Entrepreneur Ideas|Best Start up Business Ideas for 2012!

Entrepreneur Ideas - Great Ways To Make Extra Money At Home

So, you're looking to join a list of the Top 10 entrepreneurs in the world and take your place in history alongside the likes of Richard Branson, Donald Trump, Robert Kiyosaki and the like? Okay, let's get real for a few minutes...

If making extra money at home is on your mind right now and the pressure of a reduced income, increased taxes or the added threat of unemployment has forced you to turn to the internet in search of a Plan B give me a few minutes of your time and I'll reward you with a list of good business ideas to digest and deliberate upon.

First, I need you to focus more on yourself than perhaps you have ever done, before taking one more step on your journey to becoming a famous entrepreneur and ahead of investing any more of your time and energy into your plan to find the best online business ideas.

Why?

For one simple reason...

Not everyone is suited to building their own home income opportunity, franchise, multi level marketing business or money making business. Many believe they have what it takes and fall into the trap of believing that their desire to leave their day job behind is equal to a desire for personal business success but the truth is that running a business and making a success of it is no easy feat. In fact, figures show that over 90% of businesses fail within the first three years and of those that survive (the remaining 10%) 90% again then go on to fail within the next three years. Disappointing but these are the facts.

So, where does that leave you and your ideas to become the next budding entrepreneur?

The good news is that with a little direction and a long term vision there is no better time to build your fortune from home. This is the era of internet millionaires and professional online home based business owners who are learning to master the internet faster than they ever thought possible and are generating incomes in excess of anything their parents or grandparents ever dreamed of.

The bad news is that there are also a large and ever increasing number of people who are running desperately from one "get rich quick" programme to another looking for ways to make money fast. The truth is those programmes do not exist and if that's what you are searching for I am sorry to tell you that you will be disappointed and will lose your shirt.

The bottom line is this...

Develop a plan for long term financial freedom; a five, ten or fifteen year plan. Put things in place to allow you to achieve that plan and take the necessary steps each day to take you closer to your goals. Do this well and you can create wealth beyond your expectations and leave a legacy for your children that will allow them to enjoy everything they want from life.

So, that said, if we're ready to begin I'll walk you through my list of the finest four entrepreneur ideas to help you get started on the road to financial freedom.

Running A Computer Home Based Business In Your Spare Time

When I first started to look for a way to make extra money from home the internet was actually not on my list of "ways to make money fast". Strange as this may seem right now, it had more to do with my father than me and his belief that the only people making money on the internet were those running or working within the porn industry!

Yeah, I know, maybe he was right but that was never a route I wanted to go down and with my fathers influence I avoided the internet for a decade or more in fear of naked ladies, men with German accents and bad facial hair and anything that even closely resembled an online dating site, before finally coming online to build a number of successful websites and varied income streams all 100% legitimate and fully clothed.

From my experience these are the top three ways to make money with your computer from home;

1. Niche Websites

Find a niche and build a website based around the interests of that niche and you can enjoy long term income and success online. Examples of a good niche would be Golf, Horseriding, Cooking, Painting, Dog Training, Health and Fitness or indeed any other area of interest that attracts a group of people who are enthusiastic and willing to spend within that niche on information or real world products that will either increase their knowledge, improve their life or take them one step closer to fulfilling their dreams. A word of warning though; a lot of people make the mistake of going for a small niche and there is a lot of advice out there on finding an untapped niche and tapping into it to make money. This is a mistake in my opinion for a couple of reason;

• First, because an untapped niche is untapped for a reason - at least these days it is. It may not have been five or ten years ago but today, if it hasn't been touched by the top internet marketers, it hasn't been touched for good reason; there is no money in it!

• Second, if you want to build an ongoing income, you need to find a niche big enough to sustain an ongoing conversation over time. Your intention should be to build a list of subscribers to whom you will be able to market to and sell products to while maintaining and improving your relationship with them. The reason you need a big niche to do this is simply down to numbers and percentages; the bigger your list of subscribers the more likely you are to hit your income targets when promoting products or services to your subscriber list. It is generally accepted that each subscriber is worth around $1 per month to you as a webmaster and this is in terms of income generated mainly from sales made by email as a recommendation from a trusted source (You). If the market or niche is too small, the potential to grow your subscriber list is also limited.
  
• THINK BIG and you will succeed!

   2. Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing is a great way to start out making money online. Put simply, affiliate marketing is selling products on behalf of someone else. These can be information products or real world, tangible products and the maker or owner of the product will pay you a commission for every sale made by you.

• It's free to sign up as an affiliate and there are literally products and services to sell to every sector in the market from health to sustainable energy; whatever your interest there are products to sell as an affiliate.

