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Wednesday, March 4, 2015

11 Business Ideas that can make all the diffrence you need

In these thread, i will share with you business ideas and business related articles that would be of benefit to all of us.
I have a lot of business ideas I will like to share with you, but firstly, I will drop 2 and in subsequent posting, I will drop others one after the other if I am sure you are interested in it and would like to see more and for me to continue posting. This will encourage me to continue and I am sure there is definitely something we are going to benefit from the frequent posting.

BUSINESS ONE
EVENT PLANNING
Has expansion possibilities

One of the first things you need to do is visit every potential event location with which you plan to work. Work with the marketing manager to tour each site and learn what is available at each location. Start a database that will allow you to sort venues by varying features--the number of people each site holds, if there is AV equipment available on site, will you need to arrange for rental chairs, etc. Then when you are beginning to plan an event with a client, you can find out what the key parameters are for the event and easily pull up the three or four sites that meet the basic criteria. and engagement parties, etc.


BUSINESS TWO

INTERIOR DECORATOR
Experience, training or licensing may be needed

Market your talents to building contractors. People purchasing new homes can often be overwhelmed with the choices and possibilities in home decorating. Design some questionnaires for each major element and each major room in the house. Find out how the homeowner will use the home--are there children? Pets? Does the woman of the house wear high heels? Do the home's residents neglect to remove shoes? How will each room be used? Where might task lighting and ambient lighting be most appropriate?

more are still coming, hopefully you will find one or two that appeal to you. in my next posting, I will be dropping more tips. I just want to be sure if you guy like it by judging from the amount of views on this thread.



BUSINESS IDEA 3

Errand Service
Help busy people get through the day by providing an errand service.

Business Overview. Let's face it; today's busy lifestyles mean that a lot working people just don't have time for even the simplest of errands, such as taking the family pet to the veterinarian for a routine checkup, buying Aunt Sue a birthday present, or picking up the kids after school. Which is great news if you're a multi tasked looking to start your own simple, inexpensive, yet potentially very profitable business. An errand service can be operated with nothing more than a cell phone and reliable transportation. Land clients by networking and by creating a simple marketing brochure explaining the services you provide along with your contact information. The brochures can be pinned to community bulletin boards, hand-delivered to homes and businesses and distributed with the local newspaper. A few promotional items such as pens and memo pads emblazoned with your company logo, name and telephone number given out to potential customers will go a long way as a daily reminder of your fast, reliable and affordable errand services. This is the kind of business where growth is fuelled by referrals, so customer service and satisfaction are the most important goals.

[b]The Market.[/b]Busy individuals who need a little help getting their day to day errands done. You can also market your services to small business owners.



BUSINESS IDEA 4
Shared Office Center
Got office space? Monthly rent can be expensive for small businesses, but offering up a shared office center is a win-win situation for you and your small business tenants.


Business Overview. Shared office facilities are very popular, and the demand for low-cost shared office rentals continues to increase right across North America. As an alternative to working from home many small companies are utilizing shared office space as a way to keep monthly overheads manageable, and shared office centers usually consist of 20 to 30 small individual offices housed within one location. A shared office center can be started on a reasonable investment with a very good profits. Additional revenue can be generated from providing your tenants with a wide range of 'extra services,' such as reception and secretarial services, high-speed photocopying, parcel shipping and receiving, and boardroom facilities. The individual offices can be rented furnished or unfurnished, providing this option to tenants is also an excellent way to increase your business income with furniture and equipment rentals.



BUSINESS IDEA 5

Internet Trainer
Use your web savvy to help others get online.

Business Overview. Believe it or not, there are still lots of folks, including many senior citizens and retirees--who don't have a clue how to access the internet or where to go once they're on it. If you're a tech whiz and you like nothing better than tinkering online--then you can these individuals learn how to navigate the information superhighway with ease as an internet trainer. You'll give seminars, workshops, day-long courses or provide one-on-one assistance at senior centers and in individuals' homes. And you can teach the basics or tailor your programs to the specific types of internet use your clients want to know. The advantages to this business are that--assuming you already have a computer--you can start on a shoestring, and while the internet's been around for a while, not everyone is internet-savvy, so there's plenty of room for growth. Plus, you get to play on the internet every day! As an internet trainer, you'll naturally need a solid background in navigating the internet, including aspects like internet marketing and research. You'll need the patience to guide computer-phobic types through their paces, even when it seems to you that they should have picked it up a dozen mouse clicks back. And you should have the marketing skills to both land new clients and take advantage of repeat business.

