Even though many websites of successful internet business owners make it seem like they woke up on day two of starting their business with money in their bank accounts and enjoying their beach front property, it’s important to realize the realities of owning your own internet-based business.
Photographs and stories of internet business owners also make it seem like they’re always on vacation. The truth of the matter is, most business owners are not overly familiar with having time off. Most businesses, especially small businesses, require someone to be working in order for work to be coming in. If you’re sitting in a lawn chair on the beach, will your business still be earning money? Ideally, you will set your business up to earn passive income; and to function even without your input, but chances are- and especially with newly started businesses, if you aren’t there it could fall apart. It could be several years before your business is capable of giving you some time off!
When you work for yourself, you also miss out on:
Office-mates.
An entrepreneur may as well be called a “solopreneur”. Even if you hire employees that become “friends”, you are pretty much always the boss and they are always the employees. If your previous employment was in a social environment or in an office with lots of chatting and hustle and bustle, you might really feel like your missing something when you work for yourself. If you don’t have employees that you can socialize with occasionally, then you really need to make the effort to get out to networking and socializing events.
Company Sponsored Events
Many companies sponsor dinners or holiday gatherings for employees. It’s true that you won’t have these events to look forward to on someone else’s dime, but that doesn’t mean you couldn’t be the one to put them on. If you work with subcontractors or have employees, they may expect some sort of company sponsored event occasionally- which means you have to foot the bill as the “company”! This can be a good thing or a bad thing, depending on how you look at it.
If you’re determined to be your own boss, I applaud you! It takes a special “breed” of people to take the next step and actually do something about their dreams to be self employed.
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I know the internet is plastered with pages and pages of stories about how people became overnight successes by using the internet to make money. It’s no wonder that most people have “become internet business owner” on their secret wishlist of things to do; but if you are serious about starting your own internet-based business, you should make sure you are prepared for reality! It’s rarely (if ever) as easy as people might make it seem, and no matter how many times you’ve heard it, chances are- you cannot make millions of dollars overnight just by throwing up a web site.
That being said, there is some truth to it all… you do have more flexible hours than if you worked for someone else in their office. You can work first thing in the morning or late at night, whenever your mind is at it’s best. But there are some serious disadvantages for working for yourself, too, that should not be overlooked. Think carefully whether you can handle the following scenarios:
Loss of reliable, predictable income.
While there is really no job that is 100% guaranteed to last as long as you want it, when you work for yourself you won’t be certain that you’ll have enough sales each week to make a predictable salary. Especially when you’re just starting out. You may have really good, profitable weeks, followed by weeks where you barely make enough to cover your expenses.
You are one with your business.
In other words- when you work for yourself, it’s possible that your business becomes inseparable from your life. When you are employed by a company, you go to work and you come home. That’s about it. When you are self employed, you are likely to work round the clock, especially when you’re just starting out. It can be hard for new business owners to find the happy work-life balance everyone dreams of.
Say goodbye to paid sick leave and vacation time
As a business owner, you aren’t guaranteed a certain number of sick days each year, so you either work while your sick or you take days off without “pay”. In other words- with most self employed businesses if you aren’t working, you aren’t going to be making money.
Retirement is your responsibility.
When you are employed full time by a company, you are often given some sort of retirement plan. Your employer may or may not contribute to it, but at least you are earning something towards your future years when you aren’t working. When you work for yourself, it’s up to you to set aside money for your retirement years.
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How much are you spending on your long distance bill? Often, people don’t realize that there are many ways to save money on long distance and just assume they are stuck paying whatever it is they pay on a monthly basis. Some phone companies charge a base rate just to have access to long distance, plus per-minute fees for all long distance telephone calls made from your phone.
What if you could let your friends and family who are long distance call you, toll free? You could remove your basic long distance phone service, and prepay for your toll free number service. Instead of paying $9.99 a month for long distance access, you could pay $1.99 for your get800today toll free line; and then pre pay for call minutes by depositing $25 or more on your account.
When your friends and family call you on your toll free number, you would then just set it up so all incoming calls are forwarded to your home phone. No special equipment is required to have the toll free number, and you won’t receive a monthly bill. You keep your service active by making small deposits to your account as often as you wish- and the site will even alert you when you’re remaining balance is getting low so you know when you should make another deposit.
