Get help, advice and information on all your Business issues. http://advice-and.info/Business/into.htm Mon, 04 Aug 2008 15:35:27 GMT en So, you may be interested starting your own business ? Perhaps you have an product or service idea , a hobby or craft which you may want to leverage as an extra source of income by selling on the web. Launching an your own web business can be easy on the wallet compared to starting a brick-and-mortar store, however, the dedication and commitment with your time and energy will be taxing. It can be intimidating, time consuming, frustrating and risky for a new enterpriser who has aspirations and dreams running their own internet business. The spawning of the idea of a product or web based service can quickly get extinguished when its time to build the business infrastructure! The most important aspects of starting an internet business are a positive attitude and determination. The most important tools starting out is your plan and having a basic level of competency with ecommerce (i.e. the process of selling on the internet). The process of developing your internet business infrastructure wi ll be filled with gotchas, do-overs, mistakes and wish-I-had-knowns. Some process tips: 1)First, Get educated and exposed how an internet business works - What is required? - What is web host provider? - What is a merchant account and gateway provider? - What is a shopping cart? - What is SEO? - What will be my total costs? 2)Second, Develop a plan with a realistic time table... some items to consider : - Set aside time for research... are there similar ideas out there? - Evaluate the competitive landscape - Nail down your business identity... biz name, location, domain, logo etc - Set up you business office... telephone, mailbox, EIN number, insurance, business cards etc. - Decide which business entity is best suited for you... sole proprietorship, LLC, Partnership or corporation - Launch your Web Site design, development and integration - Marketing campaigns... yep, you have to attract clients! 3)Third, Understand the necessity http://advice-and.info/Business/92075_How_To_Leverage_Your_Hobby_Craft_Or_Idea_Into_A_Successful_Internet_Business.html Tue, 29 Jul 2008 01:16:26 GMT "In reading the lives of great men, I found that the first victory they won was over themselves ... self-discipline with all of them came first." By Harry S. Truman: Was the thirty-third president of the U.S. Sitting at my kitchen table the other morning I decided, as I always do, to read some stories in the newspaper. I like our local newspaper as the writers they have working for them are very good and very thorough in the stories they are trying to translate. I started reading some articles in their business section. One article I picked out in particular was talking about a handful companies and their stock prices as they are rising and falling based on certain factors and how society may be contributing to them. But what caught my eye was not the article itself but the advertisement located directly to its right on the page. The advertisement clearly stood out from the article, which I am sure was the company's intent when they ran it. This advertisement was segmented away from the artic le by being boxed in with a thick dark border so as readers could tell it was not part of the article itself. Now I have seen advertisements like this before so it was nothing new, but it did remind me of the importance of how to relay what you are selling to the reader in the form of information as opposed to a "buy it now" type of advertisement. The advertisement I was looking at was in the form of an article. The article told a story and painted a visual picture of what the product was, how it was used and who could benefit most from using it. It gave a variety of statistics, that although I did not personally verify, I am sure they can be validated with a little research. This means of advertising to your customers appeals on a personal level. It doesn't matter if you are advertising in the newspaper, a magazine, on TV, radio or on the internet. The most affective forms of advertising today hit potential customers on an emotional level. This particular story does just that. Imagine if you sold a http://advice-and.info/Business/90356_Turn_Your_Advertisement_Into_An_Article.html Tue, 15 Jul 2008 08:36:24 GMT Education costs are cutting into parents pensions to the tune of 7.3bn, according to research from MetLife Europe. The pension provider found that approximately 23 of adults say the cost of funding extra tuition is having a negative impact on their ability to save. Common costs include paying for extra tuition, helping with university fees or paying for private education. The average amount being diverted from pensions for such reasons is 57 per month, but some people divert up to 300 per month. However, MetLife warned that cutting back on pension contributions could reduce income in retirement. Ed Gardner, chief executive officer at MetLife UK, said: Paying for education is a vital investment in the future of our children but it is worrying when that investment is being made at the expense of future retirement income. In the current economic climate everyones finances are under strain and it is understandable if people cut back. However saving into a pension is a vital part of financial planning and savers need access to a wider range of flexible retirement solutions offering increased certainty. http://advice-and.info/Business/89745_Schooling_Costs_Cut_Into_Pensions.html Mon, 30 Jun 2008 02:37:20 GMT With the threat of a recession looming ever larger an increasing number of people are looking for other ways to make extra income. Many people find that starting a home business on the internet is one way of