The Market. Your clients can be individual seniors or senior centers. Give seminars and workshops at local colleges and community centers--this identifies you as an expert and is a good way to garner business and individual clients. Establish relationships with computer stores and ask them to refer you to customers.

[b]Needed Equipment. [/b]All you really need to get started are your computer and a few online services so you can research clients' specific needs and how to solve them before you arrive on-site. You should have a laser or inkjet printer for banging out cheat sheets and guides, and if you'll be giving seminars, you'll want a desktop projector and a laser pointer so the whole group can see what you're doing.


BUSINESS IDEAS 5

FREELANCE GRAPHIC DESIGNER
Experience, training or licensing may be needed

Despite the proliferation of the internet, print media is here to stay for the foreseeable future! Fliers, newsletters, magazines, information sheets, letters and advertisements are just a few of the types of print media that business hire freelancers to create for them. Websites and online advertising need graphic design services as well. Even if your expertise is only in design, offer the works for potential clients, including the editorial creation and the printing and even mailing of the final piece. You can line up regular freelancers for those parts of the job you can't do.

BUSINESS IDEA 6

HAIRSTYLIST
Experience, training or licensing may be needed

Hairstyling is a popular business that can be quite lucrative. Generally a home based hairstylist business is likely to be started by someone who has already has a cosmetology career and wants a change. If you already have your cosmetology training, and loads of experience under your belt working in a hairstyling salon, you probably have a following that will follow you right home without any hesitation.

BUSINESS IDEA 7

Career and Personal Coach
Help bring out the best in people as a career and personal coach.

Business Overview. As a career and personal coach--a combination mentor, cheerleader, sounding board and advocate--you'll work with clients to help them achieve success in their business and personal lives. You'll spend a half-hour to an hour per week listening to their ups and downs and providing both business and personal goal orienteering and guidance. You might work with people in transit from one career or lifestyle to another, with SOHO startups or with employee teams at large corporations. Coaching is a hot business, with the demand for coaching and coach training more than tripling in a single recent year. News and World Report recently rated career and personal coaching as one of the country's hottest consulting activities. The largest consumers of coaching services are baby boomers who, having reached midlife, have also reached the realization that to achieve all those dreams they started out with, they need to start taking immediate action. Gen Xers are also coaching consumers but not to the extent that boomers are. The advantages to this business are that you can work at home, you can start part time and you can be a part of people's lives, helping them grow financially, emotionally and spiritually. All you really need is people skills--the ability to listen to your clients, help them brainstorm through problems and provide cheerleading coupled with good business and personal advice. You should also, of course, have a knowledge of how various businesses work.

The Market.Your clients can be corporate types experiencing downsizing, startup entrepreneurs, or large companies that sign you on as an employee enabler. Target the downsized and corporations by sending brochures to human resources departments; follow up with phone calls to set appointments. About-to-retire military people also make good targets. You can reach SOHOs, as well as your other targets, by giving seminars and workshops, writing articles for business publications and sending press releases to local newspapers. Network among professional and civic groups in your area. Introduce yourself to the staffs at business incubators. If you live near a college, post fliers on bulletin boards. And if you're near a military installation, place ads in on-base newspapers.

Needed Equipment. You don't need formal training or a license, but you can get lessons coaching through various facilities around the country. Although it's not required, certification as a psychologist or counselor is a major bonus, and experience in human resources, resume writing or other career development fields can also lend credence to your list of credentials. Besides your own skills and experience, you'll need a computer, a laser printer and a fax machine.
 


BUSINESS IDEA 8

EDITORIAL SERVICES
Has expansion possibilities

Here are some of the editorial services you can provide from the quiet of your own home:

Copyediting. This is where fact checking takes place, and where grammatical, stylistic and typographical errors are caught.

Proofreading. This is the last stop for a "finished" piece. The proofreader makes sure the copyediting changes have been properly made and no new errors are created in the process.

Indexing. There are indexing courses available and you can get indexing software.

Developmental editing. A developmental editor works with a manuscript on big-picture things like organization and content issues.

Book doctoring. This is an editorial service provided for manuscripts written by experts. They create a manuscript as best they can and then a book doctor puts it into publishable shape.

Ghost Writing. As a ghost writer, you actually do the research and write the book and someone else's name is attached as the author.

Copywriting. Also known as business writing, this is writing that promotes a product or a service.

