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Actual for You - Are You Ready to Own Your Own E-Commerce Business?
Signs, Signs, Everywhere there’s signs, these lyrics recorded by Telsa reminded me what separates exceptional leaders from the average leaders -- the ability to find and read signs. This awareness to signs allows these leaders to think both creatively and strategically.First, what makes an exceptional leader? In the book Fail-Safe Leadership, the authors Linda Martin and Dr. David Mutchler in 100 pages boil leadership down to the ability to get results within clearly articulated core values. The how of getting results or what some may call performance continues to vex many businesses and individuals.Examples in history are endless. George Washington read the signs of the future of the America’s by surveying potential land as to what would be desirable for the incoming colonists. From his creative ability to read the signs, he was able to strategically purchase land that he later sold for a profit making him a wealthy man.In today’s business world, such leaders as Jack Welsh, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Oprah Winfrey and Mary Kaye all demonstrated the ability to read the signs before others even saw the signs. Successful entrepreneurs such as industrialist Andrew Carnegie to Fed Ex Founder Fred Smith saw the signs and made millions of dollars when others believed their endeavors would fail. Another example closer to Chicago and Northern Indiana, is local business owner and entrepreneur, Dean White, who followed Washington’s footsteps. He saw his recently purchased hundreds of farming acres supporting businesses in the forthcoming decades. Mr. White is now a billionaire because he saw and read the signs before the intersection of U.S. 30 and I-65 was still a dream at the Indiana Department of Transportation.Reading signs is not magical, but a developed skill. The first step is to increase your individual awareness to your environment. Taking a course such as Neuro-Linguistic programming, spending 10 minutes a day in reflection and staying current with tomorrow's business trends will improve your natural awareness. Also, focus should always be on the positive, the possibilities, instead of the negative. Learn to embrace joy first instead of misery.Next, follow the words of Marcel Prost who wrote that
It may take you a number of years to get to the income level you want or need. On the other hand, you may decide that you're willing to sacrifice some money for the reward of being your own boss. Many people have found it to be worth every penny.
4) Are you starting a business out of desperation?
This is a very real concern, particularly in light of the huge number of experienced businessmen and businesswomen who have been cast adrift in the job market through corporate downsizing in recent years. If you're one of these people and are thinking about starting a business because you think it's your only option, be very careful. Yes, it can be the answer to your future security,
Q. I hate my job as a computer consultant. I am ready for a career change. The aptitude tests say I should be a recreation specialist. I like the idea but I dread returning to school for a new degree.A. Before you invest in a degree, try out the new career. A test drive will tell you more than any pencil-and-paper test. Find two or three people who are doing what you want to do and ask to spend a day or a week with them.If you like what you see, visit a few schools or universities that offer degrees in your area of interest. Ask for names of people who have graduated one, three and five years ago.Ask the alumni, "Did this degree help you get your job? Advance in your job?"Would you have done better with a degree from another school? Or would you have done as well with a degree from a lower-ranked school?"Don't stop until you have talked to six graduates -- maybe more.Talk to students, not faculty. Professors must support their own programs, even when they want to say, "You can do better elsewhere," or, "This program is a waste of your time and money."And these days, anyone with a title like "Admissions Director" or "Enrollment Management" may be trying to make a sale, not offer objective guidance.Investigate several options.You may find an equally satisfying career that offers on-the-job training. You may find an educational program that takes less time or comes with a stipend.No degree program offers a magic bullet.Ultimately you may win the job and career success by your power networking as well as you social, interpersonal and technical skills. There are many paths to career fulfillment, not just one.This article comes from my ebook: Back to School for Career Change: http://www.cathygoodwin.com/schoolbk.html
For these reasons, business ownership is not for everyone. If you don't have the right skills, personality, and commitment to operate a business, you'll be in trouble before you make your first sale. So before you begin planning your E-Commerce business, you need to take a hard look at yourself, your family, and your finances, and give honest answers to some very important questions.
The following questions will help you weigh your personal characteristics and beliefs against the realities of business ownership. Don't worry if you find that a few of the questions reveal doubts or weaknesses. Nobody is a perfect match for any profession. But if you find many of the questions troubling, you may want to rethink your decision to go into business.
1) Are you willing to take the responsibilities of operating your own business?
Forget the tidy little set of responsibilities that came with a position in corporate life. When you run a business, you're in charge of everything—from opening the doors in the morning to cleaning up at night. Then when you go home, you worry.
The hours are long, there is a high degree of stress, and there is always too much to do and not enough time to do it. You'll have to deal with your customers and your employees. You'll be responsible for the finances of the business and dealing with taxes. And you'll need to fill out a lot of forms and sign a lot of checks.
