Rain Online

If there is one thing that is universal, it is the desire to make a living doing what you love. Who doesn’t want to be rich and successful, spending all their time indulging in their passion? Yet for most of us, this remains fantasy. Most people, in fact, never even try it. They assume that there is no way to make it work. For me, however, there definitely was.

You see, I have loved discount designer bags since I was a kid. As a pre-teen, I developed an uncanny ability to find expensive bags discounted. I would get them in thrift stores, discount clothing outlets, or after-holiday sales. I never had much money, but I dressed like one of the rich kids!

I went to college like everyone else, majored in business administration, and figure that was that. I didn’t really wants to work in someone’s huge, overwhelming business office, but I knew that it was something I could do that would pay the bills. I had no idea, however, how boring it was. After a few years, I was hopelessly burnt out. I began to look for wholesale closeouts, particularly wholesale bags. At first, it was merely out of curiosity. What I found out, however, shocked me a great deal. As easy as it was for me to find wholesale bags wandering around town, it was 10 times easier on the Internet! I had struck a gold mine!

I started off by investing in wholesale designer handbags in bulk and selling them off, one by one over eBay. It wasn’t long before I was making a killing. As a matter of fact, I was getting orders for my wholesale bags faster than I could mail them! Soon I realized that I had to take a risk. I had to quit my job and devote myself full-time to my online business, or else I would be hopelessly swamped by orders. It was a risk, but it was a risk I was willing to take.

Soon, I was selling wholesale backpacks, customized bags, tote bags - anything you could use to carry something else in. The great thing is, once I started spending a lot of money buying wholesale bags, the designers noticed me. I got better details, priority offers, and an inside track to the best wholesale bag suppliers. This increased my profit margin tremendously and allowed me to undercut most of the competition. I have been sitting pretty ever since!

Originally posted 2006-07-09 13:21:39. Republished by Old Post Promoter

My great uncle was blacklisted as a Communist in the fifties. Unable to find work anywhere, he was nearly destitute when he made a business partner. They both took what little they had and invested it in a dry cleaning business. Little did they know in those humble first days that their dry cleaning business would go on to make them rather well off, if not filthy rich.

My great uncle George had a way with words and a way with people. Being in his business for himself, it didn’t matter that he was black listed any more. People would still talk to him and do business with him, even though they had been unwilling to hire him before. He took out ads in the paper under an assumed name to popularize his business, which was in an area with no other cleaners for miles. A dry cleaning business on its own, however, isn’t that lucrative, so uncle George did something that no one at the time had done. At least no one he had met.

He opened a coffee shop in the front of the dry cleaning business. People could get coffee and chat while they waited for their laundry to be done. And he would do it fast, faster than anyone else at that time. And my Uncle always had the news and gossip too, so it wasn’t long until everyone was coming to his dry cleaning business just to hear the latest about what was going on. He was a good guy to talk to, and it paid to know him too. He had an uncanny way with advice. He could be talking about something he knew nothing about - stocks, some tricky aspect of overseas politics, horse racing, beer brewing, whatever - and he’d still somehow find a way to be able to tell you just what you needed to hear and just what you needed to do to succeed in any endeavor, no matter what it was.

And he was quite a success himself. Soon he opened another dry cleaning business across town and then a third one. Business was booming. They could talk all they wanted about his politics, but no one could doubt my uncles business sense. Soon he had money to help out other people who had been black listed, offering them jobs at fair pay, which was unheard of at the time. He was a hero to his friends, and to anyone who needed a helping hand.

Originally posted 2006-01-25 18:09:16. Republished by Old Post Promoter

Recently I decided that I am in need of a career change. I have worked for 25 years in my profession and have decided that between now and when I retire I wanted the challenge of doing something different. I was amazed at the business opportunities that are out there for those of us seeking a change. The possibilities are endless and there seems to be a huge variety to choose from. For business opportunity seekers there are home based businesses, small businesses as well as franchises. The biggest obstacle that I faced was deciding what was right for me.

There are comparisons for business opportunity seekers that are available. The comparisons helped me make a decision on what was the right opportunity for me based on the amount of money I had available to invest, the amount of time I wanted to put into a new business, and where my interest areas are. As with other business opportunity seekers I found that the greatest task ahead of me was reading all the resources that are available.

There are many databases for business opportunity seekers to access. The list of franchises seems to be unlimited. There are franchises that can be operated from home as well as the traditional free standing or mall based business. The resources also include resources for marketing products that you may already be selling or are interested in getting started with.

The data bases are also a great tool for those that have business opportunities that they want to present to those that are seeking one. If you place your name and email on the various business opportunity sights you will be sent information by various opportunities either through email, traditional mail service or telephone, depending on the particular business that you are interested in. Companies are always looking for business opportunity seekers.

