Small Business Ideas: Sell T-Shirts Online Without Keeping Inventory

by with No Comment Entrepreneurship

Most times when we talk about starting an online business most times people only think of selling digital products online. The idea of selling physical products never cross their minds.

But that shouldn’t be so.

In fact, with the improvement and growth in ecommerce, you can build an online shop and sell physical products on your online store without carrying any form of inventory!

In this post I want to share with you a video guide on starting an online business selling t-shirts.

Why t-shirts?

It will interest you to know that the demand for t-shirts online has grown greatly in the last few years. One of the pioneers in this industry, Teespring, now ship about 17 million t-shirts yearly. Besides, the online t-shirt industry is quoted as being around $3.7 million per year.

This is indeed good indicators for anyone who wants to start an online business. And with the many popular print-on-demand companies that you can turn to to get started, this is one online business you’d want to look into.

That’s why I have decided to share this video with you. Hope you get some ideas from it.

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Alright, here’s the video guide:

How to Start an Online T-Shirt Business (Video Transcript)

Not only are they a classic piece of casual wear, but t-shirts are a blank canvas for artists and entrepreneurs alike. Because of this, selling t-shirts online has become a very popular business choice. The good news is that online t-shirt stores are relatively inexpensive and quick and easy to set up. The bad news is competition will be stiff and the margins can be small so in order to be successful with your new t-shirt brand, you have to make the right decisions from the get go.

In this video, we’ll go through the entire process of starting an online t-shirt business. We’ll go over strategy, t-shirt and print quality, as well as creating and mocking up your designs. And then we’re going to show you step by step the easiest – most cost effective way to get your online t-shirt store up and running – without having to deal with any upfront inventory costs, minimum orders, or even shipping and fulfillment.

Now, I’ll be starting a store from scratch so I can show you just how easy it is to get up and running – here’s a quick peek at what the final product will look like. So follow along and by the end of this video, you too will have created a beautiful online t-shirt store – even if you have no design or coding experience.

Okay, There’s a lot to cover in this video, so if you’ve already thought about your strategy, tshirt quality and design – you may want to skip ahead to one of the following sections: And for those of you just starting out, let’s get started with some strategy and the key areas you’ll want to focus on to ensure you build a solid brand that stands out from the competition.

Great, let’s get started.

Niche – You hear the term get tossed around a lot, but nowhere is it more important to choose a niche than in the graphic t-shirt industry. In general, broad categories like t-shirts with funny slogans are going to be challenging to gain traction for right away because there’s so much competition online. You’re going to want to tighten it up a little more.

An example of a more specific niche would be t-shirts with funny slogans that relate specifically to fitness.

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Design – The majority of people that are purchasing graphic tees are looking for designs, graphics and slogans that connect with them and reflect their opinions and personality. Your designs don’t necessarily need to be complex, in fact many of the best selling graphic tees are very simple, however, they do need to connect with your audience and stand out.

Quality – Another extremely important factor in the success and sustainability of an online t-shirt business is quality. You can fool someone once, but you can’t fool them twice. The quality of the shirts you use and the prints needs to be good quality. A pattern that fades and cracks or a t-shirt that shrinks and rips won’t create raving fans that come back and repurchase.

Let’s dig a little deeper into t-shirt and print quality. So, T-Shirt Quality. Not all t-shirts are the same and not all print jobs are the same, so it’s important to educate yourself and choose your blank shirts wisely. It will always be tempting to sacrifice on quality for higher profit margins but you need to consider how the quality will affect customer’s decisions to share your brand and repurchase in the long run.

Now, quality t-shirts encompass several factors, including fit, sizing, material, softness, and weight. A great starting point for determining which blank t-shirt to use is to check out T-Shirt Magazine Online’s review of some of the most popular blank t-shirts for printing.

We’ve linked to this in the description of this video. Once you narrow down your choices, we suggest you order each of the t-shirts yourself to make an informed final decision.

T-Shirt Printing Quality – In this day and age, there are three popular methods for printing designs onto t-shirts. Each method has its pros and cons, and will partially depend on how much time you want to invest into the product creation, as well as the printing partner you choose.

One of your options is screen printing, which is an old technique that has stood the test of time. As one of the most popular methods for printing onto t-shirts, screen printing can produce durable and long lasting results. However, a labor intensive initial setup means screen printing is most cost effective when printing in bulk.

Screen printing also poses issues when it comes to complex designs or designs with more than four to five colors as each color increases costs and production time.

Another printing method is Heat transfers and heat transfers have also been around for a long time and exist in several forms. You may have even seen basic heat transfer paper at your local office supply store. Although these make it easy to print your designs from your home computer and transfer them with an iron, these won’t cut it when it comes to running a business.

The more advanced form of heat transfers are called plastisol transfers and are printed by professional printers on special, high quality heat transfer paper. The advantage of this is being able to order a stack of prints from your local printer and transfer them to your t-shirts as you receive orders with a commercial heat press machine.

Heat transfers can produce full-colour images onto t-shirts relatively easily and quickly.

The final technique for printing is the direct-to-garment printing process, which operates much like a ink-jet printer you would have at home. The printer prints ink directly onto the t-shirt and can produce full color images with accuracy.

Direct-to-garment printing produces quality printing on par with screen printing and better than heat transfers. Because it operates just like an ink-jet printer, there are no setup costs. This means that it’s easy and cost effective to print small orders.

The major disadvantage however is the lack of volume discount for large orders, as it takes the same amount of time to print each shirt.

So which option is best for your business?

Well, like we said, it all depends on your unique situation. However, for a lot of new online t-shirt businesses, it will be tough to sell a large volume of shirts immediately, which makes screen printing too pricey and although heat transfers allow you to print on demand – it is time consuming and generally of lower quality.

So Direct to Garment may be your best bet. Alright, let’s talk about T-shirt design.

Now, if you already have a design, feel free to skip ahead.

Creating your designs – Once you have some ideas for t-shirts you’ll have to actually design them. Now, if you have Photoshop or similar programs you can try producing some simple designs yourself – however if you’re like most people, you will likely need to enlist some help. A great place where you can find a design community with loads of unique talent is on dribble. Search for the style you’re looking for and message the designers you like to see if they’re available for freelance projects.

Additionally, if you can’t find a designer, there are also options to purchase pre-made designs. We suggest taking a look at the t-shirt marketplaces Designious and T-Shirt Factory, which we’ve linked to below this video. Although you’ll want to keep in mind that if you choose to go this route, there’s a high likelihood that other people are already selling the design, making it harder for you and your brand to stand out.

You may also want to check out general graphic design marketplaces like Creative Market and Graphic River but keep in mind if you plan to sell your t-shirts, you’ll need to purchase a commercial license.

Mocking up your designs – Once you have some final designs, your next step will be to get some mockup images of them on actual t-shirts. Your customers are going to want to actually see what the final design will look like printed on a shirt. The easiest way to do this is to use a free web-based T-shirt mockup tool. These tools allow you to quickly preview how your designs will look printed on a t-shirt.

Head over to “ShirtMockUp.com” or “Theprintful.com/generator” to give it a try. And for those of you who are comfortable using Adobe Photoshop, you can also make use of the abundance of photoshop-t-shirt templates you can find online. Most Photoshop templates come with multiple layers that allow you to change the colour of the shirt and apply your own design that will blend with the creases and folds of the shirt. I’ve linked to a few of these in the description of this video.

Validating your designs – Before you spend a lot of money on your new business idea, you should first verify that there is a market for your designs. There are a number of ways you can do this. The first thing you can do is post some of your designs to facebook, twitter, and other social networks your friends and potential customers are a part of to see if there might be some interest.

Be careful asking friends however, their opinions will usually be biased because they want to support you.. Now, a great place to go to get some unbiased feedback for your designs is reddit. The unique thing about reddit is that there are thousands of category specific subreddits, so it’s easy to find a highly targeted niche of potential customers.

To find relevant subreddits, simply use reddit’s search feature and type in your keywords of choice. From there you can ask them first hand their thoughts on your designs before launching.

Kickstarter and other crowd-funding websites have also made it much easier to test, validate, and collect money upfront for your new business idea. Launching a crowdfunding campaign can be time consuming and requires a good deal of preparation, however, the benefits can be huge, which include fully funding your project before you have spent a dime.

Those are just a few methods you can try to validate your t-shirt ideas, however with ecommerce platforms like Shopify, it’s never been easier to set up a fully functional online store in a matter of minutes to validate your business idea. Additionally, we think the easiest and most practical way to get your online t-shirt business started is by integrating your store with an online, on-demand, printing and fulfillment service.

These services are incredibly convenient and allow you to set up your online t-shirt store without any risk. They offer a wide variety of t-shirts you can print on, there are no set up costs, no minimum orders, and you don’t need to hold inventory. You simply upload your T-shirt artwork, and the type of shirt you want them to print on and when you receive an order, they print your shirt, and send it directly to your customer.

The great thing is, the customer has no idea you’ve used this type of service, because you’re able to customize the return address and include your branding in the packaging.

Also, if you’re using Shopify – there are several of these services in our app store, that connect directly to your ecommerce store. This means that once a shirt is ordered from your online store – it will be automatically created, and shipped to your customer. I’ve linked to a few of these providers in the description of this video but for now let’s head over to Shopify.com and sign up for a free trial so we can show you just how easy it is to get your t-shirt business up and running with one of these services.

So, for those of you who don’t know, Shopify is a fully hosted, turnkey, ecommerce solution that allows you to easily setup and run your own beautiful store on your own domain. I’m going to quickly start a new store from scratch, so I can walk you through the set up process.

Btw, if you don’t have a Shopify account you can get a 14-day FREE trial account by clicking here. This will give you the opportunity to follow along with this training and of course have try this out right away!

The first thing I will cover is how to sync your store with an on demand printing and fulfillment service, and then I’m going to show you how to add products, and customize the look and feel of your store.

To start, we’ll type our email into the box there and hit get started. Then we’ll create our password and the name of our store. If you’re following along and haven’t decided on a name for your store yet, don’t worry you can easily change your store name later. Okay, so it just takes a few moments to create your store. Great, so Shopify wants to know where we would like to sell, let’s focus on an online store for now.

