You’re retired. Congratulations! Now you can become the entrepreneur that you have always wished you could become.Mathew Bandyk in U.S. News and World Report says:”When you think of entrepreneurs, you’re more likely to envision a 24-year-old like Mark Zukerberg, the founder of Facebook, than a retiree. Taking the risks of starting up a business seems easier to do before life commitments tie you down.”But retirement can lessen the fear of failure that comes with launching a venture. Some people cling to the security of working for someone else most of their lives, repressing their inner entrepreneur until retirement, says Sam Spector, author of The Baby Boomer’s Official Guide to Retirement Income. ‘They really have a desire for entrepreneurship their whole life. The money and benefits were so good it wasn’t worth taking a risk.’ Once retired, they might find that risk to be worth it.”Of course, retirees starting businesses certainly should be careful. The key question that retiree-entrepreneurs need to consider, says Alex De Noble, a professor of management at San Diego State University, is ‘how much risk are they willing to take after they’ve put some retirement money away.’ There are ways to mitigate risk so that, regardless of how a new business fares, the owner won’t lose retirement security.”A home based Internet business is an ideal business for retirees who want to become entrepreneurs and earn a substantial income after they retire.
A home based business has no additional overhead other than that which you already have for your home. It avoids the costs of many other businesses such as leasing an office and maintaining a large inventory.
Most people starting a home based business have to keep their day job until they make enough money from their home based business to quit their day job. As a result they can devote only a limited number of hours to building their business. As a retiree, you can devote as much time as you want to building your home based business.
You have experience that is invaluable. The experience you gained during your career gives you a tremendous advantage over the 20-something youth who attempts to start a home based business. You know what it takes to run a business, you have knowledge about markets that lets you select a market niche to promote your products, and you have developed good time management habits that are required for running a business.
Needless to say, you know how to use the Internet. Otherwise you would not be viewing this article.
To get help in determining which home based business is best suited to you, email me and I will give you a free consultation.
Retired? Now You Can Start a Home Based Business
How to Choose a Home-Based Business Today
There are hundreds of home-based businesses in various industries, such as travel, health, real estate, business, or based around certain products or service out there. The task of finding the perfect business to do at home fit for you can be very challenging. Many people give up their desire to start their own business because they get frustrated in the initial search process, but this is the most important step if you are to see success as a home-based business owner or not.There are many things to consider when looking for the best business to start, these include:1. Right Company and right leadershipFor anyone researching for the best home-based businesses to start, it is almost inevitable to come across scams. Search for reviews on any opportunity that you come across. Do thorough research on any company that you are considering to join or do business with and make sure that they have a track record of success. Is the company expanding or contracting?2. Right product or serviceBefore you choose a home-based business opportunity, do a market research to find out if there is a demand for the product or service you will be offering. Also, make sure that the business you choose is something that you can effectively market. You need to take into account your personality, your talents and strengths. Is it a product or service that excites you and something you can talk about passionately?3. Start up and reoccurring costKnowing what the start up costs is is a very important factor when deciding which business to choose. Selecting a home-based business that would put you into debt from the very beginning is not recommended. It is better to do them on a shoestring budget and focus on stability in the beginning. There are also monthly costs or obligations, which may include fees for a website and hosting, product fees, marketing fees, advertising fees, etc. Can you handle these fees for the business?4. Availability of timeYou need to consider how much time you can put into the business. Will the business demand more time than you can offer? Many people go into home-based businesses in order to spend more time with their families. If the business will take all your time, then this purpose will be defeated.5. Compensation planMake sure that when you start the home business that your profits will reward your time, effort, and money you will put into it. And if it is a network marketing business, you need to understand how much profit you will make every time you sign someone up or make a sale. Furthermore, with a realistic plan, figure out how long it will take you to earn enough money that will meet your basic needs.6. Adequate tools, systems and supportAnother thing to consider is the availability of adequate tools and systems to train you in the business and help you to market both yourself and the business. You need massive training and support for you to succeed in a business, especially if you are new in this business opportunity.Do not be in a hurry to choose a home-based business, take the time to research the vast number of opportunities available, with diligence and honesty, so as to experience the success that you hope to find.
