General Business and Finance Blog

The idea of starting a business is alluring to so many people.  There is the vision of wealth, providing opportunities and security.  Also there is pride and purpose- knowing what you’re doing is for you and your family.  And of course, one of the most appealing reasons is the freedom of being able to work from home and choose your own hours.  

These visions are wonderful and, in many cases, attainable.  In fact, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce, there are over 17.6 million businesses with one or more owners but no paid employees.      

So why are so many aspiring entrepreneurs left on the sidelines? 

It turns out, there are three reasons.  One, as you can imagine, is good old fashioned fear.  Fear of the unknown.  Fear of failure.  Believe it or not, fear of success.  The second reason is a lack of knowledge.  “Where do I start?” “I don’t have enough resources.”  “I don’t know anything about marketing.” And the third reason, which I will be discussing in this article, is about the business idea, itself. 

Business Idea Paralysis

What is business idea paralysis?  Quite simply, it’s a condition that prevents people from starting a business because they get held back in the idea generation stage.  Basically, they are stuck in neutral.  Below are the two most common reasons why:

 The Pet Rock Syndrome

In 1975 a gentleman named Gary Dahl created a product called the pet rock.  Many of you have probably heard of it.  In case you haven’t, it was nothing more than a rock set in a box on some straw.  Within 6 months, Dahl had sold over 5 million of these pet rocks for .95 each.  It cost him less than 30 cents to produce the rock.  So, when you do some basic number crunching, he made over 15 million dollars in just 6 months – selling rocks.   

What does this have to do with anything?  Well, quite a bit actually.  Imagine how much your life would change if you could sell something as simple as a rock and become a multi-millionaire in just 6 months.  Pretty tantalizing isn’t it?  Unfortunately, it has tantalized people so much that they never end up starting a business.  They only end up chasing their own “pet rock” gimmicks that never catch on.

The reason is simple.  Some people just haven’t been blessed by the idea gods.  The gods have failed to spring upon them the multi-million dollar idea that they believe they need.    No matter how hard they try to come up with the next pet rock, they can’t.  If you don’t believe me, take a look at how many get-rich-quick schemes are being sold today.  If people can’t think of the next great idea, then they will buy the idea from someone else.  Well, guess what?  It doesn’t work.  Mr. Dahl was an aberration.  He hit the winning lottery ticket.  Chances are you won’t.

After you have wiped the pet rock syndrome from your head, beware of the next, equally as paralyzing syndrome that can keep you from getting to business with real, tangible ideas. 

Peace, Love and Happiness Syndrome

On the other end of the spectrum we have the peace, love and happiness camp.  This group is a little more realistic in their pursuit of a business idea.  Their problem, however, is that they love too many business ideas.  In fact, they love them so much that they can’t decide on the best one.  They become paralyzed by trying to figure out which idea is best, and ultimately, never try any of them.

These types of people, I have found, are extremely visionary.  They love to explore all of the different business angles and long term visions.  The problem is they don’t take action because their heads are filled with amazing ideas and forecasts for success.

If you fall into this camp, I have bit of advice.  Stop it!  You need to choose an idea and then let your mind run wild within the boundaries of that idea.

How Do You Find the Right Business Idea?

There are two schools of thought on how to come up with the right business idea.  I’ll discuss them below:

The Traditional Approach

The traditional theory for finding the right business idea states that you should find a need and fill it.  In other words, you need to pay attention to your surroundings and look to see where there might be an opportunity to offer a new product or service that people may need.  Once you do, that’s what you will build your business around. 

There is no question that this method of generating business ideas work.  It has led to many great inventions and innovations over the years.   It is for this reason that pharmaceutical companies make billions of dollars.  They develop new drugs to satisfy a need, such as a heart condition.  You can also see the traditional approach at play with today’s green technologies.  New, “green” businesses are trying to fill the need for clean, renewable energy.

There is one problem with this method, however.  It can be quite expensive and time consuming.  First, you have to develop the product or service.  This includes spending a lot of time and money on market research and sampling.  Second, you have to spend a lot of money on marketing to not only introduce the product or service, but to also convince people that they really do need it. 

