Posted by Biz Central USA Marketing Team on February 3, 2012 under Small Biz and Entrepreneurship,Small Biz Marketing,Small Biz News,Small Biz Planning,Small Biz Secrets,Small Biz Secrets,Small Biz Webinars | Be the First to Comment

Modern Marketing for Small Business

Marketing Plans and Corporate Branding

 

by Thomas R. Reich and Chris Romero

small business strategy

The Phoenicians invented modern marketing for Small Business!

Modern marketing for small business in today’s competitive small business environment is essential.  The first step in modern marketing for small business is the same as it has been since the Phoenicians, who first develop a working marketing plan!

A marketing plan lays out your strategy and direction in the world of modern marketing for small business.  The first step is to secure a solid corporate identity, with a common look, color and design throughout all aspects of anything from your company that is seen by the public or another business.  A complete corporate identity should include:

1)      Corporate Branding and Logo Design

  • One consistent color pattern
    Strategy for marketing small business

    Social Media strategy is part of modern marketing for small business.

  • Make sure logo is unique, distinctive and very reproducible to all media both media and print matter

2)      Brochures – containing the Logo and the color and consistent design which is to become your corporate identity

3)      Business cards and electronic signature – should also follow this developing pattern of color and design

4)      Press release blanks – should carry the corporate identity

5)      Newsletters with the look and feel of your corporate identity from front to back

strategic planning for social media and small business

BizCentralUSA can help with modern marketing for small business

A company like BizCentralUSA can assist you in this type of design, inexpensively, and can get you on the road to modern marketing for small business.  However you create this “Corporate Identity” it must be of prime concern.  Today, a business identity is your life’s blood, the key to modern marketing for small business.

The second step is to develop an integrated digital identity.  In today’s business world, the internet is not only reality, but is indispensible to a modern marketing for small business plan!  You have, at this point, created a consistent corporate identity, logo, overall design and color scheme.

You must now carry this “Corporate Identity” into a “Digital Identity”, and do it correctly in order to survive modern marketing for small business:

1)       Create a website consistent with logo, overall design and colors to match your already developed corporate identity

2)      Create a blog with consistent branding

Graphic design for small business

The internet must be part of modern marketing for small business

3)      Customize you Twitter with consistent branding

4)      Customize your Facebook with consistent branding and create a fan page with a look consistent with your web home page

5)      Customize your LinkedIn account; create a grope membership list consistent with your business type.

There are so many aspects to modern marketing for small business and each facet has books written concerning all the things you can do to maximize your exposure.  What I hope you take away from this writing, is that everything your small business does must be with a consistent look.  Today, due to the internet culture, you can have the look and feel of a much larger corporation, if you plan and execute your corporate identity correctly.

Having a great Marketing Plan is essential in modern marketing for small business

BizCentralUSA has been helping small Business plan and execute corporate identity, and all aspects of small business operations for many years.  BizCentralUSA has helped over 12,000 small businesses just like yours and we can help you with your modern marketing for small business today!

Join us for a free webinar which will cover “Key Marketing Ideas” this coming Thursday, February 9, 2012.  As always, this is not an infomercial, but a true free full hour of pure information.  Want to know more about modern marketing for small business, we will see you there!

 

If you would like more information on the full range of services offered to set up and service a Small Business pleasedecorator design advertising campaign contact BizCentralUSA by visiting BizCentralUSA or by calling, toll FREE 1.877.857.9002.  Please follow us on Twitter and Like us on Face Book to receive free daily tips and tricks as well as notification of our FREE Award Winning Webinar series!

 

 

 

Posted by Biz Central USA Marketing Team on January 10, 2012 under Small Biz and Entrepreneurship,Small Biz Certifications,Small Biz Marketing,Small Biz Planning,Small Biz Secrets,Small Biz Startup | Be the First to Comment

Now is the Time to Set up a Small Business

By Chris Romero and Thomas R. Reich


A record 480,000 new entrepreneurs chose 2011 to set up a small business.  Those who made the move to start a company in 2011 along with the rest of the small businesses in the United States accounted for more that ½ of the private sector GDP and 70% of new jobs created in 2011.

With 2012 shaping up to be a much better economy, ask yourself, “is it safe to set up a small business?” Or, “Might it be safer to start a company than to hold an average job in today’s economy?”  The answer may surprise you. Statically speaking, if a small start up business lasts 3 years that Startup Company is far more likely to be in business next year than the average American is to be employed in the same job for 3 years.

