Virtual Business: A step-by-step video that describes the benefits of building a virtual business and the consequences of not doing so.

A question I get all the time is “Why Should I Bother Starting a Virtual Business Instead of the Traditional Small Business?”

The answer is because it’s the new economy.  We are connecting everything to everything.  If you don’t take your company virtual, and continue the old way of doing business, you will pretty much be putting yourself out of business.

The reason virtual businesses are here to stay is because the internet has impacted the way we do business forever: 

1. You can do business globally almost instantaneously.  Nothing, absolutely nothing has leveled the playing field as the internet has.
2. With a click of a mouse, you can now be competing with the largest corporations on the planet and thrive. If your business is not virtual; you have just taken yourself out of the competition.
3. You can narrow; service and dominate a niche market at a pace, professionalism and profits unheard of before the raise of the internet.

This means you can be the next Amazon, or Google.  After all, both companies were started by a couple of guys working out of their garage, or in Google’s case, out of their basement.

The benefits of starting, managing and growing a virtual business are endless:

• You can work from home. 
• You can have time to spend time with your kids. 
• Or do what you enjoy most. 
• You can hire people from any place around the globe. 
• You can look and act like a big business. 
• You can thrive in the global markets. 
• Your overhead expenses will be low
• By keeping your expenses low, you can maximize your business profits. 
• You can literally start a virtual business with little to no money.

As you can see, with a virtual business, all you need is a computer and internet access to get you going.

You can see an example of a real sustainable, successful virtual business at groupbenefitagency.com

Anyone can start a virtual business in minutes!  You don’t need major start up capital.  You don’t need investors.  You don’t need to risk months or years trying to break even.  You don’t even have to gamble your savings.  

Visit Virtual Business Dashboard to get the "20 Insider Secrets for Starting Your Own Virtual Business on a Shoestring" and a video of "The Best Business to Start in This New Economy".

Just visit Virtual Business Dashboard

Virtual Business A step-by-step video describing the best way to start a business with little to no money. You do not need major investments, borrow funds or risk your savings!

A question I get all the time is “How Can I Start My Own Business on a Shoe-String?”

The answer is go virtual The reason I prefer a virtual business is because:

1. You can get free open source applications that make it easy and inexpensive to start a sophisticated and sustainable business
2. You can launch fast and aggressive online marketing campaigns at little to no cost
3. You can be up and running and start selling globally in little to no time

This means you can work from anyplace, at anytime, at any pace. All you need is a computer and internet access to get you going.

The benefits of starting, managing and growing a virtual business are endless. Here are some of the top reasons:

1. You can work from home, no more babysitters or missed golf games
2. No more giving up your personal life to run a business. You can schedule your day and your work around what matters most to you.
3. You can hire people from any place around the globe
4. You can have virtual employees on a per need basis. No more worrying about payroll, benefits and the endless requirements of running a full-time workforce
5. Your overhead expenses will be low since most of your business will be digitized
6. You will maximize your business profits. By lowering your daily expenses, you get to keep more of what you earn
7. The risk is much lower than a traditional small business. You don’t have to lock yourself into long term leases, furniture, equipment and the endless requirements of a small business start up.

The secret then, to starting a Business on a Shoestring, is to start a virtual business. You don’t need major start up capital. You don’t need investors. You don’t need to risk months or years trying to break even. You don’t even have to gamble your savings.

To be honest, many people go into business and realize that running a business is not for them. With a virtual business, your initial investment is so low, that even after you launched a business, if you realize it is not for you; walking away from it will not break the bank. Compared to a traditional small business venture, you would have lost very little trying out your new venture.

You can see an example of a real sustainable, successful virtual business (100% virtual and paperless) at www.groupbenefitagency.com

Visit  the Virtual Business Dashboard to get the "20 Insider Secrets for Starting Your Own Virtual Business on a Shoestring" and a video of "The Best Business to Start in This New Economy".

Just visit Virtual Business Dashboard

Virtual Business: If you would like to start your own profitable virtual business at little to no cost, I have put together a step-by-step training, showing you exactly how to do it.