If you’re a typical entrepreneur with limited funds and expertise, this may not be the best method of generating business ideas. 

The Give Them What They Want Approach

There is a second school of thought about coming up with a business idea that in many ways is far less risky and is much less expensive.  This theory is based on the idea that you should come up with an idea that already exists.  Or, simply put, offer people a product or service that they are already buying. 

Wait a minute, you may say, but doesn’t that mean there is more competition?  Isn’t the market already saturated?   Um, I would reply, tell that to Netflix. 

In 1997 the originator of Netflix reportedly hit upon the idea for movie rental-by-mail when he was forced to pay in fines after returning an overdue videotape of the film Apollo 13.  Renting movies was not a new business “need” that needed to be satisfied.  In fact, Blockbuster had been renting movies for over 10 years, and in 1998 had served nearly 60 million people who rented more than 970 million movies and video games.  Netflix took a proven market (movie rentals) and simply enhanced the service by offering movie rentals by mail, with no late fees.  The result:  today, Netflix has over 10 million monthly subscribers while generating  an annual revenue of over 1 billion dollars.  Blockbuster, on the other hand, is struggling to stay afloat. 

The point is that if you know what people are buying, a good business idea is nothing more than simply enhancing the product or service and/or marketing message.  It’s a lot less risky and more often than not, a lot less expensive. 

Before you can have a successful home based business, you must first possess 3 “intangibles.” These are things that must come from WITHIN you.  

Intangible 1

First,you must have a strong WHY.

Why MUST you have a successful home business? What is driving you? What is it that you CAN’T have in your life anymore and/or what is it that you absolutely MUST HAVE now?
For me, I couldn’t stand working 12+ hours a day anymore and missing the experience of my children growing up. I also absolutely HAD TO HAVE the freedom of being able to control my life and finances through a little box (laptop computer) that I could carry with me anywhere in the world and not be tied to anyone’s time pressures or demands but my own. That was my carrot and my stick. I felt a great pain deep in my gut of missing out on my children’s lives and the incredible freedom that succeeding in a home based business would provide for me. I found my why. You MUST find yours.

Intangible 2

You must BELIEVE that it is possible.

If you don’t believe that it’s POSSIBLE for you to have a successful home based business or make your living from home, you won’t. It’s that simple.
For me, figuring out that it was possible was just a matter of realizing that many other people were ALREADY making great money working from home. If they could do it, I could too. It would just be a matter of figuring out what those people were doing and then adapting it to my situation.

There is no shortage of undeniable PROOF that people (millions of them) are making money working from home. Just get online and do some research and you’ll find countless testimonials and stories of REAL PEOPLE making real money on the Internet. Or head to your local bookstore and you’ll find the same documented evidence of this fact. Truth is, it’s getting easier and easier to make money with your own home based business.

I’ve always said that “affiliate marketing” (a simple way to make money from home) is the job of the future. In the old days, you had to go to a potential employer, apply for the position and hope for the best. Now you can simply go to any company you want, fill out their affiliate application and start work immediately. Affiliates are the new working class. In fact, making money with affiliate programs or making your living on the Internet is WAY MORE than possible. It is pretty much (or will be soon enough) unavoidable now. Affiliate marketing is the “job” of the future that’s already here TODAY.

Intangible 3

You must be willing to MAKE THE LEAP.

Ready, FIRE, then aim… This is the operating philosophy you MUST adopt to succeed with a home based business.
That’s backwards for most people who like to aim before they fire. The fact is that home based business success is a moving target… The only thing constant about it is change. You need to stop analyzing the game and simply jump into it. You can’t learn from the outside… You have to be *IN THE RING* to truly understand and profit from it. In fact, this is a business where you can truly be earning WHILE you’re still learning…

The lesson here is that you will never really be READY to start a home based business. You simply have to start one. It’s like having children… You’re never really ready, but when it happens you adapt and grow and therefore you succeed. This is what I call: “Making the Leap”!

