Are You Overlooking the Obvious?

When was the last time your were frustrated by a tedious process in your life? A task or situation so annoying or cumbersome that you knew there just HAD to be a better way to go about it? If you ever bemoaned a problem and then walked away, you’ve probably missed a chance to make money.

George Lucas faced such a challenge when he began filming “Star Wars” in 1976. He could see the entire film in his mind, down to the last detail-but he had trouble bringing his ideas to fruition. The alien creatures, the space battles, the light sabers-every cool visual effect he wanted to include created a trial for the special effects department. Why? Because no film to that point had ever required the magnitude of effects at the level that Lucas demanded.

Yes, there had been a number of science fiction movies and series before then–”Star Trek”, “My Favorite Martian”, and “Lost In Space” to name a few–but the effects were as obvious as they were low budget. Lucas wanted more. And since he knew he’d need the technology for later projects, he decided to do something about it: he created Industrial Light and Magic.

Today, I.L.M. is THE place to go for special effects in the film-making industry. Next time you see a film with all kinds of cool effects, scan the credits. You’ll no doubt see a mention of Industrial Light and Magic.

What? You don’t have tens of millions of dollars sitting around to start a big venture like I.L.M.?

You don’t need it. All you need is a problem to solve that’s common to your field of interest. If you’re having difficulty with something, no doubt others are as well. Take “the bull by the horns” and become a problem solver.

Here’s what some other folks have done:

• Steve and Andi Rosenstein were hard-working clothing sales reps who wanted to lounge-but look great-on the weekends. Sweats weren’t just cutting it. So after a “what if?” conversation and a few preliminary sketches, Fitigues, Inc. was born in 1988. Combining pajama comfort with flair and style, Fitigues is geared toward the person who wants to knock about the house in comfort but still look great enough to answer the door or run a few errands.

Today they have 26 retail outlets, a mail order company, and a web site-with sales approaching $40 million. Seems a few other people wanted to be stylish “couch potatoes” as well…You can visit them online at www.fitiges.com .

• Judy McDonald was working at Hewlett Packard when she brainstormed an idea to jump start activity in their sluggish color ink sales. “We could develop software that would enable people to use their computers and color printers to create customized craft projects, like iron-on designs for T-shirts,” she enthusiastically told her boss. Unimpressed, he passed.

Hopes dashed, Judy vented to a friend-who immediately jumped on the idea. Partnering with another friend, the trio started Jiro, Inc. in 1995. When their sales screamed past the $10 million dollar mark in less than two years, they attracted the attention of Mattel-who acquired them in 1998. With the team firmly in place, they’ve gone on to make additional software titles under a new label called Fashion Magic, a division of Mattel Media, www.mattelmedia.com .

• Dave Kappel was a budding songwriter who just couldn’t get the words right-but not for lack of trying. He wrote and rewrote, and after going through reams of paper, finally cut the words into pieces so he could re-arrange them at will. He later pasted them to magnets, which found their way to the refrigerator door.

When visiting friends couldn’t keep their hands off them, Kappel wondered if he was on to something. He bought $100 worth of supplies, made 100 sets of magnetic words, and took them to a local crafts fair. They sold out in three hours.

That was 1993. Today, Magnetic Poetry has sold more than a million kits, including kids’ versions, theme versions, and foreign language versions. Not a bad outcome of a little writer’s block. You can visit them online at www.magneticpoetry.com .

So I ask you again, what problems have you encountered in your everyday life? Don’t discount the obvious. A little problem solving could a long way toward simplifying your life AND filling your pockets. Look around. Take some notes. Observe. Ask questions.

You never know…opportunity may be knocking louder than you think.

The Leisurely Way to Make Money

The fastest, easiest way to make money is by doing something you enjoy and are good at. Often we look to “proven” opportunities to generate fast money when all we really have to do is take a good look at ourselves.

So with that in mind, let me ask you this: how do you relax? Do you garden? Play cards? Watch old movies?

