Can You Truly Succeed With an Online Business

One in every thousand online businesses fail. The statistics are higher than the failure rate of offline businesses, leaving experts to wonder if it is actually possible to create a successful internet based business. Like any business model, unless you follow a plan and success driven formula, then regardless of whether your business is online or offline, you are unlikely to make it work. Every business requires dedication, time and patience, however an online business also requires a whole set of additional skills that were unheard of 20 years ago.

When a new business started up back in the eighties, there were a range of skills required to optimise the chances of success. However a local business was unlikely to face competition from overseas, and many industry types such as travel agencies and record stores would thrive due to the absence of the internet. Manufacturing firms in Australia and America were far more advanced (and a cheaper option) than those in Asia, and parallel importing was not a term ever used in business.

Fast forward to 2012, and a rising number of industries are no longer viable business options, or simply do not exist outside of the online realm. However, the growth of online enterprise has created an entirely new set of problems. And that is the massive competition resulting from the rise and rise of people starting online and internet based companies. Where once dot com enterprises were the thriving new kids on the block, now the internet is a battlefield of businesses competing for search engine rankings, keyword domination and social media followings, with many unable to keep up and thus shutting down before the momentum ever has a chance to kick off.

Why are so many of these online businesses failing? Is it at all possible to grow a successful internet based enterprise? If so, then how is it done?

Yes, it is possible to build a successful online business, yet numerous business owners fail to either research their target market prior to launching, or simply do not have the budget and skills to grow a formidable enterprise.

A major problem is how easy it is to set up an internet based business at very little cost. People get excited. They can build their very own website for a low monthly fee, create social network accounts for free, find numerous free tools and tips to increase the profile of their business, so therefore are fooled into thinking anyone can start an online business and immediately earn a weekly income equivalent to an employee wage. These prospective business owners are convinced an online business is great idea that will save them a fortune so go for it. That is precisely the mindset that induces failure.

What 70% of business owners fail to realise, is that growing a successful online business is just as expensive as starting a franchise or corner store, the financial outlay is simply distributed to different areas.

True, an internet based business may not have shop or office rent. You may not incur costs for store and corporate fit outs. You may not even require staff or assistance so can save on people costs. Hey, you don't even need office attire, you can work in your lazy clothes with your clients and customers none the wiser.

However, how will your customers find you? If you want to be found easily to generate sales, then you need to pay for it. And to be honest, for search engine marketing to be incredibly successful you are going to be outlaying big dollars. There goes the money you saved on rent!

How about the time you spend optimising your website, writing content, creating blogs, updating social network pages? Time you are not being paid for. Unpaid hours.

And what about your competition? How will you beat them? A stand alone health store in a shopping mall is unlikely to have forty other stores right next door, competing for trade. Yet, type in "Health Store'' to any search engine and watch hundred of pages appear. This is your direct competition. To beat this competition, guess what, you have to pay for the privilege.

Now, many business owners that I deal with, are under the assumption that they can simply market their products or services on any social network and this will not only be cost saving but will deliver instant success. Wake up and smell the roses, no business will ever achieve success online by relying on one marketing technique to grow their business, especially depending on social networks to generate sales.

All of the above sounds rather negative and glum, so back to our original question. Is it at all possible to grow a successful online business? Yes, it is, and it can be done, but with a lot of hard work and persistence. There must be a solid business plan, funds to market the business, and the knowledge to promote the business smartly and wisely online. For any internet business to succeed, the business owner must realise an internet business is not a cheap way out. To attain success, as with any business, you require money, business accumen and the necessary skills. To think otherwise will guarantee failure.