The good news is that the cost of failure with having your own home based business is very small. In the “brick and mortar” world you need to evaluate things very carefully before you decide to open up a business. It’s almost always necessary to invest thousands of dollars to get an offline business off the ground. However, on the Internet you can often start a successful business for less than 0. The Plug-In Profit Site is a great example of this where you can get your own money-making site setup free within 24 hours:
http://www.PlugInProfitSite.com/main-28425

You simply need get IN THE GAME… Each moment that you stay “out there,” you’re wasting valuable time that you could be learning and skills necessary to build a successful home based business. In fact, if you’re not in the game yet, you’re ALREADY behind the times… Make the leap to starting and building a successful home business TODAY!

About Stone Evans, The Home Biz Guy:
“I Was A Washed Up Restaurant Worker Desperately Searching For
A Way To Save My Family When I Discovered The Internet And
Affiliate Marketing… 24 Months Later I Finally Cracked The
Code And Started Earning Over ,000.00 Per Month… Now The
Same System That Saved Me Is Available To You!” Make Money Now!
http://www.PlugInProfitSite.com/main-28425

Like so many I lost my job this year. The company I worked for closed in the face of this rough economy. They have been in business for over 25 years. I’ve been with them from the beginning. The owners are of retirement age and decided to stop fighting a loosing battle and take it easy. They deserve it. But where did that leave me? I’ve got 15 years to go before retirement. The owners ran a small shop and couldn’t offer me pension or IRA. So what next? Maybe it was time for me to work for myself. But how to get started? And in what business? After 25 years I grew tired of the business I was in. Besides there is too much competition and not enough profit on each item unless you deal in high volume. It was time to look for an opportunity to be my own boss. I searched through the internet googling everything on the subject, but searching through the thousands of small business offers can be very daunting and exhaustive. The claims, promises and testimonials become confusing. I wasted time and money trying to find that business that’s just right for me. Everyone has different circumstances and goals that make finding that perfect opportunity much harder. As a sideline I help a friend make video podcasts, not to make money but to show off the many artist and crafters out there. I’m committed to this and maybe someday it will make me some income. Because of this podcast I need to travel to another state a couple times a year so my schedule eliminated some good opportunities that I found in my searches. So I decided to list these offers for anyone else who would be interested in working for themselves. I only list opportunities that meet my criteria such as:

• Low start up fee.

• Little or no competition in my local area.

• A legitimate business that you can check out by investigating others like this in your area.

• Or if it’s a work at home business you should be able to cultivate your own customer base and work independently of the company offering the start-up information.

• A business that takes some effort on my part and doesn’t claim to make you rich overnight.

• Something that seems recession proof or at least resistant to the ups and downs of today’s economy.

• A business that I would like to work at for years to come.

I’ve come across several offers that I’ve listed on my web site “Be Your Own Boss” that are legitimate business opportunities for those who want to start out on their own and achieve financial freedom. For one reason or another they didn’t appeal to me or wouldn’t work with my schedule. Maybe these opportunities will work for you. I didn’t realize that some jobs existed, like cleaning out foreclosed homes. I briefly went into partnership with a friend flipping houses a few years ago. I cleaned out many houses that we renovated. And some were foreclosures. Who knew? I know that some of you will make a go of it after reading the info provided in these manuals. It depends on where you live, the competition and how many hours you have to devote to your newly started business. Most of the “Out in the Real World” opportunities listed on my site will require a full time commitment. They are perfect for those of you who are seeking to open your own business and never work for someone else again. I’ve listed these offers all in one place so you can easily scan the them and decide for yourself if an opportunity is the right one for you. The manuals are not very expensive and give you a wealth of knowledge from people just like you who have started their own businesses or have worked in a particular field for years. You can benefit from their knowledge. The manuals and e-books I list are written by people who are very knowledgeable in their field and many authors have started successful businesses or worked in their profession for many years. They have the experience to steer you clear of the pitfalls that all new owners face.  I did, and found one that worked for me. So if you look hard enough and weigh all the pros and cons you will be able to open your own business and be a success!

Everyone is searching for home business success! Home based businesses are popping up every day and numerous others will start a home business within the next year. Experiencing home business success is important to anyone who desires to work at home. For those of us who already have a home business we are continually looking to grow and connect with others who are like-minded.