Let’s quickly add our address to set up our shop’s currency. Okay, so Shopify wants to know a little bit more about our plans. “Are you already selling?”. And we haven’t started selling products yet so I’ll tick that off. and how much revenue does your business currently make in a year. We’re starting from scratch so I click $0.

Okay so now that we’ve created our online store, we’ll find ourselves within the shopify admin dashboard and it’s best to think of the dashboard as the control center for all the operations we’ll perform on our shopify store.

Now, I want to get right into showing you how to integrate with a on-demand, printing and fulfillment service so let’s jump right into it – but if you’re looking to go into more detail with starting your shopify store, we have another great tutorial video that shows you how to get up and running in more detail. I’ve linked that video in the description of this video.

Okay, let’s get started.

So the first thing we’re going to do is head to the shopify app store. To do this, we’ll click on the “apps” tab on the left panel and then we’ll select “visit the app store”.

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So the Shopify App store has 100s of apps that can extend the functionality of your shopify store in categories ranging from marketing, shipping, sales and customer service.

Now, we’re looking for a pretty specific type of app, so let’s narrow our results by searching for the word “t-shirt”. As you can see there are currently 6 available apps that appear in the search results for “T-shirt”, you can take a look at each of them and read what they have to offer as well as look at customer reviews.

For this tutorial, we’re going to take a look at printful. Okay so like we said – No upfront costs, they offer personal branding – so it looks like you sent it and no manual orders – everything is automatically sent to printful. If we scroll down we can see, they offer a variety of t-shirts, American Apparel, Gildan and Anvil. They also offer Sweatshirts, posters, mugs and a whole bunch of other products if you’d like to branch out. They also offer 20% off and free shipping if you’d like to order samples of your t-shirts and the conveniently provide you with mock up images that you can use in your shopify store.

They even have some pre-written product descriptions you can use – although we suggest creating your own. Alright, let’s go ahead and add the app and it will bring us to the signup page, where we’ll want to create an account.

I’ve already created an account so I’ll be brought directly to my Shopify page where, I’ll want to install printful. Once you’ve created account as well, you will be redirected here. Okay so our store is now synced with printful, and we haven’t added any products to our store so we won’t see anything here quite yet.

In the blue box, we can see that printful wants to make sure we follow their print guidelines. Let’s click on that link. Here we can see more information on the t-shirts and pricing they offer. If we scroll down we can see the variety of shirts and sweaters they offer and if we click on the image, we can see all the colours that are offered, as well as a description and sizing information.

If we click on the retail prices tab we can see how much each shirt will cost. And these prices are what you pay for the shirt and the print. The American Apparel 2001 T-shirt costs you $16 and if you sell your t-shirt at $26 you will profit $10. Of course, you decide how you want to price your t-shirt so you determine your own profit margins.

If we click on the shipping tab we can see the rates for the USA, Canada and the rest of the world. Just like pricing, it’s up to you to you to decide if you want to offer free shipping on your products or if you want to adjust your shipping rates according to the printful rates. We’ll dig into this in more detail shortly.

If we click on the mockups tab, we can download some apparel mock ups and they also point you in the direction of some other mock up tools that we mentioned earlier like shirtmockup.com. And if we click on the guidelines tab – we can get some instruction on the details of the print file we need to include. We can very easily download these files and work along with them, but if we want to get started quickly, we can click on the mockup generator from the top menu.

So this feature allows you to generate a t-shirt mockup and print file very easily. The first thing we can do is pick our t-shirt brand. We’re going to print on American Apparel Tees, so I’ll select that.

The next thing we’ll do is pick our t-shirt colour. And then we can upload our artwork. Once it’s uploaded we can adjust, where we want it to appear on our T-shirt. center the file by clicking the center button, or adjust the size of our graphic by using the slider bar. When we’re ready we can click to proceed to the file generator and click to generate the mockup and printfile. And it will just take a few moments. And We can now download these files.

Great, now let’s quickly set up our billing information so we can get all synced up with Shopfiy. There are few options and we’re going to go with the default payment method. Now, if your printful account is connected with your Shopify store, all you have to do is add a credit card and any new shopify orders will automatically be added to printful and your credit card will be automatically charged for them.

No manual order submission required. Okay, let’s head over to our Shopify store – and we’re going to add our first t-shirt to our store. To do this we’ll click the products tab and select add product.

Let’s name our Shirt Just below that we can add our product description. You’ll want to take some time to craft a proper product description but we can always change this later.

Type: T-Shirt

Vendor: Shopify

And let’s make sure we add this to the frontpage collection, which means the product will be featured on our home page. And Images. This where we can upload our T-shirt mock ups, or if we have any shots of our products on models or anything like that. For now, let’s just add the mockup file that printful created for us. Okay price. I’ll just go with $30 for now.

Since we plan to print on demand, we don’t need to track inventory. And this product has multiple options. So we’ll need to add the weight of our product for when we set up our shipping rates. We’ll get into this in more detail but for now, I’m going to say that our t-shirt weighs kilograms. Variants, this is where we can add our different shirt sizes. And we’ll just type in the sizes we offer and separate them with a comma.

Okay, let’s hit save product. And our product has been successfully created. So now, we’ll want to sync our t-shirt with printful. Let’s hit this handy button on our top bar and select “edit on printful”. And as we can see our Shirt has been synced and it is showing the sizes we added. What we can do now is add our printfile, and let printful know what type of shirt and size we would like them to print on.

Product Type, T-Shirt. Brand: We’re going to go with American Apparel and the model, we’ll go with the very popular 2001, fine jersey sleeve men’s t-shirt.

The size for this one will be small, and the colour black. We can now add our printfile by selecting “front print” and clicking upload file – and then we’ll locate the printfile we generated and downloaded and click the image to confirm. We also have the option to add a back print or outside label at an additional cost. We can also add the mockup we created. Let’s go ahead and do that. It will just take a few seconds to upload – and again we’ll click the image to confirm. Then we will hit done – and repeat the process for the additional sizes. As you can see all the info is conveniently filled out and we simply have to change the size of the shirt.

I’ll just adjust our large shirt as well. Great, so our t-shirt is all synced up with printful and ready to go. Now let’s take a look at adding our branding to the packages printful ships out to our customers. So, printful is completely white label, which means you will not see their name or branding anywhere and they make it very easy to add our branding to their packages. To do this we’ll head to “settings” from the top tab, select stores from the left tab and then click edit. So here we have the option to add our branding sticker.

Follow printful’s size and quality guidelines, and at no extra cost you can easily add your logo to all your packages. Additionally you can add some custom text to your packing slips by filling out the custom packing slip message right here and you also have the option to change your return address, although printful recommends that you keep their address as the return address.

Okay great, so now that we’re all synced up with printful, let’s head back to our shopify admin dashboard and quickly set up our payments and shipping rates.

To set up payments, we’ll head to settings and then select payments. Okay, so for our users in the UK, US and Canada, our Shopify stores have automatically been set up with Shopify payments, which allows us to start accepting payments from all major credit cards instantly. All we have to do is click to “complete shopify payments account setup and fill out the relevant information. And for our users outside of the UK, US, and Canada, don’t worry – Shopify has integrated with over 70 different payment partners so there are plenty of hassle free options available.

Additionally, as soon as we open our Shopify store, we will be set up with a Paypal Express Checkout account with the email we used to sign up for our Shopify Store. As soon as we receive our first order through PayPal Express Checkout, Paypal will send us an email that contains the link and instructions to complete our Paypal account set-up and claim our funds. Alright, let’s setup our shipping rates and to do this we’ll select the shipping tab on our left panel.

Okay, so like we said before it’s entirely up to you how you want to set up your shipping rates. You may decide you want to offer free shipping to your customers, or even build the shipping prices into the cost of your shirt. We have some great resources that can help you get a shipping strategy in place that I will link to in the description of this video. But for now, we’ll show you an easy, and safe way to set up your shipping rates, so that they match the rates that printful will charge you.

Let’s pull up Printful’s shipping rates for reference. So you can see they have different rates for the USA, Canada and Worldwide shipping. We’ll set up our Canadian rates first, because that is where we are located. So our first t-shirt will cost $and each additional shirt will cost $1.00. So we’ve already been set up with some standard shipping rates – but these won’t do us much good since we want to match printful’s rates.

So let’s get rid of the heavy goods shipping. And let’s open up the standard shipping and customize it. Let’s set up a shipping rate for if our customer orders 1 t-shirt. So, the first thing we’ll want to do is change our criteria to “based on weight”.

Now, if you remember we put the weight of our t-shirt at 0.5kg. so we’ll put our range 0.0kg – kg. And we’ll set the shipping price to $as per Printful’s rates. Now we can hit save and our shipping rates for orders of a single t-shirt have been set. So next we’ll want to set up a rate for customer’s who order 2 t-shirts.

We’ll click “add shipping rate” – I’ll add the same title “Standard Shipping”. Okay so we know we’ve weighted 1 t-shirt at 0.5kg, so 2 t-shirts will weigh 1kg. Therefore we’ll want to change the weight range of this rate to 0.6kg, so that it weighs more than 1 shirt – to 1 kg. And we know printful charges 1 extra dollar for each additional t-shirt to Canada so we’ll change our rate to $9 instead of 8. We can keep filling these rates out in a similar fashion – you may also decide to give your customers who are ordering a bunch of shirts a deal on shipping. You can achieve this by changing the weight range for example to 1.1-20kg with a shipping rate of $10. Meaning if they order, 3 shirts or more they are offered the same rate of $10.

To set up rates for the USA we can click “add country”, and select the united states. We’ll then follow the same method we used to set up our Canadian rates. To set up international rates – click add country, select “rest of the world” and again follow the same process to set up your rates.

Okay, so we’ve taken care of the logistics. Our store is integrated with printful – our products are synced and we’ve provided print files. We’ve set up our billing information on printful and set up our shopify store to accept payments. Our shipping rates are set – but you’re probably wondering – what does my store actually look like? Well, that’s really up to you. Let’s head back to our admin and click on themes tab to get started customizing the look and feel of our store.

