{FREE GUIdE} STARTING BUSINESS OF YOUR OWN WILL MAKE YOU RICH AND THIS IS HOW TO GO ABOUT IT IN 2017

QUIT THE JOB AND START A BUSINESS

So You Want Your Own Business!

There are many reasons for wanting to start your own business, and most of us get to this point.  Which one of the following applies to you?

•    Freedom from daily routine.
•    Doing what I want when I want.
•    Improve my living standard.
•    I want creative freedom.
•    I want to fully use my skills, knowledge and education.
•    I have a product/idea/service that people need.
•    I’ll have more time with the family.
•    I won’t have a dress code.
•    There are good tax breaks for business owners.
•    I’m a Type B person and work best alone.
•    I want to be my own boss.
•    I want to make the decisions.

Now granted, every one of the above is a good reason for wanting your own business.  The rub is, that not many people think the process through – step by step.  There are 7 phases to business planning.  They are:

1.    Investigation Phase
2.    Planning Phase
3.    Start-up Phase
4.    Operating/Monitoring Phase
5.    Problem/Challenge resolution Phases
6.    Renewal/Expansion Phase
7.    Selling, Transferring, Retirement Phase

We’ll cover all of the above in my next few columns as a “Business Basics” refresher, but for today let’s take number one.

In the Investigation Phase you take a look at yourself and also your business options.  There are careers that are suited to personality types, so the first thing you must discern is “Which personality type am I?”

Duty Fulfillers
    This is an introverted personality who is serious, quiet, thorough, orderly, matter-of-fact, logical, realistic, and dependable.  They take responsibility, are well organized, know what should be accomplished and work steadily toward it disregarding distractions.  They are careful calculators, and 20% of this group become accountants.

The Mechanics
    These are also introverts and are cool onlookers.  They are quiet, reserved, observing, and analyzing life with a detached curiosity and have unexpected flashes of original humor.  They’re usually interested in cause and effect, how and why mechanical things work, and in organizing facts using logical principles.  They usually are craftsmen, mechanics, or handymen with about 10% becoming farmers.

The Doers
    These people are extraverts who are good at on-the-spot problem solving, don’t worry, enjoy whatever comes along, are adaptable, tolerant, and generally conservative in values.  They tend to like mechanical things and sports, and dislike long explanations. They are best with “real” things that can be worked, handled, taken apart, or put together. About 10% of this type go into marketing or become Impresarios.

The Executives
    These are another extravert group and are hearty, frank, decisive, leaders in activities and usually good in anything that requires reasoning and intelligent talk, such as public speaking.  They’re usually well informed and enjoy adding to their fund of knowledge.  They may sometimes appear more positive and confident than their experience in an area warrants.  They’re sometimes called “judgers” and “thinkers” and 21% of this group become legal administrators.

To go into each personality type would be far too complicated, but to give you an idea of the roles that personality types could fall into look at the following list.  Beside the categories we covered in depth here are some simply broken down into Introvert or Extravert Personality.

Introverts choose careers that satisfy being:
•    Nurturers
•    Guardians
•    Artists
•    Scientists
•    Protectors
•    Idealists

Extraverts  are usually:
•    Performers
•    Visionaries
•    The Inspirers
•    Givers
•    Caregivers

The second part of the Investigating Phase is looking at your business options.  When choosing the business you want to start consider the following:

•    Do you like to work with your hands or brain, or both?
•    Does working indoors or outdoors matter?
•    Are you good at math, writing, puzzles, blueprints, installing things or fixing things?
•    What interests you? What are your hobbies?
•    Do you like to work alone or as part of a team?
•    Do you like to plan things, or go to events?
•    Do you like machines, computers?
•    Do you like to drive or operate equipment?
•    Do you like to travel, collect/display things, give/attend shows, or take pictures?
•    Are you small, large, strong?

Make a list of your likes and dislikes.  Keep a diary of things you do that relate to business and rate each entry from 1 to 5 based on your interest.  Then prepare a list of your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and concerns.  After doing all that, you should have a list of candidate businesses that are right for you.  Then you can make a list of the “candidate businesses” and rate them from 1 to 5 based on your own chosen criteria.