What if you could find a way to turn how you relax into something that makes money? I know what you may be thinking: “My down time is off limits!” But it’s precisely for that reason that it’s a great way to make money. It’s also why it’s often overlooked.

Futurist Faith Popcorn concludes that with today’s hectic pace, people would rather spend money than time. If you could combine your love of your leisure time activity with the knowledge that people will pay to have things done, you could find yourself with some potentially lucrative ideas on your hands.
Here are some examples of what I’m talking about:

• Several years ago, I was having lunch with a group of women I worked with. We started to talk about how we liked to unwind. One woman read books. Another liked to walk her dog. Cooking and watching television were also high on the list. But one woman just chuckled. “I know you’re going to think I’m crazy, but I like to iron clothes.” It was obvious. Everything she wore was always neatly pressed.
• By the end of the meal, she had herself some clients. Before long, her quick, precise skill had won her an army of regulars-that had her netting several hundred dollars a month. All for a few hours a week of doing something that she enjoyed that helped her to unwind.
• My husband’s grandfather loved to mow lawns. It was how he could be by himself, think about nothing, and make money to boot. He mowed for several churches and schools and had private clients as well.
• One of the men who works with my husband is a visiting scientist from Japan. After they’d been here a few months, his wife wrote a long letter to one of her friends back home, detailing her life in America. The letter found its way to the local newspaper editor, who asked for permission to print it. Now the wife is a regular contributor, chronicling her life in the States.
• Love to wrap gifts? It’s a lucrative sideline for one woman I know. With her specialty papers and unusual ribbons, she can transform a mere package into a beautiful work of art.
• Her talent first caught the eye of one of her superiors when she wrapped a group gift that went to a co-worker. The boss paid her to wrap a birthday gift for his wife, who in turn hired her to wrap all of their Christmas presents. Word of mouth spread quickly, and before long, she had herself a fun way to earn enough to regularly indulge another past time: travel.
• Another woman I know loves to cook, with holiday baking being a particular passion. The orders she fills during the holidays from friends, family, and co-workers regularly end up as hostess, teacher, and business gifts, and she usually makes enough money to cover all her own Christmas expenses.
• Finally, my own grandmother, a regular social butterfly, used to love to host product parties for her business opportunity friends. Tupperware, Shaklee, Beeline Fashions-you name it, Grandma would have her girlfriends over for a look. Never interested in becoming a distributor herself, she’d settle for the hostess gifts and a percentage of the sales made during her parties. That way, she could enjoy the variety of things offered without ever having to handle products herself.

So how do you relax? Sew? Assemble photo albums? Tinker with cars? If it’s something you enjoy and are going to do regardless, why not make some money? A little word of mouth or even a classified ad could create enough steady business to put a whole new spin on relaxing. After all, people would rather spend money than time. Why shouldn’t they spend their money with you?

So You Have a Great Business Idea – Now What?

So you’ve come up with a snazzy idea that’s sure to put money in the bank, eh? So what are you going to do about it? What’s your next step?
Most people do one of two things:

• They jump on the bandwagon before they know how to play, or
• They talk the subject to death, research it to death, make tons of notes–and do nothing.

Either way, they end up frustrated.

I know people who fall into both categories. You probably do, too. In fact, you may be one of these people. I was.

So how can you break out of this aggravating pattern and put yourself on the path to success?

Here are a couple of suggestions:

DO SOME RESEARCH

Take a little time to see if your idea will fly. Now I’m not talking about a full scale investigation that takes months or years to complete. Instead, spend a few hours on the Internet, scanning the search engines for relevant sites and posting a few questions in appropriate newsgroups (Has anybody done “x”? Where could I find more information on “z”?).

Put in some library time and look for resources at your favorite bookstore (either online or off). You’re looking to see if you have a ready target market, and if they’re already buying products and services similar to what you’re offering.

