Tag Archives for " building a business "

12 What Products/Services Will My Business Provide? Part 2

I would like to remind my readers that this blog is geared toward teens and young adults (so please don’t be offended by my admonition to look up a word in the dictionary – that’s meant for my young readers).  The information here is just a summary, intended to guide them toward thinking about what they want their online business to look like/be about.  I invite you to post any ideas or suggestions you have that would add to the topic and be a good addition in the upcoming book I’m writing using these blog posts.

 

In part 1 of this topic we looked at service oriented businesses.  In part 2 of this topic we will consider just a few examples of internet businesses and the products or services you can offer online.

 

 

Online Training.  I heard about one man who taught piano and wanted to move to an island in the Caribbean.  He decided to take his business to the internet in order to make the move.  He purchased a video camera for his computer and worked with students via Skype (a free online video conferencing tool).  He was able to demonstrate and to observe the student playing the keys.  He eventually added pre-made video lessons which he turned into DVDs and MP3s and built a million dollar business.

Get any ideas from this story?  Many classrooms use video conferencing and online videos as an adjunct training (if you don’t know this word look it up in the dictionary as my father used to tell me).

Online videos are easy to make and are a great training tool.  You can do live demonstrations, embed video on your website, post them on your own YouTube account or create DVDs for sale.  Most computers come with built in cameras now.  If you have an older computer, there are very inexpensive cameras you can buy.  I got a Microsoft camera for my desktop for only $12.

As you become experienced, you may want to write a book about your topic which then becomes one of your products.  You may develop a training program that you can teach using webinars or have teleseminars or telesummits and teach classes over the phone.  The tools to do these things are free.

Be a Rock Star or a Comic.  Using YouTube you can create videos of your performances, post them on YouTube then give everyone the link to your video and ask them to share it.  If you’re good, or what you do is interesting, you might hit it big.  Just look at Justin Bieber and Gangnam Style.  These people posted on YouTube, their performances caught some eyes and they went viral and became overnight successes.  Both have ended up on Dancing With The Stars and Gangnam style is being danced all over the world.  It’s possible with a little talent, some creativity and a lot of luck.

Be a Talking Head or a DJ.  You too can have your own radio program on blogtalkradio.com.  You just download the software and start talking.  You can invite other people who are in the same niche as you to interview, interview customers, just talk about whatever interests you for an hour, review movies and books, play music.  You can record it and use it as a demo video, send it out to stations you might want to have a radio show for, or use it as a demo tape to get DJ gigs.

Online Retail Store.  You can open a storefront online using a website.  You can either develop your own or buy into an already existing business where they provide the website and all the tools you need; you only need to do the marketing and bring people to your site.  This is known as a turnkey business (everything is done for you, you just need to market your site).  Post photos and information about the product you are selling, set up a paypal account, use a WordPress plugin that is very inexpensive to purchase that becomes your Estore and tracks your orders, sends out invoices, notifies you via email about sales and keeps track of the money.

I use the WordPress  estore and their affiliate plugin.  You can get more information about that here.  In the interest of transparency, I am an affiliate for this product (that means I am part of their sales force and earn a commission if you purchase this product using my link).

There are many other options for services or products you can provide at your website or other online business.  Can you think of any?

Do you have a business model that isn’t mentioned here?  Please let us know if you provide a service that hasn’t been mentioned and you think we can benefit from knowing about it.  Thank you.

 

15 What Kind of Business Do I Want?

 

Once you have decided that you are willing to do whatever it takes to build a business, you need to decide what kind of business you want.  Here are more questions to consider:

•Will you offer training, mow lawns, have a pool service, sell a product, write books, manufacture something?  What about a making cupcakes or salad dressing?  Running errands for your neighbors, handling their recycling?

•Will you require a storefront, an office, a warehouse or will you work online and have an internet business?

•Will you work alone or have employees?

There are three main forms of business:

Internet:   This is a business where your office is literally in your computer.  There are many things you do as a business on the internet.  You can sell products on Ebay or Etsy, you can sell your art or things you produce from your hobby, you can earn money blogging if you can writer, you can build a coaching or training business, be a virtual assistant, be a graphic designer, sell your books or recipes or even food items that come from you kitchen.

