Category: Entrepreneur

Individual skilled in a specific field or area working independent of established “salaried job” setting. Best described by the term “spirit of the entrepreneur”, this type of person is known to carve out his/her own niche, call his/her own shots and work according to his/her own schedule.

  • Advantages of Outsourcing Revealed

    Perspectives on outsourcing

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    For a layman – or any individual who understands the concept of outsourcing in a sea-level manner – outsourcing is a complete waste of time and financial resources, and can end up with unwanted complications for a business that relies on it. The question asked by many of those individuals is, why assign work to other people if I know what is good for my own business? Or… Why delegate work to an outsourcing professional abroad if I can do as good or better right here in my own home town or country?

    • Do you, as a business person, feel the same way about outsourcing?
    • Do you believe that you know what is best for your business and therefore don’t need other individuals to deal with things that you can handle yourself, or with the help of in-house personnel?

    Well, if your business is politically-based then your “yes” answer would certainly be understandable since a politician will likely view outsourcing as just a political subject that can be debated within the walls of Congress and newspapers. In this case the issue will serve as a “fortified objection” to take jobs away from your own countrymen, making your business “unpatriotic.” It is an argument which may garner a few votes for the politician in an upcoming election, but will do little to improve your business’ profits and growth.

    The business of outsourcing

    However, if you are not a politician, it is you the business person who will be using the outsourcing process; not the layman, and definitely not the politician. In this respect, outsourcing for business persons would be viewed as a “modern-day bonanza.” Many business men and women are aware that outsourcing provides them the freedom to dump all of their non-core – yet important – aspects of their operation by delegating that work to an individual or group of individuals who are skilled in the completion of such processes in the most efficient and effective manner.

    Thus it will relieve business persons from the additional mundane responsibilities so they can focus instead on the core operations of their respective businesses. On the other hand, the outsourcing firm will focus solely on specific work delegated to them, thereby making the entire outsourcing effort a cost-efficient business effort. This aspect alone is one of the primary advantages of outsourcing.

    Cost-effectiveness

    Another enticing advantage of outsourcing is one of cost-effectiveness, a uniquely competitive edge that you can avail for your business. Business men and women are aware that information technology (IT) and human resource services in the United States and Europe are expensive and can affect the way they hire additional manpower in support of business expansion. Outsourcing provides an option for getting highly-productive manpower at a cheaper rate.

    For instance, offshore outsourcing (or delegating such work to destinations such as India and Philippines) is a popular option for American-based businesses because of the cheaper rates paid for working in those countries. And while an American-based company would consider an average of $300 to $500 per month an unacceptable sum for this kind of work, its counterpart in India or Philippines would be quite happy with this salary range when viewed through the lens of currency conversion rates. So based on this aspect of the overall outsourcing dynamic, it is a “win-win” solution for the company you are outsourcing to, as well as for your business.

    Outsourcing technology services

    One convincing advantage of outsourcing which has not yet been mentioned is the saving of substantial amounts of money when thought of in terms of the development of certain aspects of your business (such as IT development). Since outsourcing involves reduced expenditures on your part, you will likely be able to maximize the value of your dollars by having your IT services developed into the latest and most powerful modern information tool.

    In addition, you will also be able to avoid recruiting new personnel to handle the development as well as training them. This manner of outsourcing most certainly reduces the cost of recruitment and training for your business since the purchase of necessary technology will now be handled by the outsourcing company, thus saving money in the long run which can be used for other important business initiatives.

    Your business, your decision!

    It is true that there are other advantages of outsourcing, but the aforementioned are the most obvious and in-demand aspects. Avoid being misled by rumors and gossips about outsourcing, because you as the business owner would always be most knowledgeable about your business, and therefore know what is best for it. No doubt that your business will thrive or stagnate based on the decisions you make. Good luck!

  • How Network Marketing Thrives

    Keep it simple

    Ask any of the more seasoned and successful Network marketers and they will tell you that the key factor in Network Marketing is simplicity. Network Marketing is a very simple business, but keeping it simple does not mean that hard work is not involved. One of the common mistakes found in this type of home business is that some people try to make it complicated.

    Even if a complex system achieved great results for you, others will find it difficult to copy. If you are a network marketer, personal success is not your greatest asset. Your greatest asset is a system that guarantees the success of everyone using it, which simply means that if you and fellow members are thriving within such a system you must embrace that system and show your new members how to teach it to others. The success of others, and your success, is dependent upon their ability to do the same things you do (duplicate your efforts). Keep the least experienced of your network group in mind when you set up a system of doing things for your organization to follow.