Why? Because chances are they’ll buy more of the same. If white widgets are all the rage and have been for months, chances are black, blue, or red widgets might make money as well. If no one’s buying widgets at all, stop. Do not pass go, do not collect $200.

Look elsewhere. Don’t waste time, money, and energy developing and trying to sell something no one wants.

“But I’ll be the first one on the block,” you might be thinking. “I’ll capture the market and make millions!”

Yes, I suppose there’s always that possibility. But don’t bet the farm on it.

While it is true that stories like that happen every once in a while, more often than not they come about by accident rather than design.
Silly Putty™ and Aspartame (NutraSweet™) were born from lab experiments gone awry, and the Yahoo! directory started as a list of favorite web sites by two Stanford University technophiles.

But many of the original ground breaking ideas that are common place today have very unglamorous and un-newsworthy histories of long hours, near bankruptcy, public disinterest and divorce. Such sordid tales are behind the Xerox machine, the typewriter, deodorant, and McDonald’s.

While persistence finally paid in each of these examples, you know there are hundreds of other casualties whose ideas never came to fruition.

Don’t try the hardest thing first. Mimic what’s already working, and get some success under your belt. You can always go back later and try the hard sell when your “tried-and-true” idea takes off and you don’t have anything better to do with your time and money…

If your idea looks viable, proceed to the next step. If not, find another idea and put it under your feasibility microscope.

MAKE A PLAN

Now you need to figure out how to go from idea to money in the bank. The best way to do this is by creating a business plan.

Now don’t be put off by the name. If you take the time to think through everything you’ll need to get from point A to point B, you’ll have both your “to do” list and your game plan by the time you’re ready to get started.

A business plan looks at things like:

• Licensing requirements
• Legal entity
• Hiring employees
• Scrutinizing the competition
• Your marketing plan
• Your funding requirements

In short, it forces you to take a big picture view of your business-which is really great, if you don’t have a business background. You’ll know what parts you can do, what parts you’ll need help with, and an estimate of how much it’s going to cost.

If you’re thinking about approaching a bank or investors for money, you’ll need a business plan to share with them. Other parties along the line might require a copy as well.

Your accounting, spreadsheet, or word processing software may have come with a business plan template, so look there first. If it you don’t have one, check out the Small Business Administration’s version or download a copy of BusinessPlan Pro.

So now you have your idea and your business plan. The next step?

EXECUTE THE PLAN

There comes a point when you need to stop gathering data and start gathering sales.

Everything doesn’t have to be perfect. Move forward. Learn. Try stuff. If something doesn’t work, try something else. A little success brings a lot of confidence; all you have to do is get started.

To quote Nike, “Just Do It!”

So you’ve got a great business idea! What do you do with it?

1. See if anyone wants to buy it
2. Make a plan
3. Execute the plan

Follow these three steps-and you’ll be in business!

Starting A Business: The Questions You Need to Ask

Most people start a business to make money.

Now this may seem obvious, but the high percentage of business failures clearly indicates that while the intentions are good, the execution is poor. Build a house without a blueprint and you’ll have a lopsided structure that could collapse at any minute. Build a business in the same fashion, and you’ll get an equally unstable result.

If you’re going to do it, do it right. Begin with the end in mind. If you know your destination, the itinerary comes together easily. If you don’t know where you’re going, you’ll be all over the map.

Here are the steps you need to consider:

1. Start With Something You Like To Do

Whether you’re looking for spending money or an entirely new career, start with something you enjoy doing. I’ve seen so many people “crash and burn” by running where they think the money is. As soon as the going gets tough, they quit.

Make a list of things you enjoying doing. This could be your line of work, your hobbies, or your “things to try in this lifetime” list.

2. Find Out What People Want

If you want other people to give you their money, you need to give them what they want in exchange. Find out what people are willing to pay for, and then start building your concept around that. So many people get this backward. They figure out what they want to sell instead of determining what others want to buy. Don’t make this mistake.