The thing to remember is that this takes time.  The average business takes two years to build on the internet from start up to beginning to earn money.  It is very unusual for someone to hit it big and make a ton of money right away.  Most of those stories are not true.

Also, having an internet business is not easy.  You are working alone a lot of the time, you have to be a self-starter, motivate yourself and have a lot of patience.

The benefits are that you can work on your schedule, you are your own boss, you can be really creative.  However, even these benefits have a down side.  Working alone can make you feel isolated, you aren’t accountable to anyone and unless you seek them out and ask for assistance, there is no one to help you and you might have to pay for whatever help you need.  There is also a large learning curve where new systems, social media sites and other things are a part of your business.

This is a business option you need to give a lot of thought to and brainstorm some options for working around these downsides and moving forward.

Service:  A service business would include mowing lawns, pet or housesitting, running errands, home care provider, pool service, house/office cleaner and any kind of construction or contractor business, even a lunch business run from a catering truck.  You must be aware of the sort of knowledge and skills that you need, what kind of equipment/tools will you need, and whether or not you need a more formal education and a certificate of license.  This will require some research on your part.

Brick and Mortar:  Within this category are retail stores, restaurants, and manufacturing.  Brick and mortar literally describes a business at some physical location.

There will be some cross overs within the categories, for example, if you have a construction business, you will likely have a physical location where you park your truck, store your tools and have a showroom to engage with clients.

Another option for business is to own a franchise.  This can be expensive because you have to pay the parent company for the franchise license.  Some businesses that are franchises include fast food businesses and service businesses like Molly Maids.  You have to sign a contract with the parent company, they will provide some training about the business and you need to agree to operate within their guidelines and maintain the level of quality they demand.  Owning a franchise isn’t for everyone and there is no guarantee of success even though the parent is a well-known business.  And it can be very expensive and require a loan and lines of credit.  Do you have a relationship with a bank?

So, as you can see, there are many questions to consider each step of the way to building an entrepreneurial business.  Are you still committed to doing what it takes to build your business.

Still haven’t requested the Get Stuff Done Tool?  What are waiting for, it’s free.  Just enter your name and email in the sign in box on the top right side of the page and get started organizing your business today.

10 Are You Committed to Doing What it Takes to Build Your Business?

In today’s post I am going to briefly touch on the first question from the Junior Achievement’s list of 20 questions from the previous post about things to consider before starting your business.

 

 

Am I prepared to spend the time, money and resources needed to get my business started?

First, you should consider the time it takes to run a business, then ask yourself these three questions:

•Do I really want to give up baseball, hockey, soccer, basketball, football, dance, piano and voice, or hanging out with my friends to run this business?

•Will I have to work at running my business every day or just sometimes?

•Will my family help me out?

It is important to remember that building a new business even if it is based on something you already know how to do, takes time.  One of the lessons in my previous book, 31 Powerful Lessons: Empowering Teens and Young Adults to Develop an Entrepreneur Mindset, is about finding the time for your business.  Finding the time is one of the hurdles that you need to find a way over if you’re going to have your own business.

You have to conduct research to see if there are customers, find out what the competition is doing, how to price your product or service and so on.  If you are going to have an internet based business, even if you already know how to use a computer and are on Facebook and Twitter and other social media sites, you will have to learn how to use those sites for business and create a social media marketing plan.  There are many other steps involved here.

This is the point where you might want to find a mentor, someone who already knows these things and can help you make good decisions and move forward if that is what we decide to do.

Your main task before you can truly answer this question is to find out what will be involved in starting and running the business you decide on.  Once you have all the information, you can make an informed decision.

Are you prepared to put in the time to gather all the information you need to make an informed decision?  Are you willing to even put in the time it takes to do this?

The Getting Stuff Done Tool might help you organize the things you have to do to find your answer to these questions.  You can get that emailed to you by entering your name and email in the box with the red arrow at the top right side of the page.

12 20 Questions to Answer Before Starting a Business: Empowering Young Entrepreneurs

By this time in our series, you should have identified your passion.  If not, you’ll need to take time and go back through the exercises designed to help you do that.  If you still don’t find your answer, ask the people who are closest to you what they have observed makes you happy while you are doing it.  Keep at it until you figure out what you are passionate about and can create a business with.

The next step is to think about how you’re going to build a business around that passion so you can love what you do all the time.

