Small Business Opportunity: The Top 7 Reasons to Start a Painting Business

House painting is a skill that most people can pick up quite easily. It is one of those rare home based business opportunities that actually work and it is very possible to make $30- $50 an hour without much effort.

Here are the top 7 reasons why anyone with basic painting skills should consider starting a painting business of their own.

1. Residential and Commercial Painting is a 22.5 Billion Dollar a Year Industry!

Every day homeowners across the country (and around the world) spend millions of dollars to have a living room, bedroom, kitchen etc painted. This is an industry that indeed has an unlimited amount of work available.

There is far more work then there are painters. Listed in the top 10 businesses in 2006 and predicted to grow into the foreseeable feature, there has never been a better time to start a painting business then right now.

2. Basic Painting Skills Are Easy to Learn.

It doesn’t take much time at all to develop basic painting skills. Just about anyone can do it. Most painters who learn through “On the job training” pick it up in just a few weeks. All it takes is a little practice.

3. Very Low Start-Up Costs

A painting business is one of the best businesses because it doesn’t require a lot of money to start. For under $250.00 (depending on where you live) you can get a painting business up and running and earning money.

With start up costs this low it doesn’t take long to become profitable and if you target small high paying jobs your overhead costs are next to nothing.

4. No Expensive Advertising Needed

Unlike most other business, a painting business doesn’t require a huge monthly advertising budget. In fact it is completely possible to build a profitable painting business without any traditional advertising at all.

Smart painting business owners spend time building relationships with people who “know people” that can refer them jobs.

5. Earn Professional Income Working Part Time Hours.

Many successful painting business owners earn $60,000 – $100,000 per year working less then 35 hours per week. Once you develop your skills and become proficient, it is not uncommon to make $300-$500 per day working just 4-6 hours.

It is possible to earn more in one day then most painting employees make working a 40 hour week. Every day painters sell their valuable skills to a boss for a measly $12-$15 when they could be earning top dollar running their own painting business.

6. Freedom, Lifestyle and Security.

The best thing a house painter can do to secure their future is to start a painting business of their own.

The potential to earn an above average income working part time hours is one of the biggest benefits of owning a successful painting business.

Many painters are making a great living running their own painting business. They drive nice vehicles, live in nice homes and have the time and money to do the things they love.

7. Outstanding Tax Benefits

Running a small painting business out of your home offers many outstanding advantages like high profit potential and low over head. Expenses like gas, tools and your vehicle may be write offs. (Be sure to check with your accountant) But the tax benefits of owning a small business are wonderful.

As you can see the sky is the limit for painters. Unlimited work and top pay draw a lot of people to the painting trade every year.

Make Money Online With Small Business Opportunities Today

In the past 10 years we have watched the small business, home based business and network marketing industry serge into a billion dollar industry with their numbers increasing every year. Any average marketer can make money online through successful internet marketing principles. There are many people making money online, there are a couple thousand internet marketing millionaires as well. Now with that established we can go ahead and acknowledge the fact that it wasn’t just a walk-in-the-park, they had to work hard to make that money. I just don’t want anybody to get the idea that the internet was just about get-rich-quick schemes because that is not what I am talking about. I want to talk to you about using proven systems to make so much money online you couldn’t imagine it. Hopefully today you will learn these internet marketing success secrets that you can use to make money online and build a residual income.

The beauty of the internet is that you can earn an income while you sleep. I am being extremely serious because there are not a lot of other things that give you that luxury. You can literally go to sleep with a certain amount of money in your account and wake up with money money than the night before in your account. The power that the internet possesses that allows you to do that is the ability to advertise any and everywhere. You can target your advertising as much as possible and only have people that are already interested in what you have to offer running down your business because of a constant online presence. Due to this, the internet is probably the greatest marketing tool in the 21st Century.

Millionaire Principles vs The “Average” Earner

So you probably want to know what separates the millionaires from the ones who fail? The first thing I would tell you that is separating millionaires and average earners is not the person themselves but their attitude. You see whether you fail or you don’t fail it is up to you, how successful you are is based on the decisions and actions you make today. I could think of three other things straight off the top of my head that limit most people from becoming great entrepreneurs: lack of mentorship, lack of action and they probably never had an effective enough system. I suggest these three things off the top of my head as major set-backs between top earners and even the average earners. If you want to make money online then I suggest getting a mentor, somebody who has already earned a significant amount of money online. Then I suggest joining a proven successful system and learning that system from the people who are successful with it already. The person who is successful with any system is successful because of their principles and if you can learn their principles and apply it you too can become successful. I highly encourage taking action as you learn and as you grow because without action you can learn as much as you want and still not progress, action is an essential key in the equation of success.

