Ok, so the first thing you need to do, is to take into account, you are starting a business. This is real now. No turning back, no half-assed effort. REGISTER your business with your state goverment. Typically it would be at www.yourstate.gov. It's usually under 100 USD, cheap huh? You'll have many options, typically sole proprietorship, partnership, LLC, or S or C corp. Each one of them helps you in a different way, you can find out about the differences on your state website. Another helpful source is the IRS. Here's a page all bout starting your business.
Once you register your company you are eligable for your TaxID. If you want to do retailing on the internet (i.e. selling someone else's things for them for a fee), you usually need your Tax ID. This may cost around 30-40 USD and is for collecting sales tax in your state (if applicable). Usually when selling online, you may not need to collect sales tax except for items sold in your state. Try googling the phrase "incorporating in (your state)" to get some options. Here's some information I pulled up for Florida. There are many legal-type-guys who will take care of all the fees and paperwork involved for a flat rate. This might be something to look into. Remember always delegate! One of the best parts of working for yourself, is that you tell others what to do, for money. Not the other way around!
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
Tuesday, January 1, 2008
Struggling Along?
If you've tried to use Google or Yahoo! to find out information on starting your business, I'm sure you've found GOBS of websites offering their unbelievable secret, or their unbeatable software, or how they make 6 figures from affiliate adword blog blah blah blah.
The thing is most of these sites offer some sort of help, but they All say the same thing. A whole lot of nothing. Then you get to the bottom. Then they'll help you. Chances are though, when you give them your email, and buy what they have to offer, it's the same as what everyone else has to say.
Don't be discouraged though. There are ways of making money on the internet. It's just that those that promise to tell you how, do it only after you pay them. A few good sources are Wilsonweb, the Entrepreneur blog, or the Ecommerce guide. These are websites that teach you about the web marketing. They're not trying to tell you a secret technique, and they're far more valuable than any of those scams are.
Just a tip for the wary, if you do get curious in one of these sensational make money sites, if you get to a website that is about 10 miles long from top to bottom, full of red and yellow, and dotted square outlines, and little quotations form super pleased clients, and a picture of the box their software comes in with the lid slightly raised, a letter from the founder, with his signature, and BONUSES!! They'll ask you enter your email down at the bottom.. etc... these sites are cookie cutter. They are a dime a dozen, and none of them are worth anything profound. You can make money out of some of them, but you will definitely be left wanting, whatever it is you purchase. So just beware.
There is plenty of decent help on the internet. You just have to know where to find it.
The thing is most of these sites offer some sort of help, but they All say the same thing. A whole lot of nothing. Then you get to the bottom. Then they'll help you. Chances are though, when you give them your email, and buy what they have to offer, it's the same as what everyone else has to say.
Don't be discouraged though. There are ways of making money on the internet. It's just that those that promise to tell you how, do it only after you pay them. A few good sources are Wilsonweb, the Entrepreneur blog, or the Ecommerce guide. These are websites that teach you about the web marketing. They're not trying to tell you a secret technique, and they're far more valuable than any of those scams are.
Just a tip for the wary, if you do get curious in one of these sensational make money sites, if you get to a website that is about 10 miles long from top to bottom, full of red and yellow, and dotted square outlines, and little quotations form super pleased clients, and a picture of the box their software comes in with the lid slightly raised, a letter from the founder, with his signature, and BONUSES!! They'll ask you enter your email down at the bottom.. etc... these sites are cookie cutter. They are a dime a dozen, and none of them are worth anything profound. You can make money out of some of them, but you will definitely be left wanting, whatever it is you purchase. So just beware.
There is plenty of decent help on the internet. You just have to know where to find it.
Saturday, December 29, 2007
E-shop vs. Brick & mortar
Ok, so you've come to the internet to start your business. How does it compare to a typical storefront or 'brick and mortar' shop? Well, for starters, your overhead is drastically reduced. And using certain methods such as drop-shipping, you can run a successful retail shop without any inventory whatsoever. (I'll discuss drop-shipping in a later post). You eliminate rental costs, and utilities and store-hours, things of that nature, but you have hosting fees, web-design costs, and customer service issues... There is definitely a trade-off involved. My point is though, even though an e-commerce business may be easier than a storefront shop, your success is going to be based entirely on the effort you put into it either way. And digital does not necessarily mean easy.