There’s a lot to consider.  Are you going to sell products that you create, or products that someone else has manufactured?  Are you turning your hobby into a business?  Who will be your customers or clients?  How will you reach them?  Will your business be based on the internet or will you have a what is often called a brick and mortar business, meaning a physical location in an office, warehouse or storefront?  Do you have the skills to stay in business or do you need to learn some new things before you start?

You can see that there are a lot of questions you need answers to before you can move forward.  With that said, I’m a big believer  in just jumping in and going for it once you know what you want to do.  However, what you are jumping into will differ with different types of business.

The organization called Junior Achievement has provided a list of questions for you to consider while trying to decide how to build your business.  We will be discussing some of these questions as the series continues, however, there are some things that you will need to find the answers for yourself.  There will be a resource page at the end of the series with links to some organizations and blogs that can help you learn what you need to know to start a business.

Do you already have answers for any of these questions?

Am I prepared to spend the time, money and resources needed to get my business started? What kind of business do I want? What products/services will my business provide? Why am I starting a business? What is my target market? Who is my competition? What is unique about my business idea and the products/services I will provide? How long will it take to prepare my products/services for sale? How much money do I need to launch my business? How long do I need to finance the company until I start making a profit? Will I need to get a loan? How will I price my product compared to my competition? How will I market my business? How will I set up the legal structure of my business? How will I manage my business? Where will I house my business? How many employees will I need for startup? What types of suppliers do I need to contact? What kind of insurance do I need to invest in? What do I need to do to ensure I am paying my taxes correctly?

As I said, there’s a lot to think about.  If you aren’t willing to take the time to consider these questions and do the research to find answers, then you might want to reconsidering starting your own business.  In order to be successful in business you must be committed to doing whatever it takes to make it work.

The focus of the Empowering Teens and Young Adults to Develop an Entrepreneur Mindset series is going to be on developing an internet business.  Most of these questions apply to internet business, however, they may not all apply to the business you want to start.  Making it happen is on the internet is easier than building a brick and mortar business.

In each post for the rest of the series we will be considering information that you need to know to find answers to some of these questions.

Have you been able to answer any of these questions for yourself yet?

Don’t forget to leave your name and email in the box on the top right side of this page to receive the FREE entrepreneurial tool, Get Stuff Done.

 

10 5 Easy Excuses to Failure

 

What really keeps people from achieving their dreams?  I can tell you what it isn’t – it isn’t lack of money, luck, talent or time.

Some people like to use these things as excuses, but they really aren’t the reasons people fail.

For a lot of young people, failure is a matter of attitude and mindset.  If you have a positive attitude and your belief in your dream is greater than your doubts and you are committed to making it happen and willing to do whatever it takes, then you can achieve your dreams.

If you have a negative attitude and give a lot of attention to your doubts, then you are likely stepping up to failure.

“It’s not my fault.”

It’s really easy and convenient to place blame on people or circumstances around you for your lack of success.  You can blame your parents, the economy, your lack of money, but none of that is at fault if you fail to achieve your dream.  The only way to succeed is to take responsibility for your results.  If you don’t achieve your dream, it’s because you gave up before it happened.

“It’s too hard.”

When you say “it’s too hard,” is that what you really mean?  Or are you really saying you just don’t want to put that much effort into what needs to be done?  When you give up will you use ridiculous excuses like, “It just didn’t work out.”

Starting a new business means you have to expand yourself.  It requires growing, learning and finding new strengths.  That kind of growth will give you a sense of fulfillment, confidence and increased self-esteem.   And sticking to it gives you the opportunity to achieve your dream.

“I need to think about it more.”

There is a natural rhythm to the lives of successful people that goes Think–Do …. Think–Do.  Unsuccessful people get caught in the trap of over thinking things and never taking action or they take action without consideration.  Either way the result is exhausting without achieving anything.

“I don’t think I can do it.”

At this stage in your life and experience, it isn’t likely that you are going to try to attempt something that has never been done before.  Therefore, whatever your dream is, it is possible to achieve it.  When you think that you can’t do it, I believe you are really asking if you’ll follow through, not if it’s possible or not.  You really need to stop worrying about whether it’s possible or not, whether you can do it not and just go for it.  Even if you do fail, you will still be closer to your dream than you are without going for it.                                                                                                                                                       “I’m not feeling It.”