Make sure you understand what you're getting into. As a business owner, you'll have more responsibilities than you have had before, no matter what your previous jobs have been. If you understand this simple fact, you'll be ready to take your responsibilities on.
2) Are you comfortable making hard decisions?
As the owner of a business, you'll also have to make many decisions that affect the business, your livelihood, and that of your employees. Many times thev/11 is tough to make, including the decision to lay people off if your business falls on hard times. It will require decisiveness, mental toughness, and resolve. If you have trouble when faced with tough choices, this could be a problem area.
3) Do you think owning your own business is the road to easy money?
Think again. Many people actually end up sacrificing income to open their businesses, at least at first. That's the price they're willing to pay for independence.
If you're thinking of giving up a promising career and a lucrative income to start your business, be realistic about what your financial needs are and whether or not the business will meet those needs. Remember, you're building a business.
It may take you a number of years to get to the income level you want or need. On the other hand, you may decide that you're willing to sacrifice some money for the reward of being your own boss. Many people have found it to be worth every penny.
4) Are you starting a business out of desperation?
This is a very real concern, particularly in light of the huge number of experienced businessmen and businesswomen who have been cast adrift in the job market through corporate downsizing in recent years. If you're one of these people and are thinking about starting a business because you think it's your only option, be very careful. Yes, it can be the answer to your future security,
In the fundraising profession, appeal letters that you mail to existing donors are called renewal letters. They are designed to solicit a gift, but, more important than that, they aim to persuade your current donors to renew their support of your organization. Donors renew their support with their cash, of course, but they also renew it with their commitment—with their hearts and minds. And that’s why renewal letters are so vital. They help you maintain your broad base of support year after year, cost-effectively.Renewal letters are part of a year-long program that is usually called the Annual Giving Program. “Annual” does not mean that you mail just one letter a year (you shouldn’t). It simply means that you look at your fundraising efforts as a year-by-year activity, one where you must persuade your active donors to renew their commitment each year.Goal #1: Renew donor commitment The primary goal of your annual appeal letters, then, is donor renewal. Some donors give only once a year. Others give regularly. And others send a few gifts during the year, but sporadically. You cannot expect that any of these donors will stay with your organization until death, theirs or yours. “Donor renewal is not automatic,” says James Greenfield, in his book, Fund Raising: Evaluating and Managing the Fund Development Process.This means that each letter you mail should aim to re-motivate, re-invigorate and rejuvenate your donors, encouraging them, explicitly or implicitly, to renew their commitment to your organization, or, more accurately, to the people that your organization serves. This is often done with the first appeal letter of the year, but donor renewal is really a year-long activity that takes place with every contact you have with each donor, whether it’s a phone call, a personal visit or their presence at a banquet or other event.Goal #2: Renewed gift Naturally, your goal with every renewal fundraising letter is also to raise funds. So you must ask for a gift in each renewal letter you mail. Wherever possible, make a mention of the last gift that your donor sent, and thank them again for their support. And remember, the most effective renewal letters are those that ask
1) Are you willing to take the responsibilities of operating your own business?
Forget the tidy little set of responsibilities that came with a position in corporate life. When you run a business, you're in charge of everything—from opening the doors in the morning to cleaning up at night. Then when you go home, you worry.
The hours are long, there is a high degree of stress, and there is always too much to do and not enough time to do it. You'll have to deal with your customers and your employees. You'll be responsible for the finances of the business and dealing with taxes. And you'll need to fill out a lot of forms and sign a lot of checks.
Make sure you understand what you're getting into. As a business owner, you'll have more responsibilities than you have had before, no matter what your previous jobs have been. If you understand this simple fact, you'll be ready to take your responsibilities on.
2) Are you comfortable making hard decisions?
As the owner of a business, you'll also have to make many decisions that affect the business, your livelihood, and that of your employees. Many times thev/11 is tough to make, including the decision to lay people off if your business falls on hard times. It will require decisiveness, mental toughness, and resolve. If you have trouble when faced with tough choices, this could be a problem area.
3) Do you think owning your own business is the road to easy money?
Think again. Many people actually end up sacrificing income to open their businesses, at least at first. That's the price they're willing to pay for independence.
If you're thinking of giving up a promising career and a lucrative income to start your business, be realistic about what your financial needs are and whether or not the business will meet those needs. Remember, you're building a business.
It may take you a number of years to get to the income level you want or need. On the other hand, you may decide that you're willing to sacrifice some money for the reward of being your own boss. Many people have found it to be worth every penny.