Research is the key. Fortunately, the Internet makes this fast and easy. Here are a few suggestions:

Go over to both Alexa.com and Technorati.com to see the most popular sites on the web in different categories. You can see the most visited sites web-wide, or the top Travel sites, Shopping sites, Entertainment sites, Health sites, etc. This gives you an idea of what people are looking for.

Sign up for the keyword ezine at Wordtracker.com.   This resource gives you the top 200 keywords people are searching for in the search engines. You’ll almost always see MP3, sex, Napster, Yahoo, and Britany Spears, but you’ll also see a lot of other phrases that will send your brain into overtime.  This week’s list including phrases like Travel, Disneyland, Paris, Food, Research, Song Lyrics, and Music. Any of your interest coincide with what others are looking for?

Check out the forums in your area of interest at places like Yahoo! Groups. Or, tool around Facebook for favorite groups.  You’ll see first hand what people are talking about, and you can ask questions, solve problems, and get some great ideas.

3. Determine Your Niche

Now that you know what you like to do and what others are looking for, try to create a niche. The narrower, the better. Let’s say that you like to shop when you travel. Travel is too broad. Shopping is too broad. Great shopping in New York City (or Detroit, Madrid, Moscow, etc.) is also too broad.
But great diamond shopping in New York City is a niche. Where to find car deals in Detroit is a niche. Stocking your bar with Spanish wines is a niche. Where to find jeans in Moscow is a niche.

Don’t be a little fish in a big pond. Be a big fish in a little pond. Dominating your niche allows you to do that. Define and dominate. It makes a bigger bank account.

4. Decide What To Do

If you’re working a full time job, running a house, spending time with your kids, etc., your time is at a premium. You need to be realistic in what you can do. If you like to travel and shop, your ultimate goal may be to conduct shopping tours or write about the different places to shop while you’re traveling the globe.
But don’t put your life on hold until you can have your goal. Work towards it. If you have 2 to 5 hours a week, for example, you have a couple of things you can do to make money and hone your skills. You could:

A. Write articles about the shopping in your area. You could sell this to your local newspaper travel and/or lifestyle sections, a regional magazine, national and international travel magazines, and national and international magazines in your area of interest (like diamonds, car deals, wines, and jeans, from above).

B. Create an information product about the shopping in your area for sale to travelers coming your way. My bookshelves have many such regional titles from our travels, including Plantations of Louisiana”, “The Decorative Iron Works of New Orleans”, “The Ghosts of Charlottesville and Albemarle”, “Texas Travel Guide”, “What To Do in San Francisco”, a copy of the Mayflower Compact of 1620, and so forth. We picked up most of them in the gift shops of the tourist places we visited.

C. Become an affiliate  for different programs in your area of interest. Focus, focus, focus, and deliver with a twist.

Love finding diamond deals in New York? Give tips and tricks of where to go and what to look for and become a reseller for airline tickets, hotel rooms, Broadway shows, and jewelry supplies like cleaners, safes, and insurance riders.

Know the best places to find wine in Spain? Write about local festivals and events and become a reseller for airline tickets, hotel rooms, restaurants, car rental, wine cellar supplies and books about wines.

The fastest, cheapest way to put up a web site and maintain control? Buy a Site Build It! license and follow the instructions.  Not only will this program walk you step-by-step through defining a niche and figuring out the marketing angle, it hosts your domain and handles all the technical web stuff so all you have to do is market. VERY cool!

5. Determine If It’s Feasible

Can you deliver your idea? If you have a fantasy about writing but can’t string two words together, taking a writing course. If you want to conduct shopping tours to the Big Apple, can you manage all the details that are involved? If you want to export Spanish wines, do you know all that’s entailed in exporting? If not, find out.

Sometimes you’ll discover that you’re in way over your head. That’s okay. The time to determine this is BEFORE you sink a lot of money into the venture. Now having said that, it doesn’t necessarily mean that you should “chunk” the idea. Rework it until it IS something you can manage. Start small. Grow. Learn.You can build it to your ideal later, when you have more resources and experience under your belt.

