The Easiest Business to Start

Nowadays, more and more people are thinking about starting a business. Why is that so? Well, there are many reasons.
1. Jobs Are No Longer Safe Anymore
Although this is not true for everyone, it is definitely true for a lot of people. Today, you may have a job that pays you really well. Tomorrow, you may find yourself being retrenched without knowing why. And it is not always about job performance. Even if you perform well consistently, there is no guarantee that you will not get the axe when the company decides to cut cost in order to deal with economic uncertainties.
2. Starting a Business is the Path to Freedom
Some people just don't like the idea of working for someone else. And there are many people who simply hate their boss. That is why they want to start a business. They believe that starting a business is the path to freedom.
3. They Want to Change the World
Of course, there are people who want to change the world. And they believe that the best way to change the world is to start a business that can impact a lot of people and change their lives for the better.
Of course, there are many more reasons why people want to start a business. But for now, let us talk about whether it is possible for anyone to start a business.
So Is It Possible for Anyone to Start a Business?
If you ask me this question, I am definitely going to say yes. In fact, it has never been so easy to go into business, compared to the past. This is especially true when we have the internet.
The easiest business to start is an online business. The best thing about an online business is that you do not need a lot of capital. All you need is a website and you are almost ready to go.
If you are worried about the amount of money needed, I have good news for you. You can easily get started with less than $100. In order to set up a website, all you need is a domain name and web hosting account.
A domain name only cost around $10 per year. A web hosting account only cost around $10 per month. So don't you think it is really easy to start an online business?
So what are you still waiting for? If you want to become your own boss, it is time to learn more about online business.

5 Quick Tips to Feeling Powerful in Your Business

Empowerment:
make (someone) stronger and more confident, esp. in controlling their life and claiming their rightsSo what does it take to feel empowered? And why does it slip away at times and leave us feeling disempowered? I pondered this very thought for many years. Some days I would wake up ready to take on the world while others left me stuck in a rut or feeling stranded with no one to pick me up-- especially with regards to starting your own business. It seems to be a natural part of life to have the ups and downs, but when it comes to feeling powerful; it truly can be something that stays with us even in our weaker moments.
When left to our own devices it's easy to let small things weight us down and block us from what our natural path, especially in business.
Owning a business is the best therapy session of your life!
To help generate some positive energy and get back to working on what matters--bringing your message into the world--here are 5 Quick Tips to help you bring back your empowerment when those not-so-lovely feelings show up and strip you of your self-confidence and help you become a money magnet:
Understand that feeling disempowered is a message from your divine guidance network. Allow the feelings to develop and then look for hidden messages. It's those messages that will give you the creativity or boost of self-confidence to get going. Perhaps it's an oddity with an animal or butterflies are surrounding your car, Google these occurrences! They have important messages.
Get back to the basics of why you started your business in the first place. Adjust your mission statement and revisit your big "Why." This will be a terrific reminder that you are doing great things in the world and will help relinquish any upsets that are brought out on any given day.
Discuss your insecurities with a business coach. Sometimes discussing business woos with friends and loved ones isn't always the best medicine. Being an entrepreneur is difficult and not everyone understands what you're going through. Find an expert to talk to; you'll be surprised to find out they had/have the same issues.
Read motivating books. The words on the pages of any motivational (or creative) book will encourage you to think about a problem or a frustration with a new state of mind and mostly, help you gain clarity or learn a new angle for your business approach. I'm particularly fond of looking at home decor books and letting my brain uncover new arrangements to bringing new chi into my environment. (Check out my top 10 Motivational Books)
Enroll in a coaching program. Sign-up for freebies or short programs that will help get you to the next stage of your business. More often than not, the feeling you're experiencing is due to lack of clients or lacking good marketing tactics.
Make it a priority to learn different things and try a few of them on for size. You just might be surprised how good it makes you feel and makes your bank account happy too!

Angel Quintana, CNC, HHP is the holistic business coach behind Angel Quintana, Inc., a holistic empire devoted to empowering the new entrepreneur to discover their marketing style so they can attract the right clients, create financial prosperity, and become a trendsetter in their industry. If you like the article you've read, you'll love Angel's dynamic business building products that will help you grow your business and do it all with your own personal style.