Your friends and family will not be billed for long distance charges when they call your toll free number. This is also a great solution for giving your college students a way to call you for free, even if they are staying on campus in another state! Just set it up, and give your student(s) the number so they can call you, whether they have change in their pocket or not! They also don’t need to remember to carry a calling card on them, or call using the pricey “collect call” method (for which you pay much more per minute than you do with a toll free number service!)
There are many uses for a home toll free number, and thanks to the affordability of the service, and the ease of setting it up (no hardware installation is required and you can do it all from the website in just a few minutes) anyone can have their toll free number service up and running in no time at all.
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Now that getting a toll free phone number is as simple as depositing a few dollars, selecting the number and setting up a phone number to have calls forwarded to, small businesses should also consider the benefits of having multiple toll free numbers!
Why?
Let’s think this through a little. When you do advertising, what’s the most important aspect to consider with any type of advertisement? Yes, it’s important to know how much it’s costing you to run the ad, but more importantly is to know what your RETURN on that INVESTMENT is. In other words, if it costs you $999 to run a nice big ad in the Yellow Pages, that can sound like a ton of money; but if that nice big advertisement gets you $7,000 worth of business in the first year you run the ad, you have a different idea regarding the cost of that ad, don’t you? On the other hand, if you can place a full page ad in the local newspaper for $120, you’d probably think that’s a great deal, right? What if you don’t get a single inquiry on that ad? Suddenly, that $120 advertisement was a waste of your money.
With any kind of advertising, you need a way to measure the results. If you don’t know how the advertisement is performing, or how many sales or inquiries you are getting as a result of running the ad, you have no way of knowing whether the advertising expense was a good investment or not. How will you know whether to run that ad again in the future?
If you do a few different ads at the same time, perhaps an online advertisement, a business card sized ad in your local newspaper, and have decided to try a radio commercial – how can you measure the success (or lack of!) for each ad that is running at the same time?
Get a separate toll free number for each of the advertisements you’re running! You can easily keep track of the number of responses you get from each advertisement simply by keeping track of the number of calls you get to each of your toll free numbers. Suddenly, you’ll know which of your advertisements are earning you money and which of your advertisements are costing you money.
Yet another reason to use toll free numbers!
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If you have ambitious plans for the future growth of your small business, but a limited budget, you don’t have to give up on those goals. Not all marketing requires extensive funding. There are many techniques you can use for getting your small business noticed- and you don’t need a bottomless bank account to get them going, either.
Focus on Keeping Existing Customers
Studies have shown that getting a new customer costs about five times more than the costs associated with keeping your existing customers, so spend some time on activities that encourage your existing customers to stick around. You can offer some sort of discounts or additional items to your loyal customers; and the more they come back, the more you reward them!
Email Newsletters
If you aren’t using newsletters yet, it’s time to jump on the email newsletter wagon. It’s true that they aren’t quite as effective as they once were, but for ease of use and the ability to send out relevant information to your opt-in list, you’re wasting a valuable resource if you aren’t using newsletters. You can either write them yourself, or hire a ghostwriter to put one together for you. The trick is to do it at least twice each month, send highly valuable information and only send to people who have requested to be on your mailing list.
Word of Mouth
By the far the cheapest form of advertising for ANY size business, word of mouth advertising is one of the most effective ways to generate new customers. Think about it, when you need a service provider, don’t you usually ask a friend who they use before you hire someone? You can help increase the amount of word of mouth traffic you get just by offering people incentives for referrals, or getting the buzz going about a contest or promotion you’re running.
Use the Buddy System
You can also effectively reduce your marketing costs by partnering with another business. For example, if you’re a writer and want to target businesses about writing copy for their brochures or company communications, you could partner with a printing company who would then print your finished documents for the business. The two of you would share marketing costs and both gain customers from the advertising.
Create a Call-in Campaign with an 800 Number
Get yourself a toll free number (very affordable thanks to prepaid plans like get800today.com offers), and place an ad in your local newspaper. Everyone who calls your toll free number should get a free report or coupon or something else related to your business (get creative!); and the number of people who respond to the ad will be increased because of your toll free number.
