Things I’ve Learned Running An Online Business

Over the past year I’m pleased with the growth my business has achieved. A few week from January 2009 my business is way beyond where it was in January 2008, and I am, I have to say, pleased. I’m not however complacent and I have plans in place to grow the business over the next twelve months. The last twelve months have been a journey where I have learned a lot. When I’ve hit a problem I’ve been forced to find answers to that problem from all the resources we have available today. I’ve become a fast reader.

So what have I learned? Well here’s a few things I’ve learned:

Focus;

Focus is important. Before I started my business I used to do a lot of surfing. When I came home from work I’d spend an hour or two surfing different sites and reading the posts. No More! Time is crucial and scarce. I have so many tasks to perform every day to keep the business going that I no longer waste any time. I focus my time on all the essential things I need to do to move the business forward. Time, I’ve discovered is the most important commodity we have and we can’t afford to waste it on mindless surfing. If it’s not helpful to my business I don’t do it. Don’t get me wrong I have my free time where I’ll pick up a good book and relax. During business time however I squeeze every last second out of the time I have available to add value to my business.

Reinvest

I have not, so far taken anything out of the business. Every penny I make I reinvest into new stock. This has meant I have increased my stock from the first few items I started with to hundreds of products. I also have plenty of money sloshing around my business account. Everythimg I make is reinvested in adding value to the business. I’m looking to invest in a good stock control system to make the process of running the business faster. Money is the driving engine of business so keeping it in the business is important in my opinion. The profit will come later.

Get Out Of The Comfort Zone

I’ve discovered it’s so easy to reach a level and get comfortable. To move forward you have to increase you goals. Think big and go for it. Set your goals high and you will stretch yourself to achieve them. Set them too low and you will get stuck in a rut and never progress. Keep driving forward. If you’ve got a monthly turnover of £3000 re-evaluate and set it to £6000 then push for it.

Get Some Business Systems In Place

What do I mean by business systems? Anything that makes it easier to sell your products, take payment and deliver them. My business is simple. I sell art products. When a customer buys something from me I want to process the order fast and efficient. So I invest in a good software package that keeps track of everything. I have an account with royal mail so I can print address labels off direct and pay for them online. This means that I don’t have to waste time in the post office. I keep databases to make record keeping easier. As my business grows I need to come up with better and more efficient systems. I’m always on the look out for anything that will make the business run more efficiently.

Constant Learning Is Essential

Everything in life is moving so fast we need to keep abreast of developments if we are to survive and grow. Close your mind and your business may soon follow. We need to read, read and read about new marketing techniques, website optimization new products the list is endless. I’ve always been a big reader but I’ve learned to speed-read to assimilate fast all the information I need to function in the business world. Mt pleasure reading is different ffrom my business reading. I’ve started to use a software program to help me speed-read books or articles I consider essential to grow my business.

Well these are just a few of the things I’ve learned over the last year. My biggest lesson though is to use time productively. Make use of every second of your business time. The hours just fly past, but I get a great sense of satisfaction when I know I have used my business time productively.

5 Things I’ve Learned About Running An Online Business

Over the past year I’m pleased with the growth my business has achieved. A few week from January 2009 my business is way beyond where it was in January 2008, and I am, I have to say, pleased. I’m not however complacent and I have plans in place to grow the business over the next twelve months. The last twelve months have been a journey where I have learned a lot. When I’ve hit a problem I’ve been forced to find answers to that problem from all the resources we have available today. I’ve become a fast reader.

So what have I learned? Well here’s a few things I’ve learned:

Focus;

Focus is important. Before I started my business I used to do a lot of surfing. When I came home from work I’d spend an hour or two surfing different sites and reading the posts. No More! Time is crucial and scarce. I have so many tasks to perform every day to keep the business going that I no longer waste any time. I focus my time on all the essential things I need to do to move the business forward. Time, I’ve discovered is the most important commodity we have and we can’t afford to waste it on mindless surfing. If it’s not helpful to my business I don’t do it. Don’t get me wrong I have my free time where I’ll pick up a good book and relax. During business time however I squeeze every last second out of the time I have available to add value to my business.

Reinvest

I have not, so far taken anything out of the business. Every penny I make I reinvest into new stock. This has meant I have increased my stock from the first few items I started with to hundreds of products. I also have plenty of money sloshing around my business account. Everythimg I make is reinvested in adding value to the business. I’m looking to invest in a good stock control system to make the process of running the business faster. Money is the driving engine of business so keeping it in the business is important in my opinion. The profit will come later.

Get Out Of The Comfort Zone

I’ve discovered it’s so easy to reach a level and get comfortable. To move forward you have to increase you goals. Think big and go for it. Set your goals high and you will stretch yourself to achieve them. Set them too low and you will get stuck in a rut and never progress. Keep driving forward. If you’ve got a monthly turnover of £3000 re-evaluate and set it to £6000 then push for it.