• To make real money from other people's products though you either want to sell high priced items for which you will receive a large commission or recurring income affiliate products (this means you sell a product or service which has an ongoing payment plan or monthly membership and you then receive ongoing payments back in return. There are numerous sites that offer you the opportunity to sign up as an affiliate and start making money.

The best known site is;

• ClickBank (www.clickbank.com)

This is the number one affiliate marketers resource. To select recurring payment products using your selected keywords run an "advanced search" and CB will return a selection of results for you to work through. Below is a list of 5 additional affiliate marketing sites to provide you with more information and resources on affiliate marketing.

1. PayDotCom (www.paydotcom.com)

Not quite as powerful as Clickbank in terms of finding recurring income products to market as an affiliate but still very useful and highly regarded by affiliates out there.

 

2. Lifetime Commissions (www.lifetimecommissions.com)

This is a great "one stop shop" where you can find recurring income affiliate offers to promote. There are also some strict guidelines in terms of what can and cannot be promoted, so no gambling or porn for example (Hey, my father would have been proud of these guys! ;-))
 

3. AffiliateSeeking.com (www.affiliateseeking.com)

Affiliate Seeking is not a payment provider, as are Clickbank and PaydotCom,  but  offers a simple and easy to use directory to research affiliate offers in multiple niches and areas of interest. They also have an area for recurring income affiliate opportunities.

 

4. ResidualIncomeFinder (www.residualincomefinder.com)

This directory is dedicated to residual income products that relate to your niche. This is all these guys offer so if long term regular income online is what you want from your affiliate empire this is a good place to start.
 

5. JVNotifyPro.com (www.jvnotifypro.com)

This site will allow you to be kept in the know when new product launches are about to arrive, which lets you offer your list of subscribers the next best thing when it arrives or to establish your online marketing plan based around the products keywords ahead of the competition should you decide to sign up as an affiliate.

 
Affiliate marketing is a great way to make extra money from home and with little to no risk but remember, like all good things, success comes with a price so expect to invest time and energy into learning how to market other peoples products and take what you learn and apply it consistently over time to increase sales and generate the income you want.

Business Ideas For Women

The fastest growing demographic on Facebook right now is for women aged between 45 and 55 years of age. Surprised? You shouldn't be. Women are coming back into the workplace and are heading online once their children have reached an age where they no longer need mum to iron, clean, bake and do everything else they do as the family matriarch.

If you're one of this group of would be online entrepreneurs the good news is that there are so many options and ways for you to make money at home without heading back into the 9 to 5 work arena the hardest part is not finding a list of business ideas but choosing one and focusing on it over time until you get the results you want from it.

So, that said, here are a few business for women ideas to wet your appetite;

• Start a Gift Basket Business

You can start a gift basket supply business and offer just about anything; from chocolates and teas, gourmet foods, to birthday items, special occasion products for wedding gift baskets, body lotions and a whole lot more. There is always a demand for well thought out, quality gift baskets and if you have an aptitude for design, a creative mind and an attention to detail gift baskets can be a great place to start building your business empire.

• Start a Virtual Assistant Business

A Virtual Assistant is a person who provides quality support services to clients, without being present at a clients workplace or office. Services such as this are becoming more popular and many employers are looking to the internet for this kind of support thanks to technology such as email, instant messaging and the internet as a whole. This is the way of the future so a move in this direction could see a long term successful business model being developed if you have the right skill set to make this work.

Here are your job options as a VA.

* Word Processing
* Spreadsheets
* Newsletter distribution
* Secretarial services
* Research
* Bulk mailing
* Reminder services
* Internet services
* Database management
* Message management
* Telephone services
* Bill paying
* Simple website design
* Marketing services
* Personal services
* Santa letters
* Purchasing services
* Writing and/or editing services
* Data entry
* Data processing/management
* Proofreading and editing
* Scheduling
* Event planning
* Special projects
* Bookkeeping
* Mail and email services
* Proposal Writer
* Administration
* Writing services

• Start a Home Based Secretarial Business

The world of online business is fast paced so don't expect an easy ride if you choose to work from home as a freelance secretary. You will need basic office skills and a good knowledge of the common administrative computer programs out there. You will also be expected to have excellent communication skills and be able to produce high quality work on time every time.

I believe that behind every successful business there sits a highly organised and effective secretary or office administrator. If this is you and you can learn how to grow your business and client base you may just find your skills in high demand online.

• Start a Life Coach Business

There are several training programs out there that offer certification if you want to become a life coach. It isn't a requirement and these days it seems far easier to call yourself a Life Coach than anything else but it can help to stand out from the crowd so look around and pick up a few unique qualifications if you wish to pursue this walk of life. The biggest qualities you will need will be a positive attitude, great communication skills and an ability to listen and empathise with your potential clients and then to help them turn their lives around!