    Everything you do must be simple enough so that everyone can quickly duplicate your efforts and achieve the same phenomenal results as you. In Network Marketing, you should not do things that require special skills or resources which are available only to you or to a limited number of people. Open up your business to a much larger pool of people who can become successful.

    Build quickly

    You need to build your network as quickly as possible. You can only meet with a few people each day and can personally close even fewer sales; but using a Network Marketing strategy, you can help others quickly learn to do the same simple things as you. When they do, they multiply your efforts.

    Helping them to achieve for the same phenomenal results is quality duplication. Each person in your Network Marketing group, from top to bottom, must be able to exactly duplicate what you are doing and be able to teach others to do exactly the same thing. How large a sales team you are going to build ultimately depends on how well the strategy is duplicated.

    To ensure duplication, you need a system or processes that anybody and everybody can follow and teach. You cannot duplicate a person but you can duplicate a system. Therefore, in building a successful and long-term network, the Network Marketing system must rule. Remember, a system is only as good as the ease with which it can be duplicated.

    The more complex a system, the less likely will quality duplication be achieved, and to make sure you duplicate well, follow the System you are provided with religiously. Understanding that there is no perfect system, your time is better spent perfecting your ability to duplicate a good workable rather than trying to perfect one and end up making it overly complicated, or too complicated for others to follow and teach.

    Simplicity by design

    Here is another way of putting it in the form of this example. Ray Krocs, the founder of MacDonald’s, cannot be duplicated but the MacDonald franchise system he devised can be, and is, to almost 100% perfection in 18,000 outlets worldwide. Keeping it simple is meant to ensure that you do things which your distributor can learn from and duplicate.

    Can what I am doing be easily duplicated? Is it simple enough to be interpreted, processed and repeated? Keep asking yourself these same questions and if your answer is “yes” at least 75 % of the time, you are on the right track. Keep in mind that the most successful people in Network Marketing understand that everything must be kept simple in order to grow their business.

    The most important reason for creating and adhering to a simple strategy is to achieve success for yourself and those who you share the business with. Show others how simple it is to do what you do, because they need to see you do it, and then believe it is simple enough for them to quickly duplicate your actions in order for them to achieve the same positive results in their Network Marketing business thereby enhancing your your Network Marketing growth and success. It’s really that simple!

  • Credible MLM Business Ventures?

    Ask questions

    Any MLM business venture worth considering will either have a track record that you can investigate and evaluate or it will have a clear statement of the plan, the potential, and the up-front costs. Simply put, before you invest any time or money in a specific MLM business venture, there are some questions you should consider and get answers to. This article will suggest what some of those questions should be.

    How long has the business venture been in business? Before investing time and money in marketing an MLM business venture, it is important to determine how long it has been operating. If it is a new concept that has not been proven in the marketplace, you have no assurance that it will even work.

    Does the company have a fixed address and phone number? This may seem obvious to you, but the fact is, thousands of companies operate with nothing more than a website and an email address. Many of them are here today and gone tomorrow. Make sure the business you intend to deal with has a fixed address, physical location, and established phone number.

    Does the MLM business venture have some successful members you can talk to? Most businesses of that type will show you testimonials, but these are often untrustworthy. They could even be completely fabricated so ask the owner of that business for names of real people you can talk to. Call them on the telephone and ask them to share their experiences with the program. This will not only provide you with valuable first-hand information about the program, but it will give you a list of advisors who might be willing to help you along the way.

    Insist on answers

    How much initial investment is required? In many cases a proven MLM business venture with a successful track record will involve some kind of initial investment. You should not assume that a business venture that is free to join is a better investment. Usually a free-to-join business will involve other costs such as marketing and advertising fees. Just keep in mind that nobody gives away valuable business offers or opportunities for free.

    What you have to determine is whether a specific MLM business venture has a successful track record, is managed by honest people and offers you a realistic chance of actually making some money. These are the things you must weigh against the entry costs.

    What is the realistic income potential of the business? Have a careful look at the numbers and projections provided by the business venture. Then talk with actual members who are using the program to determine if they have been able to turn those numbers into reality.

    Are there extra fees such as yearly or monthly subscription fees, shipping costs, or minimum purchase requirements? Make sure to get a detailed list of all the fees involved in operating the new business. These things may not seem significant now, but they can easily eat into your profits later.

