It’s still the dream of many to own and run their own business. I am one of those people and it’s no longer a dream. I am running my own online business with my own home office and making money online.
Why should you have your own business.
- You would have autonomy to make decisions
- You would have freedom to make your own hours
- You would have the financial security that you desire.
It’s all possible and within your reach.
Everything starts with the first step and your first step, is finding the business that is right for you. The business that you can put your whole heart into. The business that makes you excited to get up in the morning. The business that will establish you financially today and for many years to come.
So what is that business?
10 Questions To Ask Yourself
Question #1 What are you passionate about?
What is your passion? First, it may be helpful to define passion. The dictionary defines it as “the emotion as distinguished from reason and a strong liking or a desire for or devotion to some activity, object, or concept.” Let’s take it a step further and define it as something a little more.
Passion is what gets you up in the morning. It’s your sense of purpose, your joy, and your motivation. It is at the core of who you are and it has been with you always.
To find your passion, find a quiet location away from distractions. Close your eyes and imagine yourself working in your perfect job. What are you doing? Write it down. Write it down as if you are already doing it write – I am currently living my best life working as a (fill in the blank with your dream job, your passion).
Question #2 What are you afraid of?
Maybe you had trouble with the first exercise. Maybe nothing came to mind. If not then answer the following questions. Don’t answer them in your head, answer them by writing them down. Writing them down makes them concrete, more than just abstract thoughts.
• What would you do if you knew that you would not fail?
• What would you do if money wasn’t a concern?
• Who do you think you are – how do you label yourself?
• What would you regret no doing before you die?
• Lastly, what did you enjoy doing when you were a child?
Maybe too many answers have come to mind. Maybe you’re one of those fortunate people who has many passions. What now? Write them down – all of them. Write them down and rank them in the order that you find most enjoyable.
Any that you can’t see yourself doing 50 hours a week, or more, for the rest of your life? Cross them off. What’s left? Still too many? We’ll you’re a fortunate person! Hold on to that list and see how your answers fit into the next question.
Question #3 Is there a type of customer you’d find it easy to sell to?
Maybe you like people who:
- Are in a particular occupation or industry.
- With a particular hobby or recreational interest.
- Are in a certain income bracket.
- Are of a specific age, gender or background.
For example, maybe you’re an avid rock climber and would love to spend your days climbing but just can’t see a business in it. Maybe you could see yourself selling information and products about rock climbing because you enjoy speaking, and selling, to other climbers.
Question #4 What is your current job?
Is there a need that you can solve there? What do your customers or colleagues complain most about? Could you start a business that solves that problem? Maybe you work for an alternative health corporation whose web site is always in need of editing, updating and their information, books, brochures, and the like are always behind schedule due to slow editing. Maybe you enjoy editing and have a great attention to detail. You could become a freelance editor and your old company could be your biggest client.
Question #5 Do you have a hobby or personal interest that could be turned into a home based business?
For example, maybe you’re an expert in breeding and training Parrots. You could become a consultant in the parrot training industry. You could help people with adolescent parrots that are biting and have gotten out of control. You could even write or sell books on the topic. You could conduct seminars on the topic, you could even record How to train your parrot videos and sell them.
Question #6 Do you believe in a product or service that you might like to sell?
Maybe you are a new mother and enjoy talking to other mothers about a certain line of toys, maybe you are a pet lover and are enamored with a pet product, these are potential business opportunities. Maybe you love to camp and have a great base of knowledge about camping equipment, you can become an affiliate marketer for a camping line or a store that sells related equipment.
Question #7 What is your personality?
Do you like working alone, or with people? Do you prefer face-to-face contact, or phone and e-mail? Are you an early morning person? Are you self-motivated? Are you organized? Do you prefer to work hands-on, or delegate? Are you confident by nature? Are you patient? All of these questions, and your answers, directly effects the type of business you are suited for. No matter how dedicated you are, if your personality clashes with the core needs of your proposed venture, chances are you will not succeed.
For example, if you decide that you want to be a consultant but you don’t like speaking in front of people, then it may be time to reassess your business idea.
Question #8 What is your lifestyle?
Do you have children? Are you married? Do you volunteer or have other activities that take up a large amount of your time Do you have health problems that may limit you in some way? These too will affect your potential business. If your potential business will require a lot of travel or time away from home and you have a family, you may want to reevaluate your business idea to see if there is an alternative that allows you to work from home.
Question #9 How much will it cost?