The biggest question I get all the time is “What kind of virtual business should I start in this new economy?”

The answer is go green.

The reason I prefer a green virtual business is because:
 

1. You can set up an entire virtual business (also known as eBusiness) at little to no cost. 
    
2. According to Entrepreneur.com, Green Power is one of the 10 hottest trends to watch for.
    
3. Government contracts now have a proposed five percent "Green Contracting Goal", giving you an unfair advantage to position your business to win government contracts fast.

By setting up a sophisticated virtual business at little to no cost, you’ll get a real sustainable business.  You can start selling your green products or services right away for thousands of dollars and without the expensive overhead or huge high-risk initial investment capital typical of small business start-ups.

The secret then to starting a "Low Cost, High Profit Green Business" for this new economy…is to start a virtual business.  You don’t need start up capital.  You don’t need to spend months, if not years chasing bank loans, business angels, government agencies, grants or other funding options.

In this new economy, not only is it hard to access funding, but most sources will want you to have a proven business before they give you any money.   Or, as you may well know by now, your friendly banker will want all your personal assets as collateral.  Not to mention, the weeks if not months wasted chasing funds you may never get.

Therefore, here are the seven steps you need to take, to start your own green virtual business on a shoe-string:

1. Pinpoint a profitable niche market
2. Split test potential products and services in your niche market, before creating them.
3. Set up your virtual back-office processes.  Use mainly FREE open source applications.  This makes the cost to entry very low.
4. Market online.  Use social media, blogs, forums, articles, and other free marketing channels.
5. Sell globally.  By launching a virtual business, overnight you will have access to clients all over the world.
6. Install virtual communication channels.  Set up virtual phones, faxes, chats, etc.  Most of them for free or at very little cost.
7. Be up and running in days, or even hours and manage your new virtual business remotely.

As you can see, with a virtual business, all you need is a computer and internet access to get you going.

You can see an example of a real sustainable, successful green virtual business (100% virtual and paperless) at www.groupbenefitagency.com

Now, if you’d like to start your own virtual business, whether for a green product or not; I have put together a multimedia training, showing you exactly how to implement and manage a virtual business. 

To make it easier for you, I took away all that geek speak and show you step-by-step on how to use and implement these technologies without getting into all of those super crazy esoteric instructions.  I pretty much took away the pain of all those things you don’ t need to know and I just narrowed down to the things that are going to get you the quickest results the fastest so you can start making more money in less time. 

Just visit www.VirtualBusinessDashboard.com

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.

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.

It is no secret baby boomers are flocking to start-up new businesses. Unfortunately in the new economy, business success is about merging your offline and online systems…but baby boomers come from an offline world! So what is a baby boomer to do? Here comes the virtual business strategy.

Before we go over what a virtual business strategy is, let’s discuss the three main reasons this trend is taking place. First some baby boomers got hit the hardest with the downturn of the economy and now they have to start over again. Second, many of them are empty-nesters and now they have time to do what they love. Lastly, a lot of them can financially afford it, since they no longer have the expenses of mortgages, kids, college and other financial responsibilities.

Regardless of the reason, the fact of the matter is, baby boomers are starting businesses faster than any other age bracket. According to a 2009 Kauffman Foundation Study: “Contrary to popularly held assumptions, it turns out that over the past decade or so, the highest rate of entrepreneurial activity belongs to the 55-64 age group. The 20-34 age bracket, meanwhile, which we usually identify with swashbuckling and risk-taking youth (think Facebook and Google), has the lowest rate.”

This is a very interesting statistic. However, because the main difference between baby boomers and the younger generation is the use of technology, baby boomers will have to catch up very fast if they are to succeed. Therefore if baby boomers learn to adapt to the new way of doing business, combined with their years of knowledge, this may actually be the greatest entrepreneurial trend this country has ever seen.

Why is it so important to morph your small business into a virtual business; or to start a new business with a virtual business strategy? Well, in the current economy, businesses are getting massacred with overhead expenses, lack of funding, relentless competition, changes happening faster and faster, and a global economy. Therefore, the benefits of a virtual business are endless.

