation of the publication in which your ad appears, you could easily be inundated with responses!
The trick here, of course, is to convert all these responses, or a large percentage of them, into sales. This is done via the "tag-line," which issues an invitation to the reader to send for more information, and the full-page ad on the back of the report, and other offers you include with the complete package you send back to them. As mentioned at the beginning of this report, it's just a matter of unleashing your imagination. Do that, and you have a powerful force working for you that can help you reach your goals.
At-Home Big Money Business
Starting at home has many advantages
When you start a business, like any venture in life, you want it to have the best chance for success. Starting one from your home has unique advantages.
You won't be paying rent on a store or office. And probably you won't immediately need a separate phone with the charges for installation and monthly service. And you are already heating and lighting your home. Therefore, you avoid the burden of these additional monthly overhead costs.
You'll be using many things you already own so you can save money by not buying a desk, lighting fixtures, a water cooler, or the other furnishings people generally buy to set up a separate business location.
If you need help with the actual work that's involved, try to get members of your family to help you (more on this later). And you can start your business part-time while keeping your present job. Later as it grows you can make it your full-time occupation, and if you wish, move it out of your home into larger quarters...better suited to a business, which may be growing by leaps and bounds.
Presiding over your own domain
A man's home is his castle--and it can also be his "gold mine." There are many people who make a very good living right from their home. It's comfortable, it's conveniently located (you can walk to work in about 15 seconds) and you can dress the way you like. You can arrange the furniture to make a workspace that suits your exact needs and tastes. You can choose the hours you wish to work and, if you have the energy, initiative and ambition, you can even be in more than one kind of business!
Working in your home has other advantages; you have no transportation expenses and you don't waste time or energy in crowds or rush hour traffic. You don't have to worry about getting along with a large group of co-workers or finding a decent place to eat lunch. And you don't have to go out in all weathers, sleet and snow or broiling sun.
But there are some drawbacks to working at home and the largest of these is self-discipline. You must learn to discipline yourself. Everyone who is his own boss has the problem of utilizing his time and energy most effectively and not wasting time on pet projects that are not essential to the business. Self-discipline is easier to attain if one goes each day to a separate place of business because most business premises do not have the comforts, conveniences and distractions that one has in one's own home. The danger in working at home is that the advantage of comfort and convenience can turn into a great disadvantage.
Set up a definite work area
Later on we'll tell you some tips on how to conduct business in general. But let's first find a part of your house that you can use as your business or work area. It should be a spot that is comfortable but away from distractions. Your children deserve attention but not during your working hours (more on that later). So set yourself up far from where the kids usually play. Too close to the kitchen isn't wise because you are too close to the "food or drink" temptation. A quiet spare bedroom can be ideal as can a finished basement or garage if they aren't too hot or cold. You may need an extension phone put there and, indeed, after your business gets rolling you may want a separate line just for business.
If you have a spare desk or table that's fine, but a card table can do for a starter. Adequate lighting is necessary and a filing cabinet also is a good thing to have on hand. You can add whatever other business devices and equipment you discover you'll need as time goes by.
You and your Family
It will be necessary to explain to your children that even though you are at home, you are, in a sense "not at home," that you are working. This does not apply to an emergency, of course, but for nearly all-ordinary moments it means they are not allowed to disturb you. You may even have to lock the door that leads to your work area.
On the other side, there is the situation regarding other adults in the household, from whom you might want some help from in running the business. This has been called the "honey-do" problem: honey, do this; honey, do that. It's best to come to some understanding with your spouse (and any other adult in your home) about just how you are going to handle this problem.
It's quite sensible to desire the help of those other capable adults because they can take some of the burdens of the business off your shoulders. However, from both a business viewpoint and from the human relations viewpoint, it's best to have a clear understanding with each of them as to what kind of things they will and should do (answer the phone, open mail, pack and ship merchandise, etc.) and what they definitely are not to do (make payments to people without your authorization, make agreements, deals or contracts without asking you). Such advance agreements can avoid a lot of aggravation and make everything go much more smoothly.
Getting temporary help
There may be more work at times than you and your family can do yourselves. Your volume of business may be greater on certain days of the week, certain times of the month, certain seasons of the year. At those times you may need extra help to handle the work. Or you might need a bookkeeper or secretary or clerk one week a month to help you keep up-to-date on your record keeping and paperwork.
When you need such help, the most convenient way to get it is to hire someone through an agency that provides temporary workers. Manpower and Kelly Girl, for example, are two of the best-known agencies in this field. Hiring through such an agency has these advantages: they will send a person who has the skills you require which means you won't waste time training the person. The worker they send understands that the job is temporary and won't make you uncomfortable by asking to be kept on permanently.