Some criteria could be is it feasible, low in cost to establish, meets my objectives, will make money, there is a “niche” market of existing customers, or it will produce residual income to name just a few.




Can Your Passion Become A Business?

If you start a business with something you're passionate about, you'll enjoy working on it. The time you spend on your business will be both fulfilling and enjoyable.
However, sometimes your passions aren't good enough to guarantee success. Are there enough people that are also interested in your chosen favorite hobby, pastime or interest for you to build a successful business around it?
Knowing that you have a viable market is important before spending time and money trying to start business based on your passion. The following tips will help you to choose a niche, and will give you the best chance at success before you even begin.


Google Auto-Complete
Whenever you start typing into the Google search engine, it attempts to finish your sentence or phrase. You can use this to your advantage. Type just one word of a potential niche market into Google, but don't hit enter or click on the magnifying glass.
You'll see that Google has suggested several popular searches based on that single word or phrase you typed. These are searches that have been carried out thousands and thousands of times, so you know that there is a market out there relevant to those Google auto-complete listings.


Online Forums
If you know exactly what problems need to be solved in your potential market that would enable you to sell products into that market that people want.
To learn what problems your potential audience may have, type "XXX forums" into your favorite search engine. Fill in the "XXX" with your prospective area of interest. The results you will get are online forums where people discuss that particular topic. You would be amazed at the number of forums and Facebook groups you can find on the web for just about any topic.
This will help you to see if a particular niche has a big enough audience to start a business around your passion.


Question And Answer Websites
People go to websites like Quora, Wiki.how and Yahoo Answers to get their questions answered and their problems solved. Search on these sites for specific keywords and phrases, and you can see how much desire there is in a particular niche. You also see the exact questions people are asking, which make excellent headlines for blog posts, articles, eBooks and subject lines for emails.


The Google Keyword Planner
The Google Keyword Planner shows you how many monthly searches are performed for a particular keyword phrase. Type "Google keyword planner" into the Google search engine, and follow the link provided. Ensure that you check the selection for "exact phrase" search.
Type in keywords or phrases relevant to your potential niche. When you find a search term with 10,000 to 100,000 monthly searches, that is a good range which limits your competition, while also providing enough financial viability.
Niche market selection is an important part of building a business. Knowing that you have a viable market is vital before you spend your hard-earned time and money. Download these 2 free reports to help you to choose a profitable niche and give yourself the best chance for success

Become an Expert at Something
Establishing yourself as an expert in your field will help you gain both recognition and respect. Luckily, that recognition and respect transfers directly to your company. If people trust that you truly know what you are talking about, they will feel good about investing in your product.

A website is the best place to start. Build a professional looking site with sound and informative content and you'll have a source of expert information to direct customers to. Remember that it is okay to give away some of your precious knowledge free of charge. Offer the customer something useful up front and they will label you as a legitimate source to go to for whatever your company may offer. 

Article marketing is an especially effective method to achieve that expert status because it gives you the ability to distribute a small number of articles to a huge number of content-rich sites. The more places your name pops up, the more people will be exposed to your site and product.
Another way to show your expertise is through online forums and blogs. This is a bit more casual than article writing. It allows you to remain in the first person and talk candidly with interested web surfers. The conversational tone used in such settings will put many potential customers at ease.

Not only will they view you as an expert, they'll also feel connected to you as a real human being. Also, such places give customers the opportunity to ask questions and give you the opportunity to back up your product in the face of criticism.

Find the right places to gain recognition. Put yourself out there and command respect through that exposure. Highlight your achievements and successes. Branding yourself as an expert is all about getting other people to recognize something about you that you already know.


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Have You Been Branded?

