Successful Blog

Top Five Industries to Start a New Business

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Where Do You Start?

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Starting a new business is a big decision, which has to be taken with much thought and diligence. No two years are the same and with changing trends one has to be vigilant enough to tap the right business opportunities at the right time.

The year 2012 is the year of the retail business, personal care, hospitality and education. While these are not the out-of-box industries that seem to be providing good potential for growth, but it is the way one propels their business using the right techniques catering to the modern times. Success lies, not in what you sell, but how you sell it. Here is a brief overview of the top five industries to start a new business:

Health and wellness: a healthy lifestyle is something which every one aspires for. The health and wellness industry covers a large domain including healthy eating, fitness centres, fitness consultancy, personal grooming, care of the elderly and to an extent hospitality. Consumers are growing aware of what they are eating, the sources of their food, keeping fit by visiting gyms and fitness centres, consulting with yoga gurus and experts and even opting for stress management activities. All these areas of health and wellness offer opportunities to start a new business.

You could start a franchisee that offers healthy snacks or open up a fitness centre or a gym. If you are good at providing consultation, you can go for a health and fitness centre with expert consultants offering tips on healthy and nutritious eating. The corporate sector too is urging its employees to be more fit, healthy and stress-free, which means that you can introduce wellness plans for the corporate sector.

The beauty industry: trends are indicative of the fact that the beauty industry is a growing sector and so it has made the list of the top five industries to start a new business. As per the surveys conducted worldwide, it has been seen that consumers have more disposable income, allowing them to spend more on personal grooming and healthcare. For this reason, there has been a surge in beauty salons, spas and centres for beauty treatments. Barber schools and cosmetology are the growing sectors in this industry with more and more people becoming interested in looking and feeling good.

Clothing industry: clothes have always been a favourite with women. However, with the new trends pouring in, it is seen that even men are getting more particular about the way they dress up. For this reason, the clothing industry along with the clothing accessory industry is a very good area to tap into when looking to start a new business.

Education: with increasing globalisation and the need for highly trained and skilled professionals all over the world, education has come to the forefront as one of the top industries to start a new business. Whether it is a business school, language school, a trade school or an educational consultancy, you are sure to receive a very good response.

Food industry: with recession almost gone now, people have higher levels of disposable income. This means the capacity to spend on healthy and organic foods and snacks has increased. Taking up franchisees of a frozen yogurt, healthy snacks, organic foods can be a way to start a small business.

So, if you are interested in starting up a new business, one of the safest bets would be in one of these mentioned industries. However, these are only 5 of the many industries out there. So, if these don’t take your fancy, there is a plethora of other industries to choose from.

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Author’s Bio:
Working as business & finance analyst in Brisbane, Jim is very much interested in management consulting for finance projects. He writes about new challenges coming up in next year’s in the industry. You can find more information at bsbdc.com or follow Jim on Twitter at @JamesForrest8

Thank you, Jim!

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz on your business!!

Have Cool Traditions, Inside Jokes, and Shared Experiences

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Rosemary O’Neill

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Traditions, Inside Jokes, and Shared Experiences

If you’re trying to build a true community, you must incorporate this type of shared experience. It creates fodder for conversation, bonds people together, and acts as the glue that keeps members coming back for more.

Here are some ideas for creating shared moments in your community:

  • If a discussion starts to look like a “meme,” highlight it. Make t-shirts, write a blog post about it, create a Twitter hashtag.
  • Celebrate things. It could be birthdays, anniversaries, made-up holidays within your community…when people come together to celebrate something, they bond.
  • Practice some mild hazing. Welcome new members and make them feel included by having them accomplish some task or ritual.
  • Explain some of the traditions. It’s always good to have an “intro to our community” page where you spell out why every Friday is “post a picture of your desk” day.
  • Offer a shared “scrapbook” space where your members can post picture or videos.
  • Host offline meetups or video events. Seeing someone’s face definitely creates a shared experience.

Do you have any cool traditions in your community? How do you honor them?

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Author’s Bio: Rosemary O’Neill is an insightful spirit who works for social strata — a top ten company to work for on the Internet . Check out their blog. You can find her on Google+ and on Twitter as @rhogroupee
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Will Your Business Get Credit for Finding the Right Merchant Services Deal?

