With the economy in turmoil, many people are considering starting a new business venture. As I spend time in forums and blogs; helping people with start up questions, business concerns or how to start and manage a virtual business, there is an interesting commonality amongst many of them. Surprisingly, most of the doubts they have is not the legality, or the mechanics of starting a business. Instead, their biggest concern is what business to start. Now, this is not in the legal sense, but instead what product or service to sell.

A major challenge potential entrepreneurs seem to have, is figuring out what business to go into. They wonder if they can make a business out of whatever expertise they may have. In many cases, they cannot even figure out what that expertise is! Although for years entrepreneurs have started businesses either on a hunch, personal expertise, family business, or market research. They have seldom started a business based on who they are.

Therefore the number one requirement for a start-up — whether it’s a virtual business or a brick-and-mortar — even before knowledge or expertise; it is to work on yours strengths and passion. Why? Simply because being in business is like a roller coaster, sometimes you are up and sometimes you are down. Using your strengths and passion to start and build a business, will increase your chances of success. This will give you the strength to keep going during those “rough” times, when you wished the world would stop so you could get out.

However, what are your strengths? What is your passion? What business can you excel at? How do you find out? How do you truly know without guessing?

Here are the steps to follow:

1. Find out your personal strengths: To do this, read “Strengths Finder” by Tom Rath. After you are done reading, take the online test that comes with the book (you will get a pin number inside the book). It is a one time shot, so make sure you use it wisely. Set everything aside and have peace and quiet when you are ready to take the test. When you are done, you will be enlightened to find out who you truly are!
2. Find out the best business-relevant interests, values and abilities that fit your personality: Now that you know who you are, you want to find out what businesses fit you best. Go to CareerLeader.com and take the test for individual clients. As the time of this writing, the cost of the test is $95. Most likely, the best money spent before you spend a penny starting any kind of business…Why? Simply because it will provide you with an expert assessments of your unique pattern of business-relevant interests, values and abilities.
3. Find your niche market: Now that you are empowered with your personal and business strengths, go to MarketSamurai.com and download the 30-day free trail. Follow the instructions and find a PROFITABLE niche that fits your personal and business strengths AND can make you money along the way!
4. Build a virtual business: Now it’s time to start building that business you have been thinking about. Therefore the next step is to build your virtual business. Why a virtual business? This is because in this new economy, building a virtual business will also increase your chances of success. The cost of entry is low. The market reach is greater. It allows you to build systems and processes at little to no cost. You don’t have to invest or borrow thousands of dollars. You can hire virtual employees on a per need basis. These are just a few benefits, and I am barely scratching the surface here!
     

   Now go the www.virtualbusinessdashboard.com, download the free report on “How to maximize your business profits!” and start building your virtual business! Once you download the report, you will be routed to the main site where you can get the instructions on how to build a virtual business. Make sure you download the report as soon as you are done with this reading. I constantly change reports and you may not get the same one if you procrastinate.

5. Test your findings: You are not quite ready yet. There is one more important step. Now that you know your personal, business and market strength; you want to test what product or service will have the highest chance of success. These findings will help you optimize your virtual business endeavor for maximum business results. Therefore next do a split-test of your potential products or services (follow the instructions inside the virtualbusinessdashboard.com on how to do this).

NOW you are ready to build a real, sustainable virtual business with a much greater chance of success! Best of luck and please make sure you drop me a note to let me know how your virtual business is progressing.

Would you agree with this…just because you don’t have money doesn’t mean you can’t start a home based business, literally with little to no money.

After such massive economic collapse, people are looking to rebuild their lives. They are looking for new ways out. In this new world economy, ideas are king. Therefore, the most successful people will be the ones that share their life story, passion, knowledge and expertise to help others better their lives or turn their businesses around.

The new business revolution is all about content creation and training. This puts people, who use “helping others”, as a strategy for success, in a position to earn more income and have greater influence. Agreed?

These changes put you in the driver’s seat. You can now position yourself in this new economy as an expert in your field, and all from the comfort of your own home. You can accomplish this by writing online courses, books, speeches, seminars and offer coaching.

