Never a day goes by that you are not overloaded by tv news of the current recession and high job loss figures. With this kind of climate, it’s not surprising many are looking forward to building their own online home businesses instead of contending for the handful of jobs available. So, how may you aggressively compete when faced with starting your online small business and branding it? Debra Pierce, Director of Career Services from Miami International University of Art & Design, offers some tips for doing just that.
Just how do I even determine what business to start?
Self-assess and research. It is very important that as an individual, you are honest with yourself and truly know what you are good at and what you love doing. Doing a SWOT analysis — analyzing Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats — is an effective method for assessing that. Having a good understanding of yourself will help you identify areas that may need some work. After evaluating yourself, you will need to determine the type of business and research the viability of .
Do I need to incorporate?
It is particularly imperative you formalize your online business by deciding what legal structure would suit your personal and business requirements best. It is a good time to make full use of some professional advice from a lawyer or certified public accountant to help you make this determination, because there are positives and negatives to each type of structure that need to be taken into consideration.
How soon can I expect to generate a profit?
Always be realistic. People often conjure up being successful within a short period of time. Developing and building a business from scratch takes time, vitality and plenty of hard work, but can be very rewarding. You will want to have honest business and financial goals. The industry research you did at the beginning for the business plan will come in very handy in figuring out what “realistic” means for your industry and area.
How do I get business in the door? How do I get started?
Marketing – Design a logo. This is important because your own logo will be a very important part of your branding. In most cases, business leads will see your logo before they know anything about you. Take some time and make sure that you develop a logo that not only fits you now, but can grow with your business as it grows. A word on advertising and marketing – the majority of brand-new businesses begin with a shoestring budget and make the decision that they don’t have a big enough to market themselves. Even if it’s a small budget, if you don’t promote yourself, how will potential clients find you? You won’t need thousands of dollars, but it’s imperative you reach your target market. And, if you did your analysis for your business plan, you will have a better understanding of who your customers are and exactly where you will find them.
Network, network, network. The importance of networking can’t be stressed enough. As a small business owner, networking may be your only option for marketing for quite some time. It is important to get in front of as many people as you possibly can and give them your elevator pitch (a quick story about your business that you can say in 90 seconds or less). When meeting each person, make sure to ask for their card; this comes in handy when writing a “nice to meet you” note the following day. Yes, you should write a quick note to each person you meet. In this note, you need to mention where you met them, allude to your conversation, and remind them what your business does and how it can be useful to them.
Do not stop looking for a business you can start. It will take a lot of hard work to be an entrepreneur. This is the case in just about all instances whether or not you start your own business or are employed by somebody else. There are not any short-cuts, so put in the time and you will succeed.
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