7 Steps to Starting Your Own Business Venture

It's not as hard as it might seem, I promise. Starting your first business is so incredibly fun! But that's not to say it doesn't come with work. In fact, I'll be honest, getting a business up and running takes time, but it doesn't have to take forever.
Fortunately, there are 7 easy steps you can take right now to get your business off to a running head start.
Don't get flustered by the paperwork or all the sales and marketing tactics; all of that is just part of getting it all up and running so you can make money doing what you love AND serving the people you were born to teach.
With these 7 easy steps, you'll be running for your computer eager to get started! (At least that's how I was).
1) Get clear about your vision. What is it you love to do, talk about, or have a skill in that you'd like to share with the world. Obviously, starting a business means you'll have to sell something in order to make money, but what people are failing to tell you is you can start a business doing whatever the heck you want... as long as there is a big enough market who'll buy it.
2) Find out what people want. Asking friends, family, affinity groups, community, or even strangers you meet at the grocery store what they struggle with is a great way to survey what people are searching for and how you can translate that into your vision so you stay motivated in your business.
3) Research your Competition. Now, you know I'm not a big believer in competition, I think there is a market for every small business owner, you just have to fine tune what it is you are selling to resonate with what it is you do for a living. Researching your competition is really just taking note of what products are currently being sold out there (that are actually making money) and modifying them a bit. Not hard, right?
4) Develop your brand. This is a big one and more often than not it's what small business owners are completely forgetting, especially holistic business owners. Having a clear brand that conveys who you are and what you do in an authentic manner is going to make or break your business. Don't be afraid to hire a coach to help you develop these skills.
5) Decide what medium you'll use. Whether you are writing ebooks, online programs, video trainings, webinars, speaking engagements, one-on-one coaching, or have a tangible product, it's important to pick one (maybe two) or these mediums to start out with and truly become an expert in this medium. Too often start-up businesses try to be everything to everyone, and that's just not effective, and quite frankly dilutes your message. Choose the medium you feel most comfortable with and then challenge yourself as you grow into your business.
6) Have a marketing campaign. So incredibly important and also one that is often terribly overlooked. A marketing campaign is your business and it will only work if you have determined your target market. It's the bread and butter (or vegan chips and hummus) that'll put the vegan bacon on the table. You must have a marketing campaign and strategy to get your products and services found in the marketplace.
7) How will you collect payment. Will you use an online shopping cart, will you only accept PayPal, checks, cash, credit cards? This is something you need to think about. Often small business owners start with PayPal and grow into a shopping cart to collect payment easily over the internet for instant payment processing, but remember, your brand shouldn't be compromised by getting cheap about how you'll accept payment. My words of advice, invest in the easiest payment option for your ideal market.
I know business can seem overwhelming at first, but truly it's a step by step process. Once you've got these bare bones in place, you can move onto the next phase and continue to fine tune the process.

Angel Quintana, CNC, HHP is the holistic business coach behind Angel Quintana, Inc., a holistic empire devoted to empowering the new entrepreneur to discover their marketing style so they can attract the right clients, create financial prosperity, and become a trendsetter in their industry. If you like the article you've read, you'll love Angel's dynamic business building products that will help you grow your business and do it all with your own personal style. From branding and online marketing strategies to showcasing your individuality, her products are sure to awaken your unique marketing message and position you as an expert.