Finding a Home Based Business Opportunity
Home-based business opportunities these days abound. If you’re looking for a way to supplement your income or start an exciting new career, there’s likely a one that suits your skills and interests. Millions of people around the world are taking advantage of work-from-home opportunities, enabling them to take control of their own work lives, finances, and achieve a work-life balance.Home based businesses offer people the opportunity to set their own hours, control their own income and develop their skills and talents. While many are part-time projects used by their owners to create a supplemental source of income or to create a self-funding hobby, a growing number of people are turning their home businesses into full-time careers.Hot career fieldsIf you want to start a business from home, but aren’t sure what type of business to start, here are a few to consider:* A home based business in entertainment shopping and travel. It’s easy to learn, and the better models will have team-support and the added benefit of reduced price shopping and luxury holidays.* Home computer businesses are an easy way for people to make money from home. If you’re tech savvy you can offer your friends and neighbors support services. Many people prefer to deal with a local support service than having to contact a call center that could be anywhere in the world.* Internet marketing is an exciting and growing business model. With a few easy-to-learn marketing, writing and web design skills, you can quickly learn how to make a substantial income from selling products and services online and helping others market their businesses. Even if you don’t want to do it yourself, there are great outsourcing services who can do the hack work for you, while you focus on business growth.* Virtual assisting is a growth field for those wanting to work from home. A growing number of companies are choosing to outsource clerical duties to outside contractors to reduce benefit costs. A virtual assistant receives work online and performs data entry and other administrative tasks for a company. By snagging several of these jobs, you can create a steady stream of dependable income.* Medical coding is another great home-based business. Many hospitals and doctors’ offices outsource their coding work to outside contractors. A good medical coder can work for several clients and bring home a significant income.The number of home based business opportunities that require little or no training to start up is growing all the time, but require time to master. Finding a mentor to help will short-cut your learning curve.
Things You Need To Know About Hiring A Property Management Company
Trying to do things on your own to get things done is not always something that works out, especially when you are pressed for time. With life so short and with so many things you need or want to do, getting a little help sometimes lets you achieve more goals and more time to achieve them.
Investing in properties these days is one way in which you can be assured of a secure financial future and as such, one thing that you will want to take care of yourself. But property management, is a combination of a lot of hard work, work that you may not always have time for and if neglected to a point, can spell disaster. Property management isn’t limited to simply making sure everything is in order and the house is spotlessly clean and that the plants are watered every day.
Property management involves making sure you screen and interview suitable tenants, be able to do comprehensive inspections regularly, make sure the rent is paid on time, every time and that you pay all the necessary taxes, abide by all the legislations concerning real estate and are updated about them as well. You will also need, if necessary, to hire security, make sure all the bills are paid and be able to resolve every single little problem or issue that comes up. After all this, the next thing you need to ask yourself is do you have the time to do this every day?
When it comes to deciding to hire professional help, you will first and foremost, need to know what you want. You will need to determine whether you want full-service property management or just someone who will collect the rent and act as intermediary between you and your tenants. A full-service property management company offers advertising for your property, screening/interviewing suitable tenants, provide a cleaning team and in-house maintenance to take care of your property, provide repair services and of course, collect the rent. Full-service property management companies usually charge a one-time fee plus a percentage of the collected rent for every month, as well as a one-time fee for advertising your property and placing tenants that usually amount to the first month rent.
The second thing you need to have is realistic rental goals before hiring the right property management company. Understand that the real estate market constantly changes and expecting to make enough to cover your mortgage is not something that happens all the time. You must know what the competitive rates are in your area and base your goals on those figures. Always think that at least $500 towards your mortgage is better than nothing.
Remember as well that these are the times when the internet is your best friend. Most reputable companies will have their own websites wherein they will outline the type of services they offer and will also contain client testimonials that will help you make informed decisions. You may also check with the Better Business Bureau or the local investing community about possible candidates. Once you’ve narrowed down your list, set up a meeting with each one so you can properly evaluate their eligibility for the job.
Of course, hiring the right property management company will always entail certain fees and penalties. Make sure you understand what each fee covers since there are companies that offer free advertising and there are others that charge per listing. Reputable companies will have a complete listing of their fees and rates on their websites as well as contact numbers you can call should you have any questions about them.
And the last thing you need to remember when hiring the right property management company is to read the fine print. Always, always make sure you thoroughly read and understand the management contract before signing your name on the dotted line. Management contracts are legally binding and if there’s anything about the terms that you don’t feel comfortable about, it would be best to air them out before you actually sign to avoid any legal troubles.