So, the theme of a Shopfiy store controls all aspects of the store’s appearance and layout. Now, Shopify actually automatically sets us up with an introductory theme called launchpad, which is a great starter theme – but let’s quickly head over to theme store and explore some options.

So there are lots of themes to choose from and we encourage you take some time looking through them and seeing which one would work well with your t-shirt business. For now, let’s narrow our results a little bit by selecting a free theme, that is in clothing and fashion.

So our results have narrowed significantly, and I’m personally drawn to the “new standard” theme so I’ll click on it. Here we can learn more about the theme, view a demo, see what styles it comes in and read some reviews. If we’re satisfied with what we see we can click “Get Theme” and publish it as our stores theme. And it will take a few moments to publish it. Now, we can view what our store is looking like by clicking this view on your website button or at any time by using the handy icon in the bottom left corner.

So our website is pretty blank – we’ve only added one product. But we can easily customize our theme and start filling it out by adding our logo to the top – adding a nice slider image and filling out our About us section. First things first, I’m going to quickly go back to our products page and add 3 more t-shirts just so we can better visualize our store. I’d encourage everyone to do the same. If you’re following along, make sure to add your new products to the “front page” collection so they will appear on your home page.

I’d also like to mention that if you’re adding shirts that you plan to sell, remember to sync them with printful, by using the same process we used with our first t-shirt. Okay great, so we now have 4 products to fill out our store and help visualize it.

Let’s head back to our themes and click customize theme. And there are our 4 products displayed on our front page. Let’s start by adding our logo – to do this we’ll click the “header tab”. If we read the description it let’s us know that our logo dimensions can be a maximum of 844 pixels wide and 200 pixels high. I’ve already got a logo prepared so I’ll click choose file – locate my image, and click open.

Great, let’s save those changes. Next up, let’s add a slider image, by clicking the back arrow and going down to the homepage tab. We can see that our image should be 844 pixels by 490 pixels. Let’s click the replace button under “slide 1” and select our banner image. Cool – so that’s added. I also have another one I will add so it can scroll through two different photos. Same idea, I’ll click replace under Slide 2 and locate my photo. Awesome, you can also very easily add captions – or you may even decide you want to turn off the slider.

Take some to explore the storefront editor, it’s extremely intuitive so you can easily customize the look of your store. If we look at the footer section, for example we can easily link our social icons, which are located at the bottom of our page to our appropriate channels, simply by changing the URL. If we don’t use a particular social channel, we can easily remove the icon by deleting the URL entirely. And as you can see our Google + icon is no longer there And if we’re interested we can add our contact information into the boxes below. Okay let’s save changes. Alright, so our T-shirt store is starting to fill out nicely and another thing we may want to edit is our “about us” section and our blog. To start, we’ll head back to our admin dashboard and click pages.

From within the pages we can very easily customize our about us page and we can change the text on our frontpage by selecting the “frontpage” section. And just like everything else, adding blog posts is extremely easy. Click on the blog posts tab from the panel and there is one set up for you that is ready to edit. And to add additional blog posts, simply hit the “add a blog post” button from the right hand corner. Okay and the last thing we recommend you do is register a custom web address by clicking settings and then domains. All new stores start with a with a (dot)myshopify(dot)com address as a way to log in and store our content safely, however it will look much more professional if you get your own custom .com address for example. You can do this very easily by selecting the “buy a domain” button and the domains will even be offered to you at a discounted price – or – if you already have domain, you can easily add it to your store by selecting to add an existing domain.

And there you go, just like that you’re all set up with your custom branded, online t-shirt store. And if you’ve followed along, your t-shirts are all synced up with printful – so when someone purchases a t-shirt – an order is automatically sent to printful, printed on your t-shirt of choice and sent directly to your customer. And since you don’t have to worry about upfront inventory costs, or printing and shipping you’ll have plenty of time to focus on other aspects of growing and running your online t-shirt business. I’d also like to mention that your store is currently private, and password protected – but when you’re ready to launch you can easily remove your password by heading to settings, then scrolling down to the “storefront password” section to remove your password and make your store live to the public. If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to leave a comment below – and if you found this video helpful, please let us know by clicking the like button.

Thanks for watching.

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6 Online Business Ideas to Make Money in 2018

by with No Comment Business Ideas

Still struggling to make money online? Are you stomp on actualizing your online dreams?

How about if a digital entrepreneur and multi-millionaire, who has walked the path you’re about taking will take you by the hand and guide you on your journey?

Alright, in this post I want to share with you a video where Sarah, the video editor at Wholesale Ted and Mark Ling, a multi-millionaire and co-founder of SaleHoo reveal 6 online business ideas you can start today to make money online.

Enjoy the video…

Video Transcription

Sarah: Hey, guys. It’s me, Sarah, the video editor at Wholesale Ted and in this video, I’m gonna give you six online business ideas so that you can create your own small digital business. Now, of course, my subscribers here at Wholesale Ted can probably guess what some of these ideas are going to be. But I think even my subscribers might be surprised at some of these ideas, especially idea number four.

The great thing about a lot of these ideas is they require very little startup money. If you’re willing to put in the work, then you can create your own small online business as well. And I’ve actually got a special guest with me on this video today, Mark Ling. Mark Ling is a multi-millionaire who owns several successful digital businesses.

He’s also the co-founder for SaleHoo which is actually how I met him. And plus, he’s also a New Zealander like me so be aware, he also has a funny accent. Now, there are two people that have massively influenced my life. It was Ted who changed my life by teaching me the world of e-commerce and it was Mark who changed my life by teaching me the world of affiliate marketing. So I’m really excited to have him on this video today.

All right. Let’s jump straight into it…

Idea number one, start a YouTube channel

A lot of people ask me this exact question, “Sarah, if you’re a successful online seller, why do you even bother having a YouTube channel?”

Well, I’ll tell you why. It’s a form of income diversification. I learned very quickly early on that income diversification is very important, which is one of the reasons why I teach multiple business models on this channel. And I’m not gonna lie, it’s pretty profitable. Every month, this channel makes tens of thousands of dollars.

How?

Well, let me tell you now. It is not from AdSense. In fact, as you may or may not have noticed, we actually have AdSense turned off so we get no AdSense money at all.

YouTube AdSense usually pays around $1 to $2 per 1,000 views. In the previous 4 weeks, Wholesale Ted had 278,000 views. If we had AdSense on, then that means we’d have made between $278 to $556.

We also regularly get emails from people that want to do sponsorships on this channel. I’ll tell you now, I always turn these down. Yes, I do promote and I recommend products on this channel but I only promote and recommend products that I use and believe in. I’m not gonna sell my soul for $250.

Given that those are the two common ways to make money on YouTube, how are we able to make tens of thousands of dollars every month with less than 100,000 subscribers and the answer is simple…

It’s through affiliate marketing.

Now, Mark is going to give you a deeper explanation as to what affiliate marketing is very shortly but let me give you a quick rundown.

Affiliate marketing is when you promote someone else’s product and if somebody purchases the product because of you, then you get a commission cut on the sale and this is usually tracked through a unique URL which shows that the person bought because of you.

For example, on this channel, we have a video which shows you how to use Jungle Scout to find great products to sell on Amazon. And in the video description of that video, we have an affiliate link to Jungle Scout. And this isn’t some big secret. In the video, I give a very clear disclaimer that the link in the video description is an affiliate link.

When it comes to affiliate marketing, honesty is the best policy. Why? Well, because when you recommend a product and you’re getting a commission cut on the sale if the customer purchases it because of you, then obviously, they’re going to become skeptical. Are you just recommending it for the money? So don’t be dishonest and create more distrust by hiding the affiliate link and pretending like you aren’t getting a commission cut for the sale.

Be upfront and honest. The other way that we create trust is that we show how we use these tools in tutorial form so that others can see that they are genuinely helpful, that they are useful, and that they are worth purchasing. Not everyone will use your affiliate link but if you provide genuinely useful advice in your video, then a lot of people will use your affiliate link as a thank you for the time and effort that you spent creating it.

Another way that we build trust is that the majority of our videos don’t even use any tools or have any affiliate links in the description. We only use tools if they are relevant to the video. We focus on providing genuinely great content. And it’s funny. If you focus on creating great content for the viewer and you treat money as a secondary concern, then what you’re gonna find is that you’re gonna make more money because when you do recommend products, people are actually going to trust you and that is actually a great lesson for anyone who is starting a business.

If you start a business on the basis of helping people rather than cheating people, you’re going to go much further. If you go and you cheat people out of some money, then sure, maybe you’ll make a quick buck but they will go and tell others and your reputation will be trashed. But if you sell and recommend products that genuinely help people and fix their problems, then not only will they go and tell others that you helped them but you will also create repeat buyers.

But, I digress.

The point here is that if you want to start a YouTube channel, do not start it with the focus being on getting money through AdSense or through sponsorships. Instead, look for more lucrative ways to monetize and usually, that means that you’re either gonna be selling other people’s products through affiliate links or, if you’re even more bold, you can sell your own products.

And, of course, don’t make crappy videos that are just designed to sell stuff. There are no shortcuts here. You have to make good videos.

All right…

Let’s switch over to Mark so he can tell you more about affiliate marketing.

Recommended: How to Easily Turn Your Talents and Expertise into a Thriving Online Coaching Business

Mark: Idea number two, become an affiliate marketer. Thanks, Sarah. Yes, affiliate marketing is hugely profitable. I make tens of thousands of dollars from affiliate commissions every month. Here’s a screenshot of just one of my ClickBank accounts and as you can see, that in the past 4 weeks, I’ve made over $20,000. And in just 3 months, I generated over $47,000 from commissions selling a product that is in the supplements niche.

So, what is affiliate marketing?

Sarah touched on this briefly but I’ll explain it a bit more now. Affiliate marketing is when you don’t have your own products to sell and instead, you sell someone else’s product. And when you make a sale, you get a commission for it. So sales are tracked through a unique URL. When someone clicks on that URL, they get cookied. That cookie then tracks them and it means that the merchant can tell if somebody bought the product directly after clicking their link.