Sometimes you start out on a path toward your dream or goal and you realize that you aren’t feeling it.  Do you give it up or keep going?  Sometimes it just isn’t worth it to keep going.  That’s okay, just let it go and start looking for something else.  The difference between giving up, which is a way to being a victim of your failure and changing your mind and looking for new options is a positive decision.  In this case, choosing something new that you feel passionate about is a good choice.

The choice is yours, are you going to give more power to your dreams or your doubts?  Will you take the steps to failure or take the path to success?

“Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishment.” – Jim Rohn

 

To help you stay on track, I’m offering the Get Stuff Done Tool.  Enter your name and email in the box with the red arrows on the upper right side of the page and receive it within minutes.

8 Build Your Dream Team

Once you have identified your passion and decided on the business you want to build, it is essential to build a dream team.  A dream team is a group of people that will help you make your dreams come true.

You should include at least one mentor on your team who can help support you with guidance and encouragement at various steps along the way in building your business.  That mentor can be a teacher, a local business person, a family friend, an advisor the local Junior Achievement chapter, or a member of your family.

The most important skill that you must develop in order to put your dream team together is the ability to communicate your vision and ask for help.  Here are a couple of steps to help with that:

•   Communicate the vision for your business as clearly and with as much passion as possible.

•   When you ask for help, make a specific request.  The more specific you are, the more likely you will receive the help you are asking for.  On the other hand, if your request is not specific or if you are asking too much and people aren’t clear on what you are asking of them, they will probably refuse your request.

Here’s an example of two ways to make the same request:

1.   Can you pet sit for me?

2.   Can you pet sit my dog this weekend from 5:00 Friday night until  noon on Sunday at my home?  I will pay you $50 plus provide food for your meals?

Which of these examples is more specific?  Which one would you say yes to?  Why?

If people say, “No” to your requests, politely ask them why they can’t help you.  Maybe they need more information.  If you provide more information and they still say no, ask if they know someone who might be able to help you.  Don’t forgot to thank the people for their time.

When deciding on who to approach to be on your dream team, ask yourself these questions:

What friends can help me?

What family members can help me?

What friends of friends can help me?

What friends in my school community can help me?

Who in my local community can help me?

Which associations or organizations can help me?

Who are people I can go to for support?

Who are people I can ask for advice?

Who are people that I don’t know yet who can help me and how can I connect with them?

Next, make a three column chart with these three questions:

 

What do I need                   Who am I going                  What am I going

help with?                            to ask?                                   to say?

 

Answer the three questions.  Remember to be as specific as possible.

To help you find the right approach, write a short blurb, what some call an elevator pitch that gets your point across as quickly as possible.  Write your dream in 25 words or less then practice saying it out loud.  Practice it on a friend or family member and ask for feedback.  The more feedback you get, the better your presentation becomes.

“When you begin speaking your dream and enrolling others, your dream can become bigger and take on new forms, and all kids of opportunities will show up.” Marcia Wieder.

 

17 How to Find Your Passion (The Secret You Need to Hear)

Today’s article was written by guest blogger, James Clear, of The Passive Panda.  James offers a counterpoint, an alternative perspective, if you will, to picking your passion.  I think his ideas are worth considering as they may a lot of sense. 

 

 

Wouldn’t it be great if we could all spend our days doing what we love?

I’ve received a lot of emails recently asking how to do just that. In the end, they all come to a similar conclusion, “I honestly can’t figure out a clear direction for myself.”

I think it’s normal for all of us to feel that way from time to time.

Searching for your passion and yearning for your true calling seems to be an integral part of the human experience.

That said, I think we often approach the process of finding our passion in the wrong way.

I’ve made these mistakes before as well, so I’m not claiming innocence … but I’ve also done it the right way from time to time, and so based off of those experiences, here’s my take on finding your passion.

We’ve got it all backwards.

Stop worrying so much about finding your passion.

You can’t strategically discover it through some intellectual scavenger hunt. You’re probably searching for it because you think that it will bring you clarity. ”If I know what I’m passionate about, then I’ll know what I should spend my time doing.”

That sounds good in theory … but it’s the complete opposite of how the process actually works.

Passions are born out of experiences.