And, because the worker is employed by the agency (not by you) the agency takes care of the worker's payroll records, tax deductions, insurance coverage, fringe benefits, and so on. You are free from those responsibilities.
The right business for you
When selecting a home business you should consider these factors: * Is the service or product you intend to provide already easily available in your area? If it is not available and if there appears to be a need for it, these factors are in your favor.
Consider all the things you own that might be used in some way as equipment for your business: a car or truck, a typewriter, a mimeograph machine, and so on. If you can use them, it will greatly lower your starting costs.
When you start a business, like any venture in life, you want it to have the best chance for success. Starting one from your home has unique advantages.
You won't be paying rent on a store or office. And probably you won't immediately need a separate phone with the charges for installation and monthly service. And you are already heating and lighting your home. Therefore, you avoid the burden of these additional monthly overhead costs.
You'll be using many things you already own so you can save money by not buying a desk, lighting fixtures, a water cooler, or the other furnishings people generally buy to set up a separate business location.
If you need help with the actual work that's involved, try to get members of your family to help you (more on this later). And you can start your business part-time while keeping your present job. Later as it grows you can make it your full-time occupation, and if you wish, move it out of your home into larger quarters...better suited to a business, which may be growing by leaps and bounds.
Presiding over your own domain
A man's home is his castle--and it can also be his "gold mine." There are many people who make a very good living right from their home. It's comfortable, it's conveniently located (you can walk to work in about 15 seconds) and you can dress the way you like. You can arrange the furniture to make a workspace that suits your exact needs and tastes. You can choose the hours you wish to work and, if you have the energy, initiative and ambition, you can even be in more than one kind of business!
Working in your home has other advantages; you have no transportation expenses and you don't waste time or energy in crowds or rush hour traffic. You don't have to worry about getting along with a large group of co-workers or finding a decent place to eat lunch. And you don't have to go out in all weathers, sleet and snow or broiling sun.
But there are some drawbacks to working at home and the largest of these is self-discipline. You must learn to discipline yourself. Everyone who is his own boss has the problem of utilizing his time and energy most effectively and not wasting time on pet projects that are not essential to the business. Self-discipline is easier to attain if one goes each day to a separate place of business because most business premises do not have the comforts, conveniences and distractions that one has in one's own home. The danger in working at home is that the advantage of comfort and convenience can turn into a great disadvantage.
Set up a definite work area
Later on we'll tell you some tips on how to conduct business in general. But let's first find a part of your house that you can use as your business or work area. It should be a spot that is comfortable but away from distractions. Your children deserve attention but not during your working hours (more on that later). So set yourself up far from where the kids usually play. Too close to the kitchen isn't wise because you are too close to the "food or drink" temptation. A quiet spare bedroom can be ideal as can a finished basement or garage if they aren't too hot or cold. You may need an extension phone put there and, indeed, after your business gets rolling you may want a separate line just for business.
If you have a spare desk or table that's fine, but a card table can do for a starter. Adequate lighting is necessary and a filing cabinet also is a good thing to have on hand. You can add whatever other business devices and equipment you discover you'll need as time goes by.
You and your Family
It will be necessary to explain to your children that even though you are at home, you are, in a sense "not at home," that you are working. This does not apply to an emergency, of course, but for nearly all-ordinary moments it means they are not allowed to disturb you. You may even have to lock the door that leads to your work area.
On the other side, there is the situation regarding other adults in the household, from whom you might want some help from in running the business. This has been called the "honey-do" problem: honey, do this; honey, do that. It's best to come to some understanding with your spouse (and any other adult in your home) about just how you are going to handle this problem.
It's quite sensible to desire the help of those other capable adults because they can take some of the burdens of the business off your shoulders. However, from both a business viewpoint and from the human relations viewpoint, it's best to have a clear understanding with each of them as to what kind of things they will and should do (answer the phone, open mail, pack and ship merchandise, etc.) and what they definitely are not to do (make payments to people without your authorization, make agreements, deals or contracts without asking you). Such advance agreements can avoid a lot of aggravation and make everything go much more smoothly.
Getting temporary help
There may be more work at times than you and your family can do yourselves. Your volume of business may be greater on certain days of the week, certain times of the month, certain seasons of the year. At those times you may need extra help to handle the work. Or you might need a bookkeeper or secretary or clerk one week a month to help you keep up-to-date on your record keeping and paperwork.