Will your new business require you to get an office or can you work from home? What form would you like your company to take (sole proprietorship, corporation, partnership, etc.)? Will you keep your job and work part time at first? How will you finance the necessary start-up expenses?
Question #10 Are you willing to work for free?
Some businesses like being a freelance writer, may mean that you have to work on spec at first. Spec means that you create the copy and if the customer likes it, they buy it if they don’t well…you at least have a new piece for your portfolio. If your new business requires you to ease your way into it to gain experience, are you willing to work for free?
4 Tips To Help You Make Your Decision
1. Do what you know. If you have spent twenty years writing and editing company marketing materials or you love to groom and care for your many pets, consider how you can take your experience and turn it into a successful business.
2. Do what you love. This is so important. Success will be an unhappy struggle if you don’t enjoy what you’re doing. Many people start a business to get rich and this is the wrong reason. You may get rich running your own business but if you’re not enjoying what you do then you’ve created an empire of suffering – your suffering.
3. It’s okay to do what other people are doing. Just do it better. You don’t’ have to come up with a new idea to be successful. Many businesses, even successful ones, need improvement. Consider what you want to do, evaluate your competition, and investigate what you can do differently or do better than they do. Maybe you want to own an online store that sells camping equipment. Well there a numerous stores that do that already. Is there a market that you can focus on? A niche? Maybe you can sell camping equipment designed for the physically challenged or a camping store just for women.
4. Focus on a niche. The last tip leads right into this one. Don’t reinvent the wheel just market it to a specialized market. Many businesses have gone broke trying to be all things to all people. Try to identify a niche that you would enjoy working in and think about starting a business therein. If you love to work outdoors, consider starting a landscaping business or becoming a guide. If you enjoy working with numbers, think about becoming a bookkeeper or a CPA. Focus on a niche and become an expert in your field.
Business Possibilities
Whether you find that you’re still stumped or you have a good idea about what your passion is and you’re just not sure how to turn it into a business, we’ve listed a few ideas for you to consider. The good news is that you can easily turn these ideas into a business that is perfect for you. What makes it even better is that you’re not only going to be self employed and owning your own business, you can be proud of what you do. You’re offering real benefit to people. Nothing is better than that.
1. Be a freelancer.
What can you do? What do you like to do? Is there a need for your skills/services on a freelance basis? For example, a virtual assistant is an administrative assistant that works from home. As a virtual assistant you can have one client or several clients. You can be a freelance writer, attorney, accountant, editor, the list goes on and on. Many companies are seeking talented people with a specific skill set just like yours.
As a freelancer you are paid by the job that you do. You are self employed, which means that you are your own boss. You are responsible for your hours, your benefits, your deadlines, your marketing everything.
You are not an employee.
If you think that freelancing is for you, hop online and visit the numerous website that connect freelancers with companies needing your services. You may also want to visit freelance forums and participate in discussions on how to get started as a freelancer.
2. Become an information marketer.
Do you have specialized knowledge that people would pay for? Think about your skills, experience, and your knowledge. What information do you have that people would be interested in? It can be anything – with the internet making access to information easy – it also makes becoming an information marketer easy too.
For example, let’s say that you have an abundance of knowledge about growing and breeding roses. There is likely a market for that information both online and offline. You could write a book about how to breed a specific kind of rose, you could create a video on how to trim a rose bush, you could even create a subscription based newsletter on the subject. Offline, you could conduct seminars at your local recreation center or community education programs. You can charge for the seminar or offer it for free and market your book while you’re there.
“How-to” eBooks are big sellers are the Internet. And people are willing to pay for information rather than go to a public library or search endlessly for it at free sites. Keep in mind that you don’t have to write a 300 page book, if your knowledge fits best in three short 30 page books then that’s how you market it.
Additionally, there is an abundance of excellent information on how to how you can become a published writer, even if you’ve never written anything before.
3. Buy wholesale – sell retail.
Many people make a good living buying things at flea markets and then selling them on auction sites. You can sell anything from jewelry to kitchen tools to clothing, electroniscs and much more.
If you’re not interest selling on auction sites, you can set up your own online store and sell wholesale products that another company (called a drop shipper) will mail directly to your customer. You don’t have to stock anything!
4. Become an affiliate marketer.
An affiliate marketer is someone that promotes and sells a company’s products or services in exchange for a commission. You can sell just about anything that you’re interested in including name brand products like Dell Computers and L.L. Bean clothes. It’s easy to find a program or product that you believe in and would like to sell, simply search the many online affiliate directories or visit a website of a product you think you would like to sell and look for their affiliate program. Chances are, they have on.