Get Some Business Systems In Place

What do I mean by business systems? Anything that makes it easier to sell your products, take payment and deliver them. My business is simple. I sell art products. When a customer buys something from me I want to process the order fast and efficient. So I invest in a good software package that keeps track of everything. I have an account with royal mail so I can print address labels off direct and pay for them online. This means that I don’t have to waste time in the post office. I keep databases to make record keeping easier. As my business grows I need to come up with better and more efficient systems. I’m always on the look out for anything that will make the business run more efficiently.

Constant Learning Is Essential

Everything in life is moving so fast we need to keep abreast of developments if we are to survive and grow. Close your mind and your business may soon follow. We need to read, read and read about new marketing techniques, website optimization new products the list is endless. I’ve always been a big reader but I’ve learned to speed-read to assimilate fast all the information I need to function in the business world. Mt pleasure reading is different ffrom my business reading. I’ve started to use a software program to help me speed-read books or articles I consider essential to grow my business.

Well these are just a few of the things I’ve learned over the last year. My biggest lesson though is to use time productively. Make use of every second of your business time. The hours just fly past, but I get a great sense of satisfaction when I know I have used my business time productively.

Starting A Part-Time Internet Business

Starting a part-time internet business is an excellent way to test the waters and find out if you have what it takes to run a business without risking too much. If you are thinking of starting a business, I would strongly urge you to take the part-time route first. Many successful full-time businesses began this way, and have made their owners a lot of money, and continue to do so.

The transition from part-time business to full-time is not that great. Once you have established yourself in your chosen market you will have all the systems in place to make that step up. Even if you decide to remain part-time, you will have an excellent source of income, which will insulate you from the insecurities of your full-time job.

Don’t underestimate the power of a part-time business to build you wealth and create an extra income independent of your full-time job.  There’s many advantages of starting a part-time business. The purpose of this article is to point them out to you and encourage you to take the step into business and create some wealth for you and your family. Here’s just a few of the advantages of a part-time business.

Low Investment

The first advantage of a part-time internet business is the low cost of starting one. You will already have the main equipment necessary like a computer and printer. You can start a part-time internet business for a few hundred pounds. Compare this to the pre-internet days when starting a business involved a major outlay of money and time. A few years ago, I started a part-time business selling second hand computers. This involved me giving my weekends up and traveling round the country to computer markets. I had to load my car up with computers, drive for a few hours, unload them all and stand there all-day. Usually to reload them all back into my car and return home with nothing to show for it.

I had to invest money into the computers, which meant I had a lot of money tied up. There was also the cost of getting onto the markets and the traveling expense. It was a huge investment of time, energy and money. I stopped doing it after a while because it just wasn’t worth it. I started my internet ecommerce business with a hundred pounds and reinvested all the profits to build it up. I now make more money in a week sitting in front of my computer than I made all the time I was selling computers.

Few Expenses

The expenses of a part-time business are low. Apart from a computer, a printer and a good internet connection you’ll need stationery and a log design. And packing materials if you are going to open an online shop. All of which you can buy cheaply. Once your business starts to build up momentum it will become self-financing, paying its own way.

Gain Experience

Experience cannot be bought or taught, it has to be learned. You can read all the reports and books available on trading but until you step into the market, with your own business you cannot build experience. The experience you will get from launching your own part-time business is a real live university course in business. Every move you make will have a consequence. The market will respond to everything you do or fail to do. A year of running your own business will provide you with more real life knowledge than ten years of studying business from someone who may never have run one. With experience, comes confidence and if you do decide to take your business full-time you will be equipped to do so.

Test Your Ideas

You may think you’ve got a great idea, your wife may agree, your mother may be all for it but the only way to test it is to take it to the market. You can use the market to test your ideas out and fine-tune them on a part-time basis. If the market doesn’t like the idea it’s a simple matter of dropping it without having wasted too much of your time and money. A part-time internet business offers you the opportunity to do this.

Extra Money

We can all do with some extra money and a part-time business is a good way to generate an extra income that isn’t dependent on your job. Even an extra hundred a month is a welcome addition to a budget. You can reinvest this in your business and watch it grow into a money-generating machine. Once your business becomes established and starts to grow it will create money giving you a surplus to spend or invest.

Learn New Things

No matter what your business knowledge is, starting a business will increase it. You will have to learn new skills on the fly. Marketing, SEO, stock management, budgeting and bookkeeping to name just a few of the skills you will need to master to succeed.

Test Yourself

Do you have what it takes? Can you remain cool under pressure? Can you continue to think logically when your plans aren’t working? Can you remain positive and continue to formulate plans when nothing seems to be working? Can you rally yourself to charge forward when you’ve taken a battering in the market? You’ll find the answers to all this and more about yourself if you plunge yourself into the market with an idea or some products. You will fail in some things, it’s unavoidable, we all have and we all do, it’s how experience is gained. Each failure will bring you back stronger and wiser than before.

