Does your business enterprise need a boost? Is more income one of your goals for 2014? Is list building one of your New Year resolutions? Consider using special reports to add revenue and build a business contact list for future use.
What are Special Reports?
Special reports are short reports that contain helpful information on a subject. The reports are anywhere from a few to 30 or so pages in length. If you have the know-how, you can write them yourself or hire a writing service to do it for you. There is very little work involved in creating them but they are versatile tools for building an online business.
Here is what you should do!
One popular subject for a special reports is a how-to. A how-to directs a reader, step by step on how to do something. If you are knowledgeable with computer software and hardware, you have a perfect niche for special reports on your website. People are always having trouble figuring out their computers and looking for help.
How-to guides on infant care, raising children, and finding romance are popular too.
Marketing Special Reports
There are several options for marketing your special reports. If you are trying to build a business list of customers, use these special reports as a freebie when any visitor signs up to be a part of your email mailing list. For this type of promotion, use a shorter report like a five page report on how to navigate problems with Windows Vista or MS Office 10 (if your website has a computer niche).
You can create a five-part course and use the first part as the free promotion. This free information is your hook. Once individuals sign up for the mailing list, you can grant them access to the other installments through emails that also advertise your website products. Signing up for a business newsletter subscription can also be the reason to gift a free special report.
Making Money
All of your special reports don’t have to go towards list building. Besides your other products or services, you can sell special reports on your website. Many reports sell for between $5 and $20 a piece, but if you offer very valuable information, you can command a higher price. Sell single reports or create various courses to interest your customers.
People love to learn about money-making opportunities. They will pay the money for any information that is a how-to guide to making money on and offline in various ways. How have you made money? Begin your “career” as a special report writer with accounts of your successful money-making experiences.
As you build your library of special reports and your lists, you have the option of alternating free promotional reports and new reports. You can create combination offers – Buy Two, Get One Free.
If you become a successful special report writer and your business is growing as your special reports sell, you can consider creating an affiliate program. This gives customers a way to help you make more money and also allows them to make money. Offer certain special reports as additional compensation for reaching a certain selling level in the affiliate program.
2014 GOALS
So if your 2014 goals are increasing your income or increasing your contact list, consider writing special reports. They are low cost to create and will both build lists and increase your profit margin.
Hobbies can often be turned into business ideas that can make you money. As a digital photographer you can make money from your photos.
Stock photography is one of the best ways to break into the online digital photography market. You can sell your photos to supplement your income and help businesses get the right images for their websites, newsletters, magazines, e-zines and other media. If you surf the Web, your may fine that many of the photos look the same. Your photos, if they are of sufficient quality, can add a new flavor to what is currently being offered.
Many photographers are daunted by the stock selling process but in reality it is very simple. Here are some ways to get started.
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 off of that one photograph. And, 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. This is the site that you may want to begin with to test the waters with your work.
Continue researching stock photography sites, but now take a careful look at the photographs. What do they have in common? What types of photographs are selling/leasing well? Can you produce photographs that are similar yet also unique? Depending on your photographs consider submitting them to a specialized market.
Produce some high quality work to submit. Businesses using these sites are looking for professional quality at a price they can afford. You may have to submit to several stock photography companies.
Do more research. Make sure you understand how each stock photography company works so you know what kinds of images to submit, what licenses to grant your work, and make certain that this is not a company that exploits its contributors.
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.
Are you a shutterbug? If you like to snap pictures at family events or just out in the neighborhood, put that camera to good use in ways that will earn you money for your efforts. This article mentions eight ways that you can make money with digital photography.
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.
1. Stock photography. This business is growing. For website newsletters, magazines and articles, publishers look for photos that capture the essence of their articles. It is not terribly convenient to go out and snap some pictures every time you need one. Selling stock photographs to businesses and individuals is convenient for them and lucrative for you.
2. Wedding photographer. Okay so if you aren’t a professional you won’t be the main photographer at first but you can be hired to take candid shots at the reception or wedding photos after the ceremony. The happy couple can order as many pictures as they want and you can create wedding CDs of the pictures you took.
