Power Tips For the Young Business Owner

It is true that it is never too early to learn about things. It is not any different with businesses. In fact, many successful business owners and entrepreneurs of today started out when they were still young. If you are thinking of putting up your own business, you can take this as a cue to go for it.

To guide you on your way, here is a detailed step-by-step procedure on how to make your climb on the ladder of success easier and more feasible.

Step One - Choose a business

When choosing a business, it is important to remember that it is more likely to succeed if you like and know about the nature of your business. For instance, a food business is more likely to hit it big with an owner who has a background on culinary arts and an intense penchant for food than an owner who does not know a thing about cooking.

Step Two - Select a business name and create a business logo

After choosing a business type, you should choose a business name and logo to go with it. They should be something relevant to the nature of your business so that people can easily understand what kind of products or services you are offering. It is also best to choose a name that will easily stick to the minds of your customers or clients. Creating the logo should be done in the same manner.

Step Three - Select a location

Location is a crucial factor especially if your business requires people traffic such as a restaurant, retail store, coffee shop, service center or the like. Select an area that is always busy with people or an area where your target market is most likely to be located.

Step Four - Develop a business plan

A business plan is important because it serves as a guide for your business as it contains valuable information about the company and your plans for it. It should contain company description, scope of products and services, long-term and short-term goals, financial plan, marketing strategy, hiring procedure and many others.

Step Five - Organize licenses, permits and other necessary papers

Some of the necessary documents you have to obtain include business license, business permits, local permits, food permit (if your business is food related), police permit, seller's permit, building permit, zoning permit, employer ID number and federal identification number.

Step Six - Plan your hiring

Employees obviously play a vital role in the success of any business. For this reason, it is essential that you are able to find the right kind of employees to work for your company. To ensure that, create a standardized hiring procedure that includes series of interviews, employment background checks, criminal background searches, drug testing, and practical tests and examinations.

The hiring procedure should be structured and standardized to make it easier for you to compare and assess applicants.

To ensure your success as a young entrepreneur, you have to see to it that you accomplish these important steps when putting up your own business.

The 4 Simple Steps to Reviewing a Business

An unexamined life is not worth living (Socrates.) So too, an unexamined business is not worth running! If you don't know why your customers buy from you then you are going to find it difficult to get them to buy more from you! In these days of economic woe all Irish Businesses are suffering. If the purpose of running your business is to make sizeable profits then you probably need to refocus on why people buy and where the cash is really coming from. That is why I offer a Market Research phase to my clients and I'm going to share it with your here.

Step 1: Ask your clients. Don't assume that you know everything. Go and ask your clients the basic questions where did they hear about you, why do they buy from you, what annoys them etc. If they know you too well then get someone else to ask the questions. Make sure you ask current customers and lapsed ones, and from each of your segments. You can learn a huge amount from those who have left you already. Often there is something small which they are annoyed about and you can win them back.

Step 2: Your staff. This will be tricky for an owner manager, but your staff are the front line - right? There is no better source than asking your very own staff, who you pay to be loyal to you. Yet a lot of the time we don't trust their instincts or we assume that we know more than they do. They are the ones who look into the customers' eyes at buying time. They know if customers are happy or ecstatic. They know if clients are loyal or just lazy. You need to know this stuff too. So ask them!

Step 3: Your competition. When did you last take a good hard look at your competitors? The chances are one of two of them have been innovating! Some of them will have done stupid things but others will have made clever choices. You may not choose to copy, but at least you need to know what they are using to compete for your customers!

Step 4: The Web. These days every business has an element of web competition. Some people buy on the web others research and others gossip. It does not matter whether you love or loathe the web. You need to look at Key Word Densities, Header tags and a handful if other key indicators. You need to understand how the new Gods (Google and Yahoo) rate you. If they have not found or understood your website correctly, they will not guide paying customers to it.

If you follow the steps outlined above you can make a good platform to build a business strategy from. With a strategy that you believe in you can make plans that you will execute because you will believe in them. Plus as anybody who has had to deal with the banks lately knows you need a strategy to secure any funding.

Good Habits of Business

A successful business runs on good habits. Every business, whether a large corporation or a small entrepreneurship, needs every worker, every piece of equipment, and every attitude to be in tune with the rest of the company. The good habits that make this work and make a good business, great, is countless. However, here are a few examples of good business habits that you can apply to your business:

- Keep your eye out for opportunities - Whether you are at work, out for dinner, or on vacation, you need to be watching out for that one opportunity that could make things be even greater for your business

- Always focus on your business first - When running a business, it always comes first. A true business person is always a business person. This is the only way to make your business reach its full potential. Once you get it on its feet, you can relax and let others help you take responsibility, but until then it is all on you.

- Always have a back-up plan - If something goes wrong you need to be quick on your feet to solve the problem. This is why it is a great idea to have a back-up plan, so you can have something ready when the time comes.

- Have thick skin - Criticism is going to come your way all the time that is just what happens when you run a business. You need to be confident in not only what you do, but in yourself. Do not let others cut you down.

