Web Marketing – Page 51 – TP Javeton WebNet

The first of three ‘Ps’? Plan!

There are a lot of factors to consider when starting a business. Primary among these factors are what has commonly been referred to as the three “P”s – Plan, Prepare, Persist. As the business owner you are responsible for eveything that happens in that new business and all decisions are yours to make, so it follows that you must utilize every tool, strategy and resource that will enhance your ability to operate the business efficiently and effectively with an eye towards ultimate success.

After you have selected some ideas from your brainstorming to base your business around, the next step is to create a plan of attack. List all that you think you’ll need before your business starts.

What will your ongoing expenses be? Factors may include rent, utilities, permits, licensing, legal fees, inventory, staff, design, marketing collateral, mailing lists, software, advertising and more. Get as much as you can down on paper and set deadlines to get things accomplished. In every business there is goal-setting (or should be) and every realistic goal has a deadline. This will allow you to evaluate your pace.

Prepare: The second of three ‘Ps’!

Once you have a plan, you must implement it by working in accordance with the steps set forth in that plan. Preparing to start a business can be a lot of work. Tasks may include getting an identity designed (or logo), creating business cards, brochures, web sites and other marketing material, consulting with CPA’s, lawyers, and HR professionals, in some cases finding and renting or buying a storefront or office, furnishing the business space, getting utilities in place, receiving and organizing inventory, getting a database for your customers and leads and any number of other tasks.

By running a home business, some of these steps will already be taken care of, yet opening a business of any kind can be an enormous task. While planning your business make sure to leave plenty of time to get it up and running. Better to plan your setup time too long than too short and finding yourself running out of money.

The third ‘P’ is Persist

This is the most important step of running a business. Without persistence, you won’t even be able to finish your business plan. Hang on like a pit-bull. When the going gets tough, get tougher. Have worst case scenario plans to fall back on, as well as best case scenario plans.

Some businesses become over-night successes, while others take a year or two develop. Along the way there will be occurrences and events that will have an effect on your business. If it’s based offline (brick and mortar), you may experience power-outs, acts of God (hurricanes, floods, snow storms, etc.), acts of the local municipality (tax increases, license rate changes, highway construction & repair, etc.), and a host of other changes that could cause you to lose momentum, if not money.

But the one thing you must have is focus on your goals. If you plan, prepare and persist, you’ve got a very good chance of business success, because you would have a foundation upon which to build.

If you have been in the eCommerce market for at least 6 months, you are already receiving offers from many companies promoting their products/services to you, and this will continue as businesses offer you the opportunity to become a distributor of those products and/or services. While many of these businesses offer the opportunity free of charge, others may require you to pay a fee similar to that of a franchise, based on their willingness to set up a website with your name on it and provide instructions on how to make it a success.

Regardless of the motives behind their willingness to share knowledge, techniques and strategies, you’re still able to share in the wealth of their business operations. Where many people make the mistake, is in getting involved with a home-based Web business and then believing – mistakenly – that just by filling out the online forms and paying the required fees, they will immediately start on a money-making journey to riches, wealth and the realization of their dreams.

This could not be farther from the reality of what actually happens after getting involved with a home-based web business. Failure to think long enough about how you came to be involved in this type of business, and the fact that someone was marketing this plan to you, can often lead to failure to grow your new business by marketing it to others; as many “others” as you possibly can during the early years of the new venture.

So the time to relax is not in the beginning of your new business but after you put in the required time (10 to 18 hour days and 7 day weeks, for as long as it takes) to make your business a success. The major portion of your time, work and and money will be spent – or should be spent – promoting and advertising your new business.

There are numerous ways to promote your home-based Web business, such as old-fashion advertising, handing out business cards or even putting you web address on the side of your vehicle to be seen while you drive to the grocery store or around town. All that may be good to draw a half dozen people or so to your new business venture, but to help it really grow and ultimately succeed, it may be necessary to rely more on the network marketing strategy.

Oil millionaire J. Paul Getty is often quoted as saying, he would rather have one percent of the efforts of 100 people, than 100 percent of his own efforts; and that is the basis of network marketing. The Kirby vacuum cleaner company devised its own form of network marketing as far back as 1935 before the phrase was coined and the concept totally understood.

The KVC company knew that in order to sell their sweepers, a sit-down presentation was needed. They had a few dealers with whom they shared the profits of their sales and using their proven methods they taught others to sell the sweepers and each person who was brought in as a sales representative could also share in the profits off the efforts of others once s/he followed the proven success plan.

While a few people may make a lot of money in a short period of time with network marketing, most must grow their business slowly, because of the learning curve, as well as the marketing tests (or test marketing as the case may be) that must take place if your home-based Web business is to be a success. Test marketing is a time-consuming activity which cannot be rushed.

You owe it to your business and yourself (and family, if applicable) to devote the number of hours every day, week and month to learn all you need to know from and about the sponsoring company (if your business is network marketing or milti-level marketing in nature), and anything else you need to know about how to market the product or service you are selling.

Once you educate yourself, you can train others to be successful by teaching them to market the product or service and make money from their sales as well. The more people they have working under them, the more money they can make; And since you devoted valuable time, money and resources to train them, you will also make more money which you would deserve.