So what this means then is that you don’t need to have a product of your own to sell. You can actually start making money online by selling other people’s products. What it means is that you just need to focus on generating traffic from people who might be interested in buying the products that you are promoting.

Now, Sarah has already explained how having a YouTube channel can be one really great source of traffic but there are lots of others out there too. Some examples include Facebook advertising, Google AdWords, free search engine optimization traffic, having your own email newsletter list, social platforms like Instagram or Pinterest, and more. And you’ve got two main options. The first is that you can direct your traffic directly to an offer. For example, Sarah directs people directly to buy Jungle Scout in her video. And sometimes, like in the case of that example, it is best to do that.

But usually, it’s best to actually direct that traffic to a freebie offer like a free eBook. Let’s say then that you are really into organic gardening for instance. So you decided to promote products related to this. What I would recommend you do is create a free eBook to help people who are also interested in this.

So it might be something like “The Seven Steps to Creating an Organic Garden.” Then, when people get their free eBook, require then that they give their email address and that they opt-in to receive your newsletter series. So in this newsletter series, you should send them lots of free, helpful information about organic gardening to prove that you’re an authority and that they can trust your recommendations and to build a relationship. But, you should also use this newsletter series to recommend great products that are related to organic gardening that you think that your subscribers will like and find helpful. And, of course, when you do that, you can use your affiliate link. By instead directing traffic to your free eBook, you’ll capture their email addresses so that you can remarket to them again and again instead of just one-off, which is why this method is so powerful and so lucrative.

Sarah: Idea number three, reselling items online.

This method is really simple. It simply goes going out there and finding items in the real world that are really cheap and then reselling them on sites like eBay and Amazon. For example, this is Pokémon Leaf Green version, which, by the way, includes the Game Boy Advance wireless adapter, which is a big deal. Now, I picked this little bad boy up at a garage sale for about $30. Now, if I were to resell that on the New Zealand version of eBay, which is called Trade Me, I could get anywhere from $70 to $100 for it. Now, I don’t do this business model anymore but I like to keep these video games around for nostalgia because this was my first foray into online selling.

[eaa_show_ad ad=”my_in_post_content”] Now, if you go to thrift stores, to garage sales, to Craigslist, and even to buy and sell Facebook groups, you’ll often find items that are priced lower on there than their going price on eBay and Amazon. If you want to get even more sophisticated with this method, you can do something that’s called retail arbitrage. This business model is when you find items priced lower in retail stores than their going price on Amazon. You then go and buy up all the stock in that retail store and then ship it into Amazon. For example, here in New Zealand, we have some candy called pineapple lumps. Now, I can go and buy this at a supermarket for $2.99. Now, that’s in New Zealand dollars. If you convert that to United States dollars, it costs just $2.16. But on Amazon, they are selling for over $8 in U.S. dollars. Now, you may have noticed that I specifically mentioned Amazon for retail arbitrage and not for eBay and this is for two reasons.

One, there is a great culture of buying brand-new items on Amazon than there is on eBay so it means that the prices are usually higher. And two, Amazon has an amazing program called Fulfilled by Amazon. This means then that you can take the items that you’ve purchased, ship them into an Amazon warehouse, and then they will pick, pack, and ship out the item to the customer when they order it. I used to do retail arbitrage myself when I was younger. It’s something that I no longer do anymore. I explained why in my video that is aptly called “Why I Quit Retail Arbitrage.” The main reason is because of the fact that it’s not a scalable method since you always need to be sourcing items. And that’s because of the fact that you’re usually sourcing discounted stock from a store so you never know week-to-week which items are gonna be discounted in a store.

But even though it wasn’t right for me, that doesn’t change the fact that if you scale this method as far as it can go, you can still build a six-figure business. And it’s actually really easy to get started. That’s why I included it on this list of best online business ideas because of the fact that it’s very newbie-friendly. All right. Let’s move on to the next business idea and this business model has made Mark millions of dollars.

Recommended: 4 Lucrative Home Based Online Business Ideas You Can Start Today

Mark: Idea number four, create and sell your own digital product with the help of affiliates. So, remember how earlier I was discussing affiliate marketing and how you can promote someone else’s product and get a commission cut for the sale?

Let’s flip that on its head. Why not, instead of promoting someone else’s product, you make your own product and then affiliates promote it for you? That’s what I do. I have several products, one of them that I co-own is called Manifestation Miracle and it’s a self-development course and it makes me tens of thousands of dollars every single month. And the best part is I don’t have to drive traffic to it because my affiliates are doing that for me. The business model is simple. Create a great product then place it on a marketplace like ClickBank.

ClickBank is a site where merchants can list their products and affiliates go to ClickBank looking for products to promote so this is how they discover your product and how they start promoting it. If you make a great product that has a high-converting sales page, then you’ll be able to attract affiliates to come and promote your product for you.

And it’s very passive and hands-off. And get this, by having your own product, you now have a list of customers and their email addresses. So take me as an example. I have a huge customer base for Manifestation Miracle. I know that these people are willing to buy personal development courses. It means that I’m then able to use that email list to promote other self-development products to them that they’ll be interested in and it means that I’m able to use my email list, which is built for me by affiliates by promoting my products, to then promote affiliate offers and make even more money. And it’s honestly the best of both worlds and it’s a fantastic online business idea.

Sarah: Idea number five, dropshipping.

Okay, okay. Although my subscribers here at Wholesale Ted probably expected this to make the list and I can’t help it. It’s a really, really good business idea. Dropshipping is a great business model for beginners because it means that you can sell items online without having to buy them in advance. You see, you usually have to buy items in advance when you sell them online. Take business idea number three, retail arbitrage. To do that, you need to go to a retail store, purchase discounted stock, and then go sell it. But with dropshipping, it’s different. You list items that you have not already bought.

To do this, you find dropshippers and these are suppliers that, well, are willing to dropship. You see, most suppliers won’t dropship, of course. They require you to purchase items in bulk and then you go and ship them to your customer. But if a supplier is willing to dropship, then what they’ll do is let you purchase items individually and then they will ship that individual item out to your customer.

So what you do is you list items that the dropshipper has for sale but you put a markup on that price. And then when the customer purchases the item from you, you get to keep the difference in profit. One really, really good thing about this business model is that it requires very little startup money because of the fact that the customer has already purchased the item from you in advance.

Now there are two methods of dropshipping that I teach on this channel. One of them is called “How to Start an AliExpress Dropshipping Store With No Startup Money” and I’ll have a link to that video in the description below. The other method involves dropshipping on Amazon and I have a video for that, titled, “Making Money With a Dropship Business.” And, of course, I will have a link to that video in the description below.

Okay, let’s switch back to Mark so he can give you our final idea for creating an online business.

Mark: Idea number six, private labeling your own physical products.

I don’t just create digital products like courses and eBooks. I create and manufacture my own physical products too. For example, one of my products is a knife sharpening stone and another is a vegetable spiralizer.

This method is simple. You simply import products cheaply from China and you resell them on Amazon or via your own website for massive profits. By selling them on Amazon, you get to take advantage of the Fulfilled by Amazon program so you can let Amazon manage and handle the orders for you, making it very passive. The reason why it’s called private labeling is because you place your own logo and branding on the item. This increases the value of the item so that you can charge an even higher price for it. Yes, it requires you to put money upfront to buy items in advance but it has the huge advantage that you don’t need to worry about managing customers’ orders.

Plus, it’s pretty neat to be selling your own physical products with your own brand. Here’s an additional bonus tip. You can increase your margins by back-ending them to a relevant digital offer. For instance, if you were selling dog leashes, you might wanna upsell people to a dog training guide that they can purchase instant online access to. Or you may wish to affiliate to someone else’s offer if you don’t happen to have one of your own to upsell to.

Sarah: All right. Those are our six online business ideas. If you have any questions about them, be sure to ask them in the comments section below and we will answer as many questions as we can. If you liked this video, I’d appreciate if you gave it a thumbs up and subscribed to us here at Wholesale Ted for more great videos about making money online. And if you would like to start your own online business but you don’t know how, then you should be sure to download our free eBook, “How To Make $10,000 a Month Online With Dropshipping.” You’ll find the link on how to download this incredible, life-changing eBook in the video description below.

Ted: Hi there. And thanks for watching this video, created by us here at Wholesale Ted. It is our mission to help everyone start and grow their own online business. That is why we’ve created a simple eBook which shows how anyone, yes, even you, can make $10,000 each and every month with dropshipping, even if you don’t have startup money. And best of all, we’re giving away this eBook for free. And yes, we really mean absolutely free. So, if you’d like to get this potentially life-changing eBook, simply click on the link in this video description and get it now..

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10 Lucrative Online Home Based Business Ideas You Can Start Today

by with 21 Comments Uncategorized

Indeed, the global economic outlook has proven in the recent past to be more stable than a few years ago however, the financial pressure is not yet over. But beyond that, many of us have learned during these times that you cannot just leave your destiny in the hands of anyone else – whether it’s the government or some employer! Your life is more important than that. YOU just have to take responsibility for your life or you’ll be the one to regret.

Here, at the Web Income Journal, we’ve been “preaching this gospel” for year now. We’ve advocated that even if you have a full time job nothing stops you from starting a side business online. To help in this regard, we have devoted ourselves to sharing tips, strategies and resources to help you make it happen. Knowing there are a thousand and one business ideas out there that you can choose from and that this could be intimidating because of the share volume of information, we’ve tried to make the Web Income Journal blog your “go-to” resource when the need arises.

It’s with this mind therefore that I recently undertook a research aimed at compiling a list of lucrative home based online business ideas that anyone, no matter the experience, can start and profit from starting today. Knowing that the market is saturated with all kinds of make money online scams, I took some extra care in choosing the business ideas to be included in this list.

Frankly, I must say I’m truly amazed with what is out there for us to pick from. In this post I want to share with just 10 of these lucrative online home based business ideas. So, if you are right now scouting online looking for possible business ideas to work on, I ask that you go through these ones and see how you can build an online business from them.