Also available to business opportunity seekers are classified ads. These classified ads have contact information and explanations of the various prospects that are listed. There are multiple classified ad sites that are free to access and contain a wealth of information. Another great resource for business opportunity seekers is going into the forums. There are forums available on almost every topic imaginable including special forums designed specifically for business opportunity seekers. Do not be afraid to ask questions and get information and guidance from others that are also seeking for opportunities in business as well as from those that are successfully involved in an opportunity already. The forums are a great support area as well as informational.

Well now you know that business opportunity seekers have a multitude of options to choose from. As a fellow seeker I hope that all goes well for you, and that where ever your business opportunity leads you, you will find success and happiness.

Originally posted 2007-03-17 09:11:18. Republished by Old Post Promoter

Let’s face it! Not all of us are cut-out to be employees. For many of us, getting-up to go to work each day is torturous. And even if we are lucky enough to have a job we like, we may not have the best of colleagues or worse still, may not be paid what we truly deserve. These factors can make working for a living a total drag.

But if work we must, then why not do something that we are good at, and which can help us make money on our terms? This is what thousands of people have realized and have therefore successfully started their own small businesses. But what is a small business? Like the name says, it is a business that is small - small in terms of size, small in terms of the capital required to start and maintain the business, but unlimited in terms of opportunity! And what makes small businesses thrive? For one thing, small business owners are working for themselves and not some corporate entity. If times are good, they reap all the benefits and take home each dollar from sales or services provided. Conversely, if times are bad, they bear the brunt.

The best example of a small business could be the neighborhood store. Typically run by one or two members of the family, the store provides goods or services that are in demand in the nearby community. By acting as middlemen, the store owners earn enough commission on each sale or service to make a living. They are their own bosses and live to spend each dollar that their small business earns them. Typically, such businesses require little capital to start up and can usually be maintained by a small, core team. Another example could be a skilled worker, who has branched out on her/his own. Nowadays, most plumbers, electricians, landscapers, welders, carpenters and even workmen own and operate their own small businesses. Size is rarely the issue and most small businesses have very few employees. Not all small businesses are middlemen though. A doctor, who has a small, private practice can be considered a small business owner. So can professionals like lawyers, real estate professionals, copywriters, teachers, graphic designers, printers.. the list is endless. Even people who sell products or services online are successful small business owners!

So how does one start a small business? While the registrations of a small business and the permissions required are easy enough (you need to contact your local authorities to find out more) there are other things one should consider before starting a small business. For instance what is the market potential? Are there too many people in your area of operations already providing such products or services? What is your competition in the region? What are your objectives in operating a small business? Is the business viable? How best can you market your products/services? How do you want this business to grow? If you are able to answer such questions effectively, maybe it is time to take that dream and start off your own business by becoming a successful small business owner!

Originally posted 2007-12-28 02:08:03. Republished by Old Post Promoter

I assumed there was no art to how to name a business when I first started mine. Naming a business, in fact, was one of my lowest priorities. It seemed so easy. I knew many clever people, and all of them would be willing to contribute company name suggestions to any endeavor that I was undertaking. Finding a good company name suggestion with all that brainpower would obviously be easy. I really had no idea what would be involved in the long run. In many ways, company name suggestions became one of the biggest headaches of starting a business.

You see, most of the ideas for business names that we thought of were taken. The ones that were not taken were very similar to ones that were taken. I am a big believer in niche marketing, particularly for the product that I was selling. Finding company game suggestions that allowed me to get a particular market niche was crucial, but it defied me consistently. Although we had a novel approach to business that seemed to be guaranteed to make us some money, if we could not find the right company name suggestion, it would all be for nothing.

We even briefly contemplating hiring outside consultants to come up with some company name ideas, but we eventually dismissed the idea. We had put so much work into finding company name suggestions, you see, that If we were to go with an outside company, we would have wasted all that time. For a large business, it would have made sense to do it that way. You could have a marketing and branding firm dictate every aspect of naming, positioning, and other company strategies. For a little start up like the one we were making, however, we were on our own for company name suggestions.

In the long run, it finally came down to a marathon no-sleep session. What we thought would be one hour of work - the writing down of a half a dozen company name suggestions and picking out of the best one - turned into 24 hours of painful stasis. When it was done, however, we had some brilliant company name suggestions to choose from. Choosing was surprisingly easy, and before any of us knew what had happened, we had a whole branding strategy and a name that would inspire a great deal of customer loyalty. All in all, although company name suggestions were difficult for us, they were worth the work.

Originally posted 2006-02-25 03:11:13. Republished by Old Post Promoter