2 Simple Concepts for Business Success

I was flying from Reno to Las Vegas a few months ago and had a great conversation with a man sitting next to me.  I don’t recall his name, only some key words of advice.  He was older – in his 60s probably – and had started many successful businesses.  I asked him for some tips.  His answer was so obvious, so simple, and so true.

He said that a successful business boils down to two concepts:

– Give people what they need to survive

What do people need?  The basics: food (his business), water, and shelter from the elements or predators.  Minor changes might include health care and related.  We really NEED nothing else to survive.  Not even love.

– Give people what they want

People want to be entertained, have contact with others, and a purpose in life.

Entertainment ranges from television to pornography, to sports and travel, music and art.  Why is a dumb little game like Candy Crush so addictive?  It is entertaining.  In fact, 30 percent of all data transferred across the Internet is porn.(1)  Why?  Entertainment.

Contact with others includes love, relationships, sex, the Internet, clubs, and similar.

Purpose is the hardest to define and very person-specific.  Some want money or work.  Others want to volunteer or teach or raise children.  People want a purpose in life.  A purpose to keep living.

Want to build and run a successful business?  Figure out how to satisfy either the want or the need. 

Starting a successful business really is that simple.

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• 17 Start-Up Founders Tell Us: What I Wish I Knew (thedailymuse.com)
• The One Thing You Must Do to Succeed in Business – and 6 Ways to Do It! (dbsquaredinc.wordpress.com)
• 5 Ways to Launch a Successful Online Business (mashable.com)

(1) http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/03/internet-porn-stats_n_3187682.html

Hot Home Business Ideas

Need some home business ideas to explore? This blog post by Catherine Clifford from Entrepreneur Magazine online has several ideas to consider.

From online shoe sales to virtual data rooms and  digital forensics, Clifford expands on 8 ideas from several industries.

The full article from Entrepreneur’s web site is below:

http://www.entrepreneur.com/blog/225693

Homepreneurs. New Day. New Opportunity.

Related articles

• Start a Home Business with an Idea and this Checklist (staples.com)
• Hit Your Home Business Goals By Following These Instructions (socialpoweredcontent.com)

Being Your Own Boss – Are You Really Serious?

Each year, I’m approached by hundreds of people who believe that they want to become their own bosses.

They are honest, hard-working people. But, many are not really ready to do what it takes to plan and launch a successful new business.

To help you examine your readiness to step upon the entrepreneurial path, I’ve created the following profile.

The Definition Of A Serious Entrepreneur
So, how do we define a “serious start-up entrepreneur”?

Here’s what we look for:

– Someone who can honestly say that they love the primary work activity involved in their chosen business concept. Eg. Selling landscape design.

– Someone who can demonstrate previous experience in successfully delivering this primary work activity, or who has a convincing plan to become trained to do so. Eg. Selecting and planting a variety of healthy landscape vegetation.

– Someone who knows (or will let us show her) the realistic expenses for her chosen type of business, and who has the resources and willingness to invest this dollar amount.

– Someone who is willing to be trained and coached in how to plan and run a small business.

– Someone who is prepared to commit at least ten hours of business planning time each week for as long as it takes to successfully launch their business.

– Someone who is committed to following their written business plan throughout their first year in business.

– Someone who has the courage to drive ahead when things don’t go right during their first year in business.

By Jeff Williams of BizStarters

Employee or Entrepreneur? Take the E-Quiz

They say that at any given time about seven million U.S. adults are trying to start new business ventures.

That is an awful lot of people who seem determined to become their own boss. Perhaps you have a couple of newly minted entrepreneurs among your friends.

How can you tell whether you are well suited to be your own boss?

It seems that people in the world of work can be categorized into one of two groups:

Type Emp – diehard employees
Type Ent – individuals with strong entrepreneurial yearnings

You can use the personality traits described below to see in which group you feel you belong.

Type Emp

These individuals are extremely loyal employees and often define themselves by their job title. Their personality traits include:

They avoid personal risk, relying upon their corporate organization to provide needed financial support.

They take great pride in providing well-developed and often highly specific skills.

They enjoy regular paychecks, paid holidays and vacations, health-care benefits and such perks as company cars and performance bonuses. Many today demand stock options in return for their loyalty.

They don’t generally like to assume the responsibility for profit and loss, to negotiate sales contracts or handle legal problems.
They prefer to focus on one project at a time and enjoy coordinating internal staff and resources.

They need to have outward signs of upward advancement and to be recognized by their superiors and peers for their talent.

How To Turn What You Know Into A Great Business

by Jeff Williams
Bizstarters.com

Often when I meet with groups of my peers to talk about the next steps in their lives, they mention that they’d love to try running their own business…but they aren’t confident that they have a good grasp of a business idea that can make money.

I’m pleased to tell them that virtually everyone walking around has the potential for at least one good business idea locked away in the knowledge they’ve stored in their brains.

It may not surprise you to find out that one of the five most popular categories purchased on the Web is “information products”.

These range from 5-page printed reports, to CD collections of information, to transcipts of live and telephone workshops, to digital books and guides, popularly known as “ebooks”.

Americans love to improve their current circumstances. The multi-billion dollar “self improvement” industry is built around the yearning to take ourselves to a better place in our lives via the acquisition of new knowledge and skills.

Read the rest…  http://www.bizstarters.com/knowtobiz.html