Alright back to our lucrative online business ideas. Here our handpicked online business ideas for you to choose from today:

1.    Editing And Proofreading Jobs

Start a Editing and Proofreading Jobs

I’m sure you must have noticed the silent revolution that has been on for some time now. It has become one of the most talked about topic on most sites these days.

Want to know what that revolution is?

Ok, it’s the gradual shift from the traditional internet marketing hard sell to inbound marketing tactics using quality and informative content. This revolution has practically turned marketers into publishers with the option of producing volumes of marketing content every day.

With so much to do, most of these marketers and businesses now resort to external sources to edit and proofread articles or reports before they’re ready to be published online.

Now, if you are a native speaker of whatever language a client needs a document or article proofread, or if you have good command over that language, then you can pick up editing and proofreading jobs. I can assure you that this is really a lucrative business idea for the now. Simply do Google search for the term, “Editing and Proofreading Jobs” and see you what the search engine will return!

2.    Email and Phone Handling

Email and phone handling services business

Now, this business idea had been there for some time but, like #1 above, the global meltdown has also fueled it. With many businesses trying to cut cost many have resorted to looking for different ways to outsource their business operations. And this is where email and phone handling businesses come in.

Email and phone handling is similar to a virtual assistant position; only thing is that it doesn’t require making appointments or needing any extensive skills.

To do email and phone handling, you would mostly do things such as cold calling, answering queries over phone and handling emails.   Business owners generally tend to hire support staff to handle these tasks, as they’re often too busy to do them themselves.  With email and phone handling services you could easily add some extra income to your regular income.

3.    Software Load Testing

Software Load Testing Business Ideas

Over the years the internet has continued to experience more and more smart tools that help with business and other online operations. Most software companies, when they are almost finished with the development of a piece of software, will hire people to test it out for them in order to find bugs and see how effective the software is.  The purpose is to ensure the product meet the market requirements. So with the information gathered from the testers the product is improved before releasing it to the mass markets.

The good news is that with so many software developers out there looking for people to test their products, this has become a lucrative business idea for many.

To become a ‘Software Load Tester’ you can check out companies which offer exclusive testing services like http://www.acutest.co.uk for possible ideas. Besides, a simple search on Google for “Load Testing jobs” will also give you some possible ideas and tips on how to run with this business idea.

4.    Game Tester

Become a Game Tester

This is similar to software testing above. With this, you would play and test out games in order to identify possible defects.  As a game tester you are expected to play the game step by step and be careful to note even the smallest of errors, if any, and provide a detailed report to the company.

In order to become a Game Tester, it’s ideal for you to be a hard core gamer. You should also know how to play the games effectively so you can identify the bugs in the software. So if you are one who loves playing games online and you are interested in making some money from your passion then becoming a game tester is a good idea.

5.    Write Software For Resale, With Rights

Resale rights business idea

Do you have knowledge of programming? Then you are in big business!

Frankly, if you are very good at programming, this is a great way to earn extra cash on the internet.  With so many websites trying to achieve different things with much ease and in less time, if you can create a program that is able to meet these different needs, you can sell it for a good amount of money.

Besides, you could also offer resale rights to the program, giving other people the opportunity to sell it and collect the commissions. This will give you the opportunity to charge a premium price for the program especially if you’re not a fabulous marketer but still want to earn a lot of money from your work.

Now, I understand that this business idea is not for everyone however, the truth is there is enough information online that can be of help if you want to take this up. Check out this site for a high-power resale rights business you can get started today:

http://www.webincomejournal.com/resale-rights

6.    Design Or Build Websites For People

What Makes a Website User Friendly?

If you are good at HTML, graphics and Photoshop, then web designing might be a great option for you to consider.   In order to create websites, you just need some creativity and know how in using the tools.  You can create impressive websites using templates alone, and people will gladly pay so that they don’t need to take the time to figure out how to learn the programs.

Besides, if you are very good with setting up WordPress blogs you can also use the WordPress blogging platform to build impressive websites for companies and they will love it. One good thing about websites built with the wordpress blogging platform is the ability to include a blog in the setup. This is a great way of making the website more lovable to the search engines. Besides, it gives the business person the ability to easily update the site without looking to any external hands.

7.    Create An Automation Software And Charge For The Service

Create An Automation Software And Charge For The Service

With so much to do online these days and with lesser time available to do all of these, many people are becoming more interested in automation services or software where a task can be done for them without having to do as much manual work themselves. A lot of these pieces of software abound in the market right like: automated software for article rewriting, automated software for checking spelling/grammatical errors in the articles, automated software for article spinning, automated software for PDF to word conversion, and so forth.

Despite the fact that there is so much pieces of automated software out there already, there is still room for more. If you can identify the need and create the software, you can make a whole lot of money.

One good way you can find out if there is a need for software out there is to simply browse through the administration jobs in freelancing sites. For example, you might see a specific job where someone is asking to extract a set of data from a particular site and populate it in excel. If the demand for a specific service is high, you can create a software to do the job and mass-market it.

Besides, you can also create something for one specific buyer and charge them for it or simply take up the advertised jobs and charge the market rate as if it were manual work, but use your software to speed up the production! 🙂

8.    Provide Uptime Monitoring Services

Provide Uptime Monitoring Services

Recently, I’ve been very concerned about my websites. I have a number of them in different niches and I wanted to know whenever any of them is down and why. To effectively do this, I had to engage a website monitoring service.

I know I’m not alone in this. Webmasters generally want to make sure that their websites are working as frequently as possible. If any site goes down for any reason, they want to know how long it was down and why. This is crucial for webmasters because most of the time, that site is their source of income.

I can categorically say that this is a lucrative business idea if you know how to go about it. Besides, you can even use free uptime monitoring software. All you need do is setup your business page and advertise your services. Once you have the job, take the website’s details and input them into the software, download the reports, and provide them to your client. You will be surprised that even though some webmasters know about this software, they’d still rather hire someone to do it for them rather than do it themselves.

9.    Shoot And Sell Videos Online

Shoot And Sell Videos Online

Creating videos these days is no more a thing reserved for the professionals. Video sites like Youtube and the rest has made video production for online viewing a thing of fun.

But do you know you can actually produce videos and see them online?

Yes, if you can shoot an interesting video that people are ready to watch, you can also sell it online and make some money.   Your video can be anything from an interesting event, video tutorial, demo video, etc. All you would need is a good video recorder. Even a good camera with quality lenses as well as a microphone, recording and mixing equipment, etc can do the trick.

10.    Offer Video Montage Services

Offer Video Montage Services

Another way to make money with video productions is through helping people create memories with their pictures.  What you will need here is to take some pictures that a customer provides, put them together in a nice slide show with background music, and then burn it to DVD.

You simply need some innovation and creativity to succeed greatly in this business. Give people what they want and they will pay you handsomely for it. Remember that people are paying for these video montages because it is a unique way to present lifetime memories for people.  So, use your imagination and give something they will fall in love with.

Conclusion

There are numerous lucrative business ideas for making money online out there right now. You only need to choose the one that you are best suited for. Think of your passion, talents and skills. Once you can match your business idea with your passion, skill and talents you will be on your way to building a business that will beat your imagination.

Your Turn: Do you have any other business idea that should be included in this list? Are you in any way using any of these ideas right now?

Share your thought with us in your comments below.

Best 18 Cheapest Small Business Ideas to Start From Home

by with 3 Comments Business Ideas

Looking to start your #own business? Do you reside in some remote corner of the world and because of that you’re asking, “what’s the best business to start in a small town like…(your small town’s name here)?” Are you being held back because you don’t have the capital to get started?

If you answer yes to any of these questions then this post is for you. It doesn’t matter if your problem is lack of business idea or its lack of start up capital.  In this post I want to share with you a few #business ideas you can start today with little or no money.

Small Business Ideas From Home

With the number of layoffs in the corporate world in recent times, it has become clear to many that there’s nothing like job security in our today’s world.  To overcome this many are now thinking of becoming the boss – in other words, they are now more conscious of starting their own business.

Unfortunately, many who have come to this realization are stuck with not knowing what business to start.  Beyond that not many really have enough savings to get started. So, to these ones the problem is how to get the cheapest business to start.

To the later, let me quickly say this, when I started my internet business, I had very little money. In fact, for the first few years I invested virtually nothing (financially) into it! I simply used free tools and resources that abound on the internet to setup and run the business. Today, there are numerous such tools and resources out there you can still use. A simple search on Google for “how to start a business without money online” and you’re sure to get a plethora of results to work with.

Now, it must be clear that there are lots of businesses you can start with little or no monetary investment however, you’ll need to give the business some time to pick up. You definitely shouldn’t expect to make it big right from the very beginning.  But that notwithstanding, you can take the ideas in this post and run with them without much fuss.

So What is the Catch?

Well the only thing that I would even consider a “catch” would be the fact that you will need the skills necessary to complete whatever task is asked of you during business. This basically means do not start up a dog grooming business if you do not know how to groom dogs. The key is finding something that you are truly interested before starting the business.

Maybe you are not worried about losing your job right now but you’ve come to realize that you will never have the chance to advance any further in the company you are working for presently, these business ideas are sure to help you out. So, if you’re ready let’s get rolling.

So, what businesses can be started with little or no money? Here are eighteen you would want to consider right now:

18 Best Business Ideas to Start with Little Money

1. House and Office Cleaning Business

Office Cleaning Business

This business requires little or no money to start, the only thing you will need is the skills to clean (which everyone should have), and the cleaning supplies to do it with.  When you get the first job you can use the cleaning supplies that you already have and then buy more with the money you receive when you are through. In the event that you do not have the cleaning supplies on hand, then you should not have to spend more than about $20 dollars!

Once you have the supplies necessary, advertising a cleaning business is simple. The majority of house and office cleaners simply place an ad in the local paper detailing the area in which they would like to work, and the majority offer free bids. Potential clients will call, and you will take a trip to their house. You will analyze it and give them a bid. You can also use social media marketing to promote your cleaning business. Facebook is a great place to start.