3. Newspaper pics. If you are in the right place at the right time, you might capture photos that are worthy of the newspaper. When news happens, a newspaper photographer might not be on the scene. You can capture the moments and sell them to newspapers. Snapping shots at community events may also earn you some money from local newspapers.
4. Magazine photographer. Create a portfolio of photos that you’ve taken and submit them to magazines. Looking at your work, they may hire you for assignments. Magazines are a tough market to break into so cut your teeth on other smaller assignments for local newspapers.
5. Local photography business. Ever gotten a mailing that shows cars for sale or houses for sale? Someone had to take those photographs. It could be you. Hire yourself out to area businesses to do the photographs for them.
6. Event photographer. Some families like to document their events like family reunions, christenings, bar mitzvahs and birthday parties. You can be the eyes in the room catching candid shots of everyone.
7. Photography website. If you know a lot about digital cameras and photography, create a website to sell photography products. Keep visitors and customers coming back with engaging content on various aspects of photography.
8. Teach a photography class. Those cameras look easy to use but some of those symbols can mix people up. Teach others to use their digital camera and create great pictures that they, too, can market as a business.
Do you like photography? What started off as a hobby can become a new business venture.
If you are considering going into business, you may want to consider having multiple streams of business. Having multiple streams means that you have more than one profit center. Now you may hold the belief that one should be focused and put all your effort into just one product of service. Being focused is necessary but most big businesses have a primary product or service and more than one profit center. Small businesses, too, can benefit from having more than one source of income in a changing economy.
There are at least three reasons to consider having multiple streams of business
Economic
You’ve chosen a business that can bring in only a certain amount of profit. You can write only so many resumes per week and then there are weeks when you have too few clients. There is a limit to how many dogs you can walk before and after your full-time job. You can only accept so many children into your popular after-school art classes. You love what you do; it brings in some income, but you are limited by time and/or space.
Growing Your Main Business
Developing new business streams might be a way to grow your main business so it brings in more money or to enables you to do it full-time. The resume writer can offer interview coaching or job search coaching, of publish an e-book or paper on Amazon on how to ace interviews. The dog walker might have a blog or website about dogs that has space available for advertising or that leads visitors to online retailers to purchase their products (affiliate marketing). The after school art teacher could do affiliate marketing of art and craft supplies for children or create a course (online or DVD) or a membership site for moms who want to learn how to teach art to their children. (Desired by moms that home-school and moms that are concerned because art is one of those subjects that cash-strapped school systems have eliminated from the curriculum) These ideas are all related to your core business but they provide another source of profit.
Variety
You need variety and change. You can’t see yourself focusing on one thing for the rest of your entrepreneurial life! So make or do the several things that you want to do. Maybe you will have a business for each season. Maybe you will blog about something you find fascinating and do affiliate marketing for a related product. Maybe you will write an e-book on how to do something and promote it with YouTube videos. You probably have more than enough creativity to pull this off.
Some of the above examples of streams are active and some are passive. Active income streams generally involve a trade of work for money, which means that your time is consumed. If you are already trying to do too much, you may want to consider a passive income stream because once they are set up they provide income without additional work contribution. Some passive income streams require significant money to start with, but significant cash is not needed to publish an e-book, start a membership site, become an affiliate marketer, or create apps.
So how can you identify what new stream of business you should try first or next? Barbara J. Winter in Making a Living Without a Job: Winning Ways for Creating Work that you Love offers a number of tips, that have been adapted for this blog.
Figure out what you want to do. Brainstorm, mind map, ask your friends and family what you do best. Then pick out one stream of income that you will be happy doing and put it at the top of your list. Prioritize any additional ideas that you might like to try later.
Estimate how much it will cost to put each of your priority business streams into operation. This step will most likely require some research. Interview people who are in a similar business, use the internet to find the wholesale cost of item you will need, make an appointment and talk to someone at the SBA (Small Business Association)
Estimate how much profit each of your potential streams will generate in the first year. You are looking for a realistic view of what your profit margin will be during your start-up.
Take a look at the analysis you have done on these business streams. Which will cost the least to start? Which will be more profitable? Do you have the time and energy to get the stream started?