Finding a Good Real Estate Attorney
The realty business is a highly specialized field of law and often a good attorney is required to understand the technicalities of the field. A real estate attorney can be of great assistance if a property matter arises and if any law suits need to be dealt with. They can also help in drawing up quality lease agreements and contracts for possession or purchase of property according to the laws and regulations of the government.
The standard way of getting introduced to a real estate attorney is through an agent. While being represented by a realty firm, these companies retain the services of a lawyer to handle all the issues related to the realty they handle and the lawyer can be helpful is clarifying any legal queries. If the brokerage firms are not represented they will still have some contacts and one can obtain the services of the attorney.
A local real estate agent or what are known as escrow officers handle realty related legal issues on a day to day basis and they can recommend some known lawyers for various purposes. Based on the evaluation of the issue at hand, the agents will know the right person to contact. Each area or city has a board of realtors who are a good place to get a referral for real estate lawyers. Such boards are a legal establishment and the lawyers who are affiliated to these boards are well versed with the state laws.
Builders and construction companies often also retain the services of attorneys to handle their legal work. Those who deal with development of property and ordinances have a good rapport with lawyers who specialize in real estate law. Drawing up contacts and understanding the legalities of contracts are up the alley for such lawyers and this can be of assistance to the client.
An obvious resource is to utilize the services of the local directory or online resources for information relating to the real estate lawyers. You can also search the yellow pages. In case a very specialized attorney is requires based on the case at hand or the legal technicality involved, searching for such lawyers is also possible through the online resources. There are specializations which revolve around water rights or property planning or planning and allocation etc. One can also contact the local bar association for referrals and get a list of lawyers with specific areas of legal expertise.
How To Succeed At Online Product Creation The Easy Way
Product creation could be a frightening subject for a lot of Internet marketers to face. Some folks who get in the game with the intention of making a full time income are completely ignorant as to how an online business operates. One of the most profitable ways to create online cash is by creating a product that others are happy to pay for.
Product creation is legitimate method of generating money through internet marketing but many entrepreneurs get it wrong. They start by imitating their Internet marketing gurus by creating information products on Internet marketing in hopes of getting rich the way their heroes did. The problem is that they usually don’t know what they are doing and enter a highly competitive niche with very little marketing experience or connections.
Here are a few tips for effective product creation that may help you get on the right track:
Start by finding a profitable niche with low to moderate competition. If you conduct some rudimentary market research and keyword research, you’ll find many opportunities in areas that will surprise you. Amazon and eBay are two great places to brainstorm for product ideas.
Developing Your Product does not have to be a difficult project. You can find experts in the right field for your niche and pay them to write the material while an artist designs the packaging and website or blog. You can outsource the entire product creation part of the project after you conduct the research and testing to ensure profitability.
Sales and marketing strategies should be created while developing the product and learning about the market. Some experienced marketers use pay per click to drive traffic to their offer page; some folks outsource the entire marketing campaign to affiliates through ClickBank or other affiliate programs.
Product creation does not need to be hard, particularly when the merchandise is electronic. E-books, videos, audio and multi-media products sell very well. They are distributed immediately to customers electronically. Once you have a good feel for a niche market, try to service your customers with associated products and upgrades. If you want to earn money online through product creation, you must understand supply and demand. The majority of new online marketers fail miserably because they go after highly competitive markets or forget to research their chosen niche properly. You have to create your products according to the needs, wants and desires of the prospective customers.
Information Product Creation: Never Compete on Price Because There Is Only One You
Information product creation requires extensive preparation, no matter which niche you work within and you want to make sure that your information product has a successful launch. That probably sounds scary and intimidating but here’s the thing: this is a one time effort and it will pay off in a foundation that is strong enough to get your ideal clients to invest in your high-end programs and services without the perils of a traditional funnel. This article will teach you a few of the things that you need to remember if you’d like to invest in yourself and start on the information product creation path using your unique talents and abilities. Remember that you never have to worry about anyone ripping off your ideas because if you understand how to properly position yourself around your story.
Understand Both Strengths and Weaknesses: It is good to have an impartial view of your own strengths and weaknesses when lay the foundation of selling yourself within the information product creation process. It helps you figure out where you are, what you lack and how to move forward so that you get as much growth as possible. It is more than important, it is urgent if you want to create fast success for yourself to have personal positive reinforcement and deep belief to provide yourself the support you need so that you can get over your own limitations to ensure that your information product is as valuable as it can be.