Don’t get the wrong idea, to set up a small business is not an easy proposition.  35% of those who attempt to set up a small business fail out of the box or within the first 3 years.  Let’s look at why; here are the top 5 reasons those who set up a company may fail before they even have a chance to prove their unique business model works:

1)      Lack of a Professional Business Plan

2)      Poor planning and over spending on their attempt to set up a small business

Set up small Business

Top 5 reasons efforts to Set up Small Business may fail

3)      Lack of a Marketing Plan

4)      Poor or nonexistent Bookkeeping system in place

5)      Lack of Graphic, Logo and Web Identity

The pitfalls that kill a startup company can be avoided completely by simply using a professional small

 

business services company.  There are many out there, but BizCentralUSA has helped over 12,000 set up a small business successfully since 2003.

 

At BizCentralUSA, we believe in delivering tried and true solutions and applying those solutions to well qualified entrepreneurs who wish to set up a small business correctly.  Our success rate is far higher than the national average success rate of those wishing to start a company without assistance.

At BizCentralUSA we know how to quickly and efficiently work with you to set up a small business starting with a working business plan.  We will have one of our Business Consultants work with the Startup Company to develop proper

Set up a Small Business right time to Start a Company

Navigate rough waters to Set up a Small Business

bookkeeping system, Marketing Plan and adjust budgeting and Human Resource needs.  BizCentralUSA can even offer Web, SEO and Social Media Services, along with the beginning of unique branding, brand management and brand awareness.

Don’t go it alone, it is rough waters out there when you want to start a company.  But with a friend in the Business like BizCentralUSA, a friend that has helped over 12,000 clients set up a small business, many just like yours, the playing field is leveled!

Here’s the best part. We are up to 40% less expensive than our prime competition, LLC.com and LeagleZoom.com, because we can be.  With BizCentralUSA there is an additional benefit

Start a Company and have smooth sailing with BizCentralUSA

Set up a Small Business is smooth sailing with BizCentralUSA

Start a Company with Live phone Set up a Small Business

BizCentralUSA is proud to help Set up a Small Business with live phone service!

beyond just the lower price, you deal with a live business consultant, and a live staff!  We, at BizCentralUSA are available by phone at 877-857-9002, In a world that is ruled by the internet and automated operators, we have trained consultants standing by ready to help you. This is business help with a human touch.

Statistics are on your side, it’s time to set up a small business now!  Start a company with a friend in the business like BizCentralUSA, and its smooth sailing in 2012!

If you would like more information on the full range of services offered to Set up a Small Business, please contact BizCentralUSA by visiting www.BizCentrallUSA.com or by calling, toll FREE 1.877.857.9002.  Please follow us on Twitter and Like us on Facebook to receive free daily tips and tricks as well as notification of our FREE Webinar series on the right way to Start a Company!

 

 

Posted by Biz Central USA Marketing Team on December 12, 2011 under Small Biz and Entrepreneurship,Small Biz Marketing,Small Biz News,Small Biz Planning,Small Biz Secrets | Be the First to Comment

Search Engine Optimization SEO for Small Business Part 2
We discussed the different advantages of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for Small Business in Part 1. Now let’s learn a few tricks that can make this whole process a little more enjoyable. When you know some of the processes involved, the whole concept of how the internet works and SEO for Small Business can become clearer.

Here comes one of those tricks I promised!  Go to Google while visiting the Internet through Internet Explorer.  Search for your key competitors within the industry you operate (Local, National and International).  Go to the home page of one of the web sites of a respected and top rated competitor.  On the right side or “Ribbon” of that Web Site Home Page, Right Click your mouse, a menu will appear, highlight and then Left Click on “VIEW SOURCE” about half way down on the pop up menu.  You will bring up a new page, you are looking at the actual HTML code of you competitors Web Site, don’t worry it is OK!

 

After the initial shock of this confusing page, which looks like a page of Algebra or complete gibberish, you will be able to mine data right out of their site, easily!  Look for the term <Title> with words In-between followed by the term <Title> those words inside are the actual Keyword optimized title of the Web Site.  Next you will see the term; (“Meta Name Description” Content =). What follows that is the Keywords and Keyword Phrases which that Web Site is using to get the ranking it has.  Additionally, those words describe to the Search engines what that Web Site is about.  These words must relate to that site, or the site will receive “Empty Hits” but we will discuss that later in part 3.

