A Business of Your Own

Losing Motivation in the Twitterverse

2009-05-07T07:46:00.001-07:00

I have a confession, I've been losing motivation. after a bright start last week I did nothing for ages and have only just picked things up again. However, with my new found enthusiasm I'm still confident. I've reached 422 followers in less than 2 weeks and so I'm on target for the 1,000 (just). Keep checking in to see how I get on.

Cheers

Joe

Twitter Diary - 4 Days In.

2009-04-29T06:03:00.001-07:00

OK, so I'm fairly new at using twitter, I have been on it for a year and done nothing - I had one follower - my mate who told me to sign up. I got to thinking I'd like to try it out for marketing purposes and so set my self a challenge, 1,000 followers in 1 month.

It has started well so far so I thought I'd share the experience with you all.

My first step was to use twellow to find people with interests like mine so I searched for business UK and found some big names. I then clicked on their followers and started following them. I've started following 200 people a day for three days now and so far have reached 197 followers. I'm on my way, I'll keep you posted on the next few days before I use some tools to clear my lists.

Cheers

Joe.

Crazy Money Making

2009-03-23T09:25:00.001-07:00

You have to check this out!
it's a totally ridiculous way of making cash
This guy's a genius!

More Inspiration

2009-01-06T07:06:00.001-08:00

Motivational Quotes of the Day - The Quotations Page

There is no security on this earth, there is only opportunity.
General Douglas MacArthur (1880 - 1964)

Cool Mobile Coffee Cart

2009-01-06T07:03:00.001-08:00

This cool looking Coffee Cart is a product of the Dutch Company Mobiccino. It a great example of how the most simple business ideas can be made awesome with the influence of great design. Check it out at http://www.mobiccino.com/

A Motivational Quote for the Day for Business

2008-12-23T03:24:00.001-08:00

Motivational Quotes for Business

Henry J. Kaiser: Motivational Quotes for Business
Live daringly, boldly, fearlessly. Taste the relish to be found in competition - in having put forth the best within you.

Complaints - You've Just Got To Learn To Love Them

2008-12-11T05:00:00.000-08:00

"Oh no we've got a complaint! What should we do?" So many times I have worked with people who are terrified fo recieving complaints. But complaints are brilliant I encourage you to seek them out. There's nothing better than a complaining cusotmer as they give you a unique insight into how a customer sees your business and how you can improve. You should alyas encourage your customers or clients to feedback about your service. Give them as many ways to get in touch as they need - even REWARD your customers complaints.

The sad fact is not enough of our customers complain, they get pissed off, they walk away and they don't come back and what's worse you don't even know why. Now, the Holy Grail Customers, the Complainer - he'll tell you exactly why and therefore you should reward him for it - give him a free meal, a voucher, bottle of wine, bunch of flowers it doesn't matter - he deserves it. Thank him for bringing the complaint to your attention then DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT (this is bit pretty crucial :).

You've just got to love those complainers - they care enough to make your business better.

Disclaimer - some people are born complainers (you know who they are) do not reward them with flowers, wine or other gifts. Just scowl at them until they leave.

New Website For Women Entrepreneurs

2008-11-14T15:31:00.001-08:00

I've just uploaded a special new website to give advice and guidance to any mothers who want to run a business from home. It gives advice on setting up your own home based business which you can run at home and raise your kids at the same time - check it out here

Make Money Now With Your Camera

2008-11-07T04:34:00.001-08:00

Click here to learn how to set up your own instant money making photography business

7 Top Marketing Tips for Photographers

2008-05-13T02:47:00.001-07:00

If you are thinking of running your own photography business there's one thing you'll need above all else - customers.

Here's 7 tips to help you make to build up your customer base and most importantly keep a hold of them so they'll buy off you time and time again.

You'll never know what you've got until you measure it. This is simple and works for any business - how can you know howwell your doing unless you set yourself goals and something to measure your performance against? For example, you might target three newclients a week, $600 a week turnover or 10 new prospects per month.