    Your money, your control

    How much control of your new business will you have? Be clear on who owns the business, and who controls the way it is developed and marketed. You may want to diversify your product offerings in order to avoid being at the mercy of a “head office.

    The MLM business venture should require low initial investment and have high profit potential both in the short term and in the long term. It should allow you to build a profitable business of your own that will be a source of income far into the future.

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  • Starting an Affiliate Marketing Campaign


    The affiliate strategy

    Some business owners opt to start an affiliate marketing campaign as part of their overall marketing strategy. These business owners are usually referred to as merchants, and in most cases the affiliate marketing campaign is only a small portion of their overall marketing strategy. But there many business owners choose to rely exclusively on this type of marketing. The main purpose of doing this is to save money while still achieving valuable advertising.

    However, once a business becomes more successful they should consider being more proactive and combining affiliate marketing with other types of Internet marketing such as placing banner ads and orchestrating an email marketing campaign. This article will take a look at what affiliate marketing is and will provide insight into why this is popular and how it can be used effectively.

    Affiliate marketing campaigns

    An affiliate marketing campaign is essentially a situation where other website owners place ads for your business on their websites. These website owners are known as affiliates. It is important to understand how this type of marketing works. In general the affiliates are given code for your banner ad to place on their website and given the freedom to promote their own website as they see fit. In promoting their website they are also attracting attention to your website because of the banner ad directing visitors to your own website.

    One of the most appealing elements of affiliate marketing centers on the fact that the affiliate is only compensated when s/he produces a desired result. This means the business owner is not obligated to pay an affiliate unless the affiliate is successful. Success may be defined as generating traffic to the website, resulting in a sale or even resulting in the Internet user registering on the business owner’s website or filling out a survey.

    Affiliate compensation

    The compensation for affiliates is generally based on cost per click, cost per lead or cost per sale. Cost per click and cost per lead are usually paid a flat fee which is awarded to the affiliate each time an Internet user either simply clicks through the banner ad on the affiliate’s website or performs a specific action after clicking through the ad. Cost per sale may result in the affiliate being awarded a flat fee or a percentage of the sale depending on the agreement between the business owner and the affiliate.

    The most effective use of affiliate marketing is to actively seek out affiliates with a proven track record of promoting the businesses which they support. Most affiliate programs are open to anyone with a website and it is not necessarily damaging to allow those who are not particularly knowledgeable about marketing to run your banner ad but it is far more worthwhile to seek out affiliates who are quite adept and generating website traffic to their own website. This is important because the more visitors they receive each month the more likely your website it to receive interest from visitors who click on the affiliates banner ad.

    The banner ad

    Another aspect of affiliate marketing which can contribute to success or failure is the design of your banner ads. It is important to remember affiliate marketing is viewed the same way other types of marketing are viewed and care should be taken to create banner ads which will be appealing to your target audience. This means everything from the colors of your ad to the size and style of the font should be carefully considered to create an appealing advertisement.

    As a token of our appreciation the free ebook titled, Storytelling Marketing can be yours if you have any interest in the art of storytelling. All you have to do is download it here, enjoy the reading and learn how storytelling can be a powerful ally in any business or marketing pursuit!

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  • Web Presence Vis-a-Vis Web Marketing

    Business

    Will you join me in a little exercise? Take a moment and consider how you would answer this question: Are you already marketing on the Web? If you really think about it, just about any business owner who utilizes the Web for any purpose will likely find that, whether or not s/he intentionally organized a Web marketing campaign, s/he may already be marketing products and services on the Web. This article will examine some subtle ways business owners may already be marketing their businesses on the Web even if they did not set out to.

    Let’s begin with your website as it is most probable that if you own and operate a business in today’s world you probably have a website for your business; and if so you are, therefore, already marketing your products or services online just by virtue of the fact that you have a website online.

    This is true because the mere fact of having a live website means there is the potential for curious Web surfers to access that site. And although you may not be actively engaged in promotional activities, you may still find that it creates interest in your products despite the lack of sustained marketing efforts on your part. Such activity without effort is known as passive marketing.

    SEO

    Another area of participation without promotional intent is commonly known as message boards, and if you participate in such an online venue and put a link in your signature that leads back to your website, you would be considered by most to be marketing that website online. Savvy business owners realize the importance of participation in industry-related message boards to create an interest in their products and services, thereby establishing themselves as knowledgeable about, or expert in, their industry by offering a link to their own website, even if it is in the signature line of information they provide in their posts.

    In fact, even business owners who do not realize it, may already be inadvertently enjoying the benefits of Web marketing as a result of message board participation simply just by doing something they enjoy as a form of leisurely activity.