Finally, and most importantly, (<Meta Name = “Keywords” Content =), the words that follow are the Keywords used to get Search Engine Optimization by your direct competitor!  Open your word document, the one where you recorded your Keywords and Keyword Phrases, make a section heading of your Competitors Name and copy paste your competitors Keyword list.  Repeat this process with at least the top 10 of your competitors Web Sites.

At this point you have a long list of potential Keywords and Keyword Phrases.  Which seem to be universal among your competitors?  Do you see any that surprise you or spark your interest, which you had not included in your Keyword list?

 

Now begin making a final list of the “Best” Keywords and Keyword Phrases.  What are the right Keywords to use and which are the wrong ones?  The Keywords that are used by all your competitors are SEO “Keys” to the industry nitch as a whole, but combining those with Keywords unique to your business or service, may be your key to the top of the Search Engine list for a particular search.  It is the Unique groupings of Keywords and Keyword Phrases and using those “Keys” throughout the content and updates of that Web Site, which will give a Web Site its “Rank”  Each search made on a search engine has Unique characteristics, you need to optimize for as many of those searches as you can.

Can Search Rank be bought, Yes, is paying for rank the only way to be found, NO!  Keyword Strategy and SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is the first step towards getting found in the modern jungle known as the internet!

 

Still confused, why re-invent the wheel?  There are many fine companies which will help to optimize your company’s Web Site.  Perhaps none have the expertise combined with the extremely competitive pricing of BizCentralUSA.  Since 2003, BizCentralUSA has helped over 10,000 small businesses and has been on the cutting edge of Web Site optimization and competitive marketing.  As part of a complete Marketing Package, BizCentralUSA can not only optimize your keywords and author your Web Site for SEO (Search Engine Optimization), but make your Web Site look and feel like an industry leading Authority at the same time!  A Web Site that represents an industry leader like your business with style and class!

It is the Unique groupings of Keywords and Keyword Phrases and using those “Keys” throughout the content and updates of that Web Site, which will give a Web Site its “Rank” Each search made on a search engine has Unique characteristics, you need to optimize for as many of those searches as you can. Can Search Rank be bought, Yes, is paying for rank the only way to be found, NO! Keyword Strategy and SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is the first step towards getting found in the modern jungle known as the internet!  Still confused, why re-event the wheel?

There are many fine companies which will help to optimize your company’s Web Site. Perhaps none have the expertise combined with the extremely competitive pricing of BizCentralUSA. Since 2003, BizCentral USA has helped over 10,000 small businesses and has been on the cutting edge of Web Site optimization and competitive marketing. As part of a complete Marketing Package, BizCentralUSA.com can not only optimize your keywords and author your Web Site for SEO Search Engine Optimization, but make your Web Site look and feel like an industry leading Web Site at the same time! A Web Site that represents an industry leader like your business with style and class! Look for Part 2 of this series, we will finalize your Keyword list and delve into the world of SEO for Small Business Search Engine Optimization and Keyword Placement throughout your Web Site!To learn more about BizCentralUSA and the full range of services we provide small to mid-sized business, visit www.BizCentralUSA.com or call 1.877.857.9002

Posted by Biz Central USA Marketing Team on December 7, 2011 under Small Biz Marketing,Small Biz Planning,Small Biz Secrets | Be the First to Comment

What you Need to know about

SEO for Small Business:

Keyword Strategy

by Chris Romero and T. Roblin Reich

SEO for Small Business? Blogs, Directory Listings, Social Media, Link building, the list goes on and on. How does any of this make your small business Blog and Web Site better? What does a Keyword and a Search Engine have to do with the creative substance of the article and the message your business wants to get across?

The answer is simple: nothing and everything! SEO for Small Business – Keyword Strategy or Search Engine Optimization and the use of Keywords, H1 tags and URLs have little or nothing to do with your creative content. However, they are all part of the process and when the article is published in a blog and as part of your website on the broader blogosphere and a potential customer is looking for that information through a search engine, that article, your blog and your web site will never be found without the Small Businessproficient use of SEO for Business – Keyword Strategy (search Engine Optimization), H1 tags, URLs and the rest of the package so often over looked by small businesses.

To play in today’s Web Arena, you need to learn the tricks and follow the rules. On one hand, your business can now publish an article and have it viewed by millions of people without ever being “Published” in the traditional sense. In the old days, you would need to make the kind of news that interested business journals or industry rags. To do this you would have to smooze the writers, perhaps hire a Public Relations Agent familiar with your target market, maybe place adds in the target publication and hope the article Small Business and SEOwould be “spun” positively in the direction of the message you were trying to convey. Even if all went as planned, even if the article was a great big add for your key product, even if your company name appeared over and over, the readership or “Unique Impressions” may have only been 80,000 and of that, how many unique readers of that publication actually read your specific article? How many would even know that that article with just the information the potential customer needed to know, was there?