The best solution is to choose the business that will make the most profit and cost the least amount of money to start.
Since it is almost Halloween, today’s weird Wednesday post is adapted from the book 1001 Ways to Make Money If You Dare. All these businesses have risk factors and they all can potentially provide some income. On a personal note, I would not be willing to do any of them!
FYI: Question marks (?) indicate the risk factor and dollar signs ($) indicate potential monetary reward.
Clean Out Attics, Cellars, and Barns
OK, you will have to deal with cobwebs, dust, and debris, but folks are willing to pay so they don’t have to do it themselves and haul the trash away. It is also quite possible that you might find things of value in their junk. ?? $$
Be a Gardener – Plant Flowers and Tend Gardens
Flowers can brighten anyone’s day, but planting seeds or transplanting seedlings can do in a lady’s nails. Get the word out in your town that you will plant the flower gardens and tend them all summer. ….
Get more customers who have vegetable gardens. These folks start out with high green ideals as they plant the seeds or transplant the tomatoes, squash, and eggplants. Only problem is their green zeal quickly disappears as the weeds appear. Go doubly green and save their gardens for a price. ? $$
Breed Feeder Animals Where do pet stores get those little mice that get fed to pet snakes? These mice are spawned for one purpose. Talk to local pet stores and see if you can under-price its feeder animal supplier. ?? $$
Farm Emus
If you have some space, you can raise emus. The market for these big birds in the U.S. is growing, The birds are adaptable and do not take up as much space as livestock. Their meat is low in fat, but the entire animal is valuable. Not only the meat, but the claws, skin, oil, and feathers can be used and sold. ?? $$$
Build Solar Panels and Windmills
Sunlight and wind are free. Construct and install solar panels or build windmills and help people bring their electric bill down to almost $0. To find out how visit http://www.earth4energy.com/video or http://www.makeyourownwindmill.net?? $$$
Sell Write-It-Yourself Term Papers
It’s not ethical to sell term papers to students but you can do the research and give them an annotated outline! You can do research on subjects you love then write the outlines for papers on this topic. Provide the excerpted research and annotated outline to desperate students who can now legitimately write their term paper. Advertise on Craig’s List in college towns. ? $$
Home School Other People’s Kids
Maybe you don’t want to home school your kids but if you have the teaching skills you can hire yourself out to teach on a one-on-one basis, so overprotective parents who have no idea how to teach can still home school their child. ? $$$
Deliver Nondelivery Take Out
Some of the best restaurant food is take out only. Make money picking up the foods from restaurants and delivering it to apartments and dorms. ? $$
Be a Belly Dancer
Secretly you watch Bollywood movies and imitate the dance moves. No one needs to know who you are. With a veil over your face you can get paid for your hip-shaking dance routines. Post your ads online and get paid for entertaining. ? $$
Become a Boudoir Photographer
Scantily clad photos of oneself make the perfect Valentine Day present, but women need someone they feel comfortable with to get au natural in front of a camera. Help them relax. Use aromatherapy candles and serve some chamomile tea then start the photo shoot. ??? $$$
If you are seeking ideas for what type of business to start do try shadowing someone who doing something you are interested in like a bed and breakfast or wine bar. The suggestion for doing an informational interview is also a great suggestion, but you may want to interview someone who is operating a business at least 50 miles from where you might start your business, so you do not appear to be a competitor.
No ideas at all!
Look at a copy of the noncredit course being offered at your local community college. Some of these course may suggest a new business idea.
Visit www.fabjob,com Check out the dream careers and purchase any books you are really interested in.
Consult a Profiting from Your Passions coach for one or more sessions. Explore you passions, skills, interests, assets and who will want what you have to offer.
Some businesses slow down on a seasonal basis, summer or post Christmas; other businesses see income dwindle in response to economic factors. So what can you do if a slowdown occurs.
Mind Map
First, do some brainstorming and then pick an important project or goal that will help increase income. Some ideas to jump start your thinking process are listed below. Second, create a plan, you want to get all your ideas out of your head onto paper, and then organized before you begin. Make it a visual, you want to be able to see your plan Create a flow chart or do mind-mapping to produce doable action steps. Never tried to use mind mapping, YouTube has some good instructional videos.