Work at home “Dads” are becoming as popular as work at home “Moms”. Maybe even more so, as large companies continue to “cut-back” and downsize their operations. Home based businesses are becoming the norm. Most households already have two “bread winners” in the family and have turned towards starting a home business part-time.

If you are looking to improve your bottom line and have pondered the thought of beginning your own home business, now is the time. Taking the right steps to home business success will get you off to a fast start. The key for continued home business success is to plug into a PROVEN system that you can follow to the top! If you are looking for an opportunity to work from home and don’t have a great deal of money to start a home business, you can search most any search engine for home based success stories and get free information on the subject.

True home business success requires effort, just as any other type of venture you may pursue. Moreover, your home business success may be directly tied to how much “thought” and “action” you give to it. You’ll rise to the top much faster by finding other individuals who have already experienced home business success and willing to show you how they did it.

Find a mentor (someone who has already been there – done that – and got the T-shirt) and implement their home business success formula. After all, they most likely will be able to show you where the “pot holes” lie and how to avoid them! Success Coaches are the key to most any rapid success, especially when working in a large industry. Sometimes you’ll come across too many “different” ideas or approaches to a given outcome. A Success Coach will help keep you on track and keep you away from all the “noise” they may distract you.

Take it from me … run from the ones who make you promises in order to get you “in” to their work at home program! Most of these guys only succeed in “recruiting” and not actually building a true, long lasting, residual type of income we all desire from working a home based opportunity.

So what are you to look for in a home based business? Well … we all have our opinions and below you will find a few of my own:

- Solid Leadership – You’ve heard it before, “Leadership is everything, and everything rises and falls on leadership”. Without quality leaders (proven in the field) you are placing your trust and work effort in uncharted waters! Find out “who” is behind the wheel and what their game plan is (should they have one).

- Financial Stability – Too many times we’ve experienced or heard of a once thriving company, having to close their doors (usually due to poor leadership) due to lack of funds. Let’s face it; finances are the key to any company’s success and or failure. Without money to keep the lights on and pay the necessary overhead, it’s only a matter of time until “lights out”!

- A Vision – It’s the old saying … “without a vision, you perish”! Therefore, if there isn’t a “plan” (a foreseen outcome or objective), then failure is most likely what’s around the corner.

Of course all three of these issues go together and are entwined or fused together. Sort of like one is no good without the other and without one, neither of the other two really exist. But then again, that’s just an opinion!

Ultimately selecting the best home based business for you, requires you to know what you want and know your outcome. If you simply just “jump in” as some would have you do, you may find yourself drowning in the process! You are much better off to research and select a home based business that offers you PROVEN SYSTEMS for your success. Once you’ve found the right one for you … work the system!

The idea of starting a business is alluring to so many people.  There is the vision of wealth, providing opportunities and security.  Also there is pride and purpose- knowing what you’re doing is for you and your family.  And of course, one of the most appealing reasons is the freedom of being able to work from home and choose your own hours.  

These visions are wonderful and, in many cases, attainable.  In fact, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce, there are over 17.6 million businesses with one or more owners but no paid employees.      

So why are so many aspiring entrepreneurs left on the sidelines? 

It turns out, there are three reasons.  One, as you can imagine, is good old fashioned fear.  Fear of the unknown.  Fear of failure.  Believe it or not, fear of success.  The second reason is a lack of knowledge.  “Where do I start?” “I don’t have enough resources.”  “I don’t know anything about marketing.” And the third reason, which I will be discussing in this article, is about the business idea, itself. 

Business Idea Paralysis

What is business idea paralysis?  Quite simply, it’s a condition that prevents people from starting a business because they get held back in the idea generation stage.  Basically, they are stuck in neutral.  Below are the two most common reasons why:

 The Pet Rock Syndrome

In 1975 a gentleman named Gary Dahl created a product called the pet rock.  Many of you have probably heard of it.  In case you haven’t, it was nothing more than a rock set in a box on some straw.  Within 6 months, Dahl had sold over 5 million of these pet rocks for $3.95 each.  It cost him less than 30 cents to produce the rock.  So, when you do some basic number crunching, he made over 15 million dollars in just 6 months – selling rocks.   