You also need to know exactly who your competition is so you can study them and use their methods to help you improve your own standings. Down recreate the wheel, but understand the wheel and position yourself going uphill from the competition. Check out which kinds of opportunities you’ve already got and try to figure out how best to use them while taking care to remember your strengths and weaknesses. This is a great way to figure out where you stand against your competition which helps you figure out how best to grow.
Launch on Time: No matter what, even if you haven’t officially announced your “launch date” you should launch the site when you’ve said you would. This will force you to stick to your goal and actually work on it. Thinking that “I’ll launch it when I think it’s ready to launch” will only hinder your efforts. You’ve got a responsibility that you need to live up to with your launch, and you can’t move back on that one. If you get close to your launch date and you are getting hung up on your self limiting beliefs in your information product creation, don’t worry this about getting it out there and not perfection. As long as it is usable you should launch it. Launching on time is the professional thing to do and it is more important than creating a “wow” effect in your site visitors. You can always update/upgrade your website when you have to, so there shouldn’t be any issue with that.
Analyze Your Own Concept: If you want to make your information product creation successful you need to understand how good your concept is: is it really going to work for your chosen audience or would something else be better? You already know about your competition; how does your concept measure up? If you haven’t come up with your own idea and are trying to work with someone else’s concept, do some more work on your own before your launch. People want original ideas because they’ve seen too many other me-too websites already.
Test Your Concept Before You Commit To The Information Product Creation Process: One of the biggest failures people have with information product creation is not testing an idea before putting a lot of effort into producing an information product. PPC to a small 5 page site with a landing page is a great way to test an offer before you even produce it. If people will sign up to get it, you can be sure that you can create an information product that will target eliminating the pain of your target market. The small amount of money will be invaluable in using crowd sourcing to direct the final outline of the information product creation process.
You’ll have lots of hurdles to clear after the launch of your information product and the only way to truly take care of them is to follow the advice in this article to work smarter. Plenty of people work hard, but it is the ones who work smarter who make real money online with the information product creation business model.
Plan To Succeed With Information Product Creation: Why You Need To Split Your Process Up
One of the keys to succeeding in information product creation is to break the process up into discrete steps. This frequently isn’t an instinctive reaction for the typical information marketer. Especially on the internet where small sized learning products are the norm.
However, it is extremely important to your ultimate success. In fact, I would go so far as to say that if you don’t do this you probably won’t succeed… even when you are starting out let alone as you move forward.
Your product creation system should do this for you if only to help you to understand the overall task.
But why?
In this article, I’m going to ignore chunking and focus on the practical aspects. That’s not to say that chunking isn’t important. It is. It’s important to understanding and to learning the process. But while you can use the same chunks as you move forward, long term your focus needs to be on the operation of the system not the understanding of it. Unless of course you are constantly training new people!
So why is chunking important to long term use of the product creation process? (Yes, I know systems design uses a different term for this process but I’m not teaching you systems design. So I’m going to use the word learning content designers use.)
The first reason that having individual discrete tasks is important is one of schedule estimation. Frequently it is very difficult to estimate how long the total task of creating a product will take. After all, the size and type of the products matters as does the number of products in your product funnel. And those are just the most obvious elements. However, estimating a discrete task is often much easier. The total can then be estimated as the total of the discrete tasks.
Secondly, scheduling a large task can be problematic. However, by segmenting the task into a number of discrete tasks, you gain a much greater flexibility in scheduling. Not only that but as your business begins to add people you are able to schedule multiple people to the product creation.
Finally, segmenting a large task into smaller discrete tasks allows you to have much better control over the product creation. This affects two different areas — status and quality.
By segmenting your process into discrete tasks you are able to schedule and record the progress at much more detailed level. As a result you are more in control of the status of the product creation. You know what everyone is doing. When they should complete it. And how much it should cost. You also know exactly what has been done.
You also improve your overall quality. Instead of waiting until everything is done you can check quality as you go. This allows you to immediate react to low quality products without absorbing their costs. This means that you have less rework and your rework costs less. And if the product is not going to meet its quality requirement you will know about it in time to stop the development, change the requirement or fix the product.
A Guide on Successful Product Creation and Internet Marketing
Product creation in Internet marketing is getting stiffer and stiffer nowadays owing to tough competition between Internet-based businesses. Putting up a new product requires plenty of brainpower and finances along with an ability to take risk. With that, even if you have the product well-set already, you have to position it strategically in the Internet landscape for others to notice. You should get the interest of Web users and turn them to actual customers. Aside from the usual physical products, many different products that thrive well on Internet marketing include E-books, membership sites, and video lectures.
