Small Business Opportunities

1. Pick good cofounders.
2. Launch fast.
3. Let your idea evolve.
4. Understand your users.
5. Better to make a few users love you than a lot ambivalent.
6. Offer surprisingly good customer service.
7. You make what you measure.
8. Spend little.
9. Get ramen profitable.
10. Avoid distractions.
11. Don't get demoralized.
12. Don't give up.
13. Deals fall through.

Check out more of these tips here -> 13 Tips for Business Start ups

Once or twice on this blog, I have mentioned that LinkedIn is my favorite social networking tool. I want to share a specific case of how LinkedIn has helped me generate business.

As part of my regular routine using LinkedIn, I like to pay attention to who my immediate (1st level) connections are connected to. For a while I noticed that Bethany Spilde was connected to several my connections. She also seemed to share a similar professional interest in using social media for small business marketing. For these reasons, I decided to contact Bethany to see if we could meet in person.

During our first meeting, we learned that we did indeed share a lot of professional interests, including teaching business owners how to use LinkedIn to grow their business. During that first meeting, we discussed LinkedIn and how even though it was gaining in popularity, many people that we met were still unsure about how to use LinkedIn to grow their business. So, we decided to partner together to put on a LinkedIn workshop.

This story may seem fairly unremarkable but, we were able to meet, get to know, decide to do business together, and are making money together - all in a span of 30 days. In my mind, that demonstrates how powerful LinkedIn can be.

How LinkedIn helped:

* It helped me find Bethany. I may have met her eventually without LinkedIn, but then again, I may not have.
* LinkedIn provided the background information that helped speed up the Know, Like, and Trust factors of building a professional relationship. Because we knew several of the same people and had the opportunity to learn about one another from our profiles, we had a head start on the "getting to know each other" phase of the relationship. This allowed us to move more quickly into the "how can we help each other" phase.
* Because our networks are visible to one another, we could easily determine how we should split the marketing activities for our new boot camp.
* As an aside, meeting with Bethany also introduced me to my now favorite coffee, tea shop, and bakery, the Dragonfly

SOURCE: Small Business Marketing Tips & Strategies

Don't Focus on Micro- and Home-Based Small Businesses. Many consultants moving from home users into the small business space make the mistake of thinking that they can just run out and get some small business clients. They don't stop to think about where the true computer business opportunity is, and that it's not in very small clients. If you focus on home-based businesses and micro small businesses, you will run into many of the same problems as in the home users market. You will not be able to retain long-term clients or sell a lot of services, even when focusing on micro small businesses that are technically considered small businesses. Why? Because it's very difficult in most cases to sell ongoing services agreements and profitably service those companies with fewer than 10 computers.

There are a lot more to learn. Check it out at ITWorld.

(Fortune Small Business) -- Carl Dietrich always dreamed of building a flying car. Instead, the pragmatic inventor ended up creating what he calls a roadable aircraft, a plane that folds up its wings on landing and takes to the highway. In 2010, after three years of development, his vehicle, the Transition, will be available to customers for $194,000 a pop.

"The basic problem is simple: A car is heavy, a plane is light," says Lionel Salisbury, publisher of the Roadable Times, a Web site devoted to chronicling flying-car attempts. "The two don't go together well."

Dietrich's early sketches envisioned a plane that would be driven rather than an automobile that took flight. At every step of the process, he was guided by the need to create something to be used in today's world, not tomorrow's.

So he and his team designed the Transition with regular car tires instead of aircraft tires. When the wings are folded up, the craft can park in a typical home garage, and it even runs on premium gasoline rather than aviation fuel. "We knew we could build it," Dietrich says. "The question was, 'Can we make money on it?' The key was not to base the business plan around a market that is not real."

Source: CNNMoney.Com

Twitter is a free social networking and micro-blogging service that allows its users to send and read other users' updates (otherwise known as tweets), which are text-based posts of up to 140 characters in length.

I'm glad that Jim Kukral did an excellent job of giving a clear and instructional video about Twitter. How to use it and the importance of Twitter for small business owners is also introduced by Jim.

Check it out guys in Jim's article -- How and Why To Use Twitter For Small Businesses.

Is exporting workable as a home-based business? Exporting is an ideal home-based business that can be done at home. Many products exported from many countries are made by home-based entrepreneurs who discovered the ease of undertaking international business right from the comforts of their home-offices.

Some exporting companies operate their manufacturing facilities in the ground floor of two story apartments, or even in the garage. Others do not even have any facility at all. Like any other business, exporting needs careful study. One has to be aware with various factors that could potentially affect the business as a whole.

So, to assist us in acquiring the skills and knowledge in exporting our products and services globally, SBA offers an online self paced course or training for exporting.

I think we shouldn't miss ourselves to this - Be Trained in Exporting.

It's not cliche to say that today every dollar counts. Times are tight - for some, times are very tight - and business owners across the country are looking at every dollar they spend to make sure they are getting the return they need from the money they invest.

So why then, in times such as these, would anyone be willing to pay thousands of dollars for a simple domain name? The answer is easy: because those simple domains (often called premium domains) can make a difference.

THE AGE OF THE PREMIUM DOMAIN

A premium domain is a domain that has been registered previously and is back on the market for resale (it's like a used car lot for domain names %u2026 but these items have not depreciated in value - in fact, it's quite the opposite situation).

You see, today there are about 76 million dot com names registered worldwide. That means the chances of finding a very intrinsic dot com (shopping.com, flowers.com) are slim. These names were snapped up years ago but now, these early domain registrants are increasingly willing to part with their prized domain names for the right price. Some of these sales live in infamy (consider Pizza.com that sold for $2.6 million in 2008 or Business.com that sold for $7.5 million in 1999) but the average premium domain price tag ranges from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars.