Write a Response to a Private Sector RFP

You've decided to respond to a Request for Proposal (RFP) from a private company. You've got the RFP paperwork in hand, or maybe you read the requirements on the company's website. Now you're wondering how to get started.
Writing a response to a private sector RFP is no different than writing any other proposal, except that you've been given a bit of help up front by having your potential client spell out their requirements and invite you to submit a proposal (perhaps with some rules to follow as well).
The most important aspect of proposal writing is to tailor your proposal for the people who will read it. You need to be able to put yourself in their position, understand what is important to them, and convince them that you have the solution to their needs. So study the RFP carefully, and if you need to do further research to understand the organization that put out the RFP, do it before you start writing. You want to create a proposal that will impress those particular readers and help them make a decision in your favor.
Next, consider the organizations that are likely to compete with you. Check out their websites and their promotional literature, so you can make sure to pitch your proposal to sound better than theirs.
Then gather all the data for your proposal. Of course you need to respond to the requirements specified in the RFP, but you also need to represent your organization in the very best light. Assemble a list of the similar projects you've worked on and clients you've worked for, as well as any awards, special achievements, or testimonials you want to highlight. Get a write-up of the history of your organization, and determine all the contact information and links you want to share with the proposal readers. Consider all the information you want to include. It's always best to offer as many hard facts and figures and details as possible. You might need website links, photos, illustrations, or blueprints; descriptions and prices for your products and/or services; and so forth. Creating a proposal will go a lot faster if you have all the information you need at hand when you sit down to write.
Then, when you have a plan and you've gathered all the information you want to include, sit down and begin. Start with a cover letter to introduce your proposal and your organization. Then include a title page at the front of your proposal--you might want to add on a table of contents and an executive summary of important points later, but odds are this is all you need for the first proposal section, the introduction.
Now, to write the body of the proposal, you'll work from front to back in the following general order: description of problems/needs/goals/opportunities, description of your solutions to those problems/needs/goals/opportunities, and then description of why you are the best pick for the job.
So, describing the process in a bit more detail; you would first write a section that specifies all the needs and requirements of the requesting organization. This should be easy, because you have their RFP in hand. If you know of any additional needs or goals they have not specified (such a desire to gain market share or maintain state-of-the-art technology), or if you perceive an opportunity that they haven't mentioned, you can include those in this beginning section, too.
Next, you'll describe precisely how you propose to meet the needs and requirements you just described. Be sure to explain all the details, including schedule and costs. This proposal section could have a lot of different topics, depending on the complexity of your proposed project.
Finally, describe the pertinent history of your organization, as well as your expertise. Include everything you need to persuade the proposal reader that you can be trusted to successfully fulfill all the plans you laid out in the previous section.
Make sure to use an RFP Cross Reference and Compliance Matrix to ensure you have not missed any important requirements. Adding these to your response can also help readers locate the important information they requested. A structured and easy to follow proposal is one that stands a much better chance of winning.
After you've finished the first draft, get others to review it. Make sure all the wording is grammatically correct, make sure all the links and references are correct and current, and make sure the pages look good.
Then deliver your proposal via email in PDF format or print it and deliver it to your prospective clients. And don't forget to follow up to make sure they received your proposal, and ask if they have any questions.
You might like to know that you don't have to start your proposal project by staring at a blank computer screen. You can get a big boost by using a pre-designed proposal kit. A good proposal kit will come with an extensive library of proposal topic pages, sample RFP response proposals, and tons of instructions and helpful articles. The pages in a kit will be professionally designed to look great, and include instructions and examples of information to include on those pages. Using a proposal kit will make responding to an RFP a breeze instead of a chore.

3 Types of Market Research

You may ask... Is it really Necessary? How important is market research for my business?
To answer your question, doing so can actually confirm if the business is profitable or not. Since everyone has different tastes and preferences, each of us having our own reasons and logic on whether or not we should buy or avail of a product and or service, this research will give you information on what your potential market prefers to buy and how you can adjust your business to meet the demand. Your market research will help you identify if there is a "Real Market" who will demand and will buy your product or service, it enables you to know what people really want so that you would know what to change or how to innovate your product in order to meet their preferences and ensure that there will be a continuous demand from the market. It gives you information on who the current supplier is, who your competitors are, what their prices are, how they promote their products and services and what they do to continue gaining the trust of their valued customers. This information that you will get from the research will help you identify what will make you different, unique and become the "apple of the eye" of your customers.
There are various ways to conduct market research for your business. The type of research you should do for your business should greatly depend on the type of market you are going after.
1. Survey - The most commonly used way to do market research is through surveys, this type of survey is popular because it is cheap and can easily be conducted by individuals and companies to ask questions from their respondents. Doing so can generate quick and statistical answers from your potential market. However, in this type of research, you should be very careful with the questions you ask because they may raise biased answers and may result to imprecise results.
2. Formal or written research - This research is done basically by gathering information through written mediums such as newspapers, articles, journals, books, etc. This type of research is good because you can find and get information and opinions with basis. Unfortunately, this type of market research is not really specific, since what you see is what you get, the answers won't be any more specific or you cannot get further answers.
3. Online research - This type of research is more and more becoming popular and can easily be conducted by anyone. There are various ways to do this, you can start with social media sites such as Twitter or Facebook where you can discuss potential products, asks questions and concerns from your customers and conduct online polls where you ask a question and give your customers the option to choose a given answer. This can greatly give you ideas on what your customers prefer or what your customers would like to see more in your upcoming products. Another way of online research is through Google's Keyword Tool. Just search for it in your search engine by typing "Google Keyword Tool", you will be able to immediately generate results by typing in keywords that are relative to your business and see if there is a good number of people searching for your product or service. You can try various keywords, re-arrange them and see whether or not the market is large enough for you to get a share against competitors.
Business involves planning, and those who achieve success never lay back. They devote time, effort, patience, and their passion to achieve it. Always remember...
Due Diligence is the key to a successful start up!

Caroline Marsh is a highly successful motivational business speaker, business mentor, and is one of Britain's leading female property investors. After being part of Channel 4's 'Secret Millionaire', Caroline became dedicated to live life with a purpose and her purpose is to inspire, empower and help aspiring entrepreneurs as well as professionals using her very own success strategies. Sign up and download a free copy of her "Concept to Cash - The 7 Secrets of Success Blueprint" to discover how you can guarantee your success and financial future