When you need such help, the most convenient way to get it is to hire someone through an agency that provides temporary workers. Manpower and Kelly Girl, for example, are two of the best-known agencies in this field. Hiring through such an agency has these advantages: they will send a person who has the skills you require which means you won't waste time training the person. The worker they send understands that the job is temporary and won't make you uncomfortable by asking to be kept on permanently.
And, because the worker is employed by the agency (not by you) the agency takes care of the worker's payroll records, tax deductions, insurance coverage, fringe benefits, and so on. You are free from those responsibilities.
The right business for you
When selecting a home business you should consider these factors: * Is the service or product you intend to provide already easily available in your area? If it is not available and if there appears to be a need for it, these factors are in your favor.
Consider all the things you own that might be used in some way as equipment for your business: a car or truck, a typewriter, a mimeograph machine, and so on. If you can use them, it will greatly lower your starting costs.
Start A Profitable Home-based Business
In these days, it's becoming increasingly difficult to make ends meet with just one source of income. Thus, more and more people are investigating the possibilities of starting their own extra-income business. Most of these part-time endeavors are started and operated from the comfort and privacy of the home.
Most of these people are making the extra money they need. Some have wisely and carefully built these extra income efforts into full-time, very profitable businesses. Others are just keeping busy, having fun, and enjoying life as never before. The important thing is that they are doing something other than waiting for the government to give them a handout; they are improving their lot in life, and you can do it, too!
The fields of mail order selling, multi-level marketing, and in-home party sales have never been more popular. If any of these kinds of extra income producing ideas appeal to you, then you owe it to yourself to check them out. But these aren't the only fields of endeavor you can start and operate from home, with little or no investment, and learn as you go.
If you type, you can start a home-based typing service; if you have a truck or have access to a trailer, you can start a clean-up/hauling service. Simply collecting old newspapers from your neighbors can get you started in the paper recycling business. More than a few enterprising housewives have found success and fortune by starting home and/or apartment cleaning services. If you have a yard full of flowers, you can make good extra money by supplying fresh cut flowers to restaurants and offices in your area on a regular basis. You might turn a ceramics hobby into a lucrative personalized coffee mug business. What I'm saying is that in reality, there's literally no end to the ways you can start and operate a profitable extra income business from your home.
The first thing you must do, however, is some basic market research. Find out for yourself, first-hand, just how many people there are in your area who are interested in your proposed product or service, and would be "willing to stand in line and pay money for it." This is known as defining your market and pinpointing your customers. If after checking around, talking about your idea with a whole lot of people over a period of one to three months, you get the idea that these people would be paying customers, your next effort should be directed toward the "detailing" of your business plan. The more precise and detailed your plan - covering all the bases relating to how you'll do everything that needs to be done - the easier it's going to be for you to attain success. Such a plan should show your start-up investment needs, your advertising plan, your production costs and procedures, your sales program, and how your time will be allocated. Too often, enthusiastic and ambitious entrepreneurs jump in on an extra income project and suddenly find that the costs are beyond their abilities, and the time requirements more than they can meet. It pays to lay it all out on paper before you get involved, and the clearer you can "see" everything before you start, the better your chances for success.
Now, assuming you've got your market targeted, you know who your customers are going to be and how you're going to reach them with your product or service. And you have all your costs as well as time requirements itemized. The next step is to set your plan in motion and start making money.
Here is the most important "secret" of all, relating to starting and building a profitable home-based business, so read very carefully. Regardless of what kind of business you start, you must have the capital and the available time to sustain your business through the first six months of operation. Specifically, you must not count on receiving or spending any money coming in from your business on yourself or for your bills during those first six months. All the income from your business during those first six months should be reinvested in your business in order for it to grow and reach our planned first year potential.
Once you've passed that first six months milestone, you can set up a small monthly salary for yourself, and begin enjoying the fruits of your labor. But the first six months or operation for any business are critical, so do not plan to use any of the money your business generates for yourself during that period.
If you've got your business plan properly organized, and have implemented the plan, you should at the end of your first year be able to begin thinking about hiring other people to alleviate some of your work-load. Remember this: Starting a successful business is not a means towards either a job for yourself or a way to keep busy. It should be regarded as the beginning of an enterprise that will grow and prosper, with you as the top dog. Eventually, you'll have other people doing all the work for you, even running the entire operation, while you vacation in the Bahamas or Hawaii and collect or receive regular income from your initial efforts.
Most of these people are making the extra money they need. Some have wisely and carefully built these extra income efforts into full-time, very profitable businesses. Others are just keeping busy, having fun, and enjoying life as never before. The important thing is that they are doing something other than waiting for the government to give them a handout; they are improving their lot in life, and you can do it, too!