Today the rules have changed, but the game is the essentially the same! An innovative company must get an article featuring a unique product or service read by as many “Unique Impressions”, who are actually looking for that product or service, as possible. However, today the Public Relations agent and the hard copy publication salesman is replaced with Search Engines and SEO for

Small Business SEO

Business – Keyword Strategy! If Keywords are used correctly and SEO for Business – Keyword Strategy, Search Engine Optimization, is maximized, that same article can be picked up by thousands of unique on line blogs and publications allowing it to be exposed to millions of “unique Impressions”. It takes work, expertise and investment to do this correctly, but like I said “the rules have changed, but the game is the same”.
We are going to deal with Keywords in part one of this series on SEO. You, as a company must ask “Who is this company?”, “What what does the company really do?” What unique service does this company provide?” SEO for Small Business – Keyword Strategy or Search Engine Optimization revolves around Keywords and Key phrases. Decide who you are as a business and what your target market is. Who is your target audience and what “Keywords” will “Find” that audience. In future articles we will deal with Keyword Placement, SEO for Business – Keyword Strategy and URL utilization to maximize search engine results. In the final segment we will reveal super secret tricks to take what you’ve learned and truly maximize your exposure!

 

Finding the ideal Keywords is a process, one your company must master! Let’s have some fun with a Keyword list. First open a Word Document and record every word or phrase that you think fully explains your business, the services or products you provide and that

Small Business SEO

special element that makes you “Unique”.
Keyword = A word or phrase that pinpoints what you are uniquely about. Additional Keywords = a word or phrase that targets your industry or market segment.
Here comes one of those tricks I promised! Go to Google while visiting the Internet through Internet Explorer. Search for your key competitors within the industry you operate (Local, National and International). Go to the home page of one of the web sites of a respected and top rated competitor. On the right side or “Ribbon” of that Web Site Home Page, Right Click your mouse, a menu will appear, highlight and then Left Click on “VIEW SOURCE” about half way down on the pop up menu. You will bring up a new page, you are looking at the actual HTML code of you competitors Web Site, don’t worry it is OK!

 

Look for Part 2 to find out what you can do to Maximize your SEO for Small Business.

Posted by Biz Central USA Marketing Team on November 17, 2011 under Small Biz and Entrepreneurship,Small Biz News,Small Biz Planning,Small Biz Secrets,Small Biz Secrets,Small Biz Startup | Be the First to Comment

Start a Home Based Business: 5 Reasons you should

You may want to start a home based business and you need to decide whether or not you should operate your business from a home office or if your small business will require a more traditional office setting. Below you will see 5 reasons to operate your business from home if your specific business allows for home-based operations.
Start-Up Costs:
When evaluating your home based business or small business’ start-up expenses you will find that starting a small business and operating your business from home will usually have fewer start-up expenses. When starting a traditional office-based business you may have start-up expenses associated with 1st and last month rent, security deposits, establishing utilities, furnishing the office with desks, computers, ECT. By operating your small business from home you may be able to significantly reduce these costs or eliminate them altogether.
Hours of Operation:
While many traditional offices hours are restricted to 9 to 5, Monday to Friday, home-based businesses can be open 24 hours a day 7 days a week. With an online business designed to process payment and outsource orders to a warehouse or distributer, people from around the world can purchase your products or services on your small business website while you are working, when you’re not working, while you are sleeping, even when you are sick or on vacation.
Customer Base:
Many brick and mortar business’ customers are restricted to locals or people willing to travel to the business’s location. When you operate a home-based business, especially an online business, it allows you to have a customer base worldwide.
Start Slow:
One great benefit of starting a small business from home is the fact that you don’t have to jump in with both feet right away. You can start slow by operating your business in your spare time, while remaining employed with your current employer. You should be sure that operating your small business does not violate any noncompeting clauses that you may have signed with your current employer. You can speak to your employer or legal council before starting a business to determine if starting your new home-based business will violate a noncompeting clause that you have signed.
Resources:
It today’s environment of information at the click of a button, there is vast amount of home-based small business resources easily accessible to business owners. Much of this information is available for free or at minimal cost online. You can find tutorials, forums, blogs, courses, eBooks, and other forms of information to help your small home-based business start and grow to become successful. One great place to start is BizCentralUSA.com, with its vast business resources and frequent free webinars.
With all of the benefits of starting a small business and operating it from home, unless your small business industry is unsuitable for home based business operations, you should definitely take operating from home into consideration when deciding to start a small business. As your business grows and you accounting and marketing complications mount, you can hire a staff, with a web/IT specialist, marketing specialist, book keeper, HR manager and graphics/advertising dept, or look into much less expensive solutions like those at BizCentralUSA, which enable you to stay home and do what you do best as inexpensively as possible. Even if you decide to operate your small business from a traditional office I would still recommend that you check out the services of a company like BizCentralUSA. Additionally they can help you build and develop a small home based business website and web presence where you can take orders and process payments so that your small business is not restricted to local customers and your hours of operation.