6. Test, Test, Test

Do you have a winner? You don’t know yet. Put it in front of some people who are likely to buy it and see if they do. If they don’t, change something – the title, the presentation, the sales pitch. Try it again. If they bite, you have a winner. If they don’t, change something else and try again. Try to find out why they are or are not buying. You’re looking for feedback at this point. You also want to work out “all the kinks” before it gets to market.

This is another area where so many people drop the ball. They roll out their product and assume it will be a best seller. On rare occasions, it is. More often then not, it isn’t.

Some people will like what you have. If you have a few sales, you’re striking a chord. But if your sales are very few in comparison to your traffic, you’re missing something that’s keeping more people from buying. Your task is to determine what that “something” is. Testing will tell you.

7. Promote, Promote, Promote

Once you have something people want and are willing to pay for, tell as many people as you can as often as you can. Don’t neglect the marketing. Only a handful of people are actively looking for what you have to offer. Everyone else is waiting for you to come to them. So go – and make it easy for them to buy from you.

Then keep in touch. If you they bought from you once, chances are, they’ll buy from you again.

Seem simple? It should be. Don’t make it more complicated than it is.

Good luck!

Creating A Business Plan

Okay, you have an idea of what you’d like to do. Now you have to ask yourself, “How am I going to accomplish this? What’s my ‘game plan?’”

You need to take some time to get a “big picture” view of things. How much time are you going to spend on this? Who can you sell it to? How much does it cost to get started? Do you need special licenses? Training? Equipment? Help? Who’s going to do the bookkeeping?

These are just a few of the things you need to ask yourself before you begin. Lots of people like to “jump right in,” going straight for the fun stuff. Big mistake. You can get yourself into all kinds of trouble by ignoring the activities you don’t like to do.

Once you get an aerial view of your business, you’ll know what needs to be done and can go from there. If you hate bookkeeping, for example, you know you’ll have to pay someone to do that for you. If you have no clue how to market, you know you’ll have to spend some time learning this aspect of your business.

Plan your work and work your plan. You’ll save yourself time, money, energy, and frustration.

It’s called, amazingly enough, a business plan. Don’t be put off by the title. A business plan basically directs you to begin with the end in mind. If you don’t know where you’re going or how to get there, you may soon find yourself in some sticky situations.

Creating a business plan will not only organize your thoughts, it will become a necessary tool should you need to seek funding. If you’ll be working a few hours a week from a spare room, a business plan may take only a few minutes to compose and a few hours to execute.

If you’re planning on doing something that requires special licensing or training, for example, it may take a few hours to compose and a few days to execute.

But if you have visions of a building, equipment, employees, etc., dancing through your head, you may need days or weeks to gather all the details and weeks or months to execute the plan. The best way to assess this is by writing it down.

Again, either open a new word processing document or pull out a blank sheet of paper. Think about both what you’ll need to get started, what you’ll need a year from now, and where you want to be in five years as you answer the following general questions.

These answers will facilitate in your business plan preparation:

Product/Service

• What is the product or service that you intend to sell?
• Who is your market?
• Who is your competition?
• How easily can you produce this product or service? 

Your Skills

• What are your qualifications in this field?
• Do you have prior business experience? 

Time

• How much time do you intend to spend on this venture?
• Are you looking at something you can do in your spare time, a few hours a week, or are you planning to make this your new full time occupation?
• Do you have ample living expenses set aside to accomplish this?
• Or, are you going to start in your spare time until you can make it your full time occupation? 

Place

• Is this something you’ll be doing out of your home, or will you need a store front?
• How much square footage will you need?
• Are you going to lease space, or will you need to build?
• What kind of alterations will the space require to meet your needs?
• Will you be hiring professionals, or will you do it yourself?
• Or, do you plan to start from your home in your spare time, anticipating you’ll need a store front later? 