The personal brand you project affects others' decisions as to your intelligence, character and ability, and determines whether or not they want to do business with you. The way you dress (and act) has a remarkable impact on the people you meet professionally and socially. This greatly affects how they treat you.
Humans think with their eyes. A UCLA study proves that 85% of all decisions are made with our eyes. That's right: the visual you have has the most impact
If your personal brand is not professional and congruent, attractive and attracting you will be passed over - guaranteed. To be competitive, to have a greater influence on others, to attract more business and be more successful it's essential that you develop a well-thought-out personal brand.
Before you sell anything -- your product, company or service -- you sell yourself first. Shift the balance of power in your favor. When you brand yourself correctly, you are seen as more desirable and in demand.
Now take large, successful companies for instance. They understand the power of "branding" a product. They spend a lot of time, money and energy to create a "brand" that is eye catching and appealing enough to sell their product through to market. They want to make sure that the buyer has a strong connection with that brand.

Now think of yourself as a company with one employee -- you. How much time, money and energy have you spent in developing a "personal brand" that is unique enough to sell through to your market? An individual who has a well-defined personal brand has more status and a tremendous advantage over the competition in the market place. With a great personal brand, you are already half sold and thus far above the competition.

Create A Business Plan

Every business—large or small—needs a business plan that provides a crystal clear picture of how your company will operate. Your business plan might encourage investors, inspire employees, and attract customers. You’ve already worked on portions of the plan. We now need to assemble the business plan so that it makes sense to investors, bankers, and partners. Review the previous pages and create a document that answers (or leaves space for answers to) the following questions. Don’t worry if you don’t have answers to all of the questions yet. In upcoming lessons, we will deal with the missing information.

     What will your business do?

     What research confirms there is a demand for your business in the market?


     Who will be your competition and what are their strengths and weaknesses?

     What is your competitor’s pricing structure?


     What will be your competitive advantage(s) and distinctions? (Why will customers choose you?



     Who are your ideal customers and how are you going to market to them?

     What is your one year marketing plan?

     What skills or expertise do you need to hire?

     If you are considering a partnership, what makes your partner a good fit?

     What are your personal strengths and how do they position your company for success?

     What are your personal weaknesses? In what areas of business are you most unsure?

     Who are some people you might want to bring alongside to work in your areas of weakness?

     What will be all the costs to operate this business per week and month?

     Is your net income enough to pay you the income you wish to make?

     What are your mission, vision, and value statements?

     What are your one-year, three-year, and five-year goals for your company?

     What is your primary product or service?

     When are people most likely to be looking for this product or service?

     Think about your primary business objective. What are some additional products or services that you might consider offering in the future?

     How quickly do you think you could have a new product or service on the market?

     What are some creative ways you can market your business?

     What percentage of your net profit do you plan to invest in marketing?

     The Strategy: Define your product, pricing strategy, and your sales goals for the year.

     The Tactics: What is your detailed plan on how to meet your goals through each marketing avenue? Think advertising, sponsorship, events, and social media.

     The Logistics: Where can you best devote your marketing budget?

    Report In: .Write a 1-page summary of the above and insert it in your business plan What kinds of marketing strategies do businesses use to attract your business?

     What strategies will be most effective when focusing your business on your target customer?

     Advertising is the primary way to reach potential customers with your message. Which form of advertising  do you think will be effective in reaching your audience?

     What other unique approaches to advertising will be effective?

     If you can only do one kind of advertising, which one will you chose and why?

Everyone won’t be your customer. Therefore, your business should have a target customer.

     What is your target gender?

     What is the target age group?


     What demographic group needs your product or service?

     Will your company’s image or reputation matter much to this group?

Once you know your target group, you need to determine if the target group exists in your target area. If not, you need to reconsider the business idea or location.

     What are some things you can do to market your product or service directly to your target customers?

     What’s In A Name? A Lot. The naming of your business is more important than you might think. A non-Internet business should have a name that clearly tells the customer what kind of business it is, and the type of service it provides. If your business is Internet-based, aim for something memorable and unique. Think about some businesses in your area. What are some names that communicate with clarity? What is it about those company names that makes you want to visit them?

     Are you planning for your company to expand into other areas or will it remain in one location?  ____ expand    ___ remain in one location If you already have a name, write it here:
Take time to address each question in your business plan. Remember , “If you don’t have time to create a business plan, you don’t need to start a business!”