4) Are you starting a business out of desperation?
This is a very real concern, particularly in light of the huge number of experienced businessmen and businesswomen who have been cast adrift in the job market through corporate downsizing in recent years. If you're one of these people and are thinking about starting a business because you think it's your only option, be very careful. Yes, it can be the answer to your future security,
The key to creative and effective branding of any program, product, service or institution is finding the right positioning—to drive the advertising and other marketing tools. It doesn’t have to be complicated or weird. In fact, if it’s good and effective, it’s simple and will follow this “Rule of consumers”—“You are what you appear to be.” This position, or ‘brand’ is really an identity (not in your mind but in your audience’s)—a way people can sort through all the confusing information and summarize what they think about something.What do you get with a brand identity?Over the last 25 years we have come to learn that the development of a brand identity is much more than a mere benchmark denoting successful arrival in business, or its evolution and growth. A clearly defined and easily recognized identity has, in fact, become a critical success factor in today’s highly competitive business environment.Just to lay some “groundwork”, here are ten reasons why doing so can have a strategically important effect on your bottom line.• It’s easier to know who you are, which means: • It’s easier to know what you do. (Helps develop goals) • It’s easier to know how to do it. (Helps with implementation) • Less energy is expended overall. (Creates efficiency in communications) • Team building occurs naturally when staff can identify with a common symbol, common language and therefore common goals. (Sports uniforms are a good example. Every player feels like a part of the group.) • You can match your image to your clients needs or view of his business. (A simple matter of “give’em what they want.”) • With a clearly defined identity you communicate more efficiently with your customers, and they remember you more easily. (Memorability is easier when everybody clearly knows who you are.) • Enhancements in the overall quality of your product or service. (Consistency always counts.) • Benefits and unique qualities of your business are communicated more clearly to your clients thereby increasing sales. (Marketing tool) • Helps set identifiable standards of quality in your product or service. Helps with a sense of reliability by developing a “brand identity.” (Brand names are trust
Make sure you understand what you're getting into. As a business owner, you'll have more responsibilities than you have had before, no matter what your previous jobs have been. If you understand this simple fact, you'll be ready to take your responsibilities on.
2) Are you comfortable making hard decisions?
As the owner of a business, you'll also have to make many decisions that affect the business, your livelihood, and that of your employees. Many times thev/11 is tough to make, including the decision to lay people off if your business falls on hard times. It will require decisiveness, mental toughness, and resolve. If you have trouble when faced with tough choices, this could be a problem area.
3) Do you think owning your own business is the road to easy money?
Think again. Many people actually end up sacrificing income to open their businesses, at least at first. That's the price they're willing to pay for independence.
If you're thinking of giving up a promising career and a lucrative income to start your business, be realistic about what your financial needs are and whether or not the business will meet those needs. Remember, you're building a business.
It may take you a number of years to get to the income level you want or need. On the other hand, you may decide that you're willing to sacrifice some money for the reward of being your own boss. Many people have found it to be worth every penny.
4) Are you starting a business out of desperation?
This is a very real concern, particularly in light of the huge number of experienced businessmen and businesswomen who have been cast adrift in the job market through corporate downsizing in recent years. If you're one of these people and are thinking about starting a business because you think it's your only option, be very careful. Yes, it can be the answer to your future security,
While visiting a friend, he asked a favor of me. He whipped out this humongous business plan consisting of two full 3-inch loose-leaf binders. Someone he knew had paid a whopping $250,000 to have this business plan prepared and my friend was interested in my opinion of it.At first I considered telling him I had something else to do and couldn't spend the next ten hours reading a "Gone-With-The-Wind" business plan. Had I been an actual potential investor presented with this monster, I would have simply dumped it in the trash and told the entrepreneur, "Thank you for considering me as a potential investor, but it doesn't fit my current criteria."Nevertheless, I relented and agreed to look it over. My thought was, "OK, give it to me and I'll look it over as soon as I can." No such luck. He sat down at the table next to me with a child-like grin of anticipation on his face. He wanted me to look it over and give my opinion now! I thought, how can he expect me to digest this while he is looking at me like a puppy waiting for me to toss him a ball?So, I dug in. Little did I know that this would turn out to be one of the fastest appraisals I would ever make.Just like an investor, I turned to the financials in the back. (Note--investors typically don't read a business plan from the front to the back. They start by looking at the financials in the back!)On the first page of the financials section, I saw a summary showing two graphs represented by the following tables (the actual numbers and dates have been changed to protect the guilty): Year 1 Projected Revenues Month Revenue ----- ----------- 1 $ 7,457 2 11,185 3 16,778 4 25,167 5 37,750 6 56,626 7 84,938 8 127,407 9 191,111 10 286,667 11 430,000 12 645,000 ----- ----------- Total $ 1,920,086 Annual Projected Revenues
3) Do you think owning your own business is the road to easy money?