This is the most important aspect of marketing measure it, track it and evaluate it - if it's not working bin it. Every client should be asked the question - "Where did you hear about (name of business)?" If you don't ask the question your probably wasting a small fortune in
ineffective marketing.
Reward loyalty. We all want customers who continue to buy from us but why should they. Build your customers loyalty and you'll reap the rewards. You could set up a membership
program so that for a small fee e.g. $20 your clients get a 10% discount on all of their prints, or they get a free small print when they buy a larger print. You don't want to make money from this you want your customers to feel valued so make sure your offer is of real
value because the loyalty you can foster by treating your customer well could be worth thousands to your business in the future.
Ask for referrals. There is nothing wrong with this but so many companies are afraid of doing it. Ask the question - "Do you know of any one else who would enjoy this service?". If you get referrals from this then reward them, a simple thank you card or a bottle of wine can work wonders here. Let your customers know that you care and that you value
them.
Incorporate an aftercare service. If a customers has bought from you, whether it be for a family portrait, a wedding or even some photos for ebay you should always follow up. This can be as simpleas a phone call (not email it's too impersonal) checking that they were
happy with the service. Again your customers will feel valued and you may even pick up some extra referrals and surplus sales.
Find a niche. Let's be honest there are a lot of photographers out there. If you can find a niche you have a much better chance of surviving in a competitive environment. For example you could specialize in pet portraits, real estate photos, sports shots, cars - whatever. The more you can devleop a niche the easier it gets to market. Imagine you take
some photos of classic cars, all of a sudden you can directly market to classic car owners clubs and highlight your specialist skills and experience opening up a brand new market. If you try to market to everyone you'll reach no one but exploiting your niche will reap
rewards.
Make your own news. A great way to get free publicity is to make your business newsworthy. You could do a charity event -offer to photograph 100 dogs and their owners in one day - all profits to go to a pet charity, offer free photography lessons to local kids,
make a portfolio of your neighbourhood and submit it to the local press. Basically anything you can do to make your business interesting will result in free advertising the more outlandish the better!
Work with others. Network - make friends with local web designers, pr professionals, writers and graphic designers - these are all people who need photos on a regular basis. Introduce yourself take them out for lunch, build a relationship and watch the referrals come flooding in. A decent network can negate the need to directly advertise and can save
you a fortune - you might make a few friends too.

Get Paid to submit your photos to the internet

Start your business now

How to Start A Photography Business

2008-04-23T11:55:00.001-07:00

If you are a keen photographer why not consider turning your hobby into a business. The field of photography is vast and can incorporate:

Weddings
Portraits
Commercial
Stock
Pets
Scientific
Food

As you can see there are a range of niches within photography. I know a couple of people who make a very good living simply taking photos of food. Most photographers will concentrate on a couple of niche areas and build up their reputation in these fields, getting well known in a
niche area is vital to survive in a competitive market such as this one.

The beauty of self employment is that there are no job interviews, no courses to sit and no qualifications to get before you can start.Anyone can become a photographer. That said I would not advise setting up until you know your equipment inside and out and are confident that
the photos you take are of a professional standard.

If you would like to further your credentials you could perhaps participate in a short photography course at your local college or community center or even enroll on a more in depth night class at a local university.

Professional photography equipment is very expensive to buy however advances in technology have made good quality equipment affordable for everyone. Ideally you'll need to purchase the following. You'll need a decent quality camera, a tripod, lightbox, filters, lighting, a some decent
photo processing software.

The good news is that this stuff is affordable and you can pick up a lot of bargains on eBay. In addition to this decent software came be had for free check out http://www.gimp.org/ for an excellent example.

OK, so you've made your mind up, you've got your equipment and you're ready
to start, now where are those customers gonna come from?