These might not be a perfect business plan but if you are able address all the questions I listed here, you will leave every investor hungry to invest in your business without much waste of time.

Making The Internet Work For You

Just like there are no magic weight loss cures or ways to earn money from home without a great deal of effort, there is no one simple solution to guarantee Internet marketing success. However, Internet marketing is not overly complicated and many business owners can enjoy at least some degree of Internet marketing success with only limited knowledge about the industry. This article will discuss some of the simplest Internet marketing strategies business owners can implement to promote their business online.

Participation in industry related message boards is one of the easiest ways a business owner can use the Internet as a promotional tool. Message boards are websites which provide a forum for Internet users who share a common interest to share information related to this subject or just socialize. Business owners may opt to join message boards which closely relate to their industry or the products or services they offer. This is important because doing this gives the business owners access to a group of Internet users who fall into the target audience for his products or services. It also gives the business owner the opportunity to promote his own website. Many message boards allow users to place a link to their own website in their signature. Business owners who do this and also contribute useful commentary on the message boards may attract potential customers via the link they place in their signature.

Additionally, some message boards may even allow users to post links in the body of the message. This gives the business owner the opportunity to offer his link in response to questions and comments when doing so is relevant and offers something of value to the online conversation. However, care should be taken to carefully review the terms of service and all guidelines on the message board before posting links to ensure this is not a violation of the policies of the message board. Failure to adhere to message board policies may result in removal from the message board or the posts being viewed as spam by other users.

Another simple, but effective, Internet marketing strategy is to hire a consulting firm with search engine optimization (SEO) experience to assist you in achieving high search engine rankings. While the concept of SEO can be rather complex and understanding the most effective strategies and how to properly implement them may take years of experience as well as continual education, the ability to hire a qualified SEO firm is as simple as knowing how to interview candidates and select the most qualified one. Handling your own SEO efforts can be rather difficult but hiring another firm to take care of this for you is not only easy but it can have a significant impact on your website traffic because high search engine rankings typically translate to improved web traffic. This is because Internet users trust search engines to serve the most relevant websites first and typically only visit the best ranking websites when they search for a particular term.

Similarly another simple way to enjoy Internet marketing success is to hire a consulting firm to plan and execute your Internet marketing strategy. Just like SEO, Internet marketing is essentially a full time job. Business owners may have a great deal of difficulty trying to run their business and organize their Internet marketing. Outsourcing this work eases the burden on the business manager and will likely produce more favorable results.

Take Responsibility

I firmly believe that the most important thing any of us can do is to take responsibility for our lives. Once we decide that we have the power to change, almost anything can happen. In the past, it has been common for many of us to hand over our responsibility  for our health, emotional wellbeing, financial wellbeing, and spiritual lives to other people: to doctors and hospitals; to teachers and therapists;  to priests and ministers



What About Social Media Marketing?

The newest trend in the internet today is joining one of the many social networking websites. Here, you will be able to keep in touch with your old friends as well as your relatives and you will also be able to make new friends as well as meet new people. With social networking websites, you will see that it will make the world a smaller place.

One social networking website that is so popular among many people from all over the world is Facebook. In this website, you will be able to post your pictures, discuss your interests and hobbies as well as do other great things.

In the past, Facebook was restricted to Harvard College students. In time, it expanded to other schools and universities until it became available for everyone above the age of 13 from different parts of the world.

Presently, the Facebook website now has more than 62 million active users worldwide.

Now, if you have an online business, you will see that Facebook can significantly help you promote your website and your business. Facebook marketing is now one of the hottest trends among online entrepreneurs today. Just think about it, with over 62 million active users worldwide, you will definitely have a lot of potential clients to do business with.

Because of the amount of people joining Facebook, a lot of online business owners are now joining this social networking website in order to market their products or services. With Facebook, you will definitely be able to effectively market your website.

The great thing about Facebook today is that anyone will now be able to join it. Whether you are a college student or you are an entrepreneur looking for a niche market, Facebook is the place that you should go to.