The long and difficult process of product creation begins with ideas. They are easy to get – compared to the effort that comes with analyzing the market for that idea. Before the idea turns to a product, businesses often spend money, even amounting to millions of dollars, to ensure the success of the new product that emerges from an idea. Businesses undertake many types of market research and surveys before releasing their products to the public. Now, you may think that because your business is small, you can’t afford research or you don’t have to do research; you can and you should. The Internet allows you to disseminate materials needed for your market study to many people at once without your having to spend a cent.
It is a common maxim in business: Look at your destination first before mapping out your journey. So what are the goals you intend to accomplish with your product creation ventures? The everyday travails of your business may make you forget the end in sight. On the other hand, prepare to entertain new developments that come to your mind in your product creation. Your conception of a product may have started this way, but a few tweaks here and there along with some market research results and it ends up another way. Take it as the result of a creative process, not as a failure to reach your goal. After all, your product creation activities are intertwined with a long-term goal that you should strive to sustain at your utmost: profit generation. So if your less profitable initial idea evolves to a more profitable product, be thankful!
With your product made up already, start doing some aggressive Internet marketing. A product purchase typically comes after more than five times a customer is exposed to an informative call-to-buy message. Thus it is important to get the contact details, like the e-mail address, of potential customers who are on the brink of a sale. Use the results of your market research to determine the demographics to which you should concentrate your marketing efforts.
With consistent product creation, you can make an inventory of your products that you can market in due time. Just keep making products – the moment you succeed in making and marketing a product, customers are surely wanting more from you, so give it to them. Keep them on your side through constant product creation.
Considerable Factors Involved in Product Creation & Marketing
The niche you have chosen should allow creation of more than one product or service. With the technological advancements in the hosting industry, from automated control panels and scripts that simplify creation of accounts, to complete turnkey solutions; there is no need to worry about spending time on the real products sold to the customer. The main ones are keyword selection, sales copy principles, graphics, affiliate programs, product creation, online payment processing, auto responders, and search engine optimization.
Once you’ve earned money from this type of information product business, you can invest in the creation of your own products if you want, or start offering more informational products that allow you to sell your knowledge. But the creation and production costs of a similar big ticket in sequence product, although higher, are still pretty low. A key by-product of this process will be the creation of 3-D, Computer Assisted Design art.
The Association for Financial Professionals permits the following activities for repatriating funds: Research and Development activities, advertising and marketing programs, hiring and training new recruits, acquiring patent and other rights to intangible property, improving transportation, funding capital investments with the purpose of job creation and job retention & funding product responsibility or environmental claims.
It prohibits certain activities like: Tax payments, Payment of executive recompense, Payment of dividends, Redemption of stocks, Debt investments and Portfolio investments. Therefore, before repatriating the money, you must consider whether it is worth or not.
Checklist on what artist and product development necessitate includes: Exceptional vocals, musicianship and/or songwriting skills, Continued education and enhancement of musical skills, Quality equipment, Performance ability, Image creation and maintenance, Plan of action, goal setting, excellent promotion materials including photographs, press releases and artwork, Business management skills, Marketing, Publicity and Promotion knowledge, Online and Offline Professional management, Basic knowledge of recording, producing, engineering, and mastering, Basic knowledge of manufacturing, distribution, and sales online, brick and mortar and air-play, Good choices in members, staff and advisors, Physical and mental preparedness, Basic knowledge of finances, accounting Law and legal issues etc.
The goals for doing so are for the product owner to: Communicate the whole, Determine and communicate when releases are needed, Determine what functionality is sufficient for each release & focus on business value derived from the releases. The delivery team on the other hand will see the whole, learn about the steps to realize the vision, learn the business priorities, provide technical input to the roadmap and provide estimates for the projected features. The salesperson must lead the prospect through the various decision criteria needed in order to secure a sale. Whether your idea is the development of a product, launch of a service business, or even the creation of an event or program for a non-profit, creativity is the root of all entrepreneurial efforts starting with the vision itself.
People quickly learn to spend their time on marketing and product creation, rather than repetitive tasks. Apart from empowering companies and individuals, there should be a particular focus on identifying labor intensive businesses that have the potential to make a significant and positive impact on employment creation as well as those businesses that have a product or service offering for export markets with the final objective of booming local economies.