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All small business owners, whether you’ve been established for awhile or are just hanging out your “open for business” sign today, can benefit from some effective strategies and tips for jump starting your business. You could have the number one business in the world, but if none of your potential clients know about the business, it’s not going to do you any good!
Here are six strategies, or tips, that you can begin implementing and start seeing results immediately.
- Improve or get a Web site. Businesses without a website these days just send off the wrong message. Customers expect to be able to find out information about your company online, and if you don’t have one they’re not going to sit back and wait for you to get your act together and make one! Instead, they’re going to click the mouse and type a few words to surf over to your competition.
- Brand yourself! Are you still handwriting your contact information on the back of someone else’s business cards to give out to people you meet and network with? Have a professional logo created, and then use it on professionally printed business cards, stationery and your website. Create a cohesive look to all of your printed and online materials.
- Show off what people think about you. Yes, your mother probably told you not to care what anybody else thinks of you, but in the business world, referrals and testimonials are everything. Build credibility b y showing up the nice things your customers are saying about you and/or your products.
- Get your first sale! If you haven’t made sales yet, discount something and sell it to a friend! Every sale counts and it helps you build some momentum to get things going.
- Generate news. Don’t sit back and blend into the environment. If you want people to talk about you (and you do want people to talk about your business, because that’s how word gets around and how new customers are found!) you need to do something out of the ordinary to get noticed. Hold a special sale. Run an effective email campaign. Donate proceeds to charity on a certain day.
- Get a toll free number. This is one of the easiest things you can do to effectively market your business on a larger scale. When you have your professional logo and stationary designed, you can include your toll free business number, and instantly achieve a more professional appearance than having your cell phone number printed!
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If you are considering starting your own small business, you’ll need to consider the way you will structure your business. There are four main types of business structures, sole proprietor, partnership, corporation, or limited liability corporation. How do you know which one to choose?
Most people who are starting a small business tend to start as either a sole proprietor- if they’re going at it alone - or as a partnership if they’ve gone one or more people who are working alongside them in the business. The reason most businesses start out this way is not because it’s the “right” way; but because it’s the simplest way to start out! You can operate legally as a business in most states just by using your legal name; and it prevents the need for paperwork and expensive business structuring.
There is actually no right or wrong answer; but some business structures just may make more sense than others for what you plan to do with your business, the size of your business, and how the advantages and disadvantages of each business type affects you as the business owner.
The most obvious distinction between the four different types of business structures is how they are taxed. You may have heard that incorporating your business saves you self employment tax. If you’ve talked to any of your knowledgeable friends or family about your intent to start a business, I’m willing to guess at least one of them has said you’ll pay an arm and a leg in self employment tax as a sole proprietor. What they maybe didn’t explain is that while you only pay half the taxes out of your personal income if you are an incorporated business; the other half is paid out of the corporation- and so you end up paying the exact same amount.
The distinction is this, really. As a sole proprietor or partnership business, all business income is treated as your personal income. When you have a corporation or limited liability corporation, you can keep some of the income in the business as retained income, so you aren’t making as much “on the books”, and you aren’t paying personal income tax on any income that’s retained by the business.
Whichever business structure you choose, it’s always good to talk with an accountant before making your final decision. Not only can they give you the ins and outs of each business structure, but if they have access to your current financials for the business, they can help you decide which structure makes the most sense from a financial standpoint as well.
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You’d be surprised how many people do not have the capability to make a long distance phone call from their home phones. On top of the number of people who just can’t make long distance calls from their telephones, there is a large percentage of people who would prefer to deal with businesses that have local telephone numbers, or a toll free number. How many customers might you be losing because they don’t want to dial a long distance number to reach your small business line?Having a toll free phone number is a very effective customer service tool, and is an effective, and more-affordable than you would think- marketing strategy that works for most small businesses. While many long-distance phone carriers can provide you with a toll free phone number, it can sometimes get complicated to sign up for their packages and you sometimes need to make appointments with the company to come in and install equipment to make it all work. This type of toll free set up allows customers to call your office without paying long distance charges, but what about small businesses that work from home, or consultants who are always on the road and rarely at a desk to take calls?You can still avoid losing customers due to a long distance phone number simply by setting yourself up with a toll free number that is portable, and requires no hardware installation. Basically, you have incoming calls to your assigned toll free number forwarded to any phone number you choose. That means you can have people calling your toll free number and answer it from your home line, your cell phone, or a business line. You can change where the incoming calls are forwarded through an online account manager as frequently as you need to.Marketing your business with a toll free number opens up the doors to business expansion. Instead of having to keep yourself in a local market, a toll free number lets you market your services nationally.