So here is how you can start your own virtual business and join the ranks of the new rich:

1. Go to Market Samurai (30 day free trial) and find a profitable niche that meets your passion, knowledge and expertise.
2. If you do not have any products, then sell affiliate products first. It is probably the best way to start a home based business while reducing risk and building business acumen.
3. Go to Clickbank or Commission Junction and find a few affiliate products that match your profitable niche. Split-test your findings using Google Website Optimizer.
4. Build a blog, a squeeze page with a free offer (webinar, report, etc) and start building your list. Remember to use your niche keywords for everything you do.
5. Start on a shoe-string. Use all the virtual business strategies first. Forget about the fancy offices, or the latest phone system. Watch you expenses like a hawk. Costs have a funky way to get out of control when you are starting out.
6. Use all the available free tools. Again, the virtual business strategy is the best when starting out. There a numerous, powerful open source applications you can use to build and grow your business. All you need is a computer and internet access.
7. Use free online marketing to drive traffic to your blog and/or squeeze page.
8. Promote, campaign and sell to your list on the back-end.
9. Start small, build up. Once you start bringing money in, and as soon as you can afford it, hire help and start delegating.
10. Bringing customers AND retaining them should be your number one priority at all times.

Follow this virtual business strategy and drive hundreds of customers to your home based business. Actually, implementing a sophisticated virtual business strategy is pretty simple, once you get the hang of it. First, start with your market research: Niche, split test, affiliate products. Second implement your sales and marketing channels: blog, free offer, squeeze page, back-end sales. Third build your communication channels: Virtual PBX, VoiP phones, and online fax. Then implement your virtual customer service department: Chat, knowledge base, FAQs and support desk. Your are on your way to success!

So to help you out here, I wrote a FREE REPORT: “New Business Success Is All About Merging Your Offline & Online Systems…Learn How to Leave Your Competition in the Dust!” … visit the Virtual Business Dashboard and get your FREE report.

Due to the economy, people of all ages are flocking to start a home based business. The challenge most of these entrepreneurs confront is the unwillingness of customers wanting to work with solopreneurs who lack credibility. The things that make these home based businesses not credible are:

• Not having a professional customer service system
• Not having contact information on their website
• Being able to be reached only by email or phone
• Only having a voice mail as customer support system
• Taking a long time to get back to customers

Here is the simple step you can take right now, today, to make your home based business look and act like an S&P500…implement a virtual business strategy by setting up virtual communication channels.

These channels are: A virtual PBX, professionally recorded welcome prompts, 800# online fax, online support desk, chat, self-service knowledge base and FAQs.

You may be wondering…how much money would it cost your home based business to set up a sophisticated virtual business communication system like this one? Here is the breakdown:

1. Virtual PBX: About $35 per month
2. VoiP: About $15 per month
3. #800 Online Fax: About $10 per month
4. Online Support Desk: About $40 per month
5. Chat: Included in online support desk bundle
6. Knowledge Base/FAQ: Included in online support desk bundle
7. Recorded Prompt: One time fee
8. Phones: Zero, use soft phones (on your computer)

 

…TOTAL COST: approximately $100 per month!

Follow this virtual business strategy and drive hundreds of customers to your home based business. Actually, implementing a sophisticated virtual business strategy is pretty simple, once you get the hang of it. First, start with your communication channels: Virtual PBX, VoiP phones, and online fax. Then implement your virtual customer service department: Chat, knowledge base, FAQs and support desk. You’re now operating like an S&P500!

So to help you out here, I wrote a FREE REPORT: “New Business Success Is All About Merging Your Offline & Online Systems…Learn How to Leave Your Competition in the Dust!” … click here to visit the Virtual Business Dashboard and get your FREE report.

I’m often asked, “Jackie how do I make my business profitable? I currently work hard, constantly expand my business, I have a decent market share, but I’m still not keeping much at the end of the day?” Well, that’s simple, use the virtual business strategy to lift off your profits.

