Information on Starting a Business
What is important when just before starting my own business ?
I have a good idea and I want to start my business with it. I am preperaing a feasibility report for myself but also investors too. What is important just before starting my own business ? There are many details to care about !?
You should seek to understand yourself first. Here's a good place to start:
http://www.sba.gov/smallbusinessplanner/plan/getready/SERV_SBPLANNER_ISENTFORU.html
I also highly recommend this book:
http://www.amazon.com/Rich-Dads-Before-Quit-Multimillion-Dollar/dp/0446696374/sr=1-1/qid=1170056530/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/104-5250859-0369531?ie=UTF8&s=books
Once you understand your personal situation, you can dig into the details of your startup. Investors generally look for the following factors in a startup:
1. Visionary leadership
2. Large potential market
3. Competitive advantage
4. Low capital requirements
Make sure your buisiness plan fits these criteria.
Here's a great template for your pitch:
http://blog.guykawasaki.com/best_of/index.html
Cheers!
Starting a Jewelry Business? 10 Things to Start Making Now
If you have been thinking about starting a Home Jewelry Business? Here is a simple an easy 10-points guideline to transform a hobby into a very profitable career. Check if you’re following the author’s 10 Golden Rules of Jewelry Business Starting.
When I started making jewelry it was just fun. Friend’s inquiries about pendants or earrings really made the dream start to take shape, as it may be happening to many of you. You have started wondering if you could make jewelry for a living. Well, the answer is as simple as YES. Every jewelry artist has started somewhere, and the lucky ones that today show their pieces on jewelry magazine covers started with little or no money and no clues about where the jewelry experience was going to take them.
Making jewelry is therapeutic and profitable, you can make it at home, be your own boss, work at the hours when you feel best and, above all, is a wonderful profession in which you add beauty to people’s lifes through your jewels. Making jewelry is fun!
But why is it that so many jewelry makers, some very talented, fall along the way and never reach their full potential? Mainly, for reasons that do not have to do at all with Jewelry Making, and the most common four are lack of commitment, procrastination, lack of confidence and of course, lack of knowledge about business and marketing techniques.
It is said that it takes 21 days to leave or start a habit. Changing from procrastinator to effective jewelry maker takes less, I think, but many of the things that will start showing its benefits in the (near) future must start being done today!!! Making a big decision like leaving your “proper†job really need a strong commitment to avoid ending up to your nose with debts and wondering “ What did I do wrong?†If you really want to success in this business, here are 10 tips that will help you start avoiding the more common beginner mistakes:
1.This is your trip, not anybody’s: be very careful with the advice you follow and try to stay always within your own limits and desires. Focus on learning the business and stop listening to what people would do if they were you. Read jewelry websites, marketing and sales articles and never stop learning new things.
2.If you don’t have a studio, set up one. Yes, as small business owners we must sacrifice home spaces to our business. Cluttering the dining room or using a small corner will affect directly into your productivity and creativity. You need space, organization, light, and a door you can close whenever you decide your work has finished for today.
3.Organize your time effectively: work as many hours a day as in a “proper†job…well, the truth is that you will find that you will need more than proper job hours to get everything done! As in point 2, we must also sacrifice time.
4.Set up a blog/website. There are many free webs and blogs to choose from. Avoid repetitive descriptions and talk a little about yourself in every post. Take your time to write a good biography and take a good picture of yourself. Read other websites for examples and study the texts – which ones are more appealing to you, and why? Promote yourself in any way you find.
5.Dare to dream – do not underestimate yourself and try every crazy idea that comes to you mind… all of the biggest jewelry artists of the world were somewhere you are now. They made it because they were bold and trusted their own abilities. That business card design or new packaging boiling in your head deserves, at least, a try. What would you lose?
6.Don’t be scared of asking for favours to relative and friends when you’re starting, and always reward them in any way you can. A favour any female member in your family will love to do to you is wearing your gorgeous jewelry on parties and special events, and of course without having to buy it! They will return it to you after showing your jewelry to many people; of course you should provide them with business cards!