In fact, Facebook is now very popular that it is now investing a lot of money for advertising in order to attract more people to join. With this kind of benefit, you will see the potential on what your business can have.

Facebook as well as other social networking websites are now just beginning to see its full potential.

Today, you will see that Facebook has now launched different Facebook Ads system that will allow you and other fellow business owners to formally advertise your products and services. You have to consider the fact that people are three to five times more likely buy a particular product if their friends recommend it. If you advertise on Facebook, you will be able to increase your sales.

Facebook is now very popular that it now contains ads for big corporations, such as Microsoft, Coca-Cola and other companies.

So, if you are thinking about marketing online for your business and you want to increase your company's sales, then you may want to try out Facebook. Here, you will be able to increase the advertising potential for your company. Also, you will be able to reach out to more people as well as get a niche market for your products and services.

So, if you think that online advertising or marketing is not working for you, you might want to try out marketing on Facebook. Here, you will be able to see how effective marketing is by using this one of a kind social networking website and you will be able to increase your sales.


Social Media Marketing Trends You Should Not Ignore

The success of social media marketing lies in the right mix of fruitful strategies. The wrong combination will simply reduce the traffic from targeted customers rather than attract them. If you devise your social media strategies such as social media optimization on the basis of current trends, you can increase profits and use social networking sites effectively for marketing. Here are the recent trends highlighted in an article published by Forbes based on the 2013 Social Media Marketing Industry Report.


Low Usage of Social Bookmarking Sites
According to the research reports, the use of social bookmarking sites has decreased to 10 percent from 26 percent in 2011. This considerable drop of usage clearly indicates the fall of bookmarking sites. Even though the sites including Twitter, StumbleUpon, Reddit and Pinterest are still popular among marketers, majority of sites (e.g. DIGG, Friendfeed) are almost dying. Therefore, it is not a good practice to trust a bookmarking site blindly for marketing purposes in the current scenario. Instead, check for the sites that are most popular and perform the bookmarking very cautiously.


Decline of Daily Deal Sites
Daily deal features or simply daily offerings of deals are regarded as a powerful way to attract a large number of targeted customers at a time. The research report says that around 80 percent of marketers are not interested in using the most popular daily deal sites including Groupon or Living Social for their campaigns in the near future.
Now people concentrate more on the considerable amount of returns that they receive from their purchases over time. Hence, it is advisable to use social networking sites for long term marketing goals rather than daily goals.


Top Sites for Social Media Campaigns
Marketers who use social media for marketing will obviously carry out social media campaigns (using social networking sites for promotion) for their products or services to attract targeted customers. The campaigns will be successful only if the relevant site is popular among the customers.
The research report indicates that marketers who spend more than 40 hours a week for social media marketing carry out their campaigns more intensely through Google+, You Tube, Pinterest and Instagram compared to those who spend six hours or less a week on social media marketing. Also, around 92 percent of marketers who have five or more years of experience prefer LinkedIn than 70 percent of marketers having less than five years of experience. Forum marketing has also decreased to 16 percent this year from 24 percent in 2011.
Around 67 percent of marketers are planning to increase campaigns through Twitter even though it is a slight decrease from 69 percent last year. Young marketers, more than older ones prefer photo sharing sites including Instagram for launching campaigns. 62% chose blogging as most suitable platform to master, which is the highest one followed by Google + (61%) and Facebook (59%).


Trends of B2C and B2B Marketers
Business to Consumer (B2C) Marketers use Facebook at a higher rate of 67% than other platforms. In the case of Business to Business (B2B) marketers, both Facebook and LinkedIn have equal majority of 29% each. Given below is the pie chart showing usage statistics for each platform with regard to B2C and B2B marketers.
B2B marketers use a more diverse array of platforms compared to B2C marketers. Both of them do not completely utilize blogging and have minimal You Tube usage.
If you are a B2B or B2C marketer, try to encourage blogs as they are regarded as the most popular social media platform. YouTube being the second largest search engine, you can enjoy the benefits it offers by posting low-cost videos. Orabrush (B2C Company) and Blentec (B2B Company) have become strong brands by making use of low cost YouTube videos.
As B2B marketers increasingly use LinkedIn, they have an opportunity to utilize SlideShare (owned by LinkedIn). This social media entity can be used for generating leads for B2B organizations.