The fields of mail order selling, multi-level marketing, and in-home party sales have never been more popular. If any of these kinds of extra income producing ideas appeal to you, then you owe it to yourself to check them out. But these aren't the only fields of endeavor you can start and operate from home, with little or no investment, and learn as you go.
If you type, you can start a home-based typing service; if you have a truck or have access to a trailer, you can start a clean-up/hauling service. Simply collecting old newspapers from your neighbors can get you started in the paper recycling business. More than a few enterprising housewives have found success and fortune by starting home and/or apartment cleaning services. If you have a yard full of flowers, you can make good extra money by supplying fresh cut flowers to restaurants and offices in your area on a regular basis. You might turn a ceramics hobby into a lucrative personalized coffee mug business. What I'm saying is that in reality, there's literally no end to the ways you can start and operate a profitable extra income business from your home.
The first thing you must do, however, is some basic market research. Find out for yourself, first-hand, just how many people there are in your area who are interested in your proposed product or service, and would be "willing to stand in line and pay money for it." This is known as defining your market and pinpointing your customers. If after checking around, talking about your idea with a whole lot of people over a period of one to three months, you get the idea that these people would be paying customers, your next effort should be directed toward the "detailing" of your business plan. The more precise and detailed your plan - covering all the bases relating to how you'll do everything that needs to be done - the easier it's going to be for you to attain success. Such a plan should show your start-up investment needs, your advertising plan, your production costs and procedures, your sales program, and how your time will be allocated. Too often, enthusiastic and ambitious entrepreneurs jump in on an extra income project and suddenly find that the costs are beyond their abilities, and the time requirements more than they can meet. It pays to lay it all out on paper before you get involved, and the clearer you can "see" everything before you start, the better your chances for success.
Now, assuming you've got your market targeted, you know who your customers are going to be and how you're going to reach them with your product or service. And you have all your costs as well as time requirements itemized. The next step is to set your plan in motion and start making money.
Here is the most important "secret" of all, relating to starting and building a profitable home-based business, so read very carefully. Regardless of what kind of business you start, you must have the capital and the available time to sustain your business through the first six months of operation. Specifically, you must not count on receiving or spending any money coming in from your business on yourself or for your bills during those first six months. All the income from your business during those first six months should be reinvested in your business in order for it to grow and reach our planned first year potential.
Once you've passed that first six months milestone, you can set up a small monthly salary for yourself, and begin enjoying the fruits of your labor. But the first six months or operation for any business are critical, so do not plan to use any of the money your business generates for yourself during that period.
If you've got your business plan properly organized, and have implemented the plan, you should at the end of your first year be able to begin thinking about hiring other people to alleviate some of your work-load. Remember this: Starting a successful business is not a means towards either a job for yourself or a way to keep busy. It should be regarded as the beginning of an enterprise that will grow and prosper, with you as the top dog. Eventually, you'll have other people doing all the work for you, even running the entire operation, while you vacation in the Bahamas or Hawaii and collect or receive regular income from your initial efforts.
July 16, 2008
Entrepreneurship: Advertise Keep it Simple
I hate ads that yell at me. I hate ads that have fine print at the bottom of the page. I hate ads that insult me. I hate ads that confuse me and I forget about ads that bore me. How about you? Advertising has become costly, complex, and to often- trite. A hundred thousand messages a day compete for our attention and dollars. No wonder we have developed short attention spans- who has time to take it all in.
Oh, it was so simple yesteryear to be in business and tell the world. During the days of Shakespeare, all you needed to do was to hang a sign in front of your store or shop. Later, as paper and the printed word spread, advertising and promotional materials read like wedding invitations. You invited people to visit your establishment. Nothing more. No one mentioned price, specials, or discounts, just the fact that you were there to serve the customer.
Now it seems the more outlandish the claim the bigger the bang. With so many choices to the entrepreneur, advertising can be confusing. There are a million options in how you create a message to customers, and almost as many choices of how to send your message. If you are not deluged with customers calling or stopping in, you may never know if your ads pull. Did anyone read, view, or listen and if so, what was their impression? If you only knew-success would be a snap.
Advertising is a tough business- and a very iffy situation for the entrepreneur starting out who must watch every dollar. Advertising and promotion can waste your money in a hurry. Over the years of working with small business owners, I have found the lack of understanding of how advertising works and what to say to customers- a common problem. Entrepreneurs may have expertise in their chosen business- but some are lost when figuring out how to let people know they are in business.