    You’ve heard of, and probably are knowledgeable in, the use of keywords in the sense that when you include keywords in the content of your website that are relevant to your business you will likely answer yes to the question, do you use keywords? And in view of that answer you also are, therefore, already marketing on the Web by optimizing your website for such keywords. Search engine optimization (SEO) have an affect on websites whether or not website owners are even cognizant about the concept of keyword density and how it can help to optimize a site for the benefit of search engines.

    Business owners will likely use certain words – often depending on the type of products and services they offer – simply because it is natural and logical to do so. This tendency, however, can result in search engines boosting their website rankings for the particular keywords used. The concept of SEO is much more involved and complex than employing the frequent use of keywords, though; but business owners can gain some benefit just by naturally applying relevant keywords to their website.

    Feedback

    Do you solicit feedback from your customers online? This is yet another example of how business owners may accidentally be marketing their business on the Web. Most business owners realize the importance of soliciting feedback from customers for business purposes, and business owners who offer products online might solicit feedback in the form of online surveys. Although the business owners may be doing this simply for business purposes, the fact that it is done online, puts it into the category of Web marketing.

    We have discussed several ways in which business owners may already be marketing online but, what about business owners who do want to have an increased online presence? If you are a business owner who may already be marketing online accidentally and wish to launch full scale Web marketing campaigns, you can do so by hiring a consultant with experience in Web marketing to assist you in creating an effective and worthwhile campaign which is optimized for your target audience. Best of luck!

  • The Home-based Business Phenomenon

    Present-day American dreams

    Present-day American families have the same dreams shared by families a few decades ago; buy a home, provide for the health and welfare of their children, and send those children to college. But the price tag for fulfilling these dreams climbs higher and higher every day, making it much more difficult to achieve the same standard of living that families enjoyed in past decades.

    It used to be that a husband went off to work in the morning and the wife stayed home doing household chores and taking care of the kids; but the days of one-income households are long gone and both parents must now go out to work – when they can find it.

    However, as the old familiar adage suggests, “necessity is the mother of invention” and accordingly, many enterprising single moms & dads, and even husband & wife teams are finding ways to stay home, and still earn a living via opportunities that are springing up all over the country as a result of the tremendous growth of an industry that makes work at home possible.

    The (HBB) industry has made it possible for anyone with some basic skills, a computer and Internet access to start a business at home. For example, an individual with a background in word processing can create his/her own in-home word processing business.

    Getting started

    Before you begin your however, it is important to do your research. Find out what kind of software program will be most suitable for the type of business you intend on doing. You will also want your computer system to be compatible with your clients and customers.

    Next, look at the make-up of your industrial area. An arts community, or a thriving business area? By checking out the demographics of your area, you can make a decision regarding the type of advertising you want to use.

    In the beginning, you will want to try all sorts of advertising. Neighborhood newspapers are an inexpensive way to advertise, but they usually only published on a weekly basis and that may not be enough to keep the clients rolling in. You can put your name on the bulletin board at your local supermarket and pass out flyers door-to-door in large office buildings or other business complexes.

    Although it may be more expensive than neighborhood newspapers, you may want to run an ad in your local daily newspaper (in the business services section). Church bulletins and university newspapers that sell advertising may also be a relatively inexpensive way to go. You should also get your business cards printed up right away; and don’t let a client walk out the door without one or two business cards. Repeat business and word-of-mouth may well be your best advertising tool.

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    Whatever methods you choose to employ in your advertising, do yourself a favor and track the responses. Put a check list next to your telephone and whenever a call comes in (whether you get hired or not) ask the prospective client where s/he found out about you. It won’t take long for you to discover where your most cost-effective advertising comes from and when you know that, you can punch it up and drop the ones that aren’t doing anything for you.

    Do your homework!

    One telephone call will be the only opportunity you have to sell your service. If you hesitate when asked a price for a particular project, you will probably lose the job so do your homework. Call the competition and ask what they are charging. If the competition is out of your immediate geographic area (and you are therefore not a threat to their livelihood), you may want to be straight with them and tell them you are starting a in their field and ask for their input. You may be surprised to find them willing to help out with important information.

    Keep in mind that there are myriad of tasks that need to be undertaken in order to establish the fundamental operations of your new home-based business. Whether you expect to get clients from the Internet or not, it is necessary to set up your business in a manner that will accommodate local clients/customers. So business letter heads, envelopes, forms, business cards, invoices and other paraphernalia will be necessary.