2. Laundry Business

Laundry Business

This one is great because you can take a skill that you should already have, and then put it to good use to the people that do not have the skill, time, or the energy to do it. Offering a pickup and delivery laundry service just means that you pick someone’s clothes, wash and dry them, fold them, and then return the clothes to their house. The only thing you will need is the soap to wash the clothes in (and some laundry companies even make the client provide their own laundry detergent due to allergies and personal preferences).

This business especially tailors to bachelor men, so you will want to advertise in places that would attract this type of person’s attention.

3. Alteration Service

Alteration Service

If you have basic sewing skills, then you may want to consider starting an alteration service. Alteration could mean hemming pants, changing seams, or dying clothes.

The only money you may need out of pocket is to buy various colors of thread, needles, and possibly a sewing machine if you are planning on taking on larger jobs.

Since your main focus will be clothing, you will want to advertise at local clothing shops or department stores. You may also want to consider talking with businesses that supply uniforms to employees. The business can then recommend that mployee to you if an alteration in their uniform is needed.

4. Babysitting

Babysitting Business

This one seems obvious, though many people take it for granted and quickly dismiss it as a “teenage job.” Babysitting may be one of the better options, since it does not require any money to start.

You can baby-sit in your home or the home of the children in which you are babysitting. The choice is really up to you. If you are thinking of babysitting children from more than one family, then you will be required to baby-sit in your home, otherwise on location babysitting will suit you well.

Some babysitters offer to provide meals, while others require the parent to supply a lunch. It is really up to you.

You will want to provide some type of stimulation for the children you baby-sit. The last thing any responsible parents wants is their babysitter to allow their children to sit in front of the television the whole time they are with you. Try to make whatever you do as active and education as possible.

When you begin advertising your business, you will want to focus on places where parents and children would be. Many schools have community boards that would be able to place flyers. You may also considering placing an ad in the local paper or on a website that allows parents to search for potential babysitters.

5. Pet Sitting or Walking

Pet Sitting or Walking Business

Like babysitting, this can be greatly overlooked. People take great pride in their pets, and do not want them to be left alone while they are away.

Some pet sitters only sit when the client is away for long periods of time, or on vacation. Others pet sit on a daily basis while their client is at work. Still others only have to visit the pet once or twice during the day to walk them and let them use the bathroom.

It is important to remember that even the nicest pet can become upset and mean in the presence of other animals. Make sure that if you decide to take on more than one family’s pets then all the families involved should know.

Advertise this business at your local pet store, vet, or along a dog walking path. You may also want to consider placing an ad in the local paper as well.

6. Personal Chef

Personal Chef

Can you cook? Then you may want to consider becoming a personal chef. Many personal chefs are called when the family just simply does not have the time to cook dinner, but does not what to get into the lifestyle of ordering out every night.

Usually, personal chefs arrive before the majority of the family does and begins cooking. Once cooking is complete, then you will set up a table and supply the family with the food.

It is not very often that the personal chef has to clean up after the family is done, however you may offer these services for an additional fee.

You may also consider preparing the meals at your home, and then delivering the food to the client.

The best place to advertise this type of business would be at your local grocery store or in the local paper.

7. Court Paper Server

Court Paper Server

Many lawyers and other legal agencies do not simply have the time to serve papers. This is where you come in. Lawyers and legal agencies will pay to deliver these important documents. The only thing you will need is transportation and the gas required to do so.

You will want to contact the agencies in your local area and discuss it with them.

8. Resume and Document Writer

Resume and Document Writer

You could consider becoming a resume writer, especially if you have a way with words. A resume writer takes the skill, talents, and job references and turns it into an easy to read résumé for potential employers.

[eaa_show_ad ad=”my_in_post_content”] Not only can you charge for writing the resume, but you can also charge how many copies of it as well. The paper and ink it takes to print the resume is the only charge you should accrue.

Advertise this type of business at local job agencies, employment offices, or on your local paper.

You will need to be careful when advertising. Make sure that your clients know that your resume will not guarantee them getting a job, but it will just present them in a more professional manner, which in turn will make them more likely to get a job.

9. Mobile Car-Wash and Detailing

Mobile Car-Wash and Detailing

With a little soap, water, and rags, you will be able to start a mobile car washing and detailing shop.

You will simply need the basic cleaning supplies and a good vehicle to transport the supplies in. Supplies include: car safe soap, rags, buckets, a portable vacuum, and dashboard and tire cleaner. All of this is relatively inexpensive.

Make sure to place a sign on the vehicle you use for the business. Signs can be picked up at your local graphics shop pretty inexpensively. You can also place flyers in various areas.

Once you are somewhat established you will then want to start marketing your business to car dealers, fleet services, rent-a-car places, corporations which supply vehicles to their workers, etc.

10. Power Washing

Power Washing

Oily driveways, accidental spills, mud left over from a rainy season, salt buildup. All of these may be reasons for someone to hire a power washer to clean their road, driveway, or home.

Power washing only requires a strong power washer. The client will supply the water hookup.

Advertise this type of business in your local paper on flyers. Flyers can be placed pretty much anywhere, but you may want to target home stores, or auto parts stores.

11. Tutoring

Start a Tutoring Buainess

Are you great at a specific subject? Are you great at explaining even the most complicated algebra equations? You may want to consider starting a tutoring service, and put your skills to work.

Since the student will supply all the books and materials, all you will need is your effort.

The best place to advertise this type of business is at local schools and businesses geared towards learning.

12. Packing and Unpacking Service

Packing and Unpacking Service

Not many people in the world like to pack or unpack before or after a move, even though their lifestyle may require them to. You can offer your services to these types of people.

Some packers supply the materials including boxes, tapes, protective covers, plastic wrap, plastic peanuts, and so on. If you supply the materials needed to pack the customer, then you will be able to charge a much higher rate than packers that do not.

Some packers and un-packers may even offer to load and unload the items from the moving vehicle. Be sure to look into insurance if you decide to go this route.

One of the best places to advertise this type of business it at places that provide do-it-yourself moving supplies and vehicles (such as U-Haul office or Penske). You may even want to talk with the owners of these shops and work out a deal. Some of your clients will come to you before they decide on where they will be buying their moving materials and vehicles. If you have a referral system worked out with one of these companies they can also recommend you to their clients if they are in need of your type of services.

13. Bookkeeping

Bookkeeping Services

Are you good with numbers and organization? If you are, you may want to think about starting a book keeping business. This business is pretty easy to market since every type of person, and business may need someone to update their business books.

The only thing you may need for this type of job is a program (if you are using a computer) and the necessary paperwork. If you have to supply the paperwork, you can charge additionally for this.

You will want to advertise residually at local tax places or office stores. If you want to target businesses you may want to look into local business directories. If nothing else, you can put an ad in your local newspaper and go from there.

14. #Home Organization

Home Organization

If you are good at organization, then you may want to consider starting a home organization business.

You may want to consider supplying the materials needed for organization such as boxes, labels, shelves, etc. If you provide the materials, then you will be able to charge for it. You may also require your clients to buy the materials themselves. Whatever you decide will work.

Home organization is best advertised at home stores and in your local paper.

15. Language Translation

Language Translation

You will help break through barriers caused by language difference and improved communication. Businesses will call you when they know they will be dealing with clientele that speak a different language, typically in advance. Every once a while, you may be called in an emergency situation. The pay depends on the amount of people you will have to translate for and if you are notified ahead of time or not.

If English is your second language, or you just have a liking for foreign languages, your services will come in handy for local businesses that deal with multi-cultures.

If you do not know a foreign language, but you are still interested in language translation as a career or business, then translation books and programs number in the thousands, even for the newest user. It just takes a little time and energy to learn a new language.

Contact local business, doctor’s offices, and government agencies and ask if they are in need of translation services.

16. Apartment and Rental House Preparation

Apartment and Rental House Preparation

Local real estate agencies that host rental properties as well may hire make-ready-services for their properties. The best thing about this job is the fact that they typically supply all the tools and materials needed to complete the job. Make ready services complete technical services such as cleaning, painting, and small handy work (replacing door handles, light bulbs, etc).

Talk with your local apartment complexes and real estate agencies. You may also consider placing an ad in your local newspaper as well.

17. Restaurant Delivery Service

Restaurant Delivery Service

Restaurant deliverers, take orders by phone for local restaurants, go pick up the food, and then deliver the food to the office or home of the person wanting it.

The only thing you will need is the vehicle in which to transp the food.

You may want to consider a detailed flyer stating the businesses you will pick up from, or a website that contains the complete menus of each. Talk with local businesses about possibly referring you to their customers.

By collecting a delivery charge and tip, the owner makes a substantial amount of money.

18. Valet Parking

Valet Parking Services

Valet parking is simply the act of driving a person’s vehicle to a designated area to save the walk.

Local businesses may need valet parking at different times. You will want to contact then so they know that your service are available.

Businesses that offer event planning may also have an interest in your services and may call whenever you are needed.

Not only will you receive a fee from the business for providing the service, but the majority of people who use valet parking will pay a tip as well.

Just let your local businesses know that your services are available.

BONUS: 11 Small Business Ideas That Are Easy To Start [Video]

If you would rather focus on starting an online business then you may want to check out this video by Justin Bryant. Enjoy!

Conclusion

Our world is changing at a rapid rate. If it is not the economic downturn there is also the issue of easy access to cheap labor through outsourcing, and technology replacing human jobs.  So, starting your own business is something you want to take seriously. I suggest you look into these small business ideas. Pick any of your choice and get started today.

Top 5 Innovative Business Ideas to Grow Your Business NOW!

by with 19 Comments Entrepreneurship

Small business marketing ideas to grow your business online

So, you have made it yet into another year in your online business, right? Great! You indeed must congratulate yourself for many have fallen by the way in the past year.

However, ever as much as you have accomplished this feat, there’s still much to be done. Whether you are a blogger doing all you can to to make money online or you’re a small business entrepreneur marketing your stuff online, one thing for sure is that you will love to see your business grow beyond what it is right now, by the end of this year.

So, how do you do this? Don’t you think there’s still some room for doing more? How about some new business ideas?