It is easy to get confused, you can spend money from giveaways such as pens, key chains to sponsoring the Super Bowl. Deciding which media to spend your dollars is step one- knowing what to say is step two- how do you find out? Consultants are not cheap- and if they don't know anything about your business, you will be paying to educate them. Salespersons from ad agencies range from stupid to smart. That leaves you back at square one.
To start with, you must answer the basic question of why customers do business with you. What is so unique about your business, your product or your service- or, in other words, why are you so wonderful? What do you offer that will entice customers to leave your competitors. What is it about your business that attracts people? If the questions seem simple and a waste of time- ask ten customers at random why they shop with you- if they are honest, the answers may be surprising. You may find out it is not because you are the most charming of all entrepreneurs, but they live next door.
Ads that work are simple. Few have time to read a thousand words about how great your business is- they have time for a headline- and if interested they may be willing to invest a few minutes reading a short blurb. Not much more. If you are spending your dollars on newspaper ads, try little ads appearing many times as they have a better chance of being seen and building interest in your business than a one time big splash.
If you use radio, you need to grab the commuter; most other listening is background noise. Radio ads are the most difficult of all. You only have words to do the job with a listener, who probably cares less- not an easy task. And with television- if you want anyone to care, you need interesting visuals and dialogue.
What ever your choice of media- a simple message based on the motivation of why people buy your product or service- a message that is repeated as many times as you can afford it. If you use local cable, go for the shortest ad and as close a prime time as you can afford. Don't fall for the bargains at four in the morning. Unless you have a product for insomniacs.
If you want to get the most from your promotional bucks, practice the simple rule of "keep it simple and say if often"- it works. When you are rich, you can be an ad maven and start a fan club-in the meantime stay in business.
Oh, it was so simple yesteryear to be in business and tell the world. During the days of Shakespeare, all you needed to do was to hang a sign in front of your store or shop. Later, as paper and the printed word spread, advertising and promotional materials read like wedding invitations. You invited people to visit your establishment. Nothing more. No one mentioned price, specials, or discounts, just the fact that you were there to serve the customer.
Now it seems the more outlandish the claim the bigger the bang. With so many choices to the entrepreneur, advertising can be confusing. There are a million options in how you create a message to customers, and almost as many choices of how to send your message. If you are not deluged with customers calling or stopping in, you may never know if your ads pull. Did anyone read, view, or listen and if so, what was their impression? If you only knew-success would be a snap.
Advertising is a tough business- and a very iffy situation for the entrepreneur starting out who must watch every dollar. Advertising and promotion can waste your money in a hurry. Over the years of working with small business owners, I have found the lack of understanding of how advertising works and what to say to customers- a common problem. Entrepreneurs may have expertise in their chosen business- but some are lost when figuring out how to let people know they are in business.
It is easy to get confused, you can spend money from giveaways such as pens, key chains to sponsoring the Super Bowl. Deciding which media to spend your dollars is step one- knowing what to say is step two- how do you find out? Consultants are not cheap- and if they don't know anything about your business, you will be paying to educate them. Salespersons from ad agencies range from stupid to smart. That leaves you back at square one.
To start with, you must answer the basic question of why customers do business with you. What is so unique about your business, your product or your service- or, in other words, why are you so wonderful? What do you offer that will entice customers to leave your competitors. What is it about your business that attracts people? If the questions seem simple and a waste of time- ask ten customers at random why they shop with you- if they are honest, the answers may be surprising. You may find out it is not because you are the most charming of all entrepreneurs, but they live next door.
Ads that work are simple. Few have time to read a thousand words about how great your business is- they have time for a headline- and if interested they may be willing to invest a few minutes reading a short blurb. Not much more. If you are spending your dollars on newspaper ads, try little ads appearing many times as they have a better chance of being seen and building interest in your business than a one time big splash.
If you use radio, you need to grab the commuter; most other listening is background noise. Radio ads are the most difficult of all. You only have words to do the job with a listener, who probably cares less- not an easy task. And with television- if you want anyone to care, you need interesting visuals and dialogue.
What ever your choice of media- a simple message based on the motivation of why people buy your product or service- a message that is repeated as many times as you can afford it. If you use local cable, go for the shortest ad and as close a prime time as you can afford. Don't fall for the bargains at four in the morning. Unless you have a product for insomniacs.
If you want to get the most from your promotional bucks, practice the simple rule of "keep it simple and say if often"- it works. When you are rich, you can be an ad maven and start a fan club-in the meantime stay in business.
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