Here are three simple steps you can take right now, today, to maximizing your business profits.

1. Pick your money drainers: Which department, processes, section of your operations is draining the most cash out of your business? Which is giving the least return on your investment? Do you have clients that cost you more to keep than what you make from them? Do you have too many employees doing the same thing over and over again? Try to think of two or three things that are just sucking your business profits, in case one or two are not so easy to take action right away.

2. Figure out your inefficiencies and eliminate them: Sketch on paper the process bottlenecks. Write down the parts that are being duplicated. See if your customer service is effective or if you are losing too many clients. See if you are still using paper filing system for your documents. How about promotional printing that can be converted to online marketing? Can your non-customers facing employees work out their homes? How about your communications system, are you wasting thousands of dollars on LAN lines and paper faxing?

3. Implements systems and digitize them: This is where the virtual business strategy comes into play. Choose a virtual communication system to eliminate expensive LAN phones and fax costs. You may want to streamline your customer service and implement an online support desk. Think about implementing online Customer Relationship Management and Document Management Systems to eliminate all paper inefficiencies. Move your non-facing customers to work from their homes, since you have everything online now, they will be able to access all information from the comfort of their homes.

Follow these 3 steps and drive thousands of wasted dollars to your bottom line. Actually, eliminating inefficiencies and operating costs is pretty simple, once you get the hang of how a virtual business works, but there are things to consider before you start. Pinpoint your money drainers first. Start with the one that is sucking the most money out of your business. Re-design your current processes to make it effective and digitize as much as possible. Then eliminate or move your non-customer facing employees to work from home. Eliminate all that wasted office space; reduce your utilities bills, unnecessary supplies, desks, etc. You’re now maximizing your business profits!

To help you out, I wrote a FREE REPORT: “You’re About To Learn ‘Secrets’ that Most Business Owners Will Never Know About How to Really MAXIMIZE PROFITS!” … visit the Virtual Business Dashboard and get your FREE report.

Never in history have customers been more fickle and demanding than in today’s economy. Businesses that do not provide outstanding customer service will be long gone. In this new virtual business environment, customer service is your main competitive advantage. Therefore, business success lies more than ever, on retaining your customers. Take advantage of the virtual business strategy to catapult your business profits!

Technology, especially customer service technology, has evolved by leaps and bounds. Customers are no longer chained to their local store to get outstanding customer service; they are empowered to take their business wherever they can get the best service. Now that they are freed of distance constrains, thanks to technology, they are free to buy anywhere in the planet…your competition is no longer the shop across the street; but the one in Asia, South America or anywhere on earth where there is outstanding customer service.

Keeping customers is not only smart business practice but a very valuable one as well. This is clearly measured by the Customer Lifetime Value (CLV). Most business owners only see the value of a customer based on the first sale, but do not take into consideration the future purchases of this customer. So let’s see an example:

Mary gets her slacks cleaned at the cleaners for $8. Most business owners will see this as the only revenue. Fortunately, Mary comes back the following week and gets her dresses and some blouses cleaned for a total of $20. Now, you did not have to spend any money on marketing, advertising or sales to bring Mary back, she simply liked your service and the way you cleaned her clothes. So in reality, you made $28 from Mary. Therefore the true value of Mary is all the cleaning she has done PLUS all the future cleaning she will get done if you work hard enough to retain her loyalty…follow me so far?

In order to get the lifetime value of your average customers, simply multiply the average sales you made by the average number the customer came back to your business. Here is the simple formula:

So now that you know the CLV of your customers, the next question is…are your customers profitable? After all, you are in business to make a profit. In order to find out if your customers are profitable, simply multiply your average profit per sale by the estimated number of times your customers buy again. Here is the simple CLP formula.

Knowing these numbers will help you decide how a virtual business can increase your customer’s lifetime value and therefore you business profits.

In a virtual business model, you can implement the different customer service technologies readily available to reduce cost (and therefore increase short-term profit). A virtual business model also allows you to implement a multi-channel customer communications system to increase customer loyalty (and therefore increase long-term profit).