- Business is not about fast money - over charging your customer is not going to help you in the long run. You need to slowly grow and become legitimate before you charge a lot for your goods and services. Building trust and confidence is much more important in the long run.

- Take risks - taking risks is just part of the job. You need to be able to distinguish between the good risks and bad, but you can only learn this through trial and error.

Using these good habits can help your business grow in a healthy way. It can also help you as a business person.

Niche Marketing Aptitude Test - Your Road Map to Success

Why is niche marketing so hot now? If you're in business one fact comes with the word recession and that word is competition. Would you like a way to jump ahead of your competition? If your answer is yes then you need a way to increase your niche marketing aptitude. The niche is your answer and solution in a time of growing competition.

In tough economic times, with tight money and stiff competition, it's essential to find ways to get an edge on your competition. There have been truckloads of articles, books and newsletters on how to improve your niche marketing skills. Finding your niche is job one for every business who wants to succeed long term.

To increase your niche marketing aptitude, take the revealing quiz below, it acts as your microscope and road map to a stronger niche marketing aptitude. The importance in having it gives you a sense of confidence in the middle of stiff competition.

This is not one of those articles you passively read and then toss aside forever. This is an active involvement article. Meaning, to get the best results from reading this you must take action. How? By taking the test and answering the questions honestly. The answers will help you quickly form a solid niche strategy.

To get the maximum benefit, keep taking the test until you can get a perfect 10. The 3 minutes spent with this quiz will be worth their weight in gold to your financial future. With the enormous number of me-too products, services and businesses in the marketplace, it's essential to keep your niche aptitude strong and vigorous.

If you fail to find ways to separate yourself from your competitors, you risk getting lost in the crowd of competition. This is especially true if you're a small business with limited capital and resources to work with. Finding your best niche requires focus and a strong knowledge of who your target market is and their current needs.

You often see a business develop a product or service, enjoy a burst of sales success, then suddenly sales fall flat or even nosedives. Your first impression goes to the economy, competition or limited capital. Those may have added to the problem, but the core problem goes back to the niche marketing aptitude of the owner and management.

Often a failing business didn't have a sales, money or profit problem, they had a hidden niche marketing problem. For example, most failing businesses had a weak, unfocused or changing niche market long before they noticed the other obvious problems.

To increase your niche marketing aptitude take the Niche Marketing Aptitude test below: Give yourself 1 point for each yes answer. Take it for each new business, product or service you create or obtain. Continue taking it until you reach a score of 10. Your goal should be to maintain a score of 10 for each business, product or service you control.

1. Do I know who the next 3 competitors ahead of me are?

2. Do I know what my competitive advantages are over them?

3. Do I have them written down? And do I constantly try to add to them?

4. Can I name at least one new problem my target customers are facing that I can solve through my product or service this week or month?

5. What extra service can I provide that my competition can't provide?

6. What ways can I speed up service to my customers without sacrificing quality?

7. What ways can I get my satisfied customers to recommend me to others?

8. Do I aggressively seek comments, complaints or questions from my customers?

9. Do I know my competitors latest competitive advantages over my product or service?

10. Do I aggressively seek and test new ideas while holding on to what works?

Amit Agarwal's Favorite Blogs & Websites of 2008

Following are the top 20 websites / blogs that I pay most attention to as per FeedDemon. The snapshot on the left was captured in June (for comparison) while the one on right reflects my current reading habits.

I was subscribed to some 1168 feeds in June but that number has shrunk to less than 650 today and I therefore have more time to spend per feed. Another big surprise is Hacker News - it has climbed to #2 position from nowhere while old favorite Techmeme has dropped to #8.

The Essential Guide to Internet & Software for First-Time Computer Users

You bought a brand new laptop computer for mom - the Apple Macbook was too expensive so you settled for a Dell machine loaded with Windows Vista and a trial copy of Office 2007.

Your mom is a great self-learner and knows all the basic stuff about computers but needs some help is in finding the right software tools that will help her do stuff more efficiently and as inexpensively as possible.

Letter to Mom suggesting tools and web apps for her new computer

Dear Mom - I hope you are enjoying the new Dell notebook. Now the first thing I want you to do is install PC Decrapifier - this will detect and remove all the unwanted trial programs that came pre-installed with your machine.

Next you should install Firefox - it’s an Internet Explorer like web browser but slightly better. Instead of using browser bookmarks, try the delicious add-on to save the addresses of all your favorite websites. Another add-on that you should install is Iterasi - web pages come and go but Iterasi will permanently archive your favorite web pages (like that eggless cake recipe).

You should create two email accounts one Gmail.com - share the primary email address with your friends and family but for everything else (like the newsletter and shopping deal alerts) always use the secondary email address. If you come across a site that requires registration, generate a temporary email address from 10MinuteMail.com and enter without sharing your main email.

With so many websites around, you’ll soon find it very hard to remember all those passwords so get into the habit of putting down all the different passwords into KeepPass from day one.