What does this have to do with anything?  Well, quite a bit actually.  Imagine how much your life would change if you could sell something as simple as a rock and become a multi-millionaire in just 6 months.  Pretty tantalizing isn’t it?  Unfortunately, it has tantalized people so much that they never end up starting a business.  They only end up chasing their own “pet rock” gimmicks that never catch on.

The reason is simple.  Some people just haven’t been blessed by the idea gods.  The gods have failed to spring upon them the multi-million dollar idea that they believe they need.    No matter how hard they try to come up with the next pet rock, they can’t.  If you don’t believe me, take a look at how many get-rich-quick schemes are being sold today.  If people can’t think of the next great idea, then they will buy the idea from someone else.  Well, guess what?  It doesn’t work.  Mr. Dahl was an aberration.  He hit the winning lottery ticket.  Chances are you won’t.

After you have wiped the pet rock syndrome from your head, beware of the next, equally as paralyzing syndrome that can keep you from getting to business with real, tangible ideas. 

Peace, Love and Happiness Syndrome

On the other end of the spectrum we have the peace, love and happiness camp.  This group is a little more realistic in their pursuit of a business idea.  Their problem, however, is that they love too many business ideas.  In fact, they love them so much that they can’t decide on the best one.  They become paralyzed by trying to figure out which idea is best, and ultimately, never try any of them.

These types of people, I have found, are extremely visionary.  They love to explore all of the different business angles and long term visions.  The problem is they don’t take action because their heads are filled with amazing ideas and forecasts for success.

If you fall into this camp, I have bit of advice.  Stop it!  You need to choose an idea and then let your mind run wild within the boundaries of that idea.

How Do You Find the Right Business Idea?

There are two schools of thought on how to come up with the right business idea.  I’ll discuss them below:

The Traditional Approach

The traditional theory for finding the right business idea states that you should find a need and fill it.  In other words, you need to pay attention to your surroundings and look to see where there might be an opportunity to offer a new product or service that people may need.  Once you do, that’s what you will build your business around. 

There is no question that this method of generating business ideas work.  It has led to many great inventions and innovations over the years.   It is for this reason that pharmaceutical companies make billions of dollars.  They develop new drugs to satisfy a need, such as a heart condition.  You can also see the traditional approach at play with today’s green technologies.  New, “green” businesses are trying to fill the need for clean, renewable energy.

There is one problem with this method, however.  It can be quite expensive and time consuming.  First, you have to develop the product or service.  This includes spending a lot of time and money on market research and sampling.  Second, you have to spend a lot of money on marketing to not only introduce the product or service, but to also convince people that they really do need it. 

If you’re a typical entrepreneur with limited funds and expertise, this may not be the best method of generating business ideas. 

The Give Them What They Want Approach

There is a second school of thought about coming up with a business idea that in many ways is far less risky and is much less expensive.  This theory is based on the idea that you should come up with an idea that already exists.  Or, simply put, offer people a product or service that they are already buying. 

Wait a minute, you may say, but doesn’t that mean there is more competition?  Isn’t the market already saturated?   Um, I would reply, tell that to Netflix. 

In 1997 the originator of Netflix reportedly hit upon the idea for movie rental-by-mail when he was forced to pay $40 in fines after returning an overdue videotape of the film Apollo 13.  Renting movies was not a new business “need” that needed to be satisfied.  In fact, Blockbuster had been renting movies for over 10 years, and in 1998 had served nearly 60 million people who rented more than 970 million movies and video games.  Netflix took a proven market (movie rentals) and simply enhanced the service by offering movie rentals by mail, with no late fees.  The result:  today, Netflix has over 10 million monthly subscribers while generating  an annual revenue of over 1 billion dollars.  Blockbuster, on the other hand, is struggling to stay afloat. 

The point is that if you know what people are buying, a good business idea is nothing more than simply enhancing the product or service and/or marketing message.  It’s a lot less risky and more often than not, a lot less expensive.