 

A virtual business customer service set up:

• Is mostly free or of very little cost
• It is web ready
• You do not need to know programming to implement it
• You can have it up and running in minutes
• You can have employees or virtual agents anywhere in the world

Now, let’s see how these points affect the CLP formula we discussed above. Customer Lifetime Profit or CLP is all about knowing the profit your customers bring. This means, if you lower your costs, your virtual business profits will be higher. Therefore by having a web based customer service infrastructure in your virtual business, your employees can work out of their homes. This lowers your costs because you no longer have to provide office space, utilities, desks, supplies, etc. If your business and industry allows it, you can even hire virtual reps for your virtual business…this means no payroll taxes or employee benefits. Since most of the applications are free or low cost, this means your out of pocket set-up investment costs are truly minute.

 

A virtual business multi-channel communication system is composed of:

• Chat
• Voip Phone
• Virtual PBX
• Online Fax
• Online Support Desk
• Customer Relationship Management System
• Web Forms

….and sometimes the old snail mail

How do these multi-channel strategies and applications help you with your customer loyalty? Again, going back to the Customer Lifetime Value or CLV discussed before, the more your customers buy from you, the higher your CLV. With an online multi-channel, 24/7 support system, they can reach you in whichever way suits them best, creating massive customer loyalty. Loyalty means your customers will keep coming back for more, which in return means higher CLV.

Keeping customers has never been this difficult. As you can see, setting up your customer service system as a virtual business will decrease your costs, therefore increasing your profits (CLP). It will also keep your customers buying from you over and over again therefore increasing your customer value (CLV). Remember, customer loyalty will make you a lot more money in the long run!

To help you out and get you started, I wrote a FREE REPORT: “New Business Success Is All About Merging Your Offline & Online Systems…Learn How to Leave Your Competition in the Dust!” … visit the Virtual Business Dashboard and get your FREE report.

Unemployment is relentless. Jobs are nowhere to be found. Banks are not lending money. Credits are getting shuttered. There is no equity in our houses…so what is one to do?

Start your own virtual business! Ironically the greatest entrepreneurial opportunities are created during downturns of the economy. According to a report from Challenger, Gray & Christmas, in the second quarter of 2009, 8.7% of job seekers gained employment by starting their own businesses!

Some great examples of companies that started during a recession are:

• Hyatt Corp: Started its operations during the Eisenhower recession (1957-58)
• FedEx: began its operations during the recession of 1973
• CNN: Started during the brutal recession of the ‘80s
• MTV: Born during the economic chaos of 1981
• Burger King: Born during the recession of 1957
• GE: Born during the cruel 6-year recession of 1873

Sure, it sounds easier said than done. You may be thinking you need gazillion of dollars, a business plan, investment funding, credit lines, an office, employees, furniture, and on and on and on…what if I told you that is not true. What if I showed you, you can actually start a virtual business with little to no money?

Here are the seven steps you need to take, to start your own business on a shoe-string:

1. Start a Virtual Business: This means working from your home and all you need is a computer and internet connection. By creating a virtual business you can provide self-service for your clients and a centralized knowledge base for your employees (when you are ready to hire them).
2. Get FREE Open Source Applications: The cost to entry is very low; you don’t have to pay anything for them. A virtual business allows you to digitize your operations, and eliminate inefficiencies and duplicity.
3. Market Online: the marketing channels available today are endless! Social media, blogs, forums, articles, and on and on…and all for FREE!
4. Sell Globally: Overnight, your virtual business will give you access to clients all over the world, and you don’t have to spend an extra penny trying to get them.
5. Install Virtual Communication Channels: Setting up your virtual business with virtual phones, faxes, chats, etc (by the way, most of them for free or at very little cost) , will help you communicate with your clients and vendors from the comfort of your own home.
6. Be Up and Running in Days, or Even Hours: A virtual business allows you to have your business up and running in no time. You no longer have to worry about borrowing funds to cover rent, utility bills, furniture or any of those old world necessities
7. Manage Your New Virtual Business Remotely: You no longer have to worry about daycare, or nannies, or missing that important school field trip. A virtual business will allow you the freedom to run your business and have a life too!