Book writing. Do you have an expertise in something professional, such as accounting or interior decorating? Or personally, like knitting? Why not write a book about it?

Magazine article writing. Magazines and newspapers are a great way to get your writing published before tackling the daunting task of writing a whole book.

Web page content provider. Providing content for a web site is a good way to make some money writing.







BUSINESS IDEA 9

Dry Cleaning Delivery

Business Overview
Here's the problem: You've got half a dozen good suits to wear to the office. Five are lying dirty at the bottom of your laundry hamper, and you've just dribbled mustard all down the front of the sixth. If only there were time to run out to the dry cleaner and then more time to pick up the suits afterward. The solution: a dry-cleaning pickup and delivery service. If you've got good organizational skills, you like being on the run and hope to earn good money, then this might be just the business for you. You'll contract with dry-cleaning establishments to service your customers' clothes. Then you'll pick up the dirties from homes and offices, take them in for cleaning, pick them up after servicing and return them to their rightful owners. You can arrange regular biweekly stops, picking up fresh dirties as you drop off your last visit's load of now-clean garments, and you can have customers call for emergency pickups. The advantages to this business are that you can work from home, and you're always on the go, so you're not sitting around waiting for activity. You'll need organizational and logistical skills as well as good sales and marketing techniques to convince dry cleaners and customers to use your company.

The Market
Your customers will be busy business and residential people who don't want to spend their time trotting to and from the cleaners. Businesses make excellent targets because people at work are generally on-site (or their secretaries or other employees are) and easily accessible. You might also target military bases if there are any in your area--people in the uniformed services always need clean, pressed clothes and are a good source of revenue. Be sure to check with base authorities first to make sure you'll be granted access. Direct mail brochures to prospects in the neighborhoods you plan to service--target middle- and upper-income areas where people can afford your service. Deliver your brochures to businesses--particularly large office complexes where you can hit a lot of customers in one stop--and explain the advantages of using your company. Stop in often, even if you don't get requests for business right away. Sooner or later, people will start piling on the clothes.

Needed Equipment
You'll need a phone so customers can quickly contact you. Invest in cotton, vinyl or canvas laundry bags imprinted with your logo to leave with customers--it gives them the cachet of having 'their own service' and encourages them to put in garments for you to pick up.
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BUSINESS IDEAS 10

Executive Organizer

Business Overview
The average businessperson faces a daily avalanche of information--e-mail, snail mail, faxes, memos, reports, revisions, agendas, addenda, ad infinitum--and is nearly swept under by the sheer mass of all this stuff. If you're a neat freak with a passion for order and efficiency, then you can save the day as an executive organizer. You'll work with businesspeople and their employees to bring order to chaos. You'll streamline paper flow, set up filing systems, clean up and organize desks and work spaces, rearrange schedules, delegate tasks, and even create quiet times to maximize office efficiency. If you're a computer person, you can turn your talents to organizing Windows desktops and document storage, too. The advantages to this business are that you can start part time, it's creative, you can explore the business worlds of lots of different people, and once you get going, you can earn extra income giving seminars. You can also--as most professional organizers do--take on tasks in private homes as a personal organizer. The key ingredient here is, of course, organizational ability, which you must be able to apply to other people's situations. You'll have to diagnose how an office works as well as how it should work and then apply that diagnosis to do-able solutions for your clients. You'll also need to be an organization-oriented shopper with a keen knowledge of what furniture, accessory, software and office supply products are in the marketplace so you can make recommendations.

The Market
Your clients can be any corporation, executive or small-business owner. Rein in these prospects by networking with business consultants, interior designers and architects, and professional and civic organizations. Place ads in the business section of your local paper and in the Yellow Pages. Write articles and press releases for local publications. Give seminars and workshops at local colleges and alternative learning centers, and give talks to local business groups. Join professional organizing associations--these can be terrific sources of referrals.

Needed Equipment
All you really need to get started is yourself and a planning book, but once you get up and running, you'll want a computer, a laser printer and a fax machine, along with the usual office software. You may also want special time-management and form-design or desktop-publishing software.

BUSINESS IDEA 11

How to Start a Gift Basket Service
You've been complimented on your crafty and unique gifts for years. Turn your talent into a hot new business with a gift basket service.

They could well be the closest thing to the perfect gift because they can be totally customized to suit the giver, the recipient, the occasion and the desired price. For some people, creating them is the perfect business: an opportunity to be artistic, creative and entrepreneurial.