Posted by Biz Central USA Marketing Team on September 22, 2010 under Small Biz and Entrepreneurship,Small Biz Planning,Small Biz Webinars | Be the First to Comment

It is time for another small business webinar event hosted by BizCentral USA.  This week’s webcast we will take a look at basic financial management best practices for small businesses. Specifically, bookkeeping is one task that many small businesses neglect or make half-hearted efforts at doing.  Both options are a mistake.

With that said, I would like to personally invite you to spend some time with BizCentral USA and learn a number of ways to make sure that your small business gets its financials in order!

Topics of Interest:
• Things Needed to get Started
• Bookkeeping & Accounting Process
• Financial Reporting Tools
• Solutions and Tips on Record Keeping

Click Here to Register!

Join us to learn the importance of basic financial management, bookkeeping and accounting and how to master it so your business can reap the benefits! Have questions you would like us to answer during the webcast? Enter them into the comments section below and we will be sure to review them!

Hope to see you there!

Posted by Jennifer Nelson on September 14, 2010 under Small Biz and Entrepreneurship,Small Biz Planning,Small Biz Startup | Be the First to Comment

Frequently, I have clients ask about different opportunities to fund their small business startup and it seems that most individuals are interested in investors. This term tends to be the nebulous catch all for individuals that give away money but there are important distinctions in investor groups. This article is meant to help you understand venture capitalist, angel investors, and individual investors.

Venture Capitalist

Venture capital investments are generally made in cash in exchange for shares in the invested small business. It is typical for venture capital investors to identify and back companies in high technology industries such as biotechnology and IT (Information Technology). In 2008, venture capitalist-backed account for 10 percent of sales and private employment, but well less than 1 percent of companies.

Venture capital is important for building high growth companies. Venture Capitalist backed projects are 150 times more likely than average small business startup to create jobs. Venture Capitalists invested $18 billion in business startups last year. Over all, venture capitalists made 2,802 deals, investing in 2,372 companies. Approximately 728 small businesses received first-time funds or $3.3 billion in first-time financing. In 2008, average Venture Capitalist investment was $7.4 million. Venture capitalists are often the first choice for firms who are looking for a large-scale project or need money for research purposes.

Angel Investors

An angel investor, also known as an informal investor is an affluent group of individuals who provide capital for a small Small Business Startup Fundingbusiness startup, usually in exchange for convertible debt or ownership equity. There is a growing trend for angel investors to pool together into angel groups or angel networks to share research and pool their investment capital. In 2008, the average angel group investment was $275,000. As a whole, angel groups make one quarter of the investments of venture capitalists. Always have your documents reviewed by a lawyer before you agree to any funding terms.

Individual Investors

Individual investors are often persons who dabble in investments and have limited funds to appropriate to your small business. Many times individual investors are people you know like family and friends. The average individual angel investment is only $77,000, half of individual angel capital is provided as debt, and more than 2/3 of individual angels are unaccredited. Be careful when dealing with individual investors, providing appropriate rates of return using debt would violate usury laws.

Whichever method you choose it is important to understand the strengths and weaknesses of your investor. In 2008, overall 7.3% of business plans made it through the screening process. Only 3.3% made it to the presentation process. About 2.8% had investors complete due diligence and 2.1% received investment. Working with investors is competitive and it is important that your business plan meet their exacting standards.  A solid small business plan should grab hold of the vision in which you want your company to be perceived, plant the seed to grow a successful and profitable small business and prove the two previous points to investors. Finally, always understand the investor’s business plan qualifications before you begin solicitations. Being smart early on will increase the chances of your success and help you achieve that all-important capital for your small business startup.