Here are some ideas to jump start your brainstorming session:
Redo your website: Home page, About page, Product or Services page. Make sure your copy is compelling. What will they gain from hiring your or buying your product?
Your Opt-In Gift. Is it old and tired? Should be something more interactive like a “quiz” or a choice of the best opt-in gift. Maybe your Tip Sheet or White paper should be turned into a video.
Create more visibility for your business. At the very least be on YouTube. If you want to be more professional, start an online radio show or an online TV show.
Not using Facebook Fanpage or Twitter – get started.
If you have content, turn it into products and generate a new income stream.
Turn your content into an online course or create a membership site.
Offer Teleseminars or Webinars to attract new clients.
Plan a workshop or group program.
Clarify your niche. Are you reaching out to the right audience? Is your language and imagery appropriate? This is important if you are not a member of the demographic group you are trying to serve.
Get support. A business or writing coach; someone to help you with technology, join a Meet-Up entrepreneurial group ……
When you are buying or selling a house only three things count. Location, Location, and Location.
Is location a factor if you are starting a business?
Location Factor #1 – Mindset: Your location may make a difference in terms of what you think and know about small businesses. I have only lived in Massachusetts, so I will mainly use my state as an example. In the medium –sized cities, especially in the central area of the state, I see few examples of small businesses; a few small restaurants usually owned by immigrants, insurance agencies, psychologists and counselors. In the smaller the cities and towns I see more examples or small businesses and seasonal businesses, especially in western Massachusetts, on the North Shore and on Cape Cod .
In Worcester, my current hometown, my resume clients want jobs, even those well over 60 years who have been out of work for several years. If I suggest that they start their own business – I get a response of “NO…. never heard of anyone doing such a thing successfully.” They don’t even notice the examples that do exist – solitary massage therapists, yoga studios, in which one owner began slowly ant then hired additional instructors. In the small towns to the west, my older clients are more likely to look around and see people who have started a “Boomer” business – Photographer, Handyman, Mideastern pastries, computer repair.
Gallery
Last week I was on vacation on Cape Cod. Small businesses
Gift Store -consignment
are everywhere. Mini art galleries, gift stores, gift stores that sell gifts and crafts on a consignment basis, (fairy doors and accessories, any one?) photographers, wood carvings, all kinds of jewelry businesses, massage therapists working out of colonial homes, and many homes that apparently convinced their owners to start bed and breakfasts. On the Hyannis waterfront, fishing shacks have become the artist’s
Artist Shanty
shanties.
Fairy Door
Location Factor #2 – Working from Home: If you are just beginning it is convenient and you can’t beat the low price. For some part time businesses, it is ideal: an internet business, landscaping, dog walking, coaching, some types of crafts. Since no customers visit your business, all you need is some space, a telephone number, and your lap top.
Your home may not be suitable for businesses in which you will be having face-to-face contact with your clients, unless you have a separate space for your business. I run my resume business, halfpreneur.com, and my college teaching profession from what used to be our dining room. I can easily block off the room from the rest of the house, if clients enter through my front door. Unused In-law apartments can become a business space, a friend ran her Reiki and hypnosis business from the “apartment” that no relative needed.
If you plan on seeing customers, you also need to check on the zoning requirements of your city/town.
Location Factor # 3 – Choosing a Location: If you cannot work from home for some reason, you will have to rent, lease, or share space. Subletting an office or using a space that specializes in new businesses (sometimes referred to as incubators) may give you some instant visibility, and the price will be lower than renting a place on your own, which as a part-time entrepreneur you probably do not even need.
If you are making a food item, you may need to rent time in a commercial kitchen. Check the laws in your area, if you a producing a version of your family’s famous salsa or fudge. Before renting or leasing a store for you craft items, check the market by starting at craft fairs or specialty consignment shops. Look at trends in your area, you may want to run your craft business only during the summer in an area that has tourist traffic and use the internet and craft fairs the rest of the year.