Women are establishing themselves online and making a real success of mastering social media and implementing their natural networking and communication skills within the online arena. If you have reached a point in your life where you know it's time for you to step up and take control of your own future then your own business might be just around the corner.

If life feels a little lonesome out there in the cold and you want to drag your husband or partner along for the ride (and he's willing) then perhaps a business model where both of you can work together from home is more in line. Let's see...

• Good Business Ideas For Married Couples

Over the years, I have been involved in a number of different businesses, either alongside, in charge of or taking orders from (in the nicest possible way ;-) ) my beautiful and talented wife. We ran a clothes business back in the 1980s, we ran a dog training business during the 1990s and we sold art online and off for the last five years or so. If you want to know, my wife had most of the talent and I generated most of the business. We shared the profits, we sat down together to plan each business and marketing model and we discussed every decision made in detail before any money was ever invested. That way we were able to share the blame when things went wrong and enjoy the success together when they went well.

If you are planning or even considering starting a business as a couple then take my advice and talk everything through. Before you begin, make sure you know what each of you are looking for from the business; your financial goals, what you are prepared to invest in terms of time, effort, income and what you are prepared to sacrifice to reach your goals. If you don't do this you will fail but more importantly your relationship will suffer.

Do it well though and a business run by two people who understand each other and have a vested interest in each others success can be a powerful thing. So, here is my best business idea for married couples (or unmarried but totally committed couples for that matter)... looking for a way to build wealth over time with little or no financial investment then here is a proven business model which anyone can suceed with.

• Multi Level Marketing

MLM or multi level marketing has been around for almost a century. The concept came about as a from of drop shipping in many ways and was an ideal business model for small companies to start out with if they had limited capital, were short on warehousing and distribution channels and needed to get a specific product or service to market fast and efficiently.

Multi level marketing is typically a business model that offers tiered commissions to its distributors in return for their effort to sell the product and recruit a team of people to do the same. In simple terms, you are paid for your efforts and the efforts of others; this is leverage at work and can provide an unlimited network marketing income opportunity for the right person.

Companies like Mary Kay, Amway and Herbalife have established themselves as leading players and back in the 1970s and early 80s offered a unique opportunity to the average Joe to build an extraordinary income. Millionaires have been made in the network marketing industry and will continue to be made I'm sure. But before you run off and decide to join the next MLM that comes your way take a few moments to do your due diligence. Here's a quick five step plan to find the right multi level marketing business for you;

• Examine the facts:

1. How long has the company been established and what is it's history?
2. What products or services does it offer and are they in demand?
3. What support does the company offer to new business owners like yourself?
4. How stable is the company in terms of it's business structure and is it likely to jump ship and drop it's distributors like a lead weight any time soon?
5. What does the company compensation plan look like and does it appear achievable for you to build a team and make money from?

My advice is to trust your own judgement and feelings when examining the facts; if it looks to good to be true, it probably is. But don't believe those who have never been involved in the industry either as they are speaking without experience and are basing their assumptions on lack of knowlegde.

MLM is not for everyone. It will require you to learn how to sell, learn how to run a business and manage your affairs correctly and despite what anyone might try to tell you is NOT a get rich quick scheme. If you find a company you like and products you believe in and can see yourself acquiring the skills to become a success in network marketing then the truth is you may just be the next multi level marketing millionaire.

Best Business to Start In A Recession

I wanted to cover this topic because it's without doubt a hot topic right now and a question I hear frequently is "what is the best business to start in a recession?".

The truth is that few business are well positioned to start ina  recession but if you can establish your business now, today, when times are tough, in the future when the economy picks up again and there are more customers looking for your products or service then you are likely to reap massive rewards.

That said, in my experience, what tends to happen when people are hit by economic recession is that contrary to what we believe would be the norm (i.e. that we tighten our belts and stop spending on luxuries) we do in fact continue to spend, to speculate and to invest but our decision making process changes.

Charities and Non-profits will tell you that a good place to fundraise in bad times is a cinema or horse racing track; we still want to be entertained and in many ways want our minds to be taken away from the difficulties of everyday life. So a business idea which lends itself to this might be something to do with entertainment, travel or sport. Whatever decision you make the bottom line is to do your research thoroughly before you decide to start a business in a recession.

That's it!

Inside each and every one of us there is an entrepreneur waiting to find an opportunity to shine. I hope this article has given you a few ideas about where you want to go next and feel free to let me know what has worked and hasn't for you and to share these ideas with your friends and contacts so that they too can create financial freedom and build long lasting wealth by becoming a successful entrepreneur!