Insights on Starting a Handyman Business

For a seasoned construction worker who likes dealing with homeowners, starting a handy man business can be a very satisfying venture. The question of how to start a handy man business has probably been on the minds of many people in the construction industry for the last few years. During early and middle 2000's many construction related jobs were created as a result of the housing boom. Selling prices far exceeded construction costs and contractors and builders couldn't get houses, condos and townhouses up fast enough. And real estate investors, a great many of them people with zero business experience, couldn't snatch them up fast enough either in the resulting building frenzy. With property values rising year after year, seemingly without end, who could not be successful? Unfortunately, and to the great dismay of many, this ended abruptly in the spring of 2008.

For those employed in the construction industry prior to 2008, this probably felt like glory days, with more work available than anyone could handle. With the collapse of the housing market, most of the construction-related jobs created in this time period disappeared. This left a lot of unemployed tradesman. Unfortunately many, many others lost their livelihoods as well.

For many contractors the only solution was to turn to doing smaller home repair and renovation projects. They may have turned their noses up in disdain just a year prior at this kind of work, but now with bills to pay and mouths to feed, it began to seem like this was the only game in town.

For many builders, contractors and tradesman, dealing with homeowners and doing very small repair tasks aren't to their liking. They would sooner be doing new construction or commercial work, and not having to answer questions about 'picky' details, carefully track and follow-up calls & emails, or have to line up small project after small project, when they are used to being on one job for possibly months at a time.

For others this type of work is a dream-come-true. They have no boss or supervisor to answer to whom they may not like. They set their own schedule and work when they want, for instance if they wish to make plans to spend time with their family. And if they do consistently good work, and are able to make this well-known to potential customers, then they deal with homeowners who are delighted to hire them, and who keep calling them back. So for the tradesman or craftsman with the right temperament a handyman business startup can be the perfect solution to the dilemma of how to find enough work in a down economy.

How to start a small business

The question of how to start a handyman business is, to begin with at least, the question of how to start a business...Any business. Starting a small business is not that difficult, but it can seem daunting to someone who has never considered the idea before. The main problem with doing so is finding specific information on what are those first steps. You're not likely to find the exact information you need to start your handyman business in a nice, neat package that you can follow step by step, because every state is different in their requirements for starting a home business (which is what a handyman business comes down to...You don't need to rent an office or warehouse with this kind of home based business. In fact the simpler your handyman business plan, the better.)

However you will find that there are many resources on the internet for every state on how to start a home business. Do a search on Google for 'how to start a small business' plus your state, and you will very likely get in the results web pages from both the state government on the requirements for a small business startup, and also other 'how to' web pages for doing the same. Take a look at both (and bookmark these pages, as you will be referring back to them many times), you are likely to find that the 'how to' pages are a little more concise and clearer on what you need to do, than the government pages, with maybe a little less information, but refer to both types...You will find most or all of the information helpful.

Why You Have to Build a Brand to Grow Your Business

You will never create anything big unless you make it a brand- whether a bank, musician, university, toilet paper, politician, search engine, fast food restaurant, Computer, soft drink, charitable organization, media house, clinic, law firm, athlete, church, etc.

If this is a fact why do so many entrepreneurs and SME Business owners work so hard to grow their business without trying to make them brands? They invest time, money and effort to develop innovative and quality products, systems, hiring the best sales people, selecting the hottest business names, tag lines, company colours and creating logos.

But is this not what brand building is all about? Yes and No.

Yes because this is the first half of building a brand and a big NO because this is the smaller half. In a three step brand development continuum where the lowest level is a commodity, second step a label and the highest a brand when you have the best you can achieve with all these efforts is a label.

A commodity is an undifferentiated product, service or company. A label is one has identity that is differentiates it from others businesses or product offerings of same kind. But a brand has emotional and psychological connection with a sizable market segment. There is a form of love relationship between the brand and its target customers.

Every human being by the mare fact that he has unique finger prints, name, DNA, mannerisms and behaviour is a label. He has an identity. He is different from other men. But Nelson Mandela, Barrack Obama, Billy Graham, Michael Jordan are brands. As long as you define your uniqueness using the physical and biological characteristics you will always be a label. You may be a brand but only to a few. That also applies to businesses.