For any small business, especially for one serving actual customers in real time, you first must determine that there is a need for your product or service. Location will make a difference in terms of attracting business and what you can charge. If my resume service were located in Boston or New York, I could be charging much higher prices for my services! www.career-development-services.com
Coaching and blogging are supposedly activities that you can do from any location (provided you have phone and internet access) So I decided that one of my posts this week would be done from my vacation location – Cape Cod. Should it be one of my typical blogs or something different? A visit today to the Truro Vineyards resolved my dilemma.
Grape Vines – Truro, MA
It’s not quite a story of halfpreneurs but it will do. In 1990, two women familiar with the wine industry of New York’s Finger Lakes region visited Cape Cod and saw the property that was for sale. At that time it was an old dairy farm. The gently sloping south-facing fields caught their attention as the perfect orientation for the grape plants. They checked soil conditions and rainfall information and decided the farmhouse and barn would make a good location for a winery. They were thinking a starting a winery in the Finger Lakes region but there were many new wineries being started there. What about being the only winery on the outer (lower) Cape – was their thought.
They bought the property and turned the farmhouse into a Bed and Breakfast to bring in an income until wines were being produced. They planted grapes and turned the barn into the winery. Three years later they were producing three varieties of wine. More fields were planted and contacts were made to buy grapes grown in other areas of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and New York. Eventually grapes from California made the long truck journey from the Pacific coast to the Atlantic coast. The bed and breakfast continued to supplement their income. More income came from a gift store/wine store.
Red Wine – In Process
More grapes, more wine. Red wines typically take more time to produce often 18 to 24 months, while some white wines are ready in only a few months. Some September grapes are bottled white wine by Memorial Day, and the future red wines are still fermenting in their second oak barrels.
Seven years ago, these two women decided it was time to move on. One of the frequent visitors to the winery who was in the beverage trade was intrigued. He knew one side of the industry and he was approaching retirement age. Time for a new challenge and an economic opportunity for his family! The beer brewing son learned a new process and took over the winery. The bed and breakfast is gone but tours of the property and wine tastings are available. 19 wines are now produced, and if I remember this afternoon’s lecture tour 12,000 cases of wine are produced annually. A winery with not even four acres of grapes is one of the leading wineries in New England.
As for my vacation – we had one beach day and are now experiencing “GRAPE WEATHER.” Grape weather is cool, foggy summer weather that grapes love! Maritime species of grapes can absorb water and minerals through their skins. Great weather for the grapes and wine, but another gray day with temperatures in the 60s F; and an Internet connection that makes me long for the days of dial-ups, and I may start to WHINE!
If you search the Internet looking for ways to make additional money, many sites will point you in the direction of Internet marketing. It’s a great opportunity for some and totally unappealing for others. I will not say that Internet marketing does not help people but what if your ideas of helping others fall more into the areas of listening to them, caring for them, etc. What if one of your goals is to make the world a better place? There are plenty of opportunities for part-time entrepreneurs of all ages in the helping fields. And there are lots of ways to make the world a better place.
Coaches, Wellness Experts, Nannies, and Others ……
Coaching ……
Coach
Coaching. Coaching is not counseling or therapy. Coaching helps motivate people, set goals and make moves in their lives they may not have considered without support. This is a career in which life experience and maturity are major assets.
No state as of yet has certification requirements for coaches. http://www.fabjob.com has guide books on coaching and setting up a coaching practice.
Personal Organizer… Declutter Coach. If you hate clutter and love order, you probably have discovered that some people are clueless when it comes to organizing their belongings and space. Their lack of time or ability could be your next career opportunity. There are organizations for organizers. Visit their sites to discover what a Personal Organizer or Declutter coach does.
National Association of Professional Organizers www.napo.net
Personal Concierge … Get paid for doing all the things a wife used to do and more. Run errands to the bank, post office, pharmacy. Wait around for repairmen. Chaffeur children and older relatives. Get tickets for events. Plan dinners and parties…… Except for all the waiting, you can set your own hours. Information atThe National Association of Professional Organizers www.napo.net
Doula. Doulas help women through labor, childbirth, and the postpartum period using nonmedical interventions including breathing techniques, massage, aromatherapy, and massive amounts of emotional support. Dona has certified more than 7000 birth and postpartum doulas.