It’s more affordable than you think, too. With Get800today.com a toll free number is a prepaid service, so you can designate how much money you want to set aside to pay for your incoming toll free calls. Each call is billed based on the number of minutes you talk; a few cents a minute are deducted from your total deposit/account balance. You are in complete control and it’s one of the few business expenses that are totally scalable based on the amount of business you are receiving. If business is slow, you aren’t paying for unnecessary expenses in a toll free number. You pay more only as you get more phone calls and more incoming business.
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What’s the phone number on your business card? Your local office line? Your mobile phone number? Don’t you want to take your business beyond your home town?
If you want to compete with the bigger businesses, you’ve got to establish yourself. One of the easiest ways of looking “important” and established is to get yourself an 800 number; or any of the toll free number variations, like 866, or 888 phone numbers. The bottom line is, you want to give your customers a way to call you from just about anywhere in the US or Canada and not have to pay any long distance phone charges. A toll free number eliminates one of the barriers a prospective customer might have to calling to find out more about your business services or products. Once they realize they can call you for free, they don’t have as many excuses to prevent them from picking up the phone to contact you!
Toll Free Number Benefits to Small Business Owners
In addition to looking professional and giving your prospective customers and existing customers a free way to contact you, having a toll free number offers a variety of benefits to small business owners. It doesn’t matter if you’re a solo-preneur or a team of ten- having a toll free number provides you with useful benefits that will more than compensate for the few cents a minute you pay to accept incoming calls on your toll free number.
- Take the calls with you – a toll free number is completely portable, since you forward the calls to whatever number you choose, even your cell phone.
- Customers never have to receive your voice mail since you can choose to forward the calls wherever you are!
- Unlike a cell phone or business phone, a toll free number does not require a credit check because you are going to prepay for your service, in the amount you select (and as small as $25)
- You will never receive a surprise bill in your mailbox. You prepay and as calls are made to your toll free number, the cents per minute are subtracted from your balance.
- You can forward your calls internationally if you are traveling out of the country.
- You are not required to meet a monthly minimum of calls, minutes, or price. Use the toll free number as little or as often as you need.
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Let’s face it. Toll free telephone numbers make companies sound important in their advertising. If it doesn’t make you immediately think “important”; at the very least, it makes you think the company is large, and operating on a nationwide basis , right?
The trick to marketing for small businesses, even those businesses which are primarily the entrepreneur doing all the work of the business (and without any employees!), is to operate the company as if you are already a large corporation. Your marketing efforts shouldn’t focus on the fact that you’re a one-man-band. Instead, you offer what you can do, and let your prospective customers assume you are already a large, very successful business. This helps generate trust in their minds, and as all business owners know- trust is the first step to gaining a new customer.
Many small business owners don’t even consider getting a toll free number because they assume it’s going to be out of their budget. After all, it doesn’t make sense to increase your phone costs each month if you aren’t sure you will be able to increase your business profits along side of that expense. Even small business owners, and one-man-band entrepreneurs can get a toll free number, and have it work into their budget.
Thanks to the advancements in technology- getting a toll free number is as simple as getting a calling card from your local convenient store! You can even choose the type of toll free number you want; 800, 866, 877 or 888.
How is this affordable to the smallest of businesses? There are now pre-paid toll free number services, that let you prepay as little as $25 to get set up with your own toll free number. Something else most of the “little” businesses don’t know is that you don’t have to have any special hardware installed at your office or home in order to set up a toll free number. In fact, your toll free number is just another way to reach your office line or cell phone (or any other phone number you designate). When someone dials your toll free number, it will forward to the phone number you’ve indicated. This makes your toll free number as portable as you are, and you can change the forwarding number as often as you need to.
Toll free numbers can make your business seem larger, more professional, and more established. And lucky for you, they’re easy to get and probably more affordable than the cell phone you’re carrying around.
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November 11, 2007 | Starting a Small Business | 
AlyssaMay 