You love your favorite team because it was the first football game you ever went to … or at the very least it was the team that you and your family cheered on from your living room. You’re crazy about that one movie because of how it made you feel when you watched it for the first time. You cry whenever you hear that sad song because it was the first song you heard after your grandfather died. You love sailing because you like the taste of salt on your lips, wind in your hair, and sun on your back.

These are examples of experiences that left a mark on you. The emotions that they conjure up — the passion that you feel — only came after that initial experience.

Discovering your passion for work and life follows that same pattern. I’ve never suddenly become passionate about something while sitting around on the couch. If you want to discover a burning passion, then you need to put yourself in a position to have a burning experience.

You need to read something new, talk to someone new, go somewhere new. “New” can mean unfamiliar, but it doesn’t have to mean that. Maybe you know a lot about horses, but you’ve never been to the Kentucky Derby. Go there. Try it out. See where it takes you. Have a new experience — whether that’s around a familiar topic or an unfamiliar one.

Before you discover your passion, you need to be curious and take action. You need to make different choices. You need to search out new opportunities. You need to create new experiences.

It is in the act of creating new experiences that we discover who we are.

If you’re searching for your passion now and haven’t found it yet, what makes you think continuing your search in the same way will magically bring your passion to you? You have to change your actions if you want to change the outcome.

If you want a new passion, then you need to create a new experience.

What you like vs. what you know.

Once you’ve accepted that you need to put yourself in new situations to discover your passion, how do you decide where to start?

Most people will tell you to start with what you know. I disagree.

If everyone only did what they already knew, then we would never learn new skills, change careers, or try anything different.

Let’s say that you work as a sales rep in the pharmaceutical industry. If you can’t find your passion right now, then what makes you think that sticking with what you know (pharmaceutical sales) is going to help you find your passion?

Of course, there’s nothing wrong with utilizing your current skill set. In fact, I encourage that. There’s no reason to waste the talent you already have. But don’t choose a new path simply because you can do it.

Your choices should be based on what you like and not what you know. What you like is different than what you’re passionate about. Likes may turn into passions eventually, but they are simply interests right now. Everyone has an interest in something.

Maybe the pharmaceutical sales rep likes movies. What if he started looking for jobs in sales and marketing for a media company? Or a cinema company? Or a theater company? He could still use what he knows (sales and marketing) … but he’s basing the decision on what he likes.

When you’re searching for your passion, it’s important to pursue things that you enjoy for one reason…

To find your passion, you need to dedicate yourself to a cause.

Eventually, the new experiences that you have will help you with the next step: finding a goal to work towards. Reaching for a goal is a powerful thing because it will take you to places you could never envision beforehand.

The act of reaching for goals — whatever they are, and whether or not they are ultimately reached — plunges us into a strong current that carries us to places that we can never expect or know when we embark. —K.O.

The value in having a goal and pursuing new experiences is as much the journey it leads us on — the experiences we have, the lessons we learn, the doors it opens — as it is the accomplishment of reaching it. You cannot predict where a journey will lead and what passions it will reveal. You can only start the journey and let the passions evolve naturally.

The pursuit will bring your passion to you.

How can I be so certain?

I’m certain because I know that what you’re looking for isn’t necessarily “passion” or a “calling”, but rather it’s one perfect moment.

You’re searching for that sliver of time when you say, “This is right. This is what I’m supposed to be doing and where I’m supposed to be at this moment. Right here, right now, this is what I was meant to do.”

I’ve been fortunate enough to feel like that before, and I can tell you that you don’t find moments like that, they find you.

And when you show up every day and dedicate yourself to a cause and continue your journey towards new experiences and new goals, those perfect moments have a tendency of finding you more often.

Finding your passion isn’t about knowing with certainty that you have chosen the right direction for yourself. It’s about picking a direction and pursuing it with urgency and consistency and enthusiasm.

If you do that, then the experiences that you have will bring your passion to you

James Clear is the Founder of Passive Panda.  He started the business to teach the three pillars of earning more money… freelancing, employment, and entrepreneurship.  Passive Panda covers all three of these areas in depth, and teaches you how to develop an overall earning strategy for your life.