Portfolio-Keep it simple here, you don't need to show your customers everything
you've ever taken. Just show a decent mix of the shots you can take
showing the quality of your work.
Website - This is vital it can be used to showcase your portfolio, an e-commerce
facility can sell your work and you can consider using adwords and
search engine optimisation methods to drive traffic to your site and
increase your customer base.
Paint a picture - If you're showcasing your work to potential clients, try to use framed
shots rather than just images on a screen these paint a picture in your
clients eye and make them much more likely to buy.
Use promotional flyers and postcards to showcase your work, put these in local shops, libraries, community centers etc.
Consider using other local business to promote your work. You could provide
local coffee shops, cafe's, gift shops etc with framed pictures to put
on their walls, these could also be offered for sale giving you an
extra income stream.

You'll need to register with the appropriate body for tax purposes. In the UK you need to register with Revenue and Customs. You've got three months to register once you've started trading but you need to keep your records from day one. Bookkeeping doesn't need to be a complicated business at its most basic level you just need to record everything coming in to and going out of the business. That said there are a number of sophisticated systems out
there on the market such as Sage Accounts and Quickbooks which you can
buy to make the process easier for you.

To assist with this it's always worthwhile setting up a separate business bank account. Most
high street banks will allow you a fee free period to use their services. Once this period is up you will usually pay charges based on the number of and nature of transactions you make.

You might also want to consider public liability insurance although not necessarily a legal requirement it'll cover you for any accidents or incidents that arise as a result of you being in work. Typical cover will be in the region of 2 million pounds but as the risk for this type of business is minimal the premium should be easily affordable.

Overall, setting up a photography business can be very straightforward and well within
the reach of most amateur photographers to turn their hobby into a business.

Get Paid to submit your photos to the internet!

Start your business now.

Photo Business

2008-04-17T13:40:00.000-07:00

Excellent product for budding photographers out there - go make some money

The Four Step Sales Technique

2008-04-01T05:02:00.001-07:00

My clients are always telling me that they have trouble getting people to buy their products or services. This is particulary true when they are targetting businesses. The problem invariably lies with their sales technique. The fact is: People do not like to be sold to, but people love to buy and they partculalry love to by from people.

OK so what does this mean for you?

For years, I have used, very successfully, a simple four step sales technique that i'll share. It's very easy and it does work.

Step 1: Contact your prospects by telephone, DO NOT TRY TO SELL AT THIS STAGE. Find out the name of the person who makes the buying descisions and ask if you could send that person some information - 95% of respondents will say YES at this stage.
Step 2: Send the information. This should be a simple letter with some promotional material briefly outlining your product / service, introducing yourself and your business. At the close of the letter explain that you'll contact them within the next few days to discuss your offer.DO NOT TRY TO SELL AT THIS STAGE
Step 3: 2-3 days later make that call. Your aim at this stage is to get a one to one meeting with the buye.r Guess what DO NOT TRY TO SELL AT THIS STAGE either.
Step 4: Have that meeting, you'll probably only get to this stage with 15-20% of your prosepcts but having them here means they are much more likely to buy from you. All you need to do is convince them to buy. Again, it's not about selling to them it's getting them at the stage to buy from you. Remember people buy from people, if you come across too high pressure, not confident or basically unlikeable they'll not buy so just be yourself, be polite, don't just talk business and they'll make their own mind up.

The trick is to get your prospects used to saying yes to you, get them to like you and they'll come back time and time again.

How to Start Your Own Jewellery Business

2008-03-27T07:29:00.001-07:00

If you have a passion for Jewellery, creativity and a flair for design then you could well have the skills to set up your own Jewellery making business. The development of fashion or costume
Jewellery is a relatively simple process that people with the right skills can turn into a profitable home business.

Without a good creative eye your business will sink without a trace it is vital that you can distinguish yourself from your competitors (make no mistake there are many!) with designs that are fresh and unique. And that is not all, to really make this business a success you will need to have excellent people skills, being able to talk positively about your designs, finding out exactly what buyers want from you and dealing with all enquiries politely and positively are key factors in any successful business.