Making money online is not really different from making money from any regular retail store or sales marketing business. The actual shopping experience is different but the principles remain the same. Just like if you had a store, you would need traffic coming to your store in order to make sales. Well the advantage here is that you can have traffic from anywhere on the planet, also through online advertising and offline advertising. You can sell other people’s products and you don’t have to have the products physically, it can also be digital products. There are a lot of online business opportunities that can earn you a passive residual income. You have to do you research and find the small business opportunity that fits you and ensure it has products/services that you believe in and can stand by.

There are hundreds of thousands of people who make money online with small business opportunities and you can be one of them. How badly do you want to be successful? Are you willing to work hard for you internet marketing dreams? I ask these questions because if you really want to make money online you have to want it bad, you have to be willing to work day in and day out. The thing is, you will work hard at the start but you will end up seeing results just a couple months in and if you can keep up your initial work ethic or even increase it and you will see your results double, triple and even quadruple over time. The internet offers you the opportunity of retiring within 1-2 years of effective marketing and not many opportunities can say the same thing. Work hard enough within your first year and you can break into financial freedom.

No other business opportunity is offering you financial freedom for one year of work. I want to see you become an internet marketing success and make so much money online you don’t know what to do with it. I have already been successful online but I enjoy seeing other people learn and become themselves. If you find yourself a proven successful system and you stay diligent and work hard at marketing it, you will make money online. There are many resources out there that can aid you in making money online and many of them are free as well.

I encourage you to go out there right now and do some research on small business opportunities. Find an opportunity you can really trust and stand behind and join the program and go make some real money online. Remember what Napoleon Hill said, “Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve.”

To Your Success!

Business Opportunities – Which Business Idea Is Right For You?

Many entrepreneurs decide to go into business and then cast about for the ideal business concept. There is nothing wrong in this approach, but it does beg the question as to how you determine which business opportunity is right for you and whether the business idea is worth pursuing. The formal business planning process provides for this type of analysis. It is a process that helps the small business owner remove their ‘rose coloured glasses’ and to investigate the business idea based on hard facts and realistic analysis. The planning tool used to determine the viability of a business opportunity is called a feasibility study.

The goal of the feasibility study is to minimise the degree of risk that a business owner is about to undertake. At the completion of a feasibility study you should be able to conclude if the opportunity has potential for profit and is therefore worth the investment of your time, effort and finance. If the study proves that the business idea is financially viable, much of the information collated can be used in the formal business planning documents.

A word of warning, curb your enthusiasm for a business idea until after the feasibility study has been concluded. Don’t spend a cent, don’t sign anything, don’t get anything underway. Heeding this single warning could save you much money, time and grief.

A detailed feasibility study should include:

The Business Opportunity

Start with a description of the business opportunity in as much detail as possible.

Legal Constraints

You need to investigate whether there are any legal constraints to conducting this type of business. This could include regulatory requirements for specific qualifications or licenses. Home based businesses usually require permission from the local council to operate from the home. There is no point launching into a business which requires qualifications or licenses you do not have.

Market and Customers

You need to undertake market research to determine the size of the market for your products and services and to profile the characteristics of both the market, your competitors and potential customers. You should also assess whether you can offer something unique, better or different to the offers being made by your competitors and determine likely purchase quantities and price points of your products. Your market research should also include identify any issues which are likely to impact the market or the industry in the near future.

Operational Issues

Operational issues such as business location and the type of facilities required need to be investigated and addressed. It examines the space required immediately and assesses whether that will be adequate given your projected business growth at various timeframes. It asks how you will identify the most suitable location and type of space.

It should also examine how you will finance the required space. Will your purchase, rent or take out a long-term lease?

It examines the logistical aspects of operating the business such as how will you handle, transport and store goods into and out of your business? What distribution channels will you use? Do you need transport such as a car, van, truck or forklift? What other plant and equipment are needed to commence operations and what is needed over the life of the business?

Management Skills

This examines the management aspects of the business. It asks what types and level of skills are required to run this particular business? Who will manage the business? What roles are required and who will fulfill those roles? This includes marketing, finances, sales, managing information technology etc.

Critically, you need to examine the skills required by this business opportunity and compare them to your own skills. Do you have the skills required to undertake this business? If not, can they be acquired readily? Are you even interested in acquiring these skills?

Organisational Skills

This examines the skills required by the business. It asks how many additional staff will be required to operate this business idea. Will you need to recruit new workers? If so, what skills and competency levels will be required. Do you know how to recruit these staff members and are you able to effectively induct and train these new recruits?