There are hundreds of good business ideas that you can apply as a blogger or web entrepreneur to enhance your online business. No matter the successes you’ve achieved so far, now is the time to start making plans for the higher level.

In this article I want to give 10 innovative small business ideas that you can implement right now to grow your business profits starting now. Of course, they not rocket science. They are simple strategies anyone can implement.

So if you’re ready, let’s begin:

1: Re-Brand Your Business

Rebranding and product re-launch is a powerful marketing strategy businesses employ to increase their market share off-line. It could take different forms like changing the business logo, redesigning the product packaging, introducing new components in the product content etc.

Rebranding has a lot of benefits including, but not limited to, creating a fresh impression of the product/business in the minds of customers and prospects. A successful product re-launch can really bring great benefits to the business.

As a business blogger you can creatively use this strategy to give your blog and online business a fresh lease of life. I recently employed this strategy on this blog. I gave the WebIncomeJournal.com a facelift that touched every area of the blog – the blog design, logo, and content package were given a new life.

To implement this strategy in your online business, simply take a deeper look at your business and come up with areas you will need to work on. Think of how you can package this into something that will interest your customers and then design it to be a product re-launch!

To make sure that this work out great you can involve different promotional tools to give the re-launch some buzz. You could employ PR services, social media announcements, article marketing, guest blogging etc to create the necessary buzz. This will not give you some new incentive to do more in the business but will also give you the opportunity of getting new customers.

2: Prioritize Your Time & Operations

This is another great tip that will greatly enhance your online business and increase your profits. By now you definitely know that there are lots of things that jostle for your attention everyday on the net. There are of course dozens of ways you might be employing right now to market your blog/business.

But, how about if you’ll prioritize your operations and choose to focus more on some operations?

For example, instead of spending hours hopping from one blog to the other posting comments or spending hours in a forum reading and replying to discussions, you could decide on writing articles for submission to the article directories or better still write guest posts for blogs that accept guest blogging. This will not only increase traffic to your blog but also your profits.

3: Add a New Marketing Technique to Your Schedule

This is indeed another powerful way of enhancing your online business success. Chances are you’ve been using some specific marketing methods over the past months or even years. How about adding something new?

Ever tried to promote your blog or business online through free classified ads?

How about video marketing?

Have you considered podcasting?

Indeed, these are some of the internet business marketing ideas and techniques for marketing your business online. Analyze your present marketing strategies and then consider the ones from this list that you can add to them.

By simply adding another marketing method to your usual strategies you can actually increase your profits greatly.

4: Leverage the Efforts of Others

There is no doubt that you have a limit to what you can achieve in a day – except you’re some super human! However, you could increase your productivity greatly if you’ll use the power of leverage. For example, outsourcing.

Outsourcing is something every successful person and/or corporation is involved in. The internet has made it a lot easier for you to outsource your work to competent people – sometimes at ridiculously very low cost!

The good news however is that doing this can really be of great benefit to you as you’ll produce more results. So if you’re thinking of some innovative ideas to maximize your success then you need to outsource your operations.

To achieve this you need a well laid out system for your business. Ensure therefore that you’re building a system for your business so that you can leverage the efforts of others without any fear of messing things up.

 5: Get Involved With Video Marketing!

As I’ve mentioned in #3 above, video marketing is something you should really consider adding to your online marketing arsenal! This is SERIOUS enough that I want to put it on a separate list

One reason you should consider video marketing is the fact that video gets indexed very fast by Google and this could be a great plus for your blog or website SEO. Besides, the traffic a single video can generate could sometimes be outstanding.

If you’re worried about video marketing because you lack the skills to get involved, you could easily outsource it. The good news is that there are various online video services that will easily convert your blog articles to video with little or no effort on your part. Here’s one online program that will turn your articles to highly valuable videos without much effort from you.

If you however, want something more professional then basically you need a simple digital camera that has video capabilities. You can get any of these from Amazon at a good price.

In creating your videos all you have to do is talk for a few minutes about whatever niche market you are in. You can give away tips, advice, or give a product review for a product that you are promoting. It can be either a product or service that you created, or one that you are promoting as an affiliate.

Here’s an example of a video I created sometime ago:

I have also created a Youtube channel for the WebIncomeJournal. Feel free to subscribe today!

Ok, that’s all we can take for now because of space. We definitely will continue with this in our subsequent posts. What you should know however is taking a proactive step in building your business demands you being innovative and forward thinking. I do hope that these business ideas and the ones we will discuss later will indeed help you boost your business income in the months to come.

Let’s make it a date!

Your comments are always welcomed. Feel free also to share your views on the video.

Small Business Funding: How To Apply For Small Business Grant!

by with 2 Comments Startup Financing

How to turn your skills into a profitable business

Small business startup grants are a great way for a small home business entrepreneur to go when the money is not just there. This is because small business startup grant is money that you normally may not have to repay. And if you think that your small home business needs some infusion of capital but do not want to go the way of borrowing then this article is something you should really look into.

Of course the process of applying for a small business grant can be a daunting task. You must understand that small business grants are a much different source of financing for your home business than small business loans. A business grant application requires some details to be successful and when things are not done right it may be difficult to get them. The secret to succeeding with them is to follow the directions. Getting a business grant is going to take a lot of time, but it is worth it if you are starting a new business.

Here’s a website you will want to check out if you’re looking to apply for a small business grant:

http://www.businessownersideacafe.com/business_grants/index.php.

There is a lot of information on small business grants on this site and on this site you can receive up to one thousand dollars for your business ideas. Also on this same website you may want to take a look at this page:

http://www.businessownersideacafe.com/business_grants/grants_advice.html

which will give you some information as far as what you should look for when trying to get a grant. This is really useful information. Besides, on this page, there is a calculator that can help you determine how much money you may need when financing your small business. This can be very good because most people will put together a business plan but have no idea of how much they may possibly need.

If you want some federal government small business grant then note that the Small Business Administration currently does not give away any grant money directly. If grant money is to be given, it is passed along through intermediaries such as lending institutions.

However some of the reasons for US grants are: small business start-ups, preserving historic monuments, continuing education, and art. These grants are given every year. The unfortunate thing is that for every million grants that are applied for each year only a few hundred are actually granted. Some of these are free grants while others are more like loans which you?re required to repay with interest.

Tips For Applying For A Small Business Grant

1. Know what type of grant you actually need. The Small Business Association (SBA) or Small Business Development Center (SBDC) is great help here. Without proper research to know your funding needs your grant application may be rejected.

2. Before sending in your application make sure you meet the grant requirements.

3. A grant proposal letter and a business plan could be of great help as this can help you stand out among the crowd. Preparing this demonstrates that you know much about the business.

4. If you think you do not have enough experience to go it on your own, it may be best to bring in outside experts to help. An accountant or consultant can add credibility to your application process.

5. Keep in touch. Make regular contact with the grant office in a professional, non-intrusive manner.
Once your application, proposal and business plan are all complete and submitted the next step is just being patient. In some cases, it can take up to twelve months for approval.

This article may not have touched on all the points you need in your search for more sources of funding for your online businesses. Of course I couldn’t have done that in such a small space as this. There are of course many different forms of funding and financing for your business other than grants so do not think that this is your only option.

Wishing you the best of luck as you search for the perfect grant for your small business.

Simple Tips On Profiting With Online Business Opportunities

by with 24 Comments Internet & Online Business

[Editor’s note: This is post is a guest post reacting to one of my posts on possible online business opportunities. There is indeed, great wisdom in this post I therefore ask that you read it through!]

I have been reflecting on your post about great business opportunities online. I agree that the internet is a goldmine. But what I find difficult to digest is the fact that everyone tries to make it look like a cakewalk – as if you merely have to grab an opportunity and lo and behold, you become rich overnight. Wish it were so easy but it isn’t.  There are four important ingredients which can make your online business successful.

opportunities abound but what you do is more important!

Subject Matter Expertise

This is perhaps the most important factor to consider before jumping into the online fray. But most of us run after what looks like a home run. Most of the online businesses are successful because the owner knows what he or she is talking about. I often see blogs which are on finance, student loans, pay day loans and such which don’t provide any useful information. They are there because the blogger or owner feels that they can make money by writing on finance. This is the perfect wrong approach. You will get people to read your blog or buy only if you provide genuine stuff – not recycled misinformation. What you must do is to provide great information which is unique – even if it’s about growing asparagus in your backyard.

Knowledge of SEO

We will be in a fool’s paradise if we think that we can become successful online without knowledge of SEO. I would rate this knowledge as critical. You must know your keywords. You must know page rank. You must know Alexa. You must understand the dynamics of driving traffic to your website. You must understand the difference between Google Panda and Penguin (other than knowing that they are cute animals). If you don’t know any of these, you are doomed. I find it quite funny and sometimes wonder how we have become victims of Google. It doesn’t matter what you do. You simply have to fall in line with Google search. It’s quirky, biased, eccentric and confounding. Still there is no way you can avoid Google.

Perseverance

This is indeed, another big factor which determines your success online. Most of us somehow feel that once you have developed a smashing website or blog you simply have to step back and watch the cash pour in. And when it doesn’t (which is the most likely outcome) people quickly lose interest and move on. Not only should you keep watering the plants but also nurture them if you want them to yield fruit. Online business requires continuous and steady promotion. You have to keep working at it – day in and day out.

Patience

Never underestimate the virtue of patience. It takes a year or years for your online business to stabilize. If you are looking for a quick fix, this is not the place for you.

Conclusion

Ultimately, whether it’s online or traditional business, you have to know your marbles. Don’t jump into an online business just because someone else has become successful. Avoid herd mentality. Find your own niche. Final bit of advice – do what you love. It’s love which makes the world go around.

Signing off with lots of love!

It’s now your turn. Do you agree with the points raised or do you think there’s something important left out? Feel free to share with us in your comments below!

Can You Really Build a Billion Dollar Business Online?

by with 19 Comments Inspirational

Do you think it’s impossible to build a billion dollar online business?

Yes, I believe even if you have doubts in your mind!