Affiliate marketing has few risks. Generally affiliate products are already established and they come with the marketing tools that you’ll need to sell them including banner ads, ad sales copy and even sales letters in some cases.
Also, because start up costs are minimal, you can begin making money right away.
Now that you have an idea of what kind of business you want to start, your first step is going to be to research that business, your competition, your market, and the industry itself. You will want to draft a business plan, even an informal one, it’s important to have your goals and procedures written down.
Researching Your New Business
1. Focus on filling a niche.
A niche is a specialized segment of people that are looking for your specialized product. For example a pet store is a broad market but a store that caters to small breeds or toy dogs is a niche market.
You likely already have a good idea about who your market is or may be. Research it to make sure. Find out if there is a way to narrow the niche even more. Use the following tools to help you research your niche:
Keyword research
Use keyword tools such as the overture suggestion tool (http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion/) or Wordtracker (http://www.wordtracker.com/) to find out how many people are searching each month on keywords related to your niche product. If there are millions of people searching for your product, then you likely have a million competitors.
Take a survey
Speak to people in the industry and ask them questions. You’ll want to ask about demand for the product, target markets and demographics, and needs that aren’t currently being filled
Create a Unique Selling Position (USP)
Study your competition to find out what they emphasize about the product which makes them stand out from the crowd. Then find something that will make your business unique from the others. It could be something unique about the product or you could choose a more highly defined target market.
2. Brainstorm with friends and family.
You’d be surprised what interesting and new perspectives people can give you when it isn’t their money or future on the line! You can use friends and family to generate business ideas or you can ask for their input on your ideas. Ask them how you can improve your idea and who might be interested in your products or services.
3. Utilize discussion forums.
Forums, business chat rooms and blogs are a fantastic resource. It is an excellent way to get a feel for the market, get feedback from people in the industry or people interested in your product or service and it is an excellent way to build relationships with other professionals.
4. Utilize professional organizations to gather data on your chosen business.
Visit your local Chamber of Commerce, the National Small Business Association, your local small business association, the National Association for the Self Employed, National Federation of Independent Business and the National Foundation of Women Business Owners are all great places to start and they’ll have excellent financial advice on how to get started.
5. Research your competition both locally and online.
Look for ways you can gain an advantage over your competitors. Determine how your business will be better and different. Evaluate their websites, how can you position yourself online?
6. Define the operation of your business.
Here are some key questions to answer:
• What skills and experience do you bring into the business?
• What are your fixed costs and expenses?
• How long will it take to make a profit?
• What laws do you need to comply with?
• If you need financing where will you get it?
• Do you need insurance coverage specific to your business?
• What will be the legal structure of your business?
The small business association and the IRS web site are both excellent tools to help you answer these questions. Remember that with many online businesses, the startup cost is minimal, some only requiring a website.
Evaluating The Risks
Financial risk
What level of financial risk are you willing to incur? Some businesses will have more risk than others. Affiliate marketing offers little to no risk, whereas opening an online store means that you will have inventory. In the event that the business doesn’t work out, you will have unsold inventory. An easy remedy is to establish an investment cap. How much are you willing to invest, and potentially lose? Set that number and stick to it.
Self-employment can be a financially scary endeavor, but there are ways to minimize your anxiety. Almost every book or article that I’ve ever read on starting your own business recommends establishing some kind of financial cushion. This is, of course, sound advice. The cushion, whether 2 month, 6 month or 12 month is up to you, but knowing that you have enough in savings to get by for a while is a valuable stress avoidance method.
Personal risk
Be careful who you give your information to when you’re opening an online business. Identity theft is a real issue and once you become an online business owner your fraudulent emails can, and likely will, increase. Take extra precautions to safeguard your identity and be smart. This risk is a risk that you can manage. Don’t use your personal information, instead register your business with your local government and use that information for your business identity.
Don’t wait. Get started living your best life today.
Starting your own business can be a dream come true. Find your passion, your special skill and knowledge that is unique to you, and find those people out there that are looking for your product or service. Many businesses are virtually risk free and come with an abundance of rewards.
Owning your own business, doing what you love to do, will likely be the best and most exciting decision you’ll ever make. Don’t wait. Start answering these questions, researching your ideas, and finding the perfect business for you.
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