There are companies that are very helpful for e-ntrepreneurs, Yahoo! offers a service for the business minded community with Yahoo! stores. They offer a wide range of services and will in fact help you design your page, get you squared away with product inventory, and shipping, and even payment options. All for around 50 USD a month. They do offer certain tools and you can see them on their website. They have excellent demos.
Another option is Storesonline. These services can start to reach high up there. I think a starter package begins around 2000 USD. They've been around for a long time, over 10 years i believe, and offer a very wide range of useful and up to date tools. One such tool is the reverse keyword search tool, which allows you to type in a particular keyword (i.e. a product you might like to sell) and it will tell you how many times that term, and any related term was entered in for the previous weeks. For instance, if you typed in baby powder, you'd see that it was searched for in the top search engines 29,423 times last month, as well the numbers for baby power, baby shower, baby bopper, etc. This is useful for finding yourself a popular niche (pronounced 'nitch' or 'neesh' from the French word to nest, if you wanna go the French/business way). This I'll discuss later.
These are just two solutions for you to get started, one low-budget, one high. Remember, this is a boulder you're pushing over. You could go the traditionalist route and just dig in, or you could get a little help from some capitalistic friends. The more the merrier I say.
Now, even though they may be a little pricey, we are talking a business here. Any costs are investments and any money you make back is basically going to be on par with the effort you put in. You will save vast amounts of money in terms of startup capital, just to get going, but you are still going to have to push over that rock. So keep that in mind. If you're looking for a get-rich quick scheme, it may happen, but it won't be easy. If you replace easy with the word possible, then you're on the right track.
There are companies that are very helpful for e-ntrepreneurs, Yahoo! offers a service for the business minded community with Yahoo! stores. They offer a wide range of services and will in fact help you design your page, get you squared away with product inventory, and shipping, and even payment options. All for around 50 USD a month. They do offer certain tools and you can see them on their website. They have excellent demos.
Another option is Storesonline. These services can start to reach high up there. I think a starter package begins around 2000 USD. They've been around for a long time, over 10 years i believe, and offer a very wide range of useful and up to date tools. One such tool is the reverse keyword search tool, which allows you to type in a particular keyword (i.e. a product you might like to sell) and it will tell you how many times that term, and any related term was entered in for the previous weeks. For instance, if you typed in baby powder, you'd see that it was searched for in the top search engines 29,423 times last month, as well the numbers for baby power, baby shower, baby bopper, etc. This is useful for finding yourself a popular niche (pronounced 'nitch' or 'neesh' from the French word to nest, if you wanna go the French/business way). This I'll discuss later.
These are just two solutions for you to get started, one low-budget, one high. Remember, this is a boulder you're pushing over. You could go the traditionalist route and just dig in, or you could get a little help from some capitalistic friends. The more the merrier I say.
Now, even though they may be a little pricey, we are talking a business here. Any costs are investments and any money you make back is basically going to be on par with the effort you put in. You will save vast amounts of money in terms of startup capital, just to get going, but you are still going to have to push over that rock. So keep that in mind. If you're looking for a get-rich quick scheme, it may happen, but it won't be easy. If you replace easy with the word possible, then you're on the right track.
Starting an e-business
Have you ever considered starting up an ecommerce website? It's a pretty daunting task don't you think? I liken it to walking up to a 2 meter tall boulder, and trying to push it over. It's possible, it's totally possible... but most people would just as soon walk by than try to get it rolling.I have been in the process of starting one for a few weeks, and let me tell you, it has not been a cakewalk. It's as hard as it looks. But I'm confident that once I get my boulder rolling... it will keep on going. Through these posts, I'll let you follow my journey into starting an ebusiness. The resources I use, and the progress I make along the way.
Hopefully, if you're interested in starting a business and have no idea what you're doing, I'll be of some help. I'll also be discussing adsense, and things of that nature. Welcome to the web. Let's go get em!
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