Truth is, the richest super marketers today didn’t start making millions their first month, they did with consistency and hard work. And so, if you want to raise a beautiful family, build a good house and send your children and wards to good schools with your online business, then you have to start thinking like a billionaire.

“Building a billion dollar business begins with a billion dollar idea!” – Daniel Adetunji

You don’t need money  to start up that business, all you need is an idea.

If you want to make money online, then you must be willing to devote your time in meeting the needs of people.

Building a successful business online demands hard work. In fact, you will face challenges and there are times you’ll feel like giving up; but listen, don’t give up, don’t give in!

Buiding a million dollar online business

Learn From Successful Online Entrepreneurs

Zac Johnson – Zac Johnson started blogging fifteen years ago. He started his blog ( zacjohnson.com) not because of the profit behind it, but because of his passion and desire for upcoming affiliate marketers to succeed.

His desire and vision brought him the fame and money he has today.

Michael Chibuzor – Michael Chibuzor is a young guest posting Ninja who started blogging two years ago. His passion and drive to teach upcoming freelance writers how to succeed makes him thousands of dollars today from freelance writing.

What Are You Thinking, How Far Can You See?

I used this two successful entrepreneurs not because I felt like promoting them, but to encourage and tell you that it’s possible for you to make billions online. All you need is focus and direction.

Want to build a billion dollar online business? Then read this…

ATTENTION: If you’re looking for proven business ideas to help you build a successful online business, I suggest you download special report: “100 Innovative Ways to Make Money Online In 2013!” Stop running round in cycles trying to figure out what business
method is ideal for you! Get Your FREE Copy Today:

How far can you see? Think big!

The universe does not help people with small ideas ( I mean, small vision). It helps people who can see far–people who can see into the future.  It helps people who can see and think big despite the challenges around them.

You need to think big!  Erase  those negative thoughts and take up the helmet of success. You need the right mentality if you want to build a billion dollar business online.

Believe in yourself, and most importantly your idea!

If your belief is not strong, you’ll affect others around you. How do you want to get people to trust you if you don’t believe in yourself? Close your eyes, refuse to listen to friends who hate you for your belief and make you think you cannot be rich.

Don’t procrastinate– focus

Do one thing extremely well until you’re good at it.

The power of focus is important if you must succeed online. Don’t allow distractions, stay away from them. Focus on your goals, work hard to achieve them and celebrate your victories.

It may take long, but don’t give up, don’t give in

Every successful online entrepreneur produced results after plowing through difficult times and failures. If you’re afraid of failing then it means you’re not ready to be rich!

Over to you, my last words…

Remember, nobody is going to build your business for you. You are responsible for the upkeep of your business therefore, learn from this successful online entrepreneurs and apply the tips stated in this article.

All things are possible.

Photo credit: Freedigitalphotos.net

5 Innovative Business Ideas That Will Take Your Business to the Next Level!

by with 20 Comments Business Ideas

A few days ago I did a post on using some innovative business ideas to enhance your online business and take it to greater heights. In this post I want to continue by presenting you with 5 more innovative ideas that will help you enhance your online business for the years to come.

So let’s begin.

innovative business ideas

Innovative Idea #6:  Add a New Niche to Your Business

I’m sure you’ve heard it say that making money online is really a numbers game. Now one way you can make that work for you is to build as many niche sites as possible. The idea is that the more niche sites/blogs you build the more you’ll be able to earn!

Hmm, maybe that’s just putting the power of compounding to work!

Now, this is an idea I truly love and I’m already implementing this. Though I have some few niche blogs out there, recently I decided to branch off into some areas I’ve never looked into before now. With the Christmas holidays approaching (holidays like these are always very profitable for niche markets), I’m right now working on 3 different niches which I’ve never touched before. Of course, there is more work involved but one good thing about niche blogs is that if you set them up the right way and you use the right resources like this one, you could leave them to generate some passive income for you.

Now, if there is any market you’ve been thinking of getting into but never really taken the bold step to do so, this is the time to take that bold step. Put off your procrastination and fear of failure and start. Do you think breaking into a new niche is going to be a difficult thing? Then you are mistaken. Fact is, if you have been involved with making money online blogging for some time then chances are you already have:

1.    What it takes to research a new market,

2.    What it takes to set up niche blogs,

3.    What it takes to write articles for your niche blog; and

4.    What to takes to generate traffic to your niche blog.

If you however you think you’ll not be able to write articles for your niche blog because you have no knowledge of that particular niche, then you can easily outsource that as we discussed in the previous article.

One truth that many aspiring bloggers who want to make money blogging have lost sight of is the fact that trying to make money with just one blog in the face of the competition in the market today is an uphill task. To make money with just one blog you need the type of traffic that will make advertisers look your way. But with many well established bloggers out there, you need more than share luck to make the type of money you dream of!

Besides, you must understand that most of the traffic that comes to your blog is nothing but other bloggers who simply need to connect with your blog. Most times, these bloggers are out simply to generate traffic to their own blogs! So if you’re depending on just that one blog you may just be leaving money on the table. Use that blog for your branding but get involved in niche marketing today.

innovative your business strategies

Innovative Idea #7: Take Your Online Business Offline

This is a method I’ve found many web entrepreneurs already implementing and I think it’s something you need to get involved in. of course, I’m cooking up some ideas of how I will be able to implement this in a few months time.

This idea could be implemented in various ways. You could use it to generate fresh leads/traffic for your online business or, you can use it to add another stream of income to your online business. For example, if you’re into the make money online niche, you could organize free seminars where you speak on the opportunity of using the internet to make money. During these seminars, you could hand out specially prepared fliers or cards with your website/blog details inviting the attendees to visit for more of what you offer. You can also subscribe the attendees to your newsletter. Better still you could package some special reports or some other digital products burnt on CDs and sell them during the seminars.

No matter the niche you’re working in right this is an idea that will put some extra money into your pockets. And who knows, this could just become another stream of income which you’ll want to pursue full time. One reason why you should try this is the fact that offline leads are fresh and more open to most of the things you will talking about unlike the traffic of experienced bloggers and internet marketers who are presently visiting your blog/website. This stream of fresh newbies is really a fertile ground for future customers!

Innovative Idea #8: Leverage Yourself, Leverage Your Resources

This is actually an extension of idea #4 discussed in the first part of this article. However, to effectively do this you need to have a system in place to measure your achievements working alone. Once you know what you can achieve with your own efforts, you now work on doubling or tripling that.

For example, let’s say you write articles to promote your blog and this has worked very well for you, say for every article you write, you’re receiving about 100 new visits every week. Now how about doubling or tripling that?

Of course, what you need to double or triple the results is to write double or triple the number of articles you write every week. Once you know this, you can now either write those articles yourself or if that is impossible working alone, you can now outsource them. so if on your own you have been able to do only five articles a week, you can now outsource 5 articles or 10 articles and you would be able to double or triple your efforts and subsequently, your traffic and possibly your PROFITS!

Again, you could leverage the resources you already have. Just as I mentioned in idea #5, you could turn your articles into videos. Besides that, chances are you have various blog posts that are buried deep in your archives. You could pull these ones out and create special reports or even audio downloads from them. Doing this will only take a few minutes of going through your archives, pulling out the ones you want to use and then rewriting them briefly so that the various articles can be connected to form a special report. These could be given away to build your email list or sold for a few dollars!

Innovative Idea #9: Stay Green, Get with the Trends!

Some time ago I wrote a blog post about focusing on the trendlines and not the headlines! In that post I made it clear that with the various happenings around us today, what you should do as a marketer is to discern the trends and not just listen to the thundering headlines. I want to say here that this is something that will help you if you want to enhance your business for the years to come.

If you read a lot of blogs today you will be surprised that most of what they write is nothing different from what you have read in other blogs. Worst still most of these blogs will still present techniques and tactics that worked some 3 or 5 years ago. Unfortunately most of these ones do not know that though the principles may remain the same but tactics and techniques changes with the times. Many internet marketing techniques have changed and have continued to change. Techniques like search engine optimization; web 2.0 marketing and social media marketing are constantly changing. The search engines are constantly changing the way they index and rank web pages. Do you know that right now search engine optimization is getting infused with social media optimization? So, why continue to use outdated SEO tactics today? You need to keep up with the times and use effective SEO techniques that work today.

Besides, you should always have your fingers on the pulse of the market so that you can be among the first to know what is new in your target market. What should matter to you is the NOW. If a new product comes out tomorrow and everybody MUST have one — your job as a marketer is to go out there and market it! Why stay with what has become obsolete or has reached saturation stage when the latest and greatest are around you?

So, stay green and always focus on the trends!

Innovative Idea #10: Learn a New Skill before the Year Ends

Wondering how a new skill will help enhance your business? Well, just take a look at all the task you do every day to run your business. Can you say you are vast in every one of them? I doubt that because I am not. Now, think of you picking one of those skills and learning it so that you can bring it into your business with a new understanding? Don’t you think you will be able to achieve better results?

The truth is that there are various skills you can learn today and by simply having a better knowledge of these skills you can produce better results. Some skills you may want to learn before the year runs out are, copywriting, web design, graphic design, SEO Techniques, Time Management skills. (Click here for a free ebook that details time management tips and techniques for more success with less stress). You could also learn How to create your own products and how to land a JV, etc.

Learning these skills will also help you to break into new marketers, which is really a good thing.

Conclusion

Ok, I must say I don’t know how much innovative these ideas are to you but for me they are. Just thinking about them has pumped up my imagination and I know they can truly help you enhance your business and increase your profits in one way or another. so no matter how successful or unsuccessful you have been so far, know that the past is over and done with. What should really matter to you is the present. And it is this present that will shape the future. So you can take control of that future right now.

As you definitely know, it’s all about you taking action. Before you I’ve laid out these business ideas that will help you enhance your business and increase your profits over the next year(s). if you implement even ONE of these ideas  you will increase your profits. It is now left for you to take the action.

Over to you: As usual, I love to read and respond to your comments. So let’s hear what you think of these business ideas. And if you have one or two to add to the list, feel free to do so in your comments below.

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