getting some extra money into their bank account. You only have to do a quick search to find that plenty of people advocate the internet as a great way of doing business and making money. The rise of the internet, especially over the last ten years has made it much easier for people to earn an extra income online. Every day new websites are appearing and depending on how seriously the individual takes their home business, it isnt too long before that person starts to see the fruit of their labors. Youll be surprised at how good it feels to see the first bit of money come in from your home business. There are a number of ways for people to get started on a home internet business. Many people choose to start with becoming an affiliate for certain products. A lot of internet businesses have been s o successful that their owners decide to recruit others and pay a substantial amount of commission to affiliates. Some internet businesses provide their affiliates with a lot of help and information in setting up their own website and promoting the products. This is a good way of getting started on an internet business as you have the benefits of somebody elses experience. When people find success as an affiliate they may often recruit others and pay them some of the commission that they would receive. Once the recruit has their business up and running then the first affiliate also starts to make more money. Money earned in this way is often referred to as passive income as there is no direct relationship between the money that a person earns and the work they do to receive it. A lot of people get started this way and find success with their internet business. Getting a website and building yourself an online presence is only the beginning because you have to decide whether you are going to concentrat http://advice-and.info/Business/87665_Start_An_Internet_Home_Business_And_Add_A_Shot_Into_Your_Bank_Account.html Fri, 06 Jun 2008 14:32:17 GMT Business process re-engineering (BPR) sounds esoteric at best, and maybe a little pretentious. Wouldnt it be simpler to say business process change? Most people understand what a business process is but when you combine it with re-engineering, it suddenly sounds vague. The ProSci-sponsored BPR Online Learning Center calls a business process a set of activities that transform a set of inputs into a set of outputs (goods or services) for another person or process using people and tools. It is simple. The way we interpret that is: <li>there are several ways of doing business,<li> <li>when one of those ways does not work or is considered to be ineffective it has to be improved,<li> <li>certain elements are introduced to make it better (inputs),<li> <li>those elements translate into a better product or service,<li& gt; <li>that product or service is supposed to serve another person (a customer, a supplier, a partner)<li> Thats basic enough, but why do business processes have to be re-engineered? Its All About the Customer (and Competition) The thought behind business process re-engineering is to delight the customer. By delighting him, we get to keep him, turning him into a faithful disciple. Rivals have a sneaky way of snatching customers away from us. Its not because this world is full of cunning and evil people, its because we tend to sit on our laurels and think that weve finally got it made. Weve become lax. Business process improvement, according to ProSci, is not be confused with business process re-engineering. Instead of improving on current processes, the re-engineering concept says that because the technique is no longer viable, it has to be replaced, abandoned. Theres a need to establis http://advice-and.info/Business/87157_A_Look_Into_Business_Process_Re-engineering.html Wed, 28 May 2008 11:55:37 GMT Your brochure is an avenue for your potential clients to see who you are and what you represent. Your marketing brochures give the first impression of your company to nearly everyone who sees it. Many people wont read every word of your brochure. Therefore, you need to make the most of the copy you use and you should use elements like headlines to draw people to your marketing brochures. Using full color brochures can help even more to attract peoples attention. http://advice-and.info/Business/86911_Turn_Your_Brochure_Into_A_Superhero_For_Super_Sales.html Fri, 23 May 2008 11:43:39 GMT Turning Everyday Conversations into Networking Opportunities Keyword(s): business card printing http://advice-and.info/Business/86331_Turning_Everyday_Conversations_Into_Networking_Opportunities.html Sat, 10 May 2008 11:05:42 GMT "In some regards its best to pay attention to what everyone else is doing to see what works. This is true when it comes to the idea of using business card printing. Who doesnt have a business card, right? Every successful business is likely to have a business card ready to hand to someone, so shouldnt you have one too? The effective use of business cards is a tried and true method, but theres so much more a business card can do that a lot of people fail to realize. http://advice-and.info/Business/86018_Breathing_Life_Into_Your_Business_Card.html Sat, 03 May 2008 19:07:08 GMT As global warming continues to be a major concern for the future of our planet, people are starting to turn to green living practices to help save it for future generations. Green living involves every aspect of our daily lives - from driving to work to mowing our lawns. Making the switch to green living all at once might scare most people away from implementing those earth-friendly changes. There are many ways to ease into this practice and still help save the earths environment. http://advice-and.info/Business/83064_Easing_Into_The_Green_Living_Lifestyle.html Wed, 26 Mar 2008 18:43:43 GMT