How to Start a Business In a Week: Day 1

Posted on Mar 03, 2010

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If you’re an aspiring entrepreneur and you want to start a business, some of the biggest challenges you’ll face are: 1) knowing what to do; and 2) keeping your momentum.

This month, we’re outlining a program that lets you start a business in just one week! By just taking a few hours each day (in an evening if you’re currently working), it is possible to start a successful business in just one week. We’ll show you exactly what to do and by doing it in a week, you’ll easily maintain the momentum you need!

We’ll walk you step-by-step through the things you need to do each day and we’ll wrap up the month with some additional advice and pointers to show you how to make your business successful and to turn it into an empire!

START A BUSINESS IN A WEEK: DAY 1

Step 1: Figure out what you want to sell: Obviously a week is too short to set up a factory and start producing products, but in one week you can create a business that can sell some products or services and we’ll give you some ideas below.

The best place to start thinking about your business is with this piece of advice: “figure out what you love to do and then figure out how to make money from it.” To do this, take a piece of paper and fold it in half, listing in one column all of the things you’re interested in or can do well. It could include:

  • Hobbies
  • Interests
  • Passions
  • Activities you like to do
  • A work-related skill
  • Industry certifications you possess
  • A trick you’ve discovered or a technique you’ve developed

Once you have a big list, then move to the other column and list these products or services:

  • Ebooks
  • Coaching
  • Consulting
  • Ad-revenue
  • Outsourcing
  • Subscription-based information
  • Training
  • Help desk

These items are 8 popular and effective ways to monetize products or services.

And now, just mix and match! Perhaps you have a hobby that you can write an ebook about. Maybe you have an industry certification that you can offer pay-per-call help desk services for. Maybe you have a skill that you can train others in.

And that’s just the starting point. There’s no reason why you can’t select more than one monetization method. But at least you have some direction. You may need to narrow it down. If there are several that interest you, choose one and run with it (but keep the others in a safe place because you might want to repeat this process later).

Step 2: Do some research: Now it’s time to see what the marketplace is like.

  1. Go to Google and search for similar products or services. Take note of who is selling what, what the details of the product or service are, and how much they are charging. Record this in a big chart.
  2. Go to the Google Keyword Tool and type in some of the keywords related to your subject matter and industry. You’ll find new ways to search for competitors (so go back to Google and search again and add to your chart). You’ll also see what the comparative global search volume is for the subject (that gives you an approximate number of people who are looking for your product or service) and you’ll see how competitive advertisers are (which tells you how popular your product or service is based on how much advertisers are marketing those keywords). Take note of these keywords because they will play an important role in a few days.
  3. Go to Google Trends and type in some of your keywords to see what search trends are like on the topic. You might find that it is seasonal, or tied to the economy, or getting more popular, or getting less popular. Sometimes Google tags news items in the trend line, so read the news to see what is happening and how it’s affecting the trends. Your research here might prompt you to make adjustments to your product or service
  4. Do some reading, both in the subject matter of your product or service (that is, your hobby or your interest) and on the topic of your monetization method. Google these and see what people are writing about them. Just an hour or so of reading will give you a clearer picture of what’s going on online in these topics.

That’s enough for one day. Check back later to read what to do on day 2!

[photo credit: Joe Lanman]

Why WordPress is perfect for… Business owners

Posted on Feb 11, 2010

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We’re running a series of blogs this month called “Why WordPress is perfect for…” and we’ll be looking at various professions or business models and talking about how WordPress solves challenges and enhances opportunities for that group.

Today’s highlighted business model: Business owners

Businesses need to turn a profit. To do that, they need to reduce expenses and increase income. It sounds easy, but it isn’t. There is a lot to consider. Reducing expenses can mean cut-backs or diminished resources. Increasing income sometimes necessitates higher expenses in order to provide greater value.

But there is one place where business owners can reduce expenses and even provide greater value at a lower cost and that is through a WordPress website. A regular website can take months of development time and can cost thousands of dollars as the business owner and the developer go back and forth with tweaks. And any bug in the code (accidentally left there by the developer) may cost the owner extra in order to have it repaired!

On the other hand, a WordPress website is free. It only costs money to host (but that’s an expense that would have been paid even with a site developed in the method described above). And WordPress is extremely stable because it’s an open source system with a passionate ecosystem of developers. And, WordPress requires no design or knowledge of code or a web development team on speed dial. That’s because WordPress has thousands of available themes for users to choose from so they can configure their site the way they want.

For business owners who want to get a site up fast, at a low cost, and entrust it to be stable, WordPress is the best and most profitable choice.