SO WHAT CAN A PREMIUM DOMAIN NAME DO FOR YOUR BUSINESS?

* The Impact of the Instant Online Brand: First and foremost, a simple domain name gives your online business an instant brand. Premium domain names are generally easy to remember, easy to type and instantly associated with a product or service (Cars.com, Meat.com, Vodka.com). A business owner need not invest much to help potential visitors understand what they might expect to find on sites like these. The domain itself creates an instant online brand that continues to define your online business for as long as you have it.

Read the rest of this post in SmallBizTrends written by Wendy Kennedy.

WHILE trying to teach her young children good habits, one former Hawkesdale woman has found a niche market that could bring her international business success. Knowing the benefits of having a good skincare routine, mother-of-four Kate Marshall decided to pass her wisdom on to her daughters but couldn't find any suitable products for their sensitive young skin.

Before embarking on her nursing career, Mrs Marshall had some experience in the cosmetic industry and drew on this knowledge in launching her own brand of organic skin care for children. After two years of testing the products on her children Victoria, 11, Alexandra, 8, Isabella, 3, and even William, 6, Mrs Marshall launched her company Essential Angel from her home in March this year.

"Logistically it was hard for me to get out of the house so starting an internet business was the best way to stay with my kids and work," she said. "We've had phenomenal success so far with big interest in Asia and Japan, which is very exciting"

Though her working days start at 8pm once her children go to bed, Mrs Marshall said running her own business was very rewarding.

GREY is gold for those involved in health and aged care, housing construction, personal finance services and retail.

Australia's ageing population will create enormous opportunities for small businesses involved in these areas, finds the inaugural Business & Population Monitor from business advisory firm PKF, with Access Economics.

It found that as well as the ageing population, these sectors would also gain from Australia's rising immigration and increased fertility rates.

It said the working-age population was expected to nosedive in the next 5-10 years as the ratio of people aged over 64 compared to those aged 15-64 would almost double over the next 30 years.

"These will be the largest structural shifts in the Australian economy since World War II," said PKF Enterprise Advisers national chairman Chris Allen.

"And they will present both considerable opportunities and challenges to the Australian business community."

The climate for the retail sector was mixed, the report found. The purchase of cars, entertainment and clothing tended to diminish once people retired, but the demand for health insurance, gambling, books, home improvements, electronics and travel increased.

"Almost half of the increase in retail sales in the next decade will be to customers aged 60 and over," Mr Allen said. This meant businesses would benefit from retaining mature-age workers, with older staff selling to older customers.

Those businesses involved in health care would also benefit from the ageing population.

"New technologies and medical procedures provide clear areas of opportunity for businesses operating in these sectors," Mr Allen said.

The report said population growth would be a boon for housing construction because of higher demand for new homes. This would have flow-on benefits to local manufacturers of building products.

PKF said its data pointed to a spur in housing construction in the second half of 2009 and migrants were expected to buy more property than existing residents.

"The first challenge for businesses is recognising that these opportunities exist," Mr Allen said.

"The second is to do something positive about it.

"My advice to businesses is to be aware of the impact of the ageing workforce changing composition, particularly the mature-aged skilled worker leaving the workforce and taking valuable skills and experience with them.

"Also, as governments struggle under the financial burden of additional expenditure, be prepared for increases in tax rates to bolster government revenue.

"Those companies that get ahead of coming trends are most likely to profit."

Source: Baby boomers good customers

StartupNation has just announced their second annual Home-Based 100 Competition sponsored by Microsoft Office Live Small Business. The top 100 home-based entrepreneurs will be ranked in 10 very unique categories. The categories are: best financial performers, most innovative, boomers back in business, greenest, yummiest, wackiest, grungiest, recession busters, most slacker friendly, and most glamorous. Entries will be taken until midnight Pacific time on September 30, 2008. The top 100 winners will be announced mid-November.

If you would just like to browse thru the current nominees and place your votes, you can do so here. There are a lot of interesting small businesses to vote for. Last year's home-based 2007 small business winners are available to explore also.

What a nice opportunity to get noticed. Some of the nominees look like very interesting businesses.

This is the season of gift-giving. The tell-tale chill in the air teams up with the burst of exciting color all around in making every-one feel young and think of gifts. Shoppers take a beeline to the malls and flea markets to get ahead of others on choice buys and to head off the panic and the traffic as Christmas day nears. Gift-giving gives a lift to the heart. So, why don't we try this business? Consider this an opportunity for our business venture. Of course, there are a few reminders on this below.

In the business of gifts, toys and novelties what is crucial is fine grasp of the consumers' tastes and sensitivity to market need. Color favorites, material preferences along with trends in design have to be closely watched by producers to stay with competition. After all, the buying decision of consumers is based on any or combination of these factors. The product appeal can influence the emotion of buyers. That in the final analysis, is what closes a commercial deal.

If You Had $500 Million to Promote Entrepreneurship, How Would You Spend It? How will you use this opportunity effectively?

Scott Shane wrote an interesting article about how to deal with this opportunity.

"Suppose you were given $500 million to promote entrepreneurship in your region. What programs would you support? Would you build business incubators? Or provide subsidies to banks to give below market rate loans to entrepreneurs? Or make venture capital investments in high tech start-ups? Or organize angel investment funds? Or provide grants to inventors seeking to commercialize their technologies? Or invest in entrepreneurship programs at your local university?"

I quoted the above statements from Scott Shane's Article. Read it more on If You Had $500 Million to Promote Entrepreneurship, How Would You Spend It?