The product is gift baskets. And as an artistic, creative and entrepreneurial individual, you've decided this is the business for you.

Certainly it's an industry with tremendous "fun" potential. You get to buy lots of cute, clever gift items; you get to pull those items together in an attractive container and create a charming presentation; and you get to provide a product that delivers infinite pleasure to the recipient. Both givers and receivers of gift baskets appreciate the creativity and uniqueness of the concept.

There's also a respectable profit potential. As popular as they are, the market for gift baskets is still wide open and the sales opportunities are virtually limitless. But this isn't a game; it's a serious business. It doesn't require a great deal of startup capital--many successful gift basket businesses were started with just a few hundred dollars. What it does require is thoughtful planning, preparation and commitment fueled by a strong dose of excitement and enthusiasm.

Target Market
Just about everybody has the potential to become your customer. But if you try to sell to the entire world, you'll end up not selling much at all. You need to research and identify the market, choose a niche, and then develop a plan to serve it.

The market for gift basket businesses is no longer limited to a single consumer looking for a unique gift. At one time, women made up the largest segment of the industry's market, both as customers and basket recipients. But that situation is changing. The two primary gift basket markets are now the individual gift-giver and the corporate client. Both can be lucrative and fun to serve.

Individual Buyers
The individual gift-giver is more likely to be a woman. This is because men may order a gift basket, but they typically only think of it after they've seen one. Women are more likely to have seen, sent or received gift baskets. Therefore, they're better able to picture the basket they have in mind for someone even if they don't actually have one in front of them as they might in a retail store. Also, women are more likely to know that custom baskets make great gifts.

Another reason women buy more gift baskets than men is that wives, mothers and girlfriends often assume the responsibility of buying gifts on behalf of the men in their lives, even when the recipient is the man's friends, relatives or co-workers.

Gift basket buyers tend to be in the moderate- to upper-income levels, so your market research needs to include finding out where people in this particular demographic shop.

Business Customers
Corporate clients can be some of your best customers. Most businesses have long gift lists, plus they buy year-round, not just during the holidays. They regularly recognize employee anniversaries, promotions, retirements and birthdays throughout the year. Many also give gifts to customers during the year.

Like individual gift buyers, business customers frequently don't have the time or personnel available to shop. A savvy gift basket business can function as a customer's personal shopper, so all the client has to do is make one phone call and a special gift is on the way.

What Will You Sell?
Having identified your market and determined what potential customers are likely to buy and how much they'll spend, you need to decide on your standard basket offerings. Even though you may promote yourself as a custom basket maker, you need an internal structure of standard baskets to use as a guide for marketing and purchasing.

Most gift basket businesses offer a combination of standard and custom baskets. Custom baskets can be a made-from-scratch arrangement, or a variation on one of your standard offerings. A wonderful way to showcase a special gift--perhaps a family heirloom, photograph or piece of jewelry--is to include it in a gift basket.

Custom baskets will often include items you purchase specifically for that basket, and most of these items will be bought at retail, which means they'll be more expensive than your standard offerings. You'll need to explain this to your customers, find out beforehand how much they want to spend, and work within that budget.

Standard baskets--including gourmet food, toiletry and bath, and wedding and baby shower baskets--can serve as samples you can show to prospective customers. If the contents are nonperishable, you can assemble and store a number of them fairly quickly, lowering your labor costs and allowing you to charge lower prices for these selections.

Consider offering anywhere from six to 20 standard baskets in a wide range of sizes and prices. For example, your chocolate lover's basket (a must for any gift basket business) may come in several sizes and price ranges to suit your customers' needs and budgets.

Operations
The flexibility of a gift basket business gives you a lot of choices in where to locate your operation and how to get it set up. You can opt for a retail store, a warehouse location, or to work from home. Regardless of your location, you can sell face to face, via mail order or on the internet--or use a combination of these methods.

Though industry surveys indicate that more than half of all gift basket businesses have retail locations, the locations of basketeers who participated in the research for this book showed just the opposite--more than half of them are homebased. Solid research is limited, but anecdotal evidence suggests an abundance of successful homebased gift basket operations.

Marketing
Marketing is something many people don't like to do, but it can be as creative and as much fun as actually making the baskets. And no matter how clever and attractive your baskets are, they won't sell themselves--you need to market them.

According to Gift Basket Review magazine, the preferred types of advertising among established gift basket businesses are networking/word-of-mouth; telephone directory (Yellow Pages listing); direct mail; brochures; and newspaper advertising.

 185Mikel

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