Do you have sufficient knowledge as to the legal aspects of employing staff? Are you aware of regulations relating to salaries and wages, taxation, workers compensation, workplace safety and equal opportunity? Do you know where to go to obtain this information?

Financial Issues

This takes a detailed look at the financial issues relating to the business idea. This includes the all important questions of what capital is required to start the business and how will you raise the required capital. What is your estimate of profitability after all costs, including tax, have been deducted? How much do you require to live on per annum? How long will it take to breakeven.

You also need to examine your own skills in relation to managing the finances. Are you able to do your own bookkeeping? Can you manage cashflows? Do you know where to go for expert financial advice?

Sales and Marketing

This looks at what you expect your sales and marketing strategy to be. It takes a look at how much time and money will be allocated to the sales and marketing function and determines what the most cost-effective promotional methods should be. It also asks who will be responsible for this function.

Conclusions

The above is not an exhaustive list of questions that should be asked when conducting a feasibility study but it gives you the flavour of what it should be. When you have done your research and found answers to the key questions you will be in a position to undertake a SWOT analysis. SWOT stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. It allows you to take all the information you have gathered and to make an overall assessment of the viability of the business.

Undertaking a feasibility study sounds like a lot of work, especially when you are eager to get started, but if you want to save yourself a lot of time, money, energy and grief, take the time to assess whether the business idea really is worth your investment. A feasibility study can help you sift through a raft of business ideas and allow you to discard those that are not worth pursuing and help you to identify the one that is most likely to be successful.

Work From Home Business – Finding Your Niche As A Virtual Assistant

According to entrepreneurial experts Paul and Sarah Edwards, and a long list of other publications and experts, home based virtual assistance is a booming business. Wikipedia defines a virtual assistant as an independent contractor providing virtual assistance in the form of administrative, technical, and sometimes creative services to clients, usually to other independent entrepreneurs and solo and small business practices, such as that of a lawyer or realtor. Virtual assistants work from their own office at home which is why it has become a fairly popular, growing profession. Today there is about 5,000-8,000 virtual assistants worldwide. Common modes of communication and data delivery include the Internet, File Transfer Protocol (FTP), and fax machine. In other words, it is very similar to an assistant that is telecommuting or teleworking.

There are many reasons why business owners, especially those who work from a home office or telecommute, are hiring virtual assistants. In a home based business, what do you do when you need help? After all, you just can’t do everything when you work from home. You could hire someone as an employee. However, you probably don’t have a place to put them in your home office. Also, having an employee means needing health insurance coverage, payroll taxes, legal obligations, and not to mention higher utility bills. A virtual assistant will take care of all of these problems because the virtual assistants are probably also working from their home! Some virtual assistants’ make as much as $38,000 per year working full time. In the working world, this would be good pay for an administrative assistant or even an executive assistant, especially if you factor in savings on transportation and day care.

So what are some successful virtual assistant careers? What jobs exactly do employers need from a virtual assistant? They are: bill paying, data processing and management, transcription services, bookkeeping, proof reading and editing.

Bill Paying

There are two types of bill paying businesses. The first is a virtual personal assistant. In this instance the client has all bills mailed to a post office box near you as his virtual personal assistant. You then set up a checking account with payment authorization for both the client and you. As the bills are prepared for payment, you notify the client how much money to deposit into the account. The bills are then paid. Also, if available from the client’s bank, it is possible to use on-line bill payment services. A virtual accounts payable assistant will provide the same type of service to businesses. A small company will outsource the payment of bills to you and you will insure that the client maintains a good credit rating by paying all their bills on time. Often, it is possible to combine accounts payable with accounts receivable. In this situation, the virtual assistant is not only responsible for paying bills, but also for depositing checks into the client’s bank account and sometimes even calling on past-due accounts.

Data Processing and Data Management

Several things can be included in data processing and data management. The following are a few examples where this would be useful. After collecting business cards all month long, they are mailed to you as a virtual assistant. You then enter the data into the client’s database and return as an email attachment. This would also work if your client sent you emails of new prospect leads and you entered the information into a contact database. An insurance agent can fax new policy owner information to you. You would then enter the information into the client’s database, zip the file, and send the database to the client as an email attachment. As a virtual assistant you would also prepare and mail a standard confirmation letter to the policy owner. You track the annual expiration date of the policy and upon the due date, sends a reminder email to the insurance agent. Another possibility is to help a client who is preparing a direct mailing and needs to verify the legitimacy of his database. The database is sent to the virtual assistant via email attachment. You then telephone each name and verify that the name, spelling, title and address are correct. Sometimes, clients actually need you to compile a database by researching names and contact information within a pre-specified criteria.