Here are the 7 top virtual business strategies:
1. The cost to entry is very low. A virtual business can be set up using mainly free open source applications.
2. It makes you more efficient. Once the virtual business systems are in place, you eliminate a lot of inefficiencies and duplicity.
3. It makes your more effective. You can accomplish in minutes what used to take you hours, maybe even weeks.
4. You can expand your market globally.
5. You can have employees, vendors and clients located just about in any place in the globe and manage them from the comfort of your home.
6. You can be up and running in a few days, if not hours. Once you understand how to set up the virtual business applications (and you don’t even need to know programming), you can have your business totally live in minutes. No offices to rent, no long term leases, no furniture to buy, no expensive utility bills!
7. You can run your virtual business remotely (even in between golf games). You can accomplish this by either having virtual assistants that run your daily operations or by simply managing your clients from your Blackberry or laptop

…it really does not get any easier than that!

I’d love to hear from some entrepreneurs who started a business at age 50+. What challenges did you confront? What is it a good move? Are you happy or do you regret it? What would you have done differently? Please post your comments below.

Planning for the future takes time. 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.

Many of you must be wondering what a Virtual Business is. Before I explain how a Virtual Business works, it is important to understand why small business owners fail to build valuable companies. It is no secret most small business owners spend years building their operations. Unfortunately, very few realize they built a company that cannot be sold until it is too late. As business owners, we are usually confronted with this situation during a time of crisis, such as a personal tragedy, owner burnout or a health problem.

The reason most small business owners fail to build a valuable company is because they fail to see their business as an asset. They grow it by getting caught up in the mechanics of running the daily operations until they become the business themselves. In other words, they fail to build a process driven rather than an owner driven business. This is where implementing a virtual business comes into play. You see…

Most of us start a small business:
• To have independence
• To make money
• To be successful
• To have pride
• To create a better life
• To stop struggling paying bills
• To have nice things

But few of us start with the “end” in mind, in other words, with the “exit” strategy. The day when we will have to transfer, sell or close our small business. Therefore, to build a valuable business, it is best to build a virtual business with a “wealth creation” mentality, rather than a “job replacement” one. How then, can a virtual business help us build a valuable business?

The value of a small business goes up in accordance to how efficiently it operates and how financially transparent it is. Its value grows as well, when an owner-manager becomes less central to the daily operations of the business. The reason is because the business survival is no longer dependent on the presence of the owner-manager to continue its existence. This makes it easier to find investors and potential buyers when the time to “exit” the business comes.

The least expensive way to build a transparent and highly effective business is by implementing processes and digitizing operations. This is where the virtual business strategy comes into play. Building a virtual business simply means merging your offline and online systems. The virtual business allows employees, vendors, and customers to communicate and coordinate more efficiently, without the required presence of the owner-manager at all times. By implementing processes, digitizing operations and implementing a virtual business strategy, a small business is not only ready to be sold or transferred at any time, but its value also increases.

Again, planning for the future takes time. 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.

You may have noticed the word “Twitter Patted” in Twitter lately? At first, I had no idea what it meant but according to the Urban Dictionary, Twitter Patted or twitterpated’s definition is:

• Complete and immediate infatuation with someone or something that occurs in the onset of Spring; giddy excitement rooted in the physical. After meeting a potential romantic partner, the overwhelming physical desire and excitement to see them again
• The way you feel when you really like someone but you just dont know how to explain how you feel.
• Complete and immediate infatuation with someone or something that occurs in the onset of Spring; giddy excitement rooted in the physical.
• An enjoyable disorder characterized by feelings of excitement, anticipation, high hopes, recent memories of interludes, giddiness, and physical overstimulation which occur simultaneously when experiencing a new love. These feelings take over without warning, usually at odd times (such as at a check-out line), with or without the partner present, and make it difficult to concentrate on anything but romance. They interfere with work and safe driving, but should be experienced at least once in every person’s lifetime.

There you have it. Twitterpatted basically means to be eagerly enthusiastic, aroused or infatuated with a person, place or thing…have you been feeling twitterpatted lately?

Learn How to Unleash the Power of Twitter

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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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