Fewer Check-ins Online
As per the research reports, there is a decrease in the usage of geo-location services including Foursquare from 17% in 2011 to 11% this year. These services allow check-in to your locations automatically online. The decline in these kinds of services indicates that people are now concerned more about privacy and safety. Marketers can tackle this situation by introducing contests and rewards. This will encourage people to check-in more.
If you are still following the old strategy for social media marketing, then it is the time to develop new strategies based on all these current trends. It is better to entrust this tedious task to a reputable social media marketing company that offers reliable social media marketing services rather than try implementing the strategies on your own.
Devise your social media strategies on the basis of current trends.



Evaluating the Response-A must

Starting an Internet marketing campaign is only the first step in the battle. Sure it is a good idea to start an Internet marketing campaign if members of your target audience are likely to use the Internet to research or purchase the products you sell or the services you offer but these marketing efforts may turn out to be a complete waste of time if you are not diligent about evaluating the response to your Internet marketing. This means each time you implement a change to your marketing strategy; you should evaluate the results of the change to determine whether or not it generated a greater profit for you. This is important because it can help you determine what is working and what is not working for you.

Evaluating the response of your Internet marketing can be done in a number of different ways. Customer surveys and embedded HTML code are two of the most popular methods of evaluating the effectiveness of an Internet marketing campaign. Customer surveys can be as simple or as complex as you like depending on the amount of feedback you would like to receive. However, one of the most effective ways to find out how well your different marketing tactics are working is to include a question asking the consumer where they first learned about your products or services. This is important because if you find a great deal of your customers are learning about your products or services through a particular venue, it is a good indication this method of advertising is working quite well for you.

Embedding code into your advertisements for the purpose of receiving feedback is also a popular method of evaluating the response to your Internet marketing strategies. Advertisements can be coded so that you receive feedback each time an Internet user clicks through a particular advertisement. This is useful for letting you know which of your advertisements are attracting the most attention. If you are using two different designs for your advertisements you may discover one design is attracting more attention than others and may make the decision to convert all of the advertisements to a more effective style. Similarly you who is running the same advertisement on several different websites may discover you are receiving more traffic from one website than others. You may also discover some websites are not attracting much attention at all. This would give you an indication of which advertisements to cancel and which ones to keep running.

Finally, the response to an Internet marketing campaign can be evaluated by carefully reviewing website traffic statistics after implementing changes to the marketing strategy. This information is useful because an unusual spike in the amount of website traffic immediately after implementing a stage of the marketing campaign can provide positive feedback that the change was well received by potential customers. While this method of evaluating the response to an Internet marketing campaign can be effective it is important to note, implementing multiple changes at once will make it difficult to determine which changes were the most effective. Therefore if you plan to use website traffic as feedback for how well your marketing strategy is working it is important to only implement one major change at a time so they can each be evaluated separately.

Courting Public Favor

At first glance, it is a bit surprising when you see how much some powerful and prominent businesses in every community bend every effort to court public favor.  Almost any community of significant size in the country has a business section in the paper.  And subscribers to the local news see their ability to stay in touch with what the strongest and up and coming businesses in town are doing as an important part of their business awareness.

Sometimes it’s good to read the business news in your local paper both for information and with an eye on the question – “Did the business being discussed work to get this article printed about them in the paper?”  In some cases, it is blatantly clear that the business went to great lengths to get noticed.  Many businesses actually employ public relations and advertising professionals to tailor how they will be viewed in the press and to court public favor by romancing the right kind of press coverage for the business.

There are some solid business reasons behind such aggressive work being done by the business community to have good press coverage.  On the surface, it might seem like the intent of managing public approval for a business is just a desire to be a good citizen and so that public opinion is favorable and everybody thinks of that business as a bunch of “good guys”.  But the motivations for courting public favor for a business are far more complex and entrepreneurial than that. 