Transcription Services

Transcription is the process of converting voice-recorded reports into text. Many clients can use a virtual assistant for this. One example could be a lawyer sending a micro-cassette overnighted to you to transcribe. You would then type the report and send it back to the lawyer as an email. As a virtual assistant transcription service you may also receive a telephone conversation that needs to be recorded and then typed up and sent out to everyone that participated. A client can dictate letters and memos on cassette, CD, or MP3 format and send to you to put it in writing. Authors sometime use this kind of service to get a type-written copy of their work.

Bookkeeping

Bookkeeping is the recording of all financial transactions undertaken by an individual or organization. The organization may be a business, a charitable organization or even a local sports club. Bookkeeping can be keeping records of what is bought, sold, owed, and owned; what money comes in, what goes out, and what is left. Although this position follows the rules of basic accounting, you do not need to be an accountant or have an accounting background. As a virtual assistant bookkeeper you could be responsible for writing up the daybooks, which would consist of purchase, sales, receipts and payments. The bookkeeper is responsible for ensuring that all transactions are recorded in the correct daybook, suppliers ledger, customer ledger and general ledger. Typically, a company scans its business documents and uploads them to a secure location or into an online bookkeeping application on a regular basis. This allows the bookkeeper to work remotely with these documents to update the books.

Proof Reading and Editing

Proof reading traditionally means reading a proof copy of a text in order to detect and correct any errors. Editing is the process of preparing language, images, or sound for presentation through correction, condensation, organization, and other modifications. These are other sources of income for a virtual assistant. A client could be preparing a marketing flyer or website and needs assistance with the copies. So you would then proof read and edit any marketing literature. A client could be a writer and has prepared a manual that needs to be edited. A virtual assistant can format, proofread, edit, and grammar check documents, then return them to the client via email as an attachment.

Now that you have an idea of what are some popular work from home business opportunities as a virtual assistant, how about some help? There are work at home business opportunity kits available to you to help you start your own virtual assistant business. Remember, working as a virtual assistant has so many other benefits besides getting earn money from home.

So go ahead and quit your day job sooner than expected! Become that entrepreneur you know you can be! Will it be easy money? No. Will you be able to earn a living while taking control of your own future? Yes. Critical information about the Virtual Assistance industry is available to you right now. Don’t spend any more time twisting your brain over what to do next, look into a work at home business guide.

How To Run Your Home Business Like A Real Business

Many people dream of being able to work from home. This article has all the information you need to get started with your home business.

Make sure you keep accurate records of all your home business activity. It’s easy to put off pesky record-keeping tasks till you feel like doing them, but strive to keep everything pertaining to your business up-to-date so that you won’t be confused and stressed out later on.

Develop the discipline to set aside a certain amount of your earnings to pay income taxes. Even though home business owners get a decent number of tax write-offs, there is a very good chance that you will still need to pay something to the tax man. Make sure to set aside a portion each month to avoid taking a huge cash-flow hit all in one month.

Make sure you create a mailing list as your home based business grows. Be sure to have communication below spam levels. Mailing lists are perfect for announcing sales and special events within your company. Some businesses use the mailing list to circulate miscellaneous articles that contain relevant information. Add a signup area on your website for people to join your list.

Attend seminars that discuss how to start a home business. The Small Business Adminstration is one organization that offers such seminars free of charge. Look online for other organizations offering seminars or classes in your area. Be wary of anyone offering a seminar that promises dramatic results in a very short time frame. Starting and running any business takes time, effort and dedication.

Determine how much it costs to make your product if you run a home business. You should charge others twice this amount for wholesale and twice the amount of wholesale for retail. If you do not have an accurate estimate of how much it costs for your product, you will not be able to charge others the correct amount.

Starting a home business can often seem to be a daunting task, but by organizing yourself beforehand you will have more chance for success. The very first thing you should do is to sit down, and write out a step by step plan for how you can implement your business. This will help you to know what to do next.

When you are ready to write a business plan for your new business, get some help from experts. This does not mean that you have to spend hundreds of dollars to hire a business consultant. You can find many books in the library, containing sample business plans for every type of business imaginable. You can also find samples from online resources.

When starting your home business you will want to go the post office and get a PO Box for mail that is sent to the business. There are a lot of crazy people in the world and you do not want to invite them to your front door by having your home address as the mailing address for your business. A PO Box is a safe and affordable way to avoid hassles.

As this article has shown you, there are quite a few things that you’re able to do to make working at home successful for you. Keep what you’ve just learned in mind as you go about your business. Best wishes for your home business!

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