 

 

33 Using the Ultimate Blog Challenge to Write “Pick From The Passion Tree”

It’s very exciting to be joining all of you in the October 2012 Ultimate Blog Challenge.  For those of you who don’t know, I address the crisis of youth unemployment by proposing that we guide our teenagers and young adults to develop an entrepreneur mindset.  My first book, 31 Powerful Lessons: Empowering Teens and Young Adults to Develop an Entrepreneur Mindset is currently on sale as a digital book and as a perfect bound paperback book at my website and will soon be on Amazon.com and Kindle.  I wrote that book during the last Ultimate Blog Challenge using the daily posts as the foundation for the book.

Using this new blog challenge in the same manner, I plan to write the second book, Pick From the Passion Tree in what I call the Empowering Young Entrepreneurs series.  It is my sincere hope that you will read the posts and share your constructive criticism, positive feedback and any ideas you have that will enhance the topic I’ve written about.

I am also accepting guest posts about how to decide upon and start a business and other entrepreneurial ideas appropriate for teenagers and young adults.  Steve Eason has already provided a guest blog post about selling solutions to the customers’ pain.

I’m looking for exercises designed to help youth focus on identifying their passions and how to make decisions on how to build a business around those passions.  Checklists would be useful as well as free resources that young people can access to help them build their foundation and start down their path.  Some of these guest posts may be included in the new book (with your permission of course).

Additionally, if you have any advice you would like to share directly with young people, I would be happy to consider those posts as well as real stories of other successful, young entrepreneurs, both for the blog and possibly for the book.

There is no particular order to the posts as I have not yet organized what content will be in the book.  I do know that we’ll have some reality check exercises (two that I’ve already posted on this blog during September), some exercises for our youth to identify what they are passionate about.  The book will include information on social media, blogging and other business building blocks.

I am looking forward to reading and commenting on as many of your posts as possible during the course of the challenge.  It’s nice to meet you and it will be nice to get to know you.

8 Build Your Business Around Pain Relief: Solutions Sell

Today’s article is by guest blogger Steve Eason of

Ingenious Internet Income

You’ve probably been asked this question a few times from family and friends:

What do you want to be when you grow up?

I remember my answer was that I wanted to be an astronaut.  Growing up in Florida, I had the unique opportunity to watch the Space Shuttle launch in school on television and then run outside to watch the plume as it rocketed into space.  Your answer was likely a little different, but usually it was something like a fireman, a policeman, a nurse, a teacher or just like my dad.

If you were asked that today what would your answer be?  According to recent surveys, close to 80% of those asked were dissatisfied with their jobs.  That’s over 123 million people in the US that are dissatisfied with what they do for a living.  Will you be one of them?

The greatest thing about Internet Marketing is that you can do what you love to do in a way that is helpful to others and make money doing it.  What a great combination.  Unfortunately so many people who hear me say that, just can’t comprehend how that it could be possible.

Today I was out getting my haircut and the stylist asked her usual conversation starting question of, “Are you on lunch from work?”  My answer was, “Sorta.  I work from home so my schedule is flexible.”  Then I was able to talk a little about what I do for a job, which is writing and teaching others how to build a business online.  You could tell that she was surprised and slightly interested in what I had to say, but she really had no idea that you could even do this.  I had a chance to share with her a little about what could be accomplished no matter what you were interested in.

It occurred to me that there are so many people out there that just don’t know what you can do with an online business.  As I was heading home, I was listening to a podcast on Internet Marketing, and there was a statement that resonated with me.  The statement encapsulated the idea that I’ve been working on with my business that I just never could put into words.  This statement summed it up quite nicely.

“I’m passionate about improving people’s lives.”

That just sums up what I’m doing and what I’m focusing on with my business.  I’m working to help improve people’s lives through my work.  By providing the best information I can to help as many people as possible, it begins to build a relationship that ultimately serves the greater purpose of helping others.

Creating a business that you love

How do you go about building a business around a topic or interest that you love?  What I’ve often suggested is to start by looking around you, at what you already enjoy doing in your free time.  I can’t even begin to tell you how many times I’ve heard about someone starting an online business around their hobby or interest and having people practically knock down their door to buy.

Let me share with you a secret that if you follow it through to the end, will help you build a business that will allow you to do what you love to do and make money doing it.  It’s fairly simple, yet so many people fail to really go all the way with it.  And I will be the first to admit, I am one of those people.  Here it is and try not to be underwhelmed when you hear it.  Find the pain.  Yep, that’s it.