Think again. Many people actually end up sacrificing income to open their businesses, at least at first. That's the price they're willing to pay for independence.
If you're thinking of giving up a promising career and a lucrative income to start your business, be realistic about what your financial needs are and whether or not the business will meet those needs. Remember, you're building a business.
It may take you a number of years to get to the income level you want or need. On the other hand, you may decide that you're willing to sacrifice some money for the reward of being your own boss. Many people have found it to be worth every penny.
4) Are you starting a business out of desperation?
This is a very real concern, particularly in light of the huge number of experienced businessmen and businesswomen who have been cast adrift in the job market through corporate downsizing in recent years. If you're one of these people and are thinking about starting a business because you think it's your only option, be very careful. Yes, it can be the answer to your future security,
It is really very simple, the more sales you make at your top paying affiliate program, the more money you will make.However many an affiliate are not aware of the fact that a lot more sales can be made through referrals than an individual can ever hope to make on their own from any top paying program.For example if you can manage only 1000 sign ups in the second tier of your top paying affiliate program, the potential sales this huge group can achieve are quite high. Especially if you have joined one of those fabulous programs where they give affiliates extensive tips and tools to help them sell. Within these 1,000 persons who will have signed up under you, there will be those who will hardly make any sales at all. Then there will be those who will make lots of sales. Let us just say that you end up with only one sale, on average per person every month from the lot. In the top paying affiliate program where I am using this sales strategy so effectively that would mean an income of $15,000 every month. That's not a bad income for doing nothing after you've put in the initial effort to get your sign ups.This is but a glimpse of the kind of sales you can achieve with a proper strategy, from your top paying affiliate program.
It may take you a number of years to get to the income level you want or need. On the other hand, you may decide that you're willing to sacrifice some money for the reward of being your own boss. Many people have found it to be worth every penny.
4) Are you starting a business out of desperation?
This is a very real concern, particularly in light of the huge number of experienced businessmen and businesswomen who have been cast adrift in the job market through corporate downsizing in recent years. If you're one of these people and are thinking about starting a business because you think it's your only option, be very careful. Yes, it can be the answer to your future security, but only if you're willing to make the necessary commitments and sacrifices. The world of business ownership is vastly different from the corporate world. Make sure you recognize the differences before you make the move.
5) Are you well organized?
The day-to-day operation of your business is going to require you to assume many responsibilities. Let's consider an average day. You may need to do the payroll, talk to suppliers, pay a few bills, work on a new advertising pamphlet, and prepare some tax forms. At the same time you'll be filling orders and making sure they get sent out on time. Then there is always the unexpected—your computer bombs or the air-conditioning conks out.
As a business owner, you'll need to keep many balls in the air at one time. Your ability to juggle all these responsibilities will directly affect your success. If you're well organized, you'll have a list of the things you need to do, and you'll methodically go through it during the course of the day. If you're interrupted, you'll pick up where you left off after you have dealt with the problem. If you're still not through at the end of the day, you'll sit there and work until you have finished. Procrastinators do not do well in business. If you get behind, you're sunk.
6) Are you creative?
It's an asset to any business. No matter how great your product, you're not going to be the only one selling it. Marketing and advertising are critical to getting customers' attention and encouraging them to buy. If you have a creative streak—whether it be copywriting, graphic design, or even an offbeat sense of humor—it will be an invaluable asset to your business.
His is doubly true in e-commerce. Since your customers can't see the items they're purchasing "in the flesh," so to speak, they need to be enticed by the visual presentation and written description in your promotional materials.
7) Are you flexible?
In business, if an idea or plan doesn't work, you can't let yourself waste time, energy, and emotion bemoaning its failure. You need to quickly come up with an alternative solution. Flexibility and adaptability are the key. You'll need to stay focused to achieve your goal, but you may need to try several different paths to get there.
In e-commerce order, for example, one marketing approach may work for a while and then stall. At that point you'll need to come up with something new. Remember, every business plan and every business Can benefit from a fresh look every once in a while, even when things seem to be going along just fine.
8) Are you goal oriented?
This trait is obviously helpful in all parts of life, but it's particularly helpful in business. As a business owner, your goals will be defined in very simple, concrete terms—gross sales and net profit.
A good businessperson approaches each year with new goals and uses them as motivating forces
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