Things may come to those who wait, but only the things left by those who hustle ~ Abraham Lincoln

While you are waiting for your next job interview, here are 10 online business ideas to keep you occupied.

#1. eCommerce.

You can sell practically anything online. From digital downloads to brick and mortar. All you need to do is sign up with an existing eCommerce platform provider such as eBay or simply build your own website.

For more education and information, visit:

Sell Online

Selling On eBay

#2. Blogging

Wikipedia describes a blog as a discussion or informational site published online. This is very easy to start with a low cost of entry. I know what you are asking, what are you going to write about? Write about any topic you consider your self an expert on. If you are not an expert on any, then simply learn about and become an expert on a topic that catches your fancy and then start blogging about it.

For more education and information, visit:

Introduction to Blogging

How Blogs Work

#3. YouTube

This kind of speaks for itself. You simply create video content on a regular basis and upload it to you tube. You will need to market and create a subscriber base for your videos before real money comes in. Since you haven’t got a job at the moment, if you have a video camera or can borrow one, then this is worth trying.

For more education and information visit:

Its Getting Harder To Make Money On YouTube

Earn Money Youtube Viral Video

#4. Creating a Recurring Podcast

Now you can create that radio or video station you have always dreamed of. A podcast is simply and audio or video content distributed online. To be successful at podcasting or anything, you will need to be consistent and disciplined. For more education and information, visit:

Podcasting With Word Press

Launch Your Podcast

#5. Online Freelance Writing 

There are many businesses and website looking for freelance writers to contribute content on a regular basis. If you are good at writing and learn how to market yourself, than you can earn a descent income through freelance writing. Even if you consider yourself just an average writer, you can start writing for free, improve your writing skills and get the experience that will earn you money at a later stage.

For more education and information,visit:

Become An Online Freelance Writer

Become Online Journalist

#6. Photo Editing

Many people will do their photo editing themselves. But if you are good at photo editing, there are still many people willing to pay for a photo editing service. I have had to pay and I would still pay for a good service when I need one rather than spend hours manipulating images. So if photo editing is your thing, why not get yourself out there. You never know until you try.

For more education and information, visit:

Earn Extra Cash With Your Photo Editing Skills

Start A Business In Photo Editing

#7. Create And Sell Your Own Recipes Online.

This could be a challenge for someone like me but if cooking is your thing, then you can create and show off your own recipe. There is always a chance that you can make some money out of this. You can also sell your own special ingredients that is essential to make the recipe.

For more education and information, visit:

Make Money With Your Recipes

Selling Recipes Online

#8. Software Developer

Some level of skill is required for this one. You either have it or you are prepared to put in the handwork to develop the skill. So how do you know what software to develop? Well you don’t. You simply have to do some research, see what skills you already have or can add and then get out there feel the pulse of the market and start turning out products. Not so easy you might add. Well if anyone told you that great things come on a platter of gold, you have not been told the whole story.

For more information and education, visits:

Become A Software Engineer

How To Develop Software

#9. Become An Online Expert

Being an expert does not mean you know everything about your area of expertise. It just means that you know a lot more than some people. Your job therefore is to find those people who will consider you an expert and then make your expert knowledge available to them for free or for a fee. According to the world internet usage statistics, there are over 2.4 billion internet users. The challenge for you is to help your niche market to find you.

For more education and information, visit:

Become An Expert Online

Authority

#10 WordPress – Designer and Build Websites and Themes

WordPress is the most widely used content management website design and building software. If I can do it, then you certainly can. Whats great about this software is that it is free and easy to use. So why would anyone pay you to build a wordpress website when they can do it themselves? Well you learn how to use the software, build a few websites and then let people see what you have done. Its only going to cost you some sweat equity and the cost of your own website hosting.

For more education and information, visit:

Wordpress Tutorials

15 Tutorials To Help You Build WordPress Themes

That should be enough to get you started. These are 10 things you can do to earn some extra income while waiting for the next job interview. You never know, you just might be good at what you start and simply grow it into a thriving business.

Why not share this list with someone you know.

The real source of wealth and capital in this new era is not material things … it is the human mind, the human spirit, the human imagination, and our faith in the future ~ Steve Forbes

Two Groups of Businesses

There are always two groups of businesses and businesspersons.

The first group is comprised of those that have either become, or are gradually becoming history. In this group are businesses that were once successful, but have now failed.

