You are here: Home / Archives for John

Fame at Last!

13 August 2008 by

I’ve just come off the phone having been interviewed by Jonathan Miles of BBC Radio Newcastle on the subject of becoming your own boss.

It seems that a lot of people are not getting on with their bosses very well these days. Some of the comments from employees they interviewed included some very strong complaints about their bosses and the way they were treated at work.

As we business folk already know, the best way to avoid this problem is to Be Your Own Boss. (Unemployment is the other alternative, but we won’t go there! 🙂 )

Jonathan raised some interesting questions during the interview and I realised that some of them have not been covered on this website. One key one being which business format to choose when starting up. So let’s tackle that one next….

Filed Under: Marketing

Be Your Own Boss Reborn!

22 July 2008 by

Be Your Own Boss has had a long overdue ‘makeover’.

It’s been rebuilt using WordPress, a great tool for content managed websites, incorporating some of the latest Web 2.0 features. This makes it much easier to incorporate new content, so now I have no excuse for not adding lots of new information on the subject of starting and running your own business ;-). That should keep me busy!

The articles now give you the opportunity to comment and ask questions, blog style, so feel free to join in the business discussion. But please be nice 🙂

A few simple community rules:

  • No fighting
  • No abuse
  • No Spamming
  • No blatant self promotion
  • Don’t include links in posts, put your email address and website in the boxes on the comment form

 

Your email address remains private, it’s just between you and me. Your website will be linked to from your name on the comment.

Comments are moderated, if they break the rules, they won’t appear!

I hope you like the new site. Join in, learn and have fun!

John

Filed Under: Marketing, Online Marketing, Planning

Your New Idea!

20 July 2008 by

Many people start out looking for a great new idea that will take the world by storm. Some are lucky and find one, most don’t! Others try to copy an idea that is already out there or try to go one better. And I’ve lost track of the number of people I have seen who think they can run a business better than the professionals – when they have no understanding of the busines they are embarking on, or any other business for that matter!

So, how do you get started?

One of the best ways is to identify your key skills, things you are very good at and have a passion about. Enthusiasm is contagious and people will readily see that you really understand your business. Try to combine your skills in unique ways in order to differentiate yourself from others in your market. Think about specialising in a particular theme or product range, or cater for a readily identified group of people.

The most important thing is to identify your market and their specific needs. Trying to be all things to all people rarely works. people are usually motivated either towards pleasure or away from pain, so look for ways you can help them to achieve either of those objectives.

Listen to the problems people complain about, perhaps you can come up with a solution. Find out about their hopes, dreams and ambitions and see if you can help them to get what they want. the person who can help others the most will usually be successful in business.

The worst kind of business is the ‘Me Too!’ business. Often a pale imitation of a successful venture. If you must enter an already competitive arena, set out to be the very best. Far too often I see someone start up in a business with established competition and think they will take the business just by being cheaper. It rarely works! Yes, discount stores have been very successful, but they usually need massive resources to do so.

Do your research carefully and establish your own niche and your own reputation. Make sure you are meeting a genuine need and that there are enough potential customers to build a viable business.

Good luck!

Filed Under: Starting Out

Get Fully Indexed

16 July 2008 by

Many websites that manage to get listed in the search engines get little or no traffic. One reason can be that only the home page has been indexed in the engines but none of the others.

This can be for a number of reasons usually attritutable to poor site structure and content. One way of helping the search engines to find all of your web pages is to provide a sitemap.

The sitemap should be at level 1 on your site, i.e. in the root directory and should list and link to every other page on the website. The sitemap page should also be linked to directly from every other page on the site.

Filed Under: Online Marketing

Hide and Seek

16 July 2008 by

Don’t play “Hide and Seek” with your customers. Always give clear contact information with a choice of contact methods.

If you are operating from home and don’t want visitors or need a professional image, consider using a PO Box Address and a non-geographic telephone number such as a Toll Free 800 number in USA, or a Freephone 0800 or local rate 0845 number in UK. Other countries have similar services.

Filed Under: Marketing

Too Good To Be True?

16 July 2008 by

How do you recognise a good business opportunity when you see it?

Easy! It’s the one that promises to make you a millionaire in 24 hours with no effort. No, seriously, that kind of promise usually heralds a scam or at the very least overoptimistic hype.

You should be wary of anything that sounds like “get rich quick”. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Similarly, anything that promises wealth for no effort or little investment is likely to end in disappointment. A genuine business idea or opportunity will need some investment of time and money to bring it to fruition.

Look for a sound business plan, proven performance by ordinary people like yourself and professional backup from whoever is presenting the idea or opportunity.

Filed Under: Opportunities

Identify Real Value

15 July 2008 by

To many people “value” means “cheap”. But we all know that, in reality, we get what we pay for – right?

If we pay too little for something and it doesn’t do the job, in truth we have just wasted that money. On the other hand, anything we buy that delivers real benefits is usually worth at least what we paid for it – often more. That’s real value.

So what about the “free” stuff then – is it really worthless? Well yes, sometimes! But more often than not, it isn’t really free at all. For instance, I want satisfied visitors and customers. I want you to feel that I give great value so that you continue to visit this website or remain a member of the Home Business Club.

When I give you something “free”, it is either to say “thank you” for visiting the site or to give you something useful to help you in your business. If as a result, you feel that you have had value for the time you spent with me, you are likely to repeat the experience. You might even buy from me expecting, rightly, that you will get excellent value in return. So, in this respect, “free” isn’t really free at all! You have given your time, attention and support in exchange.

Filed Under: Marketing

4 Ways to Grow Traffic

15 July 2008 by

Doing business on the internet depends mostly on bringing visitors to your website. This stream of visitors is referred to by internet marketers as “traffic”.

There is a huge amount of “hype” and “misinformation” about generating traffic online. Basically there are four ways to get traffic – you can EARN it, you can PAY for it, you can BORROW it or you can STEAL it!

You EARN traffic by building a reputation for giving both visitors and search engines what they want – namely good, useful content and by getting referrals as a result of excellent customer service.

You PAY for traffic when you use Pay Per Click or other paid advertising, when you pay commission to affiliates for sending visitors who buy or when you pay for Search Engine Optimisation or Directory inclusion.

You BORROW traffic when you access the visitor flow from other websites or the readership of ezines/newsletters via Joint Ventures.

I’m not even going to begin to discuss STEALING traffic, sorry!

Filed Under: Online Marketing

Telling Is Not Selling

15 July 2008 by

Most advertisers are very good at telling their customers what a product is, how it is made, what cool features it has, how good a quality it is etc….

Then they wonder how come no one is buying their product!

The hard truth is, customers are just not interested in your great new product. They are concerned with their own problems and interests. However, if your product can solve their problem or appeal to their interest, then their interest rises dramatically. But that doesn’t mean that they can always translate your product features into any benefit to them.

So, don’t just tell them what it is – show them what it can do for them. How will they be better off as a result of your product or service? Then they might just take more interest and even buy it.

Filed Under: Advertising

Know Your Destination

15 July 2008 by

You wouldn’t get on a bus or train without knowing where you want to go, would you? Yet thousands of people go into business with only a vague idea of where they want their business to be in say 5 years time.

Whether you are starting a new business or growing an existing one, success depends on three things:

A. Knowing where you are now
B. Knowing where you want to be and when
C. Figuring out a route from A to B.

Then all you have to do is follow your route plan.

Filed Under: Planning
« Previous Page
Next Page »
This site uses cookies to improve your experience. Read more.