7.Learn to make good pics of your work, or you will never sell online. You can make a simple lightbox and digital camera and tripod are necessary. Learn to use the macro and light sensitivity settings of your camera and experiments with backgrounds and displays. Do as above: research and work!
8.Being a jeweler is not only about making jewelry! You can have other incomes coming from the same source. Teach classes or workshops, sell tutorials online, kits, become a gem seller…and if you have html knowledge you could even offer to make websites to jewelers!
9.Don’t wait until everything is perfect to start, because it will never be perfect. If you’re just a beginner, don’t overprice your products. Be honest and humble with your own work, but don’t miss opportunities to show your work in every way you find.
10.Be very patient. There are no fast success stories in jewelry making. You will have to prove you are really commited to your work If you don’t start now, it will never come!
Start Em Up Business
The Start Em Up Business program gives students an introduction to business. Students will learn the basic business concepts through playing fun business games, starting a real business, and making money.
Duration : 0:12:52
Starting Your Own Home Based Internet Marketing Business
If you have been trying to find the opportunity to work at home and spend more time with your kids, a home based Internet marketing business is right for you. The good thing about having your own home based Internet marketing business is that you only need a small capital to get started.
Unlike when you start a business like a store where you will need to set up your physical facilities and your inventories, this type of business will not really require you to set up elaborate physical facilities. The basic things that you will need to get started in this type of business is a reliable computer and with fast Internet connection.
Technically, your computer with Internet connection will serve as your virtual office where you can transact business from people all over the world. All you need to do now is to find a quite corner of your home where you can set-up your computer and work in peace. When setting up your home office, you should make it a point to find a place in the house where there is least disturbance.
If you really want to succeed in your home based internet marketing business, you will need to be in a place where you can concentrate on what you are doing.
Is a home base Internet marketing business profitable? The amount of profit that you earn in a certain business would depend largely on the amount of effort that you put it to make things work.
The rule here is that the more time and effort that you put into your home business, the bigger the chances for you to earn more money. Since you are free to manage your own time, you can control the amount of time you can invest into your own business.
Another factor that will affect the amount of money that you can earn on your online business is the type of good and services that you are selling. There are certain types of good and services that are very easy to sell and there are also those types of good and services that are so highly specialized that you will need to reach a specific group of people to sell your product to.
If you were just starting out, it would be a good idea for you to target the general market. Unless you are highly skilled or is a expert on a certain field, you may do well with the general market that those highly specialized field. Although there may be thousand of other net entrepreneurs who are also out to get a share of the general market, there is still a big possibility for you to gain some clients considering how broad the market is.
Staying focused on build your internet based business is essential in the early stages of your business when you are learning what works and what does not work in marketing your business. The more you learn and put into practice the more and better your results will become. Find a mentor who has success in the area you are now marketing and follow the steps he or she took to be successful and apply what you have learned.
Success will gradually start to appear, first your will start getting one sales per week then ten and so on. Focus on the marketing strategies that are making money for you and drop the ones that are not profitable. Lastly when seeking products or services to sell on your website I only recommend products or services that pays residual (recurring) monthly income. Instead of only making on once when you sell a product or service you will have the opportunity to build a solid monthly income that can give you and your family a comfortable retirement living.
Thinking of starting a child care business in Illinois, what is the income like?
I am just disgusted with the lack of quality childcare that my children have recieved . I am a single parent and thinking of starting my own business so that my kids (and others) get what is needed in childcare. Problem is I am currently attending college with three semesters to go and physically have to attend campus. Everyone says I should finish college first and then start a business. As a single parent I am more worried what the income is like. I work in healthcare as a tech and the earning potirntal is unlimited and this helps being a single parent. Does anyone know what the income is like for a child care provider? I am getting two sides of the coin.
I do know that for the state of Illinois 1 person can only legally watch a maximum of 5 children at a time. This is ok income because child care providers typically charge 150 – 200. per week for each child so if you are caring for 5 children that should be 750.00-1000.00 per week. Things to consider will you do this from home ? How many children will you care for ? Cost of food, equipment, etc. You will also have to be fingerprinted by the Illinois Department of Children Services so they can register you as a child care provider. Good idea but lots of things to consider this is a serious commitment.