    It will also become necessary to establish your pricing policies and have them available upon inquiry. Depending on your business, you could set a basic rate which can be a flat rate or a percentage.

    For example…

    …Using the business of word processing for a pricing example, a prospective client may call asking what you charge for 4 single-spaced pages. Your answer might be $45.00 per page straight text and then when the client comes, you discover that what s/he has is 4 pages of extremely complicated tables – definitely NOT STRAIGHT TEXT.

    By not making firm pricing commitments over the phone, you will have the flexibility to charge a more accurate price when a client brings you something other than what you were expecting.

    Elaborating further on the word processing example, to some clients a resume may be a single spaced page, but it takes a lot longer to type than a business letter and you will want to charge more for resumes. You will want to establish an hourly rate for tables, transcription and other more time-consuming jobs.

    Always keep in mind that your pricing will change as you become more familiar with what your clients demand, and you may find yourself doing a lot of list maintenance and merge letters, or you may be doing work primarily for doctors, or attorneys; so you need to have a good basis for your pricing… but be flexible.

    There are several models you can choose from, each one giving you the same flexibility to create your own USP (Unique Selling Proposition), as well as your own operational balance sheet. After all, the income & expense aspect of any business is usually an excellent indicator of that business’ prospects for success or failure; and truth be told, no business – new or old – start out with failure as an aspirational milestone. Therefore, it is success to which they aspire and choosing the type of home-based business to launch could make all the difference.

    Choice of business types

    The two business types that came to mind – based on my own – experiences are: Promotion and Distribution. You can choose to be a promoter or a distributor in addition to all the other choices that are available; but I have provided a glimpse of each vocation with the help of two other publishers whose knowledge of the topics is unquestioned.

    According to a What is Promotion? article published to the Slide Player website, “Promotion is any form of communication a business or organization uses to inform, persuade, or remind people about its products and improve its public image. Product Promotion: 1) Explains the major features and benefits of its products (especially in relation to competitors), 2) tells where the products are sold, 3) advertises sales on those products, 4) answers customer questions, and 5) introduces new products…”

    …And Distribution is described in the following manner: After a product is fully developed and offered at a competitive price, it must be delivered to an identified target audience. The place element of the marketing mix is where product production and distribution channels are decided and planned. The decisions made in this step directly affect the types of communication that are used to tell the target audience about a product.” This description is provided in the article, What Is the Difference Between Place & Promotion in the Marketing Mix? Written by Tim Burris for the Chron website. And there are so many more!

  • Inclusive Keyword Research Yields Best Results


    About keywords and their usage

    Keywords are terms or words that relate to particular topics, themes or niches; and these keywords are often used by Internet marketers, website publishers and advertisers to drive generic traffic (Internet users) to their websites and product pages; but keyword research will involve various aspects, such as finding sales oriented keywords or driving maximum qualified users to increase their online sales.

    Keyword research is the first step towards a successful SEO (search engine optimization) campaign; but you have to be very careful when selecting these keywords, as such a selection can be very tricky since it involves selecting targeted keywords for a particular website or product page.

    The selection of keywords should always be based on various aspects, including product names, services, brands, or general terms; but very often individuals researching keywords forget about targeting geographical terms, especially when they have a global presence. So inclusive keyword research – which means all aspects of keyword research and selection – must be your goal if the research is to be effective and yield optimum results.

    All inclusive keyword research

    When doing keyword research, it’s highly recommended to do a very thorough market research analysis to find the best keywords used by to find products and services online – and find out which keywords are targeted by competitors who are doing well in their Internet marketing activities.

    The first step in finding the best keywords is to make a list of the products, topics, and services that you offer. In addition, you can certainly make good use of your website logs as a source from which to learn which keywords have brought you the traffic in the past.

    Be sure to select keywords that clearly define your business and products to drive traffic from the search engines and directories; and make good use of the information which is obtainable from those websites that attract get high levels of traffic through general keywords, although they might not end up being sales.

    Keywords for search engines and directories

    Today, users of search engines and directories are aware of how they work for searching products and services on the net, based on the understanding that these users always look for the better products, locations, niches, etc. Therefore, you should cover all terms for each type of keyword: products, locations and niches.

    There are numerous tools available which will help you identify keywords that are effective for attracting search engines; but the challenge here is to determine which keyword is the best to attract generic traffic from the major three search engines, as well as those that are lesser known. Keep in mind also that certain directories can generate as much traffic as search engines, depending on the subject matter.