The great thing about a Jewellery business is the fact that your customers are everywhere. Handmade products are really hot right now and selling in local markets or even renting a stall in a local mall or shopping center can prove to be really lucrative. Or you might prefer to just do
the designs and leave the selling to someone else, in that case dealing with small independent retailers who are looking for something a bit different can be a great place to start, and also allows you to concentrate on the more creative side of your business, ultimately
commanding higher prices for your exclusive designs.

Another great market is selling online. Using your offline marketing methods such as advertising in Jewellery boxes for pieces you sell, putting flyers locally in shops and art galleries to promote your site can really help drive buyers to your site, allowing you to generate substantial income whilst keeping your overheads low. However, by far the easiest way would be to sell via ebay. Start a new account in the business name to really distinguish yourself and allow the huge
potential of ebays marketplace to generate serious potential customers to your products.

One way to sell locally and really keep your costs low is to sell by party plan. Visit local groups such as Youth Clubs, Community Centers etc, anywhere where your potential customers
are likely to gather and ask to give a 20 min presentation on the Jewellery you have this will also you to take orders from prospective customers, test out new designs and hone your selling skills for free!

Start up costs for a jewelry maker can be as little or as much as you want, this really is a flexible business. Tools can be bought for around $100- $150 (£50 -£75) and your initial stock should cost around the same, although could be slightly more depending upon which materials you
decide to use. If you choose to take on premises or set up a website straight away then the costs will obviously more, but as stated above selling via ebay or by party plan is a more cost effective option.

In terms of the legalities of your business, you will need to register for tax contributions in your local area, however this will be a fairly straightforward process, which will involve setting up as a sole trader. In most cases a telephone call to the Inland Revenue will suffice. In the UK you can register by ringing the Helpline for the Newly Self Employed on 0845 15 45 15.

If you have particularly unique designs you may wish to protect these with copyright or
patenting designs. However in most cases it is difficult to prove a direct infringement of copyright, so keeping designs fresh and innovative is often the best solution do not imitate, Innovate.

For further information check out:

British jewelers association

www.bja.org.uk

The Association of Contemporary Jewellery

www.acj.org.uk

The Best Business Cards

2008-03-20T08:12:00.000-07:00

I see a whole host of business cards but recently when searching online for some design inspiration I came across the following cards which look awesome.

This Dog Tag Style Card ties in very nicely with the name of the business as you can see.

Make your business card design work for you.

Another "themed" card. Again this card shows how well die cut cards can stand out and are very emotive. You look at the colours, look at the bite marks and think - chocolate - perfect.

Click here for business card designs that really work

I just love this design, classy, clean and simple.

Find out how to Profit from good design

The greatest business card ever. Done.

Find out how to create the best possible busines cards for your business and make it rain referrals!

Why Does Everyone Want A Handout?

2008-02-18T06:34:00.001-08:00

Nearly every single person that I speak to about their business asks me what grants they can get? This does my head in! I really can't understand the mentality of people who think that because they live in a particualr country and are starting a business that the government should give them money (my tax payers money).

Now don't get me wrong I think the state has a duty to help foster and grow new business particularly those that are concerned with innvoation, international trade or are creating notable employment, however giving money away to a new business such as a hairdresser, a plasterer or a plumber is just displacing another business and doing nothing for the economy. There is nothing at all wrong with these trades and if we want to create an Enterprising Culture then we need businesses like this to do that however that does not mean the government should give money to people simply because they'd like to line their own pockets rather than those of their employer.

My ideal scenario would be to see a central loan fund, similar to the student loan system whereby interested applicants can submit a business plan for a low interest loan with a repayment holiday but crucially something that they will pay back! This money could then be reinvested into the next business whether it be a plasterer or a innovative electronics company. No one gets a hand out but everyone gets a hand.