Why WordPress is perfect for… Coaches

Posted on Feb 10, 2010

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We’re running a series of blogs this month called “Why WordPress is perfect for…” and we’ll be looking at various professions or business models and talking about how WordPress solves challenges and enhances opportunities for that group.

Today’s highlighted business model: Coaches

While some coaching services can be sold online, a majority of a coach’s work is based on the time they spend with their client. That could be over the phone, it could be in person, it could be one-on-one, it could be in groups. The bottom line is, most coaching is person-to-person.

So what’s their website for? A coaches’ website needs to start out as a place to demonstrate their skill-set in order to show potential clients their thought leadership and how they might help them. An organizational coach might want to blog about organizational tips; a productivity coach might want to blog about how to improve efficiency; a career coach might want to blog about how to get that next promotion.

From this blog, new clients will call coaches and book appointments and a coach’s schedule will fill up.

And that will work for many coaches as the primary way to earn their living. But there will come a point in many coaches’ careers when they realize that they are only working for the short-term and every client brings in a temporary cash flow but doesn’t do much for the long term health of the business.

At this point, the coach then looks at their site and how they might be able to develop more sales out of it. And two distinct ways they can do that include:

  • Selling information
    Offering a password-protected “membership” site

Offering these necessitates some basic rearranging of the coach’s site, perhaps bringing in a home page (instead of using the blog as a home page). Perhaps adding more resources and making their site a destination site.

These changes require flexibility. And a coach who buys a website that is designed and maintained by a web developer is at the mercy of the high priced web developer to transform the site and turn it from a blog into a website.

This is why WordPress is ideal: The coach whose practice is growing no longer has to rely on a web development team to do the job. The coach can do it themselves in an evening! With just some simple clicks on an easy-to-navigate dashboard, the coach can go from “small time” to “big time”!

Series: Why WordPress is perfect for… Entrepreneurs

Posted on Feb 04, 2010

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We’re starting a series of blogs this month called “Why WordPress is perfect for…” and we’ll be looking at various professions or business models and talking about how WordPress solves challenges and enhances opportunities for that group.

Today’s highlighted business model: Entrepreneurs

Ask any entrepreneur and they will tell you that starting a business is like traveling on a journey to an new place: You know what your destination is, and you might even have a map (a business plan) but you’ve never actually BEEN there until now. There could be wrong terms, the map might not always be right, or detours may force you off of your planned route. Being an entrepreneur is about more than just having a good idea; it’s about flexibility and scalability.

That’s why entrepreneurs love WordPress. WordPress is so flexible. If you’re selling blue widgets today but realize that your market demands red gadgets instead, you can switch easily without the help of a high priced web development team.

And, WordPress is scalable. You can start a small business in your spare time today and grow it into a massive enterprise over the years without needing anything other than a WordPress website. It grows with you, all while helping you maintain tight control over your site’s pages and posts. And, should you need to scale back, it’s easy to do: The edit function in the dashboard gives you power over every single page on your site.

Let’s not forget budgets! Entrepreneurs need to watch their expenses closely and WordPress – which is free – is a low-cost-but-incredibly-powerful way to create a web presence.

If you’re an entrepreneur, a serial entrepreneur, or an aspiring entrepreneur, a WordPress website is the perfect tool to grow your business.

Series: Why WordPress is perfect for… Freelancers

Posted on Feb 02, 2010

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We’re starting a series of blogs this month called “Why WordPress is perfect for…” and we’ll be looking at various professions or business models and talking about how WordPress solves challenges and enhances opportunities for that group.

Today’s highlighted business model: Freelancers

Freelancing is a great business model because it often costs relatively little to get into business and the longer you’re in business, the better. (Compare this to a manufacturer who has a high up-front cost to build a factory and prototypes and then has to continually innovate in order to stay competitive). As well, all you need to get started is usually the right software and a double-serving of talent. (Some courage and sales ability don’t hurt, either).

Freelancers don’t need a lot to get started, but the do need some kind of web presence. And, depending on their business, they may need a blog or a more conventional website, or both. And likely, they need to start with one and grow. One common way for freelancers to become more successful is to start with a blog, expand into a website, and then slowly grow passive income with the addition of products or commoditized services. This could take months. This could take years. This could be just one additional product. This could be hundreds of additional products.

While a flexible web presence is important, freelancers need to keep costs down; and since so much of freelancing is time-dependent, they also need to keep their non-revenue-generating time

For this continual scaling up of a web presence, WordPress is the perfect solution. It offers freelancers the opportunity to build whatever kind of web presence they need to start effectively, and then it gives them the ability to add to their web presence as their business grows.

