Business Beginner

Click Here to Buy on Amazon My Simple 10 Part System Create a lucrative and versatile digital media business for only $10 with this simple 10 Part System. You will also learn how to create incredible new professional opportunities for yourself and take your career to the next level!          Starting a business is always a very challenging endeavor. You take major financial risks, remove the safety net of a steady job, open yourself up to criticism, and sacrifice your personal life… without any guarantee of success. Around half of all entrepreneurs and startups will fail and many of those that remain standing will not make much of a profit. Despite the daunting risks and odds, more people than ever before are starting their own business in hopes of escaping the 9-5 workplace. The enormous costs associated with starting a business can be a huge barrier to entry though, which prevents many from taking the plunge. If only there was a business model that was afforda...

Creating and modifying eye-catching images is critical for small business owners and corporations alike. But not everyone can afford Adobe Creative Suite programs such as Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator for image creation and editing. And not everyone has the technical expertise to successfully utilize these programs for their business graphic design. Luckily for frugal entrepreneurs and smaller businesses, there are plenty of useful low-cost or free programs you can use to get the job done. While there are a lot of great options out there, in  this post I'll focus on five free image editing resources I've used often and recommended to several others. These programs won't make you a professional graphic designer but they'll usually help you to  get the job done for no cost. If it's free it's for me! 1)  Canva  With brand evangelist Guy Kawasaki on board with Canva you know it's a great website! You can create custom dimensions up to 5000 x 5000 pixels but...

One of the best definitions of startup businesses was coined by Paul Graham. He said that startups are companies designed to grow fast, and that’s the only characteristic that makes them different from other newly incorporated businesses.  Fast growth requires a clever growth strategy. Creating a viable strategy is not easy, but it is still the only way to avoid ending up in the 92% of startups that fail in the first three years of their existence. That’s why I've taken the business lessons I've learned and made this step-by-step guide that will make growth planning much less complicated and .  Step 1: Company & Market Evaluation  Before you start with growth planning, you need to do a lot of homework. Read about new market trends and study growth plans of rival companies that turn out successful . Although each growth plan is company-specific and unique, you should make use of all and applicable ideas you find during this research.  Researching your own busine...

So you want to be an entrepreneur?  Congratulations on deciding to join the hundreds of thousands of people who take that leap every year! You didn’t think you were one of the few, did you? Clearly there are a lot of experienced professionals talking about online entrepreneurship nowadays and are qualified enough to give you solid startup advice on how to be successful.  So here is what you need to pack in your business brain bag before you set off on your  entrepreneurial journey . These are just a few tips on how to get started.  1) Know The Odds The downside to businesses being so easy (relatively speaking) to start is that you’ve got a massive amount of competition. The majority of entrepreneurs, startups, and small businesses fail in their first year and even more in their second. The odds are against you even if you have a unique, well-executed, and resilient business. We don’t mean to scare you! But knowing this fact is important, so that you know exactly how...

Once you've reached a certain level of success you can leverage your influence to become a public speaker, columnist, author, or media personality. If you get really big you may even be considered a " Thought Leader " and have your pick of nearly any form of media available. Media outlets like radio, TV, podcasts, webinars, magazines, and newspapers will all be viable options when you've proven that you can generate and grow a large audience. Which media outlet(s) you choose will really depends on the niche you want to carve out for yourself as a media influencer and public personality. Podcasts Podcasts are excellent tools to promote yourself , grow your following, and cross-promote with other media personalities. If marketing gurus like Gary Vaynerchuk, Tim Ferriss, Grant Cardone, and Neil Patel do them every week you can bet they are effective! Obviously you can create a simple podcast early in your business process to use as a valuable tool for producing high qual...

The success of your business will often hinge on the quality and quantity of content that you can produce. You need to draw in web site visitors or prospects with unique media that will either entertain them, educate them, or provide value to them. The content that is available on the web is nearly infinite and increasing exponentially every week, so you'll need to produce plenty that will stand out. Here are some of the major free content production platforms and some tips for each one: Blog Business blogging is incredibly important and if your business is digital media content production then this is your bread and butter. Most free websites, including free WordPress or Blogger sites, allow you to easily create blog posts that are easily picked up in search engines like Google , Bing, and Yahoo. You have all the freedom in the world to create engaging content including essays, tutorials, news, opinions, product reviews, studies, and your personal brand.  A good way to start out...

Once you've enjoyed some success with your digital media business and generated some significant revenue there are some people that would like to launch a more traditional business venture. By "traditional" I mean opening a storefront, manufacturing a product, developing technology, starting a professional services corporation, opening an entertainment venue, or countless other business ventures. These days the traditional business model isn't always the most sought after path, especially if you have built a successful online enterprise. Huge expenses such as inventory, liability insurance, rent, property taxes, permits, payroll, employee health insurance benefits , and much more are not issues that most digital media businesses have to really worry about. But sometimes if you want to go big you'll need to take on the additional risks of increased overhead and liability.  Some common examples of more traditional business models that I've seen digital media in...

When you realize that some freelance writers make up to $200 per hour on average for ghostwriting articles, you may feel disappointed. With such rates, a writer can work only one hour per day and still make over $6000 in a month without making any sacrifices when it comes to home maintenance, friendships, and hobbies, or other business endeavors. When you think about your own writing routine, you realize that you have to work several hours per day if you want to make enough money to get you through the month. Your hourly rate gets higher as you gain experience and your clients gain confidence in your skills, but you’re still far from the average $60 per hour.  This is not an issue you’re facing alone. Freelance writing is an extremely competitive industry that is open to millions of international participants. This great flexibility offers many chances for people from all countries to make money, but it’s also a problem. Beginners and non-native English speakers accept l...

When you are a business owner, you have to constantly look for new, innovative ways to slash your costs. One of the best ways to do this is to look for ways to lower your energy bills. If you can reduce your energy costs, you can use the capital to grow your business and make it stronger. Here are five energy solutions you can implement to improve your business.  1. Use Energy-Efficient Electronics  If your business is using older electronics, you could be wasting a lot of energy. Most newer electronics are much more energy-efficient than their older counterparts. While it may cost you money upfront, in the long-run you will save money by lowering your energy bills when you buy new, energy-efficient electronic devices.  2. Install A Wind Turbine  One of the best ways that you can lower your company’s energy bills is to make the transition to renewable energy. If you install a wind turbine it can drastically reduce the amount of electricity that you have to purchase...

Exceeding business goals can be a real challenge, whether it's sales targets or production quotas. Most business objectives have been carefully calculated, and processes for realizing them have to pass through many hands. People tend to rely on their gut instincts and take gambles, or put in long hours that leave them exhausted. But given each quarter is a three-month window for improvement, the adage " work smarter , not harder" applies. Here are 5 tips to exceeding quarterly goals that you should explore from day one.  1. Get a Data-driven Quarterly Projection  Don't base your plans on guesses or sheer optimism. Your first step should be utilizing historical data to get some scheduling expectations based on past performance for all involved teams and departments. Analyze instances of both what went wrong and what worked. Come up with some "what if" solutions that make sense for sustaining momentum, and get managers on board. Try to come up with day-by-day...