The second group is comprised of those that are set to make history. In this latter group are businesses that are being positioned to become successful and influential, no matter the challenges posed by the operating environment.

What is Creativity?

According to Dr. Betty Edwards, “Creativity is the ability to find new solutions to a problem or new modes of expression; thus it brings into existence something new to the individual and to the culture”. Creativity is therefore the fuel of innovation. It is what stretches the mind of a person or people to innovate.

Creativity and Innovation 

It is impossible to separate creativity and innovation because the two are linked together. Creativity is the process, while innovation is the product. That is why creativity and innovation are expectedly the platform for continued business improvement.

Without the power of creativity, the entrepreneurial spirit and compelling drive of the entrepreneurs of our time become sabotaged and their ability to innovate hindered. This is because it is this the possession of creative thinking ability that makes entrepreneurs the change agents in the business landscape. Without creativity, a business would always lack originality, uniqueness and would be treated like just another commodity.

On the other hand, the ability to innovate in business presents the opportunities for an organisation to remain relevant and influential. It also presents it with the platform and confidence to try out new ideas, processes, designs and operations. The resultant effect is the commitment to making business and service offerings to be faster, easier, simpler, and even more fun. This always brings about improved business performance.

The Most Important Factor

What makes the difference today in business is not just the abundance of money that a business possesses. Rather, it is the abundance of creative thinkers that the business can attract, utilise and hold unto as it continues to reinvent and re-launch itself to leverage the growth and impact opportunities that the marketplace presents.

The business that is set to make history is the one that understands that what is good today in business may not be good enough tomorrow, so it creatively innovates in a manner that would make it relevant today and even more influential in years ahead. If you were to take an impassioned look at your business operations, productivity, sustainability and impact, in which of these two groups would you place your business? Making history or becoming history?

Is Your Business Up to the Challenge?

Is your business taking up the challenge that increasing information and advancement in technology is stacking against today’s business owner and manager?

1. Are you creating enduring systems that would place your business on the path of continued growth and improved performance, especially with increasing competition and extraneous business growth threats?
2. Are your strategic plans developed with retooling options that would ensure that your business can outlast the competition?
3. Are you embracing strategic thinking as a standard business practice and not just a business term?
4. Are you ready for the coming generation of customers, who desire the best at the least cost and desire it now?
5. Are you creating an environment that encourages creativity and innovation?
6. Are you dismantling bottlenecks and hierarchies that hinder the free flow of very divergent ideas?

Business Coaching for Performance

Every coaching and mentoring intervention adapted to a business set up always has performance improvement as its goal. This is to ensure that the accomplishment of a given task can be easily measured against known standards of accuracy, completeness, cost, and speed. Performance thus becomes a real business obligation that is tied to the commitment that a person makes to stretch his personal abilities to perform.

Abilities have for a long time been agreed by coaches to be among the most essential general human capacities related to the performance of tasks. They develop over time through the interaction of talent, passion, knowledge and experience. In this regard, coaching becomes one of the critical processes and techniques that improve abilities and build capacities in a business, making it long lasting. It is only when such capacities are built that true competency can be achieved.

Why not improve your business performance by getting coached.

 The way you position yourself at the beginning of a relationship has profound impact on where you end up ~ Ron Karr

Every product has a set of attributes or features that is useful to the buyer.  But buyers allocate value to purchases based on the perceived value or benefit to be derived from its consumption.

According to a study conducted by researchers Hooley and Saunders, customers care less about the technical features of a product and more about what benefits they can get by buying, using, and consuming those products.

And so here are five compelling reasons why it’s a better idea to market products on their benefits and not their features:

#1. Focusing On Product Benefits Allow For Higher Prices To Be Charged

Selling benefits rather than features makes it a lot easier to charge higher prices. You are able to differentiate your product by creating a story that emphasises intangibles. This helps you justify a higher price than a generic product. For example, there are many products that command a higher price just because they are known brands. They may have exactly the same features, but by emphasising intangible benefits, consumers are willing to pay a premium.

#2. Focusing On Product Benefits Allow For The Expansion Of A Target Market

People use a limited set of criteria, called heuristics, in order to make complicated purchasing decisions easier. As a result, many often purchase a product without knowing the full set of features it possesses. For example, a computer may possess a number of features that may be of use to a customer. However, because of the lack of customer knowledge about these features, users will be more likely to understand and purchase a computer based solely on a few easy to understand benefits that it provides. While a person may not understand the difference between a 4G and a 4G LTE network, they do understand that one may be quicker and more reliable, and thus make a purchase decision based on that simple benefit.