What does this really mean, to find the pain?  It means to look closely at your hobby or interest and see if you can identify something that is causing the most pain and then create or research a solution for that pain.  Just consider what you like to do and think through what you think is the most frustrating part of doing that hobby.

Let’s look at Remote Control (RC) Planes as an example.

If someone is interested in learning all they can about RC Planes, what are the common questions that they are going to have starting out?  What are the tools that they will need to get started?  Who are the best manufacturers for parts?  Are there any groups or clubs that they should know about or be introduced to?

Just consider a new person to your hobby or interest, and all the questions that they are likely to have.  Providing the answers to their questions is an entire course that you could create and sell.  People go to bookstores all the time and purchase a book that helps them understand how to get involved in specific hobbies.

What about the people who have been involved with RC planes for a longer period of time.  Could it be that they have something that has been a pain point in the hobby that they would love to have solution for?  You could find a local hobby group and ask.  You could also find a forum online that is actively discussing the hobby and then listen to what they are saying.  Figure out what is causing them the most frustration and then find a solution for that pain point.

Maybe you have learned how to program software and you hear that they would love a tool to track all the parts for their hobby or they need an app to record scores when attending RC airplane races.  What about an online resource that helps them track and organize RC airplane races for the community?  Create that tool or app with input from the local group and then sell it.  If that group likes it, it’s likely that other groups will as well.

When talking with people about their pain points, there is one recommendation that stands out above all others.  When trying to identify what those pain points are, you have to ask questions.  Lots of questions.  The most important questions you can ask during this discovery process are the following two questions.  What else?  And tell me more.  Well the last isn’t a question, but what it does is keeps them talking about what is frustrating.  Keep asking those questions until they run out of things to say.

By asking these questions and others you will start to understand their market and hobby, which helps to you be able to define the problem.  If you can define the problem even better than they can, then they will just naturally assume that you have the solution to the issue.

Here are a few more questions that you can ask which will help you further define the problem:

What are some of the things that make you want to throw your “X” out the window?  (X being the hobby, computer, etc).

What do you consider to be the most important activity in regards to your hobby?

Are there any pains associated with that?

What are the problems that cost you the most money?

How often does that happen?

This process is about trying to find out all you can about the subject in order to gain a better understanding so that you can define the problem.

Even if you already have a product you are selling or service you are providing, if you’re not seeing results, take a look at your product and start asking yourself the questions above.  Have you answered those questions?  Do you understand the problem better than your customers?  If people aren’t paying for your product, it’s likely because there isn’t enough pain associated with the problem that you’re trying to solve.  Take a step back and start from the beginning and make sure you’ve clearly defined the problem in the first place.

I hope this helps to open your eyes and gets you thinking about how you can start solving problems around you.  No matter what the niche is, there are problems that drive people crazy each and every day.  Problems that are costing people loads of money and time.  Never discount the value of saving people time.  Sometimes saving time is more valuable than saving money.  If you accurately define the problem and come up with a solution, you can build a successful business around that product.

 

Steve Eason is a professional blogger, internet marketer and social media enthusiast located in the Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina area.  Find out more on Facebook, Twitter or Google+.  Or visit Ingenious Internet Income for more great information.

steve@ingeniousinternetincome.com

 

10 2 Easy Steps to Identify a Potential Business Based on Your Passion

Step 1:

This is an easy and fun exercise.  Think about times when you felt really passionate about what you were doing or times when you felt really alive and happy when you were doing something.

After you’ve thought about this for a little while, write down three memories from your life that you felt passionate about.  For example, “I loved learning survival skills at summer camp.  I really enjoyed backpacking in the wilderness.  I love traveling and enjoyed our vacation in the tropics.”

Look for a common theme in these memories.  The examples above might mean you love adventure.

You have now identified a potential passion around which to build an entrepreneurial business.

Step 2.

The second exercise is a mission to gather facts about building a business around your passion.

Possible businesses/careers regarding adventure could include being a travel agent, leading guided tours, running a white water rafting business, fishing, teaching camping and backpacking skills or simply selling outdoor supplies and accessories.

Do research on the internet or at the library about being an adventurer.  Find out what sorts of businesses already exist around your passion.  Good sources of information can be found using Google, Safari, Bing, or any other major search engine.

You have now started thinking about being an entrepreneur and creating a business doing something you love and will be happy doing.

What common theme did you identify from your memories?