And WordPress is fast. You can get a site online in no time and make changes as often as necessary with just a few clicks and absolutely no coding.

Not only that, but the variety of WordPress themes and plug-ins give freelancers an automatic credibility-building look with plenty of automated business-building tools. If you’re looking at getting into freelancing, or if you’re thinking about improving your web presence, WordPress is a choice to consider.

Should I have a website or blog or both?

Posted on Jan 26, 2010

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This is a question that we get asked from time to time. “Which one should I have — a website or a blog?”

Blogs are easy to create once and then can be left alone. They are static and they help to inform customers consistently. Blogs are dynamic, changing over time.

Static content can be indexed but Google favors constantly changing dynamic content. On the other hand, dynamic content can be time consuming.

With Wordpress, you don’t have to decide. You can have both. Every easily. Not sure where to start? Here’s what we would advise:

If you run a service-selling business, start with a blog to generate some search engine optimization and then slow add in other website-style pages (such as “About”, “Services”, “Contact”, etc.)

If you run a product-selling business, start with a website with an initial, compelling landing page and individual pages for each product. Later, add a blog to talk more about your products and how your customers are using them.

(This advice might not work for every business in every situation, but we find it to to be a good rule of thumb if you’re not sure and need to do something… and there are companies that break this “rule” and do very well). Eventually, a combination of a blog and a website is ideal. The website helps to sell products and the blog helps to engage customers and offers more SEO benefits.

The most important thing? Don’t let not knowing hold you back. The unknown can cause inaction and inaction is the biggest disruptor to business success. It’s better to start your business’ site and  go back to make adjustments than to wait until you’ve got the “perfect” plan.

Website owner’s manifesto

Posted on Jan 14, 2010

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You want an awesome website. Here’s what you need to do:

Pick a look and feel that reflects who you are and what you do. Don’t try to be something you’re not. Embrace your identity and make sure it’s reflected on your site.

Make your website work easy on yourself. Find a tool or system that works for you so you can engage your audience and spend less time on the technical side of your site. (That’s why we work with Wordpress but this is true for anyone, even if you choose another content management system).

Produce content. And then produce more content. Search engine love content. So do people. If that combination doesn’t alert you to the importance of content, I don’t know what will. Just create stuff that will engage your readers.

Stop it with the SEO “trickery”. Keyword stuffing, buying back links, it’s all nonsense. The real value of a website is in how much it sells for your business. By focusing on value first and SEO second (and avoiding SEO “tricks” altogether), you’ll decrease your overall readership but you’ll increase the value of the people who get to your site. Decreasing readership might seem counterintuitive but it is very important.

Freely add value. Add value for your audience. Freely give that value away and people will clamor to you for paid service. (Oh, and search engines love it, too).

Be consistent. If you blog. Blog regularly. If you have a page-based website, add content (or pages) frequently. Make sure all of your content reads the same and looks the same. If you refer to yourself as “I” on one page, don’t refer to yourself in the third person on another.

Don’t be afraid to link out. Some website owners don’t want to link out to other blogs because they are afraid someone will click away and not come back. Wake up call: If they click away, fine. If they don’t come back, your content wasn’t compelling enough. You are diminishing your value by not linking out. There’s a reason it’s called the “web”.

Engage your audience. Your website should engage people. It should make people want to come back again and again. It should stop people in their tracks. It should make them want to bookmark your site. Your audience should love to read what you have to say and should go back again and again to read more. They should forward it to their friends and relatives. They should talk about it on their websites. When you engage your audience, you will be rewarded.

How will this change your idea of running a website in 2010?

WordPress as the ultimate entrepreneur’s engine

Posted on Sep 30, 2009

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When we talk to “wannabe” entrepreneurs – those good people who wish they could start their own businesses but don’t know what to do – we keep hearing the same thing over and over:

“I just need ’something’ that can help me bring my idea to market.”

They know it will take work and investment and risk. But they need a way to deliver their products or services. They need an entrepreneurial engine in which the person and the idea and the raw materials go in one side and an entrepreneur with a business comes out the other side.

WordPress can be that entrepreneurial engine.

WordPress is an extremely flexible, scalable system that can do a lot – more than people first realize.

  • It can help to promote a new business with web content and blogs (which can all be search engine optimized)
  • It can help to automate the sales process by allowing the entrepreneur to create public and private pages along their sales funnel to enable delivery of products or services.
  • There are numerous plug-ins that can help turn a regular website into a real community of users.

We talk to a lot of people who need an extra push to become entrepreneurs. And WordPress can be that “oomph” that can make your entrepreneurial dreams come true.

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