Hypnotherapist. Hypnotherapy is a growing area of the mental-health profession.There are plenty of niches for hypnotherapists: weight loss, smoking cessation, pain management, hypnobirthing, stress relief. For articles and information on training …
http://aaph.org American Association of Professional Hypnotists
Personal Trainer. Create a niche for yourself: mature bodies, special needs. Let’s face it; most of us over age 50 don’t have the bodies you see in the fitness ads. Get certified to build, shape, and sculpt. Two sources of training to consider….
http://nfpt.com Personal Trainer and Certification and Fitness Education
Yoga Teacher. Yoga is mainstream and for everyone. Start your search with Yoga Journal Magazine or visit yogasite.com and click on the link for teacher training. One of the best and most respected schools in the country is at the KripaluCenter in Lenox, Massachusetts.
Reiki Practitioner. Reiki is healing energy that facilitates balance, healing and personal insight. Many Reiki practitioners are inspired to share their Reiki energy and training by setting up a practice or a business. Reiki practitioners and teachers impart their love and supportive philosophy through classes and therapy sessions. Setting up a formal business or practice for Reiki is relatively easy to accomplish for an experienced Reiki Master or practitioner; it just involves paperwork and preparation to meet requirements of your state and locale, as well as your customers (clients and students).
Massage Therapist. A growing profession with much job satisfaction. In most states, you will need 500 hours of training to be licensed. Be sure any program that you select is accredited by the Commission on Massage Training. Physical fitness is essential for this job. Practitioners are on their feet all day and some forms of massage require physical strength.
Nanny. Love children but no children or grandchildren of your own yet. Look after other people’s children. There are many internet sites on the topic including the International Nanny Association an umbrella association for the in-home child care industry that provides information, education and guidance to the public and to industry professionals. Nannies work part-time as well as full time.
English Teacher ESL or EFL. English as a second language (ESL) and English as a foreign language (EFL) are in demand in the U.S. and around the world. You can teach English in your community, on-line or by Skype, or satisfy your wanderlust and take a position in a foreign country if you are looking for a seasonal half-time “career” or are one of the working “retired.”. Housing or a host family is usually provided.
Used Book Seller. Sell used books on Amazon.com. If you know what books to sell and the best ways to find them you can develop a profitable business. Some information is available from Thriving Business, but to get the whole story you will need to buy their 28 page special report for $7.00.
Tour Leader. Provide informative and entertaining tours showcasing your areas local attractions. Ghost tours have been popular for years and food tours are beginning to gain popularity. There are restaurant and pub tours, as well as tours to farms that allow picking veggies and fruit. This tour should end with a restaurant meal. Organic!? Garden tours are another option, and recently I met the founder of Boston Pilgrim – tours of some of the most historical religious sites in Boston, MA. www.bostonpilgrim.org For more information on starting a business as a tour leader, there are courses and informational web sites.
Chocolate Maker: Does chocolate make the world a better place? The business of making chocolate candy can improve your bottom line. If you would love to learn how to make chocolate cancy, EcoleChocolat (Chocolate School) offers professional Chocolatier training that consists of an intensive online three month program
Cake Decorating Instructor: Teach cake decorating as a free lance instructor. Or learn to decorate cakes first and then become an instructor. Bilingual English/Spanish instructors are in demand.
Wine Expert: Even wine experts have accreditations. You can become an accredited wine expert through The International Sommelier Guild which offers a six month diploma program. Their training is conducted in a variety of cities in the U.S. and Canada
Special reports are short reports that contain helpful information on a subject. The reports are anywhere from a few to 30 or so pages in length. If you have the know-how, you can write them yourself or hire a writing service to do it for you. There is very little work involved in creating them but they are versatile tools for building an online business.
All of your special reports don’t have to go towards list building. Besides your other products or services, you can sell special reports on your website. Many reports sell for between $5 and $20 a piece, but if you offer very valuable information, you can command a higher price. Sell single reports or create various courses to interest your customers.