Posted by Biz Central USA Marketing Team on September 8, 2010 under Small Biz and Entrepreneurship,Small Biz Planning,Small Biz Webinars | Be the First to Comment

Is your small Small Business Path to Successbusiness startup headed down the path to success?

Whether you are just starting out or growing your small business, a sound business plan is your road map to success.

Writing a business plan will force you to objectively develop and evaluate your tactical and strategic plans. It will also help you identify the opportunities and risks encountered as a result of your decisions. Most importantly, you will understand who your customers are and how you can meet or exceed their needs and expectations.

We invite you to spend some invaluable time with BizCentral USA’s senior business plan consultants and learn how to not just build an effective business plan, but utilize it to insure your small business’ success!

Don’t wait, register today!

Topics of Interest:

  • Benefits of Having a Solid Business Plan
  • Company Summary
  • Strategy & Implementation
  • Financials
  • Market Segmentation

Do you have suggestions for additional topics of interest you would like us to cover? Share them in the comments section below!

Don’t let your small business dreams fail or fall short of their actual potential! Reserve your seat today at: https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/558842394

Posted by Biz Central USA Marketing Team on August 30, 2010 under Small Biz and Entrepreneurship,Small Biz Planning,Small Biz Webinars | Read the First Comment

It has arrived – The BizCentral September line-up of free small business webinar events.  Focusing on core planning and financial fundamentals of small businesses, September’s line-up is aimed at aligning small business startups with best practices to sustain healthy business growth.

It has become evident that business plan development and financial management are among some of the top hurdles small businesses face so it really just makes sense to  focus on addressing those fundamental topics that are too often overlooked by early-stage and small business startups.

Details About BizCentral USA’s Free Small Business Webinars:

Small business webinars are hosted online at any computer with internet access.  All webinars will begin at 3pm EST and typically last 1-hour.  Following the presentation, a live question and answer session will give attendees the opportunity to receive in-depth answers to their specific organizational questions.

  • 9/14/2010 Getting on the Path to Small Business Success: Development of a Strong Business Plan – Register Now
  • 9/28/2010 Basic Financial Management for Small Businesses: Getting your Books in Place – Register Now

Those unable to attend the live small business webinars, no need to worry – Every installment of the small business webinars is recorded and can be viewed on-demand at any computer – any time of day.  To learn more or RSVP for any of the September small business webinar events, visit: http://bizcentralusa.com/webinar/september.php

Posted by Biz Central USA Marketing Team on June 29, 2010 under Small Biz and Entrepreneurship,Small Biz News,Small Biz Planning | Be the First to Comment

Many people dream of being able to transition seamlessly from a hobby that they enjoy into a profitable business based on their hobby. If the business would be successful, it would be beneficial to start a business based on a hobby.  Think about it -you already understand the dialect, the concepts, the community, and the psychographics and demographics of the market.  This would give you a great competitive advantage! It would certainly be great to be paid for doing something that you already enjoy doing for free.  But don’t run out and start your business until you have done all of the necessary research to determine if the business will be successful.

Conduct Market Research on Your Business Idea:

  • Will someone pay me for my product or service?
  • If so, will a buyer pay enough so I can make a profit?
  • Will enough people buy my product or service so that I can make a living?
  • Is there an economical way to distribute and sell my product or service?

Create a Business Plan:

  • What sort of capital do I need to start the business?
  • When can I expect to make a profit?
  • How much income can I expect in year one, two, and three?

Evaluate Your Business Sense:

  • Do you have what it takes to run a business?
  • Can you have your business and the lifestyle you want?
  • Will you still love your hobby when it’s a business?

Have A Realistic Understanding Of How Running The Business Will Affect Your Life:

  • How will this business affect me?
  • How will this business affect my family?
  • How will this business affect important relationships in my life?

Decide If Part-Time Or Full-Time Business Ownership Is Right For You:

Would it make sense to leave my current employment to dedicate full time to the business?

Would it make more sense to start the business part-time until it takes off?

Find a Creative Business Angle:

  • Solve a problem
  • Teach others
  • Sell the raw materials
  • Expand into related services

Once you have conducted all of your research, you should have a better understanding of whether your hobby would make a successful business. Your business plan will tell you how much capital your business will need to start, how much you will need to charge for your products or services, how many units you will need to sell in order to break even, and your products or services profitability. Once you have an understanding of how operating your business will affect your life, you will be able to determine if you should start your business part-time or jump right in full-time. If you do decide to move forward starting your business, you will need to find creative ways to differentiate your products and services from all of the competitors in the market place.

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