#3. Focusing On Product Benefits Tap Into Powerful Psychological Motivators 

By emphasising the benefits of a product feature, marketers can tap into the base motivators that drive consumer purchase behaviour. The specific features of a product only fulfil the wants of a consumer. However, by focusing on the benefits of a product, then marketers can more easily tap into the needs of the consumer, fulfilling their desires on a much deeper level.

#4. Focusing On Product Benefits Allows Differentiation

Focusing on the benefits of a product as opposed to the features, makes product differentiation easier. Features may be the same, but you can achieve a high degree of differentiation when you begin to emphasise benefits. For example, two cars may have the same specifications, but by focusing on the safety and large cargo space, an automobile company may be more easily able to sell their car to a family audience. By focusing on speed, the car suddenly becomes more attractive to a younger audience. By placing emphasis on product benefits, a you suddenly create a dynamic marketing strategy to make your products different than that of your competitors.

#5. Focusing  On Product  Benefits Makes Consumer Purchase Decisions Easier

As hinted to before, by focusing on the benefits of a product as opposed to their features, the decision making process is made much easier for the consumer. Because of the large amount of information present when making a purchase decision, consumers use mental shortcuts called heuristics to simplify the process. By  focusing on product benefits, then the decision to purchase a particular product is made much easier for the consumer, lessening  their possible confusion and making a clearer case for why your product should be bought. You help to decrease the consumer information overload.

 You don’t close a sale; you open a relationship if you want to build a long-term, successful enterprise ~ Patricia Fripp

Clearly there is much more that goes into the consumer purchasing decision. You put yourself at an advantage as a marketer and you make the life of your buyer’s easier when you clearly spell out what they stand to gain from buying your product as against a competitors.

Emphasis on features will get you to compete on price and thus reduce your profitability.

Spend time to create a product that adds value to the buyer and the make sure that you deliver on this perceived value. You have to be in this game for the long run.

A satisfied customer presents more opportunity for repeat business and more referrals.

One proven success formula in life and business is to find successful people in your area of interest and then model their success. There are thousands of books and articles written by or written about successful people.  Find the ones that appeal to you and read them.

In modelling success, you need to understand that you are unique and so do not try to be like others. But learn from their success stories. This develops your own knowledge bank. Mixing this knowledge with your own unique abilities and gifting serves to unlock your potential and increase your chances of success.

Business Success Formula

There are three things that will contribute to your success as an entrepreneur in business, sports, music or other areas:

1. Your Desire to Succeed

The challenges facing start-up businesses in todays economy are very daunting. There is a crowded marketplace and to succeed you have to stand out. There is the need to raise adequate capital, numerous regulatory hurdles and finding the right partners suppliers and employees. Then there is the discouragement you will face when things are not going to plan and people quite on you.

All this add up to make it easy for you to give up and go back to paid employment. You therefore need a strong desire to succeed and the self discipline to push through the early challenges you will face as a start up.

2. Building Your Personal Capacity

Having a strong desire is not enough to succeed. You need to build your capacity by working to improve your skills and abilities. Take time to think about the things that make you unique. Then continually work at being the best.

There may be others offering the same products and services that you offer. You ability to differentiate yourself and how good you are at being different will get you noticed in the crowded marketplace.

Unlike sports, business competition is not a zero sum game. There can be more than one winner as each person serves different segments of the market. Don’t try to be better than someone else. Try to be the best unique you. This gives customers a choice and makes what you offer difficult to copy.

3. Opportunity To Express Yourself.

You can only take advantage of business or market opportunity when you have a strong desire to succeed and have the capacity to convert the opportunity into a profitable outcome.

Some will call it luck or being in the right place at the right time, and there is an element of both involved. Opportunity and your ability to exploit opportunity is a key ingredient for business success.

Having one or two of the above success essentials will not bring success. For example, a strong desire and opportunity without the ability to perform will only lead to mediocrity.

True success is not a myth and it is not achievable by chance or by a multitude of dreams. Success is a process that starts with knowledge and becomes evident as you develop your skills, increase your capacity, take advantage of opportunity and push through barriers with a strong desire to succeed.

A year from now you will wish you had started today~ Karen Lamb

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