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Especially in a day and age when the economy is still struggling to get a firm grip, companies that are wavering on or turning their backs to small business credit card processing are missing the boat.

As a small business owner, you know myriad of challenges you must deal with when it comes to competing with large competitors. By having the right credit card processing system in place, your business can effectively compete and even win in some instances.

So, where do you start as a small business in securing the right credit card processing deal?

Options Abound for Merchant Services

The first step is locating a service that treats its merchants well, including providing stellar customer service and not tacking on a ton of fees.

Businesses would be advised to turn to sites like the Better Business Bureau and other such groups that have a handle on which businesses are best to deal with. Among the businesses you make look to for credit card processing include banks, independent sales organizations, third party processors and trade associations.

Once you have some companies with which to compare (consult as many financial institutions as possible, minimum three), be sure to sort out the different fees that they may possibly charge you. If you feel you may be hit with too many fees, do your best to negotiate them out of any contract. One reason for being charged high fees is if your history includes having credit issues, i.e. being in credit card debt.

After reviewing the companies and deciding on one, then comes the time to sign the contract.

Before signing a contract, make sure you read the fine print, including what happens if you decide to terminate the deal before it is up. In the event that should happen, will you be hit with any early termination fees?

The type of merchant account your small business will require depends on a number of factors, most importantly, how you conduct sales and process credit card payments.

A retail merchant account is slated for companies that physically swipe an individual’s card via a credit card terminal. In the event you need to process credit card payments electronically, you could find yourself facing additional fees, not to mention penalties and surcharges.

Meantime, both mail and telephone order merchant accounts are geared towards business without a physical card present. In this case, the credit card details are provided to a terminal with a keypad and then processed using software available on a personal computer.

In the event you travel at times with your business, making sales at your customer’s locale or other venues, you should look into a wireless merchant account. In this scenario, you will utilize a wireless credit card terminal that allows you to process the credit card transactions wherever you may be.

Lastly, you want to work with a vendor that deals with transactions from the major credit card providers, among which would be MasterCard, Visa, Discover and American Express to name a few.

Finding the right merchant credit card company doesn’t have to be like pulling teeth. If you do your research and listen to and read carefully the terms of agreement, you need to give yourself a lot of credit.

Photo credit: blog.chargesmart.com

Dave Thomas, who writes on topics such as business equipment leasing, writes extensively for online resource destination Business.com.

How to Distinguish Yourself and Business Market

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Build Brand Equity Now

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Doing well in business is all about distinguishing yourself from your competitors. The virtual world provides multiple avenues for you to accomplish this. Meticulous planning, effective implementation and use of creativity can do the trick for you. As the virtual medium does not call for large investments from your end, even small organizations get an opportunity to build brand equity.

Perseverance and the attention to detail in your marketing campaign can get you the desired results. Work towards your goal with a plan. Here are the factors that you need to incorporate into your strategy.

1. Establish an emotional connect with the consumer

For a brand to stand out among a plethora of products available in the market, it is important for consumers to relate to a brand in a manner that it emerges as their preferred choice. Build a campaign people can relate to, something that instantly makes people identify with the story narrative. Connect with people to attract buyers initially and to ensure customer loyalty later on.

2. Win the trust of consumers

Trust plays an important role in the purchase decisions of consumers. People are willing to pay more for a brand they have had a good experience with and avoid brands that do not get good customer reviews despite a lower price of products. Attend to the issues faced by consumers to avoid putting off potential buyers. A disgruntled buyer can cost you in terms of loss of revenue. Make online reputation management a priority while attending to people’s grievances.

3. Give customer service a priority

A good customer service is a major differentiating factor in the world of business today. Consumers seek instant resolution to the problems they face. If not immediately, it is important that organizations attend to customers’ grievances within a specified time frame. Build urgency around your customer service initiatives and make it a priority.

4. Involve people in your marketing campaign

Use contests, discount coupons or an intriguing feedback taking methodology to involve people in every stage of product development and product launch. Give attention to feedback collection and assess the results to understand the areas for improvement in products and services.

5. Unleash your creativity in your marketing efforts

Creativity is the backbone of any marketing initiative. Use different social networking platforms to reach out to your target consumer segment. Work towards making your campaign go viral over the web. Use blogs and social networks to attract traffic to your website for more information on products. Work towards conversion through an e-commerce platform.