Paperwork

• What legal entity (sole proprietor, partnership, corporation, etc.*) do you plan to assume?
• Who will be setting up your books?
• What insurance will you need?
• Are there any zoning laws?
• Do you need a general business license?
• Do you need special licenses (to serve food or alcohol, run a day care, chauffeur, etc.)?
• Will you require a business checking account?
• Do you need a line of credit to help with cash flow?
• Do you need a merchant account to accept credit cards*? 

Employees

• Will this be a one-person show, or will you need to hire people to get the ball rolling?
• How much have you budgeted for salary and other payroll expenses?
• What kind of benefits (health insurance, retirement, etc.) will you need for yourself, or if hiring others, to attract qualified applicants? 

Professional Services

• What professional services will you need at the beginning? Lawyer, accountant, consultant, advertising?
• What services will you require on an on-going basis? 

Utilities

• What utilities will you need? Water, sewer, gas, electric, phone, Internet service provider?
• Will they require security deposits or installation fees?
• What is your anticipated monthly consumption? 

Monthly Services

• In addition to utilities, what other monthly expenses do you anticipate? Trash removal, housekeeping, landscaping? Bank fees?

Equipment

• What equipment will you need to get started? The kitchen table and a phone?
• Complete office setups for one or more people?
• Specialty items, such as racks for displaying wares, kitchen appliances and tables (for a restaurant), or trucks and cranes (for landscaping or construction business)?
• Will you be buying new or used equipment? 

Supplies

• What kind of basic supplies will you need? Pencil, paper, and a box of business cards?
• Office supplies (adding machine tape, copy paper, laser printer toner, coffee) for one or more people?
• Shampoo, color, perm rods (for a hairdresser), dressing gowns, medical supplies (for a doctor/dentist)?
• How often will you need to replace them? 

Inventory

• Will you require a starting inventory? Are you selling electronic “How To” articles from your web site, or rubies and diamonds from your jewelry store?
• What will you need to get started?
• Are your vendors reliable? 

Marketing

• How do you plan promote your business? Are you counting on your business card, a yellow page ad, and word of mouth to bring in clients, or do you plan to launch a complete media campaign (newspaper space, radio/television time)?
• Are you going to have a web page?
• Are you going to handle everything yourself, or do you plan to hire an advertising firm?
• What’s your on-going marketing plan? 

Money

Based on your answers from above, how much money will you need?

If you’re looking at a spare time activity from your home, you may just need a few hundred bucks you can pull from savings or put on a credit card. If you’re planning to buy a franchise or open a restaurant, you’re going to need substantially more.

Be specific when planning, so you’ll know exactly what you’ll need. Always build in a small buffer for things you haven’t thought about.

***************

Do all these questions frighten you? Don’t let them. A thorough evaluation up front will save you lots of indigestion later. Position yourself for success.

Now you’ve got some raw data for your business plan. Depending on your proposed activity, you may have all the answers you need or you may need to undertake an extensive fact-finding quest. Once you’ve gathered your data, you’re ready to begin work on your business plan.

Since there are many good books and software packages on business plans (your word processing or accounting software may have come with a business plan module), I won’t tackle the subject here. If you need a quick start, you can pick up a copy of Business Plan Pro by Palo Alto Software.

If your business will require extensive market analysis or if this step is threatening to make you break out in hives, I would encourage you to engage a local business consultant or contact the business school at your local college or university for help with this process.

The Best Business to Start

As the owner of a business ideas website, I’m often asked, “What’s the ‘best’ business to start?”

The answer: The one that best suits your needs. Obviously this will be different for everyone. But let me give you some questions to ask yourself before beginning ANY new venture. I’ll use the “Who, What, Where, When, Why?” approach:

WHO Am I?

Knowing who you ARE is as important as knowing who you ARE NOT. If you’re a mild-mannered librarian from Metropolis, for example, then you are not a Las Vegas showgirl.