Now, there is nothing holding you back. Figure out a profitable niche market; get your virtual systems in place, and hopefully you will be the next FedEx, GE, or even MTV! To help you out, I wrote a FREE REPORT: “New Business Success Is All About Merging Your Offline & Online Systems…Learn How to Leave Your Competition in the Dust!” … visit the Virtual Business Dashboard and get your FREE report.

Recession Proof Your Business Now!

On Oct 7, 2009 The New York Times published a Small Business Guide to getting government contracts.

There are many federal contracting opportunities for small businesses, but to take advantage of them you have to know the ins and outs of the government’s contracting rules and regulations. Of the more than 20 million small businesses in the United States, only about 500,000 are currently in a position to do business with the federal government. That’s not because they are the only ones capable of doing the work; it’s because they know how to get the work.

Continue Reading: “Getting Government Contracts”

Recession Proof Your Business Now!

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Recession Proof Your Business!

It is truly amazing how much money the government spends contracting with businesses.  At a time when companies are cutting back because of lack of business, the government is spending more than ever…nearly $500 Billion will be spent this year alone!

The U.S. government is required by law to award contracts to civilian businesses. Nearly 40% of all contracts MUST be given to SMALL businesses like yours.

If that is not enough:

• ALL federal purchases between $2,500 and $100,000 MUST be Set-Aside for Small Businesses
• The government is required by regulations to pay small business in 30 days.
• Federal agencies have a statutory obligation to reach out to small businesses and to purchase from them whenever possible.

Recession Proof Your Business!

Here are five steps to winning a government contract:

1. Understand the System: The government’s procurement process is not easy to navigate.  You have to become familiar with its rules and regulations.  The Federal Acquisitions Regulations is like a maze.  Before you start bidding on government contracts, you must learn this process first. 
   
   Don’t assume just because you are dealing with government it is not business as usual.  The government will look at your business organization and see if you are qualified to support a government contract.  Therefore, make sure you get your company in order before you start bidding.  Get your processes, staffing, financial status, track record and performance straightened out first.
2. Take Advantage of the Set Aside Programs: In 1994, The Federal Government passed the “FASA” or “Federal Acquisition Streamlining Act”. The goal was to simplify and streamline how the government purchased goods and services valued at less than $100,000. Under this act ALL federal purchases between $2,500 and $100,000 MUST be Set-Aside for Small Businesses

Additionally the set aside programs help:
• Women-owned businesses: A woman-owned business is one that is owned and controlled 51% or more by a woman or women.
• A small disadvantaged business: A small disadvantaged business is one that is 51% or more owned, controlled and operated by a person who is socially and economically disadvantaged. African Americans, Hispanic Americans, Asian Pacific Americans, Subcontinent Asian Americans, and Native Americans are presumed to meet this standard. Other entrepreneurs can qualify by showing, via a “preponderance of the evidence,” that they are disadvantaged.
• A veteran-owned business: This is a business that is owned 51% by a veteran.
• A service-disabled veteran-owned business: This business is owned 51% by one or more service-disabled veterans. The Veterans Administration confirms the disability.

3. Register as a Federal Contractor: To bid on government contracts, you need to register with the Central Contractor Registry (CCR). This is your company’s profile and the starting point for all government contracts.  This is where you make the best representation of your business and present your “brand”.
4. Find Bidding Opportunities: Learn to navigate the FedBiz Opps, Dibbs and Other Programs.  Become acquainted with each agency’s contact person, they are your greatest point of contact.  Attend the SBA’s “Business Matchmaking” events.  This is where small businesses can quickly meet with government and corporate procurement officers.  Business Matchmaking, is like a traveling road show of procurement opportunities.
5. Bid: The steps above will get you to the contracts, but you still have to bid, build credibility, and sell the government on the idea why your business is best qualified to win the contract.  Pitch your product or service…in other words; you have to sell it just like any commercial transaction.

Recession Proof Your Business!

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