*    A good reputation means better sales.  Public opinion is a funny thing.  If a retail company gets a bad reputation in a community, it will have a tremendous impact on their bottom line.  But the business that is well regarded at the neighborhood level will be one that sees strong customer loyalty.

*    A strong reputation makes for better business dealings.  Running a business means entering into dozens of business relationships, making deals and drafting contracts with other businesses in town.  If your business is well regarded in the public eye, that will reflect favorably when you need a deal to fall your way at the negotiating table.

*    Investors like to see a good public image in a business.  Investors like to know that the business they are interested in partnering with will be able to complete its business goals and endure year in and year out.  Part of that stability means that the business can live up to its mission statement and its statement of values.  When the business the investor is interested in has a strong public image, that reflects that this is a business that conducts itself with integrity, is interested in the public good as well as private profit and is looking for the long-term gain as well as the short-term profitability.  These values translate directly into dollars in an investor situation.

*    A strong relationship with city and state government is important to long-term business health.  Many businesses seek concessions or to enter into a relationship with local government so they can have a clear path to get building permits or conduct other business that impacts the public good.  A local or state government can be a businesses best friend or stop your projects in their tracks and keep them stopped.  But the thing that pleases the political world is public opinion and the public good.  So if your business has a good public profile, that translates to votes for the politically minded people at city hall.  And that means influence which can help a business go a long way toward completing its long-range plans.

*    A good public image impacts recruitment.  When you put an advertisement in the local paper to recruit talent, how you are viewed by those looking for jobs will directly influence if they will respond to your recruitment efforts.  Many a business got a bad reputation locally and saw dismal responses to recruitment efforts which can mean a less talented staff and poor performance of the business in general.

These are solid reasons for a business to put some energy and capital into courting a good reputation in town.  Whether that means a strong representation on United Way weekend or holding blood drives once a month, the business that has a reputation for reaching out to the community will be a business that prospers.

What’s in it for Them?

Have you noticed how many of the really big businesses in every community always seem to also put a lot of effort into community service projects?  If you look closely at the promotional material these companies put out, you would accept that the reason a business might decide to dedicated a few thousand or hundred thousands of dollars from their vast corporate coffers to help out the community because they “just want to give back to the great community we all live in.” 

That sound pretty good to be sure.  But it helps to dig a little deeper.  We all know that the purpose of any business is single minded and that is to make money.  They have an obligation to their stockholders or their owners to make as much of a profit as they can to return to those investors a good reward for the initial investment they put into the business.

This is not evil or imply that a business is somehow selfish.  This is just the reason for being for a business and as long as they do business in a socially responsible way such as maintaining a safe working environment and paying a fair wage, I encourage business to follow their calling to make lots of money because when they do that, everybody wins.

So why do big businesses set aside a percentage of their funding to do community service projects?  It’s a good question because perhaps you are a businessperson trying to decide if getting involved in community service is a good business decision.  Well it turns out it makes very smart business to do something so “un-businesslike” as to do community service projects for the city in which you are based.  Some of those reasons include…

.    It’s free advertising.  When a company jumps into a community service project, it is rarely done anonymously.  A service project in the community is a great way to create lots of “feel good” advertising.  This gets the company name out into the community, which builds what is called “good will”.  Good will is actually an entry in the corporate ledger books as an asset that has monetary value to any company.

.    It builds corporate morale.  Employees like to work for companies that are good citizens of the community.  Often times the company will sponsor a day where employees can go work on a community service project with a workday and get paid for it.  This gives the employee a nice break and builds good feelings both in the community and in the employees, which improves productivity.  Improved productivity improves profits.

.    It builds trust.  People will only do business with someone they like and trust.  And people will go out of their way not to do business with someone they don’t like or trust.  So trust between a company and the customer base is essential for strong sales and continuing to be a profitable business.

.    It’s deductible.  Just like individuals can write off money or goods we give to charities, companies can classify expenses used for community service in a way that benefits them at tax time.  Sometimes companies need all the deductions they can get and charitable ones are not only good dedications but good use of funds to improve the corporate image.