Obviously, right? Yet as apparent as this seems, I still see people start businesses or jump on business opportunities that have nothing to do with who they are or what they know. Starting a new venture is challenging enough without complicating the issue by tackling a product or service you know nothing about.

Give yourself a fighting chance: stick with the familiar.

WHAT Do I Want?

Determine what you want to get out of the effort. Do you want to:

• Get out of the house and earn an extra few hundred dollars of “mad money” every month?
• Replace your current income so you can tell your boss to take a hike?
• Make more money than you’ve ever made in your life?

Each one is going to require a different level of time and commitment. For some, a pre-tested business opportunity may fit the bill. For others, a start-from-scratch business may be the only way to go. Take your time to investigate; there’s a lot available either way.

But be realistic. If you work full time, have kids to chauffer around, a house to run, and other duties besides, then you’ll need something you can fit into your hectic schedule. If you’re retired and looking for a way to fill your time and meet interesting people, you may want something completely different.

WHERE Am I Now?

A lot of people jump into businesses before they’re really ready. It’s easy to do, especially if you find something you really like and are trying to get a way from something you really hate, like a boss or a commute or co-workers. Still, it’s important to think the matter through, and DO YOUR HOMEWORK. You know, the old Research and Development thing.

If you’re looking for some “mad money” and the extra income is optional, then trying a few different business opportunities to see what suits you best may be the way to go. But if you’re going to rely on the income (as in replacing your current job), you’ll need to take a more serious approach to the matter. Take the time to find what suits you. Learn what you need to know. LOOK BEFORE YOU LEAP.

If you fail to plan, you’re planning to fail. Know what you’ll need BEFORE you get started, or you’ll waste time, energy, and money in a desperate attempt to get the thing going.

WHEN Can I Get Started?

Now having told you to research and plan, don’t use that as an excuse NOT to get started. Don’t wait until the kids are grown or you retire or after your vacation or until next year. Start NOW.

Read, digest, learn. Begin to narrow down the ideas that are best for you. Get to understand the “big picture” of what it takes to run a business. Start some market research. Do SOMETHING.

As Confucius said, “A journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step.” Take it. You’ll reach your destination that much sooner.

WHY Look At The “Big Picture”?

Most people who start businesses don’t come from a business background. They’re good at some THING, so they start a business based on their talent or skill. Nothing wrong with that. But keep in mind that the product is only PART of the business equation. To have a SUCCESSFUL venture you need:

• A target market with money
• A product the target market wants
• A way to tell them about it (marketing)
• A way to get it to them (fulfillment)
• A way to manage the process (administration)
• A way to maintain the process (maintenance)
• A plan for doing all the above

Put you ego aside and be honest with yourself. Identify your strengths and weaknesses. If you have zero marketing skills, learn to market or find someone who will do it for you. If bookkeeping gives you hives, find a competent accountant or bookkeeper. If you’re not sure how to get started, read books or find a mentor. Try your local SCORE chapter.

Whatever you do, DON’T just ignore the parts of your business that aren’t as interesting to you as the others. I’ve seen too many disasters by people who have done this. If you know you’re not going to do something that needs to be done, own up to it from the start and find someone who can help. It may cost you some money-but it will probably be a lot less than leaving the thing undone.

HOW Do I Get Started

Imagine the perfect business for you:

• What would you be doing? Playing golf? Cooking? Unearthing dinosaurs?
• Where would you work? At home? Out of a suitcase? On the stage?
• When would you work? At night? When the kids go to school? October through March?
• Why this line of business? Fulfill a childhood dream? A favorite hobby? It’s all you know?
• How much money would you make each month? $500? $5,000? $50,000?

Now that you’ve imagined the perfect business, go make it happen!

The “perfect” opportunity is not going to find you — you have to find it or create it for yourself if it doesn’t exist. It’s not impossible. In fact, once you get started, you’ll discover how easy it can be and wonder why you didn’t get started sooner.