When you triumph though the failures will, all dissolve. When you make a plan and drive it to completion against the forces that are against you, you will experience a great sense of personal achievement, a boost in your self-confidence and your self-esteem will reach new levels.

All these things can be achieved by starting a part-time internet business for little cost. If it’s something you’ve being thinking about, then stop thinking and act. You’re better and more capable than you think you are; you’re braver than you think you are, you know more than you think you do, you are already programmed with everything you need to succeed. All you have to do is take the first step.

Saturday Rant

It’s Saturday and I feel like having a rant so I think I will do.  I’m convinced that there’s a conspiracy by the incompetent corrupt politicians who are currently running this country into the ground, to destroy anyone who tries to stand on their own two feet by taking positive action to help themselves.

My complaint is about my tax bill. I know we all complain about tax, at least those of us who actually pay it anyway. But it’s getting to the stage where everything we do is taxed. I work full-time and pay tax, I run a part-time business and pay tax, all my life I’ve paid tax and seen nothing back for it.

A friend of mine was laid off recently after working for 35 years nonstop and paying all his dues. He was given £65.00 a week for 6 months then told he couldn’t have any more because he wasn’t entitled.

Now something’s wrong here with the system when a guy who has paid in all his life is given a paltry amount then discarded, while people who have paid nothing into the system can walk into the country and be given money without question.

I’m not just moaning about immigrants that we don’t need flooding into the country but people born here who haven’t worked for years but manage to take more from benefits than they would earn if they worked.

I resent working hard to see a large chunk of my money going to support scroungers, thieving politicians, middle class lawyers living off legal aid, MEPs, MPs and the rest of the political class who are lining their pockets while the rest of us pay for it.

And while I’m in full stream I think that chairmen and directors of PLC companies should be capped on how much they can take out of the company. My reasoning for this is simple, they are only employees. They have simply followed a safe career path and took no risks so why should they be able to reward themselves by taking ridiculous amounts of money from public companies.

I’ve no problem with entrepreneurs who have taken risks and worked hard to build their companies taking as much as they want out, but PLC directors? No, it’s just legalised thievery. And that pathetic argument that the immoral payments they receive is to attract the best talent is a joke.  We’ve had some really great talent in the banks haven’t we. And that’s another thing, I resent my tax being used to bail out incompetent banks. The directors of these institutions should be made to pay back all the money and bonuses they’ve taken out.

It seems these guys can’t lose. If things are going well they reward themselves with huge bonuses, when things go bad they are given big pay offs and the taxpayer is expected to pick up the pieces. It’s all corrupt. Meanwhile the guys at the bottom who work and save are penalised. It’s a joke.

Right. I feel better now I’ve got that off my chest. Am I wrong? What do you think?

It’s Never Too Late To Start A Business

While many people look forward to retirement after a lifetime of work, for some people its approach fills them with dread. Being forced to end your working life at sixty-five, whether you want to or not is viewed with dread by many people. After a lifetime of activity, To suddenly wake up one day with nothing to do can send many into a spiral of depression. Especially if you only have a small company pension to top up your tiny state pension.

Today the opportunity for people who have retired to start their own part-time or full-time business is much easier now thanks to the internet. And, according to Frances Kay, the editor of

“The Good Non retirement Guide” a growing number of older people are refusing to sit down and vegetate. Many are taking the plunge and starting their own businesses. According to Frances, ” if you look at the proportion of the population who are starting a small business, there are a lot of older people about. They are doing it because at a certain stage in life they want autonomy and they don’t necessarily want to be working in an organization for someone who is half their age. People are living longer and are healthier so you probably have 25 years between 55 and 80 when you can get a heck of a lot done. There is a lot you can achieve and it can be hugely satisfying.”

As Frances mentions people are living much longer than they were when the official retirement age was set at sixty-five. Many people today are much healthier and stronger in middle age than their parents were and been consigned to the scrap heap when you feel you still have much to contribute can be like a prison sentence.

It is still a disaster to made redundant in your fifties. Despite the governments attempts to encourage employers to employ older people. Let’s face it, when faced with a candidate of 55 and 23 most people will employ the younger person. The person doing the employing will probably be in their twenties and may feel uncomfortable giving orders to someone old enough to be their father or mother.

If you are fit and healthy then age is no barrier to starting your own business. In fact you have many advantages. You will have, over the course of your life, picked up many valuable social skills which every successful business needs. You will have a maturity that will give you a greater tolerance level to the daily problems faced by small enterprises. And the thought of avoiding the daily trek to work where you are taking orders from someone young enough to be your son or daughter can be appealing.

After a lifetime spent working for others it’s not too late for middle-aged people to branch out on their own start their own business. We know that working for others will never provide us with enough money to enjoy a comfortable retirement. And with the banks going down and our pension investments collapsing many older people are finding themselves heading towards retirement without the financial cushion they hoped for. This is a good time to think about starting your own business.

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