.    It’s a hedge against bad news.  If a big company in your town has ever had to do layoffs, you know the bad press that can cause for that company.  If the relationship of trust between the company and the population, particularly the pool of workers is damaged, building a workforce in good times becomes more difficult.  By building good will in good times, that can offset bad news such as layoffs and actually turn a bad spell for the company into a source of pity and support from the community rather than a source of distrust.

This is not to say that companies don’t have their “hearts” in the right place when they do community service.  But the benefits of pitching in to help the community in which they live are not only good citizenship, its good business.


Why Searching For The Online Marketing Magic Bullet Will Lead To Frustration AND Failure

  
I want to talk a little bit about this, because I find that it is very common to online business people. Especially with newbies in online marketing, we tend to think that there must be ONE MAGIC way, a magic bullet, that is THE way to success. Fast. Here and now. And that this "Magic Secret" is known by the top earners, but they won't share it with us.
What I have learned over the past  years in online marketing is that there is NO magic bullet. Stop searching for it, because, you are not gonna find it.
The top earners have NOT used a magic button to get where they are now and although they might have SOME secrets they are not sharing with everyone, they know that the ONLY way to success is FOCUS, CONSISTENCY and HARD WORK. PERIOD!
Now, let's look at why this aimless search will lead to frustration and ultimately failure and WHY being focused is perhaps THE most important work ethic you'll need.
When it comes to social media there is no platform being better than the one you chose to focus on.
While some are crushing it on Facebook, Instagram is not working for them at all. Some find Twitter the best platform, while others use Snapchat or LinkedIn.
I've seen and known 6 figure earners with absolutely no activity on Instagram for example. What all these marketers have in common is this: they concentrate and focus on ONE platform and strategy only. That's it.
And this is what being focused means. Focus on ONE platform only AND stick with it! Once you get bored, because you feel nothing happens and start jumping around from platform to platform you are doomed. Doomed to fail.
Why?
Because you need to put in the work behind your strategy over time to get the results you desire.
No 6 figure earner started out with 20.000 followers on Instagram or leads pouring into their autoresponder every day. No, they built it up from scratch. They started out with 100 followers and no leads at all - just like you.
I know, because I've been there to. If I hadn't stayed focused on my strategy I wouldn't have the results I'm getting today.
I was jumping around my first 8 months and all though I concentrated on blogging, every time I read a guide about a new platform I thought I had to be on that platform as well. And that is not possible.
Once you stay focused and put ALL your energy and work behind one single platform YOU will grow and YOUR business will grow.
And once you do that you will not have time to get frustrated. IF that happens, you might have to readjust your expectations.
And what I mean by this is that if you expect amazing results from day one, you will be disappointed.
Expect none or very little results in the beginning, whilst building your foundation. And remember even the smallest accomplishments are results.
They are signs that what you are doing is actually having an impact on someone out there. A sign that what you are doing is having an effect.
Results are not just sign-ups. Results are when you get likes, comments, messages, people reaching out to you.
Now, YOUR response to those small results in the beginning is what defines your success. If you ignore them, don't expect much.
But if you see and treat them like openings and react to them, reaching out to people, you may see some pretty nice results real quick.
It's a process and you have to work consistently on a daily basis for a good while.
And that is why if you are everywhere, doing a little bit here and a little bit there it will take much longer time.
Perhaps years before anything happens. This is where frustration takes over and the reason so many give up.
A time frame?
I would say you need to work your one strategy for a minimum of 6 months, before you add a new one.
It's really all up to you.
Everything depends on how you react to those first small signs and reactions in the beginning that you get.
If you don't react and expect that others should take action only you are placing the responsibility on someone else - not on yourself and nothing will ever happen this way.
Once you take over responsibility and stop searching for a magic bullet and stop blaming outside circumstances you are on the right path. And if you keep going you WILL succeed

Videos: Industry Experts talk about how to start a business

 Steve Jobs

Richard Brandson

Jeff Bezos