Technorati Tags: business, grants, funding, loans,

7 Simple Marketing Tips and Tricks

2008-01-11T04:35:00.000-08:00

Marketing isn't rocket science, as with most things it's about action. Below are seven useful tips to help you to market your business:

Take the P.S
Personalize your sales letters with a p.s. at the bottom of the page, but make sure it's hand written, adding a typed p.s at the end of a document defeats the object. Putting a personal slant on your mailings makes your customers feel valued and reports suggest that arond 65% of customers will leave your business simply because they think you don't care about them.
Do it Again.
Whenever you leaflet drop repeat the process for the same customers 2 weeks later. People are bombarded with adverts and brands every single day so by giving them a second or third chance to see your ad you'll greatly increase the likihood of a response to it.
Steal
Use others people ideas at the basis for your own. Don't be shy about stealing a great idea, if it works for someone else there's a likihood it'll work for you. In my opinion the most successful forms of imitation are when you take an idea from outside your industry and apply it to your business. For example, be the first in your industry to offer a 200% guarantee or a guaranteed service within 24 hours.
Reward Loyalty
Send your customers an unexpected gift, even if it's just a money off coupon for your service or a fee addtion next time they buy. My local car dealer always sends my wife a bunch of flowers or a bottle of wine when she buys a new car. This is exceptional service - always be exceptional.
Sack Your Customers
However good we are we all have customers who we could do with out, they could be the "big" comapany that buys alot but you make very poor margins on, or the customer who constantly enquires but never buys. Get rid of them! By cutting these customers out of the equation you can spend alot more time on the customers that really matter, helping your profits and improving your repuation at the same time.
Don't Drop Your Price - Improve your service
Simple additions to your product or service such as gift wrapping, an aftercare service or extended guarantees can raise the value of your product but cost you little. While your competitors may spend time trying to drop their prices to as little as possible you can keep yours high and still get more business with a superior service.
Spend more time with your customers.
A customer who buys from you once can be valuable but a customer for lifetime can be priceless. Work with your existing customers, send them birthday cards, a thank you card, a newsletter, anything to let them kown that you value them or risk losing them to the competition.

7 TIps for a killer Press Release

2008-01-09T04:26:00.000-08:00

Press Releases are often regarded as the holy grail of marketing. If done correctly they can be a highly effective way of driving enquiries to your business and best of all cost you next to nothing to produce.

Below are 7 tips to help get your press release feature in the local newspapers.

You Must Be Newsworthy! The clue is in the name, it's a newspaper no one is going to run you a free ad in their paper. You need to have something that is out the ordinary, some controversial or inspiring. This is more often than not down to you to make yourself newsworthy, your business might of hit and landmark of it's 500 th customer, or be delivering a product or service in a unique and innovative way.
Headlines Are Vital Don't assume that it's the reporters job to right your headline, more often than not the papers will receive dozens of press releases every single day, most of these aren't read past the headline, if you want to spark interest make your headline exciting forcing the reader to want to know more. I often draft 10 - 15 different headlines before settling on the one I want, be outlandish and look at your story from every possible angle - with a bit of practice you'll get the hang of writing that elusive "hook" every time.
Add Human Interest Almost all news has a human interest story. This could be a rags- to-riches tale about yourself, overcoming adversity, building relationships or solving someones problems - the media LOVES human interest, without it your story will end up on the scrapheap.
Be Controversial No one wants to read about something that they already know. Try to challenge established beliefs. For example, you could write about lack of education not holding you back from being a successful business man, or how adopting a highly unusual approach to your business reaped rewards. I had a client who was a painter and decorator and offered a by one get one free deal on painting rooms which gained him a load of publicity.
Keep it Simple Don't get overly technical in terms of jargon about your industry or about your business, remember human interest is key and people will soon get very bored reading facts and figures - try to tell a story in your copy.
Don't Send it in Unannouced If a journalist is expecting your story they're much more likely to read it - no suprises there! A 1 min phone call telling the journalist what you're going to send can work wonders.
Leave it Out Don't tell them everything try to leave juicy questions unanswered, forcing the journalist to call you and get more information. If your headline is catchy and the copy leaves them wanting to know more you can hold the best 'til last and your almost guaranteed to be featured!