So what is the “best” business to start? Considering your interests, abilities, commitments, dreams, and income aspirations, the “best” business is the one that best suits your needs.

Good luck!

“Most successful men have not achieved their distinction by having some new talent or opportunity presented to them. They have developed the opportunity that was at hand.”–Bruce Marton

Startup Funds: 10 Places to Find Cash

You have an idea, you’ve done the research, you’ve finished the business plan, and you have an estimate of how much it’s going to cost to get it all off the ground.

The next step? Finding money.

Don’t let this be an obstacle to your dreams. Here are some places to look:

1. Savings and Investments

Depending on how much you’re looking at, you may be able to pull the amount from savings, CDs, stocks, or bonds.

2. Friends and Family

This is a time-honored tradition in some cultures and could be the best way to go, depending on your situation. However, exercise caution: your finances might become grist for the family rumor mill and you might create friction if something goes awry.

3. Credit Cards

Again, depending on how much you need, you could use the cash advance line on a credit card as an unsecured line of credit (albeit an expensive one). Look for low interest rates and cash advance fees. A recent Arthur Anderson survey of small and mid-sized businesses revealed that nearly 50% of all small businesses use credit cards in some capacity to get up and running.

4. Bank Loans

Frankly, bank loans are tough for startups to acquire. Usually banks loan money to companies that are stable and profitable or whose officers have a successful business background. They’re not impossible, however. Make sure you have your business plan in order before approaching your banker.

5. Personal or Home Equity Loan

Since bank loans can be difficult for first time businesses, you might try getting a personal loan using your personal property as collateral. That’s where 20% of businesses find their start up funds, according to that same Arthur Anderson survey.

6. Selling Personal Assets

If you have antiques, jewelry, collectibles, stocks, or real estate on your balance sheet, you might consider selling them to get your startup funds. A recent news story I saw reported that the antique jewelry market has seen a surge lately as more and more people sell unworn heirloom jewels to finance business startups.

7. SBA Guaranteed Loans

If you live in the United States, you might be able to get the Small Business Administration to back a bank loan. That means that while they don’t loan money themselves, the Small Business Administration will, upon reviewing your business plan, help you find and secure funds from the private sector. To learn more, visit the SBA site, http://www.sba.gov/financing/indexloans.html.

I don’t know what’s available outside the US, but you might try your local Business Information Centers, Chambers of Commerce, Employment Development Department, or similar entity.

8. U.S. Government Grants

Get startup money from Uncle Sam? Absolutely…if you’re a U.S. citizen. There are thousands of grants available for specific types of research, and it’s how both Donald Trump and Ross Perot got their start. You’ll need to dig a little, but you can find a comprehensive list of grants at:

The Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance,
http://aspe.os.dhhs.gov/cfda/.

Also try:

The Foundation Center
http://fdncenter.org/

Fundraising and Grant Writing,
http://www.fundsnetservices.com/grantwri.htm

9. Angel (Personal) Investors

An Angel Investor is a person or entity willing to invest in your startup for a percentage of the equity. You MUST have your research and business plan done before you approach them. Typical investments stay in the five figure range.

An Angel’s biggest concern? Getting his money back. Angels also tend to invest in things they understand or participate in, so approach people who are going to be the users, suppliers, or people within the industry or market area. Don’t go after your technophobic lawyer to give you money for your mp3 idea, for example.

10. Venture Capital

Venture Capitalists look for highly profitable, very fast growing, early to mid-stage ventures. They seek almost immediate returns on their money, which often include funds from wealthy individuals and institutional investors (i.e., pension funds) looking for a high rate of return.
Often, they’ll want a lot of control, and will bring in their own people to “run the show.” Venture capitalists really like “hot” industries (high-tech, Internet, etc.) and companies that are poised to go public.

Want some other places to look? Check out these sites:

Business Finance — http://www.businessfinance.com
Vfinance — http://www.vfinance.com/
NVCA — http://www.nvca.org/

Ready? Set? Go find some startup money!