If you plan to carry this laptop in public places (like the Library), get this Laptop Alarm software that will emit a loud sound if someone tries to shut down your computer or remove the power cable. Laptop thefts are not so uncommon after all.

The trial version of Microsoft Office on your computer will expire after 60 days so you may completely uninstall that software and switch over to Google Docs - it has all the basic feature you would need in an Office suite including templates for tracking expenses and utility bills. You can use your primary Gmail address to log into Google Docs.

Sometimes your friends will send you documents, images or video clips that won’t open on your computer - that’s because you don’t have the right viewer software on your machine. You can simply go to zamzar.com and convert the file into some simple format (like avi for video, jpg for images, doc for documents, mp3 for songs, etc.) that you computer can play/open.

If the computer contains too many programs that you’ll rarely or never use, get the Revo Uninstaller to get rid of such programs permanently. To free up additional space on the hard drive, use WinDirStat to learn about file folders that are occupying the maximum space on your computer and delete the unnecessary files.

Be very careful when deleting files on your computer but if you ever delete something important accidently, Recuva may help you recover all those erased files. It even works with the memory card of your digital camera.

To download pictures from your digital camera onto the computer, get Windows Live Photo Gallery. This software can also upload your photos to our common family Flickr account so everyone gets to see your pictures even though we are several hundred miles away from you.

If the computer is not able to play your huge collection of DVD movies, you’re probably missing some codecs (don’t worry about the term) - just download the VLC player and the DVDs will play just fine.

You should also get Live Mesh - it will allow us to share files and documents with each other privately plus you can use Mesh to backup important files onto the cloud (I mean the web).

I am almost always available for chat on Google Talk but if some of your online friends use other chat software (like Yahoo! Messenger or AOL), you can easily connect with them through Miranda or, if you don’t want to install any software, use Meebo.

Another thing - do open an account at PayPal and link it to your main credit card as this will make online shopping easier. If you ever have a problem with PayPal or something isn’t clear, just call their toll-free 1-800 support number from your browser using Gizmo.

If your current voice plan is too expensive, I suggest that you download Skype - it lets you make calls from the computer to any landline or mobile phone at much cheaper rates. We can also use Skype to have video chats on weekends but if you don’t find me online, just send me a video email with Eyejot.

If you have newspaper clippings, bill receipts and business cards lying in the closet, just take a picture of them separately using the camera of your mobile phone and transfer them to the computer with Evernote - it will turn your "paper" documents into digital format that is always so easy to find and manage.

When planning a movie or weekend dinner with friends, you can send all of them a quick reminder for the event via phone and SMS for free using Notifu. If you’re inviting people at home for a party, head-over to sites like VideoJug.com, SuTree or 5min.com for new ideas about food, cocktails, party games, etc.

If you ever need to fax a document somewhere, just go to FaxZero, upload the document and fax it for free. FaxZero is only available for fax numbers of US or Canada but for international numbers, you may try eFax.

You can also consider dropping those magazine subscriptions that are delivered by snail mail - switch to Zinio instead that delivers the same magazine but in digital format.

As far as I remember, you’re currently using an unlimited data plan for the Internet but if that’s not true, get BitMeter - it will help you visually monitor your bandwidth usage so you never exceed the plan limit. You may also want to download FlashGet for downloading big files from the Internet.

If you notice carefully, some websites add an orange colored icon in the browser address bar (go to cnn.com to see a live example) - this icon means that you can get updates about new articles posted on that site automatically without having to visit the site again and again. If that’s the case, go to Feed My Inbox and type the address of that website - you’ll be notified automatically via email.

When browsing the web, you’ll frequently come across photographs, web pages and videos that you’ll want to share with us (your family members) - you could either send the link in a group mail or better still, simply create an account at Tumblr and start saving all the "interesting" stuff there.

And if you ever find yourself spending too much time on the computer, get RescueTime to know about websites where you spend most of your time.

There are a few other things that I want to do on your computer like installing a hosts file and configuring OpenDNS so that sites load quickly on your machine. These however require some geeky knowledge so I will try configuring them from here itself via CrossLoop - a remote desktop access tool.

See Real Web Addresses Before Clicking any Short URL

Let’s say you land on a web page that has tons of links but they are all encoded with services like tinyurl, ping.fm, bit.ly, is.gd, etc. so you have no clue about where those links may lead you to? The TinyURL service does offer a preview feature but most would agree that its too time consuming.

There are a few plugins like Long URL and Long URL Please that help you know where those shortened links really point to but the problem with this approach is that it works only with Firefox.

Bookmarklet Replaces Short URLs with Original Links

If you are not on Firefox or need a simple solution that requires no installation, just drag this Long URL Please bookmarklet from longurlplease.com to your browser bookmarks toolbar.

When you click this bookmarklet link in your browser, all short URLs on the current web page will be replaced with the original URLs so you don’t have to worry about getting into embarrassing situations anymore. The same solution will work in Google Chrome, IE, Firefox and other browsers.