Tips for creating a Viable Business

In my career i have read many books on entrepreneurship and studied business models of many fortune 500 companies. I have studied business models of Google, Face Book, Zappos, Coca Cola, Wal-Mart and Macdonalds just to mention a few.

I was thrilled by Google's business model. Those of you who have been following the Google story will attest to the fact that this company is the fastest growing business at the moment. I am sure you will agree with me the company's performance is currently the envy of many executives and engineers around the world.

Google is a marvel of Web brilliance, and is also a case study in savvy management. The team at Google are filled with cutting-edge ideas, rigorous accountability, and relentless attention to detail, which has catapulted this company to unprecedented heights.

I will not dwell much on Google as this is not the essence of this post. There are five key lessons which i would like to share with you that i learnt from all the business models i have studied.

Create a product that will make people's lives easier

Everyday people surf the net to look for information which will make their lives easy. Nobody likes hassles, hence, as an entrepreneur, if you come up with a product that will make life easier for people, it will be a winner provided it is well thought out. Again there must be a need for your service/product in the market.

Choose a big Market

Mass markets are usually very profitable due to numbers. Again some people argue that mass markets are already flooded with goods/services, hence, there is no room for new comers. My take on this is, if you have done your research and you found a need that is not adequately addressed. Go in and swim in these murky waters. Be different, be original and offer value added services. Niche segments are very tricky due to their size. However, if your offer is unique, niche segments are high value markets.

Develop a business model that will make money

Like Google, you need to come up with a good business model that will allow you to make money. Google's business strategy never cease to amaze me. In your opinion whos is Google's customers? How do they make their money? All their services are free, isnt it? So how on earth do they make their money? Google's business model is based on a philosophy practiced by many successful online entrepreneurs. You provide a service first, then money will come later. Google never charges for any of their services, their revenue comes from advertisers, its as simply as that. They concentrate on creating unique services and then advertisers will patronize them to get to their target markets. What a better way to make money? You too can borrow this model provided you know what you are doing.

Dont pay to get customers

In order to make money, you need to contain costs. As a start up one of the most important tasks you have to do is to publicize your business. In my opinion, you dont have to pay in order to get customers. With the advent of social media, blogs and forums such as facebook, Tweeter, DIGG, Myspace and linkd, you can freely publicize your business without spending a dime.

Be strict about who you hire

A business's success or failure is dependent upon its employees. It is very important to hire good hands. In order to get this right, you need to have very strict fool proof recruiting procedures. I read about a company that screens up to 50 people when they are hiring for a single position. This ensures they get the best candidate for the job. There a technique called a technique called top grading which reveals people's pattern of behavior which most successful organisations use in hiring the best people. Google hires the best there is on the market, because they are now an employer of first choice.

Feel free to contact me with your comments and suggestions.

To Your Success!!!!!

Lessons from the Black Statellites of Ghana

History was made on Friday 16^th of October when the Black Satellites of Ghana cruised to a historic victory over four times champions Brazil in Cairo. Ghana cruised to a 4-3 victory after a bruising penalty shout out, to become the first African team to win the under 20 World cup. André Ayew, son of the legendary Pele led the ten men Ghanaian side to victory against favorites Brazil. The Ghana boys made Ghana and Africa proud; I sincerely hope this victory is a sign of good things to come. With Nigeria defending the under 17 World cup on home soil, I hope the Young Eaglets will repeat the same feat and make Africa proud.

Watching a 10 men Ghana team battling Brazil man for man throughout the match, without showing any signs of discomposure taught me valuable lessons about perseverance and sheer determination. Analyzing the game, I learned two vital lessons one can follow to attain set targets.

Lesson one – Stay Focused

The team was tactically strong and played as a team despite having lost a colleague in the 37^th minute. Sheer determination and focus on the main goal gave them the impetus to continue even though the odds were against them. Most times people fail to attain their goals due to lack of focus and distractions from temporary failure. Setbacks should be seen as stepping stones to realizing our dreams. The Black Satellites of Ghana remained focused to the very end of the game. Twice they were behind, but they kept soldiering on until they attained the trophy.