Businesses thrive and even command a premium on their products if consumers see value in the products. For consumers, quality reigns supreme. Aspirational value and a connection with the brand come in next. Use all the means possible to project your product as the one that does well on the parameters of quality. Work towards creating an emotional connection between the consumers and the brand to effectively separate your brand from the clutter of multiple brands and products available in the market.

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Author’s Bio:
Brianne Walter writes about eco friendly buildings and green technology at ecofriend.com . Recently, she wrote an article on Nokia 701 specifications. You can find her on Twitter as @.Brianne

Thank you, Brianne!

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz on your business!!

What Makes an Irresistible Business?

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Do You Make Sure the Customers Who Want to Love You Can?

Irresistible is what attracts new customers and brings them back again and again. When you’re irresistible, you become unique. The competition becomes irrelevant, because they aren’t you. Irresistible combines solid business with great relationships to

  • Remove what customers don’t want.
  • Enhance what customers love.
  • Add something unexpected they would die for.
  • and offering options that fit easily into customers’ lives.

Making sure customers who want to love you CAN is the best way to grow a business.

What Makes an Irresistible Business?

Irresistible Business is the game changing strategy that defines great business growth in the context of a marketplace that is now customer controlled and both online and off. It reaches inside the business to check the models for irresistibility with questions such as these:

  • On Execution: Does your model / process match your business, your partners, your vendors, and your internal customers? Does it work for them and for you?
  • On Engagement: Does your model match your market? Does every interaction make customers’ lives easier, faster, and more meaningful? Does what you do fit easily into their lives?
  • On Extraordinary Value: Do you add a unique value proposition that only you can deliver. How can you make your business model itself a barrier to entry?

The statistics prove that customer investment and word of mouth marketing are most effective business development initiatives any company can have to build a brand, to build sales, to build lasting value.

In this new customer-driven, attention economy, every business – corporate to company of one – needs a serious focused strategy designed to raise them to class of their own. Huge investments in low ROI advertising and clever SEO won’t work if the company can’t be found above the noise or can’t adequately engage customers in an irresistible relationship. The game of business has become one of building lasting communities of fiercely loyal fans.

It’s no longer if you build it, they will come, now it’s if you let them help you build it, they will bring their friends. What company wouldn’t want a community of fiercely loyal fans?

How are you making your business irresistible to the people who want to love you?

Be irresistible.
–ME “Liz” Strauss

Look at the Lack of Ladies Leading

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IDEAS AND INFOGRAPHICS

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In 2012, women continue to leave their mark in business in industries around the world. Rather than having the conversation of having women in the workplace, the conversation has evolved into having women lead teams, companies, and ultimately
drive results across the boards.

As shown in the infographic below, women are emerging around the world, but there is still much work to be done in ensuring that women are being granted the same opportunities to succeed as men. For example, women-founded startups are
receiving less venture capital funding despite the fact that those that are, are driving stronger results on average than their male counterparts.

Women at Work Infographic Via MBA@UNC
Via MBA@UNC MBA Online & Women 2.0

On company boards around the world, and in the technology industry, there is a severe lack of leading ladies. The reasons for this current state vary, but the reasons on why women should be put in opportunities to lead and innovate are undeniable. This infographic is meant to celebrate the progress that has been made, but also sheds light on current trends that must be changed.

Change can come from a lot of different places, such as role models like Sara Blakely and Arianna Huffington or in the classroom where the importance of early education cannot be underestimated. Regardless of the source, there is a need for
empowerment. As Arianna Huffington pointed out …

“Women still have an uneasy relationship with power and the traits necessary to be a leader. There is this internalized fear that if we are really powerful, we are going to be considered ruthless or pushy or strident–all those epithets that strike right at our femininity. We are still working at trying to overcome the fear that power and womanliness are mutually exclusive.”

Where would you start to change that?

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Author’s Bio:
Harrison Kratz is the Community Manager for MBA@UNC, the online mba program at the University of North Carolina. He and his team have been working with Women 2.0 on displaying the progress of Women in the Workplace and the Technology Industry.

Thank you, Harrison!

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz on your business!!