Have you ever seen an business opportunity infomercial? I saw one a while ago that was a classic. The product was set against a backdrop of cascading dollar bills (literally money flowing over the equipment). The voice over said something like “want to work less and get rich? – call now!”. In essence they were saying that if you bought their machine you could stop working for a living and easily get rich.

You’re likely not surprised to learn that it doesn’t work that way. At first, starting your own business involves more work not less, money paid out rather than taken in and a steep learning curve. In return you can look forward to earning every dime to which you are entitled, being able to direct your destiny and never having to worry about “the boss”.

I have an expression (at least I think that it’s mine) that goes “Most people want to be successful, few are willing to be successful”. If you want to work hard and sacrifice to get what you want – if you’re willing to be successful – the following will put you on the path to owning your own business.

A successful small business is built at the convergence of a market need and an ability to meet that need. In other words, you need to find something that you do well (and hopefully enjoy doing) that others are willing to buy. Two simple steps to do that, the first:

1. Identify a product or service that you can produce. You may have a business in mind. If so, skip this step. If not, ask yourself the following questions:

a. Do your present job skills lend themselves to “side work”. If yes, you can start by developing a business “on the side” while still collecting a regular paycheck. If not;

b. Can your present line of work (or one that you want to be in) be produced by a small business? If not;

c. Do you have capital to invest? If yes, you can look for a franchise to purchase. Franchisors are in the business of starting and guiding small businesses. Entrepreneur Magazine publishes an annual list of the “Top 500″ franchisors, it is available online: 500 Franchisors.

If not:

d. Take a sheet of paper and draw a line down the center. On the left list anything that you can do (as ordinary as “mowing lawns” to as complex as “designing rocket motors”) and anything that you would like to learn to do. Obviously, only list those things that is or could be a saleable skill. On the right side put the types of businesses that use the skills from the left side of the sheet. The right side of the sheet is your “universe” of potential businesses.

Once you’ve identified something that you want to do you need to identify whether it is something that you can reasonably expect to do profitably. The old saw “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail” was never more true than when starting a business. Success demands a clear and articulated vision of the challenges and opportunities to come. Common sense dictates that you understand the ingredients for success before you commit time and money to your project. Lenders, investors and other stakeholders depend on your ability to chart the course to victory and they’ll want to see your proposed course in writing. Step two:

2. Create a business plan. A business plan is a written proposal. It describes your business and it’s environment and forecasts it’s future. More importantly, the process of creating a business plan identifies the challenges and opportunities to come and details the key result areas for success. It determines how much money you’ll need and where it will be found. With a business plan you are prepared to win. Without one, you are “flying blind”.

While there are many ways to create a business plan, we think that the best way is to use our business plan software, FundablePlans. It walks you through the process, does all of the financial calculations, compiles the plan for you, allows you to include graphics and includes both online help with your plan as well as help from our consultants (not customer service reps, people who write business plans professionally). It costs $40, more information, here.

Starting your own business can be exciting, challenging and rewarding. Finding the place where market need intersects with your abilities is the first step towards success. A business plan is the tool to help you take that first step.

Dave Miller
http://www.articlesbase.com/business-articles/how-to-start-your-own-business-98619.html

It is essential to devise the right marketing strategies for the expansion of your business. You need to market your services or products well so that it gets sold. Well-marketed products usually have high sales because the promoters perform their work efficiently. As a promoter, if you are able to find out the answers to the basic questions that determine the success of business, it becomes relatively easy to attract customers. The marketing plan you will devise will be the basis of the success or failure of your business venture. But this will always depend on how carefully you have planned out everything. It is essential to write and communicate your marketing strategies in a simple manner so that the aims are conveyed in a nutshell.

There are several professional business consultancy services that can assist promoters in this field. They can help by creating and developing a vision for the company or the organization through the identification of the strengths of the business, and the areas where it can be improved. They are also good at finding the loopholes in business-related strategies and modifying them for achieving the goals that have been set.

Hence, as a business owner, you need to view consultants as a marketing partner. They can offer simple yet important advice on the business tactics that you can follow, after studying the trends prevailing in the market. The suggestions they give are based on the analysis of the market they have done. Some of the factors that consultants consider when they compile a market report are the habits and purchasing power of the consumers, and the competition that new businesses are likely to face in a specific area.

Thus, consultants can help you to determine the feasibility of the business you own, and consequently act as marketing partners for you. They will advise you after weighing the pros and cons of various Business Strategies. They also offer an array of services which include advice on starting a business, analysis of the operations, formulation of marketing strategies, making of business plans, and even management consultation.

Expert consultancy services can help you in increase productivity of the business manifold you have. Through this you can concentrate on the management and other services that are related to the business. Services like these are customized and personalized according to the satisfaction of the users. Besides the development of strategies relate to marketing, the consultants also take on the responsibility of marketing it. This can be done in many ways like promoting it through advertising in public places by the creation of television ads that are catchy, or offering incentives to buyers when they purchase products of the company.

Strategies related to E-commerce marketing are also getting popular these days, since they are a low-cost method to advertise. There are several specialized business consultants who are responsible for developing websites on the Internet for companies and implementing effective strategies for the creation of traffic, for generating revenues for the company. So the best thing is hiring a personal marketing partner who can help you to formulate the right strategies, and provide the right direction, so that your business venture is a huge success.

Kris Koonar