Lesson two – Don’t stop believing in yourself

Despite being one man down, the team never in a single moment doubted their ability to lift the trophy. With this belief the team worked coherently thwarting the marauding Brazilian strikers in their effort to score. They played as a team and managed to compete with their opponents’ man for man throughout the match. Often time’s people lose focus and allow doubt to creep in and destabilize their plans. The most important attribute in pursuit of success is self belief. You need to believe in your ability to do things before you get approval from outsiders.

In life success does not come on a silver platter. It comes through hard work, singleness of purpose, concerted effort and hard work. Abraham Lincoln said ‘You can have anything you want, if you want it badly enough. You can be anything you want to be, do anything you set out to accomplish if you hold to that desire with singleness of purpose’.

To your success!!

How to make extra Money with your photos

I love taking photos; I have been taking photos since my days in college. Photography is defined as the process, activity and art of creating still or moving pictures. The good thing about photography, everyone can take a picture even if you have not used a camera before.

I think all of us have taken a photo before. The world of photography has changed since the instant camera was developed. With a digital camera, you can take a not so good shot and make it perfect using a variety of software options. Best of all, pictures can be printed on quality paper on your printer or at a store kiosk for just a few cents per picture.

Technology has created memory cards much like the flash drive storage medium to file and save pictures for sharing on the Internet. You can easily upload pictures from the memory card to your friends, family and a blog or website if you have one.

Today I will be sharing with you how you can use photography to make some extra cash. In this article I will show you how as a newbie or novice photographer you can start making a living, with your digital camera or mobile phone camera.

How you can Earn Money with Digital Photographs

Stock photography is one of the best ways to break into the online digital photography market. You can sell your photos to others who need pictures for websites, newsletters, magazines and e-zines and other media. Have you browsed through the Web lately? Many of the photos look the same. Your photos can add a new flavor to what is currently being offered. There is never any harm in seeing how your images will be perceived.

First, understand how the stock photography business works. On these sites, customers can purchase pictures or lease them for a certain amount of time. On some sites, photos are free to use when signing an agreement of use and including a link back to the site.

As a photographer, you will make more money if your photos are leased as opposed to being sold. The one time sale may net you some cash but the lease will provide a continuous source of income. Many people can pay to lease the photograph at one time. Through the leasing process, your work will be viewed by a large audience.

Start by researching current stock photography sites. Find one that offers the leasing option to customers and also has an easy-to-navigate site. Begin here and test the waters with your work. Now, all you need to do is produce some quality work. Look at other stock photographs. What do they have in common? Are the pictures clear? Can you make out all of the features of the photo? At the least, your photographs need to be clear with the subjects in the foreground.

Another consideration is the type of digital photos you are trying to sell. More of the same that already exists won’t be received well. The stock photography companies are out to make money too. Don’t be afraid to try some new ideas for holiday photos or for everyday photos. They will let you know what does and does not sell.

In the meantime, create a website or blog with links to the stock photography sites featuring your work. This will send more people to view your photographs and may lead to other opportunities in the future. Some popular stock photo sites are as follows:

• www.istockphoto.com/
• www.gettyimages.co.uk
• www.fotolia.com/
• www.everystockphoto.com

To your success!!!!

Tips to help you succeed as an internet entrepreneur

Today I am sharing some tips you can use to set up your internet business. Remember these tips are not exhaustive, you can research for more stuff on the internet, and however, these tips are critical for any person intending to get off the ground as an internet entrepreneur.

1. Start with a 'model' and a 'plan'

A business model or plan is your road map to success. You will need a proven business model to follow; there are thousands of successful businesses online you can learn from. You can study multi-billion business models for Google, YouTube, Yahoo and Face book. It is important to note that although Internet businesses are easier to set up and profit from than traditional businesses, you must have a vision and marketing plan in place. It does not just happen like that out of the blue.