Researching Your Market

2008-01-06T16:56:00.000-08:00

I'm a big fan of market research, anyone starting any type of business needs to know what they are getting themselves into! That's not to say market research will tell you everything you need to know but what it will do is give you some idea of what you can expect.

What type of market research you do really depends on the type of business you are going to be starting. For instance, I was recently helping a guy who was setting up his own plastering business, he'd been a plasterer for 20 odd years and knew everything there was to know about the trade. He'd recently been made redundant and decided to follow his life long dream of working for himself. This guy knew who his customers were, he'd been dealing with these people for over 20 years, it really was a no brainer and understandably he didn't see the point of market research. So he knew who his customers were but he didn't know why other people weren't his customers.

What I asked him to try was simple; list 10 business that weren't his customers and get in touch with them to see if they'd consider using his services. On the list were:

Estate Agents
Local Authorities
Shopping Centres
Construction Firms
Other Contractors

What we found was that 6 of the 10 were interested in using the service, and 3 of those wanted work doing immediately. The potential was immediately obvious as one the businesses, an estate agency had a lot of landlords it represented and these people often needed RELIABLE tradesmen to fix up their properties. Just by making one phone call my client got a client with massive potential!

There are three main questions you need to ask when doing market research:

Will you buy my product / service?
How often will you buy it?
How much will you spend?

To get an idea of your market these are the things you really need to know. It's not rocket science and can often be a good excuse to make those phone calls to generate leads. So get out there and start asking questions, you never know what you might find out.

Getting Inspiration

2008-01-04T05:46:00.000-08:00

One of the things that people often say to me is "I'd like to start a business but don't have any skills"

I get this all of the time. But normally after a little bit of a chat people are suprised to see just how many skills they have got. It's about viewing business and viewing yourself in a different way. So many people think that in order to have their own business they've got to have a lightbulb moment. But most of the successful businesses I know are started by people who take an existing business model and just do it themselves, some of them do it differenty, some of them do it better but they all do it. This is crucial if you wait for the right time, the right moment or the right opportunity you'll be waiting a very long time. The true spirit of an entreprenuer is to get out there and make things happen, get the ball rolling, get of your arse and do something, anything! Very few business start with one idea that doesn't change over time. Look at Richard Branson, he started out running a magazine, then a mail order record service, a student helpline, now he's involved in banks, airlines, hotels.... basically everything and that's because he gets out there and does it.

So since you may not have had the lightbulb / Eureka! moment what type of business could you start? Well here are a few examples of business you could start without having to have obvious "skills" or qualifications.

Ironing Service
Pet Sitting Service
Gardening
Catering
Direct Selling (other peoples products)
Ebay Trader
Sandwich Delivery Round
Small Jobs Service (i.e. picking up dry cleaning, posting letters, buying gifts etc)
Junk Clearance Services
Car Valeting Service

All of these business can be seen as unskilled but the truth is the skill may not lie within the work but it certainly lies within anyone running a successful business. In an increasing competitve and service driven economy it has become less important what you do but vitally important how you do it.

Running a business is not about skills it's about attitude being in the right frame of mind, willing to tackle problems and take criticism on the chin. Everything else can be learned but the attitude has to come from within you.

So I realise that this has been a bit of meandering post but the essence of what I'm saying is that we all have the skills and the ability to start our own businesses but it's only with action that we'll be able to achieve anything.

Welcome To My Blog....

2008-01-04T03:53:00.001-08:00

Thanks for stopping by my new blog. This is my first post, I'll use this blog to talk about what I do - help people start businesses. I come across people every day who come to me for advice on how to start up, how to grow and how to improve their businesses. I learn alot from these people and hopefully they learn a little from me too!

I'll be posting my first post very soon..