Many entrepreneurs and business owners are working very hard to build labels. They want to bake the sweetest cake, sell the highest quality of furniture, be the consultant with the most tools, be the best doctor in town etc. They talk in terms of lowest price, best quality, good location, fast service etc. They wonder why their business doesn't grow and hope that by working harder things will be different. The sad truth is that unless and until they are able to make their business brands they will remain small.

They need to come to the realization that the vehicle that will carry their businesses to growth is making brands of their products and businesses.

Building brands has many advantages to a business but I want to focus only the ones that play the biggest role in driving revenue and profit growth.

1. Help Create a Monopoly for your Business:

Everyday there are many businesses started and products rolled out in the market with the aim of offering the customer variety of choice. In essence the market is out there for everyone to fight it out to for. Fighting out to be seen, considered and be bought. With a label you have to keep on trying many things to achieve one or more of these objectives.

The market forces are always seeking to push any product or company to the lowest level of a brand continuum - a commodity. They push brands to labels and labels to commodities. That is why some brands of yesterday are just labels.

Whatever business you are in, you should know it is easier to multiply your profits and revenues if you are a brand rather than a commodity or label. You should therefore look for a way to deal with the market forces that want to push you down. You could either ask the government to declare you as a monopoly or you use the only other alternative of creating a form of monopoly power - create a brand.

A brand becomes a tool that aids you in creating and owning your market segment. It helps you become friends with this market. You develop an emotional connection with it. When you own this market then you can unleash the business multiplier machine on it. This multiplier machine operates on the logic that you can only grow your business profits and revenues by getting more people buy more of your products, more often.

Labels and commodities have to spend so much to win a new customer, spend even more to keep them and get them to buy more. It is harder and more expensive to unleash the multiplier machine on labels and almost impossible on commodities.

2. Growth through new products

It is very difficult to grow any business beyond a certain point just on one product offering or product line. At some point, even for those who own a particular market for a certain category of products, you will need to add something new in your fold. The reason being that the market tastes, preferences and circumstances are always changing hence they will require new products. Competitors will pursue your customers with a better value propositions. To respond you will need to create new products and services.

Majority of SME Owners are innovators who have brought into the market something new. They appreciate the effort, resources and time required to make a new product succeed. Even for large organizations with massive resources it is never easier and there are no guarantees. That is why they build brands which are better equipped to launch a new product. Brand offer some level of success assurance.

Without a brand they will have to go through the pains and overcome the countless challenges of new product launch whenever they need to introduce a new flavor, launch a new product, complementing service, open a new store, and add a new feature etcetera. Every time you do this the customer sees you as new. You don't have a point to leverage on your business experience, market knowledge, capacity, supplier networks etc which you have invested in over time. This heavily limits you chances of success. A brand ensures you the benefits of being an old friend.

'NEW 'as a selling proposition works only for trusted brands. For them NEW is considered innovative and progressive. For labels and commodities 'NEW' is viewed as risky and inexperienced. Anything new has to be sold, and as a sales expert I understand selling is tough work worthy doing only when you have to do it.

If you are in the technology business you appreciate how fast you have to generate and deliver new products to the market. Without a brand as a vehicle through which you have to deliver your new innovations you are doomed from the start.

3. Build Business for the Long Term

Commodities experience high rate of 'child' mortality. Labels usually a have a life expectancy of their creators. Brands have a life of their own.

Every entrepreneur I know starting or running a business has a desire to see his business outlive him. To do this lawyers recommend you register your businesses as limited liability companies and management consultants tell you to create business dependent on systems. This is wise counsel but only to some extent because they help separate your business from your body and mind but you still share the soul.

When you give up your soul the body and mind of your business will not live too long after.

A brand is the soul of business. It makes it alive. It stops being a robot supported by a legal document. It becomes an organism that can have relationships of its own; it can love and be loved. It has connections with its market, employees, suppliers etc.