2. Identify your Niche

Before you decide on what type of business you intend to venture into, you need to do thorough research into the niche or market segment you want to invest in. For example you might be planning to start selling eBooks online. But before you start selling the eBooks’, you need to find out which niche or segment you want to write about. You need to ask yourself these questions: Is the niche profitable? Is there a need for the eBook? How many people are looking for this information on the internet? Is my eBook providing solution to a need in the market?

EBay is an excellent source for niche ideas. People go there looking for bargains on hot products and topics. Lucky for us, eBay keeps track on what people are searching for! You can visit this site http://pulse.ebay.com.Alternatively you can also use Google Trends.http://www.google.com/trends.

After identifying a niche of interest you can now plan on what to write, before you even think on how you are going to sell your product. Remember in order to make it on the internet, you must first identify a problem, then work on how to provide a solution for that problem. Millions of people surf the internet on a daily basis to find information on how to address their problems. So if you are able to provide a solution to a particular problem then your product will be able to sell. This is the secret formula six figure info-preneurs use to rake in thousands of dollars every month. However, there is more to it than just identifying a problem and providing a solution. We will cover this in future posts.

2. Register a website

In order to start online business you need a website. You can still start making money on the internet without a website. But it is advisable to start your own website or journal in the form of a blog. Blogging is also referred to as online journaling in the sense that you can add content on a daily basis, whenever you have fresh ideas to share with your readers.

The origination of the term ‘blog’ is interesting. It was initially called a ‘weblog’ meaning a log or a diary or a journal that helps you to record your thoughts on a day to day basis. In that sense it was rather in its primitive stages. This term was later shortened to blog and this is when free blogging services like Blogger became extremely popular.

Blogging today is not restricted to only maintaining a journal. It has truly become a platform where various kinds of people from all walks of life, whether they have the same ideologies or not, come and discuss the matters they think will benefit other people.

You can easily register for a free blog in a few seconds. Visit: www.blogger.com to set up your free account now. When you have some money you can now graduate to word press. But before you start using word press, you will need to register a domain name. This does not cost you much, visit https://www.godaddy.com/.

3. Learn to outsource

Remember you cannot know it all when it comes to internet business. There are so many things you need to know before you can start running the business. There is HTML, domain registration, Domain hosting, Adding codec, Adsense, Key words, traffic generation, Link exchanges and a whole lot of things you need to master in a short time. Areas where you are not very competent in, are your weak points, the best way to address these weak points is to find someone who can take care of these activities.

Remember these areas of 'weakness' can suck away a lot of valuable time that you could better spend doing what you're really good at. This is the best way to maximize your time.

4. Take Daily Action

Think about what you can do each day to grow your business, even if you think you've got all the pieces in place. You can always benefit from more traffic and more leads, right? Stay up to date on market research and add new keywords to your pay-per-click campaigns, or take a spare hour to write that article you've been putting off. Compose a message to your opt-in list, and offer them a new 'freebie' to build good will and keep your open rates up.

Last, but not least, don't forget to take a break and just enjoy the freedom of being your own boss. Go for a walk or run a few errands. It's important to get out and interact with people, especially if you work alone at home! Remember Theodore Roosevelt said ‘It is hard to fail, but it is worse never to have tried to succeed.’

To your success!!!!!

Grab your FREE Downloadable copy of The Millionaire Mindset

In my previous post on Mentoring i quoted a paragraph from Gerry Robert's book 'The Millionaire Mindset. You might be wondering who Gerry is, Gerry is a successful entrepreneur, Professional speaker and best selling author. I have great news for all readers of this blog. You see Gerry is a wonderful guy, he is someone who has made it in business. He always finds ways on how best he can contribute to society in a meaningful way.

There is a chinese proverb which says 'if you give a man a fish, you have saved him from starvation, but if you give him knowledge you have given him a lifeline.' Yes, thats what Gerry is giving you. He is offering his Valuable book 'The Millionaire Mindset' in ebook format for free. Can you believe it? Yes, I mean he is offering this book to you at not cost at all. Hurry to his website now and grab this book, while stocks last.

Download the book at :http://www.gerryrobert.com

I hope this book will transform your life as it has done mine.

To your success!!!!!