I made a list of great online places to visit if you are getting ready to start a business:
U.S. Small Business Administration
http://www.sba.gov/smallbusinessplanner/index.html
Aways good to check the IRS
http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/article/0,,id=99336,00.html
Entrepreneur magazine
http://www.entrepreneur.com/bizstartups/index.html
Inc. magazine
http://www.inc.com/start-up
Anthill is an australian magazine
http://anthillonline.com/free-online-starting-a-business-course-for-those-with-an-idea/
About.com has great articles
http://sbinformation.about.com/od/bizopportunities/a/startup101.htm
Good luck! Connect with me on Twitter @aboutebusiness and on Facebook as Ab Ebus.
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Tips for a successful videolog
Nowadays you see more and more entrepreneur videos emerging on the Internet. I have watched some really bad ones. So many that I decided to put together a list of tips to help us all.
1 Have real and useful information.
2 Have a captivating title and stay true to its essence.
3 Do a 'take' in front of a mirror. Ask yourself: 'Did I get my point across?’ WARNING: Do not rehearse too much. You might end up sounding fake.
4 Whatever you do: Do not read from a script. Write a list of relevant words (NOT phrases) and post it next to the camera (at eye level). Glance at it, only IF needed.
5 Make ‘eye’ contact with the camera
6 Don’t view the feed as you are taping. We notice that and make us lose interest.
7 Background is important. We don’t want to see your kitchen, office, your bookcase, or dorm. It draws our attention away from you. Choose a plain (no art work) background with neutral color.
8 Appearance is important. Plan to dress as if you are going to a job interview. If your audience is the stay-at-home (like me), please, dress casual, but nicely.
9 Don’t waste your our time. Be direct, short and sweet, 3 to 8 minutes max.
10 Have a beginning, middle, and end to your presentation.
11 Introduce your topic and then introduce yourself. You only have 10 seconds to captivate us. Trust me, we don’t really want to know about you. We want to know if you have valuable information.
12 Make it a conversation. Do the talk for both of us. Answer questions that we may develop from your statements. Make us think that you are reading our minds.
13 Remember to thank us for our time.
14 Engage us. It might be a question for us to answer or a promise of more brilliant information. Just give us something to think about.
15 Show your confidence. Believe in yourself AND in what you are saying.
Please give me a shout! Feel free to tell me if I missed anything.
1 Have real and useful information.
2 Have a captivating title and stay true to its essence.
3 Do a 'take' in front of a mirror. Ask yourself: 'Did I get my point across?’ WARNING: Do not rehearse too much. You might end up sounding fake.
4 Whatever you do: Do not read from a script. Write a list of relevant words (NOT phrases) and post it next to the camera (at eye level). Glance at it, only IF needed.
5 Make ‘eye’ contact with the camera
6 Don’t view the feed as you are taping. We notice that and make us lose interest.
7 Background is important. We don’t want to see your kitchen, office, your bookcase, or dorm. It draws our attention away from you. Choose a plain (no art work) background with neutral color.
8 Appearance is important. Plan to dress as if you are going to a job interview. If your audience is the stay-at-home (like me), please, dress casual, but nicely.
9 Don’t waste your our time. Be direct, short and sweet, 3 to 8 minutes max.
10 Have a beginning, middle, and end to your presentation.
11 Introduce your topic and then introduce yourself. You only have 10 seconds to captivate us. Trust me, we don’t really want to know about you. We want to know if you have valuable information.
12 Make it a conversation. Do the talk for both of us. Answer questions that we may develop from your statements. Make us think that you are reading our minds.
13 Remember to thank us for our time.
14 Engage us. It might be a question for us to answer or a promise of more brilliant information. Just give us something to think about.
15 Show your confidence. Believe in yourself AND in what you are saying.
Please give me a shout! Feel free to tell me if I missed anything.
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
About www.aboutebusiness.com
I decided to explain www.aboutebusisness.com a little better. Why would I go to the trouble of creating www.aboutebusiness.com you might ask? I did it because I am going to start my own online business. I figured that it would be nice to follow someone’s journey and with that learn the how-to and troubles. So here is www.aboutebusiness.com.
My goal with www.aboutebusiness.com is to provide information on starting an online business and effective ways of running it. I also want to provide information on web design, marketing, and social networking. Slowly –it’s a lot of work- I am gathering useful knowledge that I can post here.
I do not charge for access or information and I do not willingly direct people toward sites that do charge. It is actually a pet peeve of mine. I dislike websites that offer information on how to become successful and rich ‘for a small amount’. Of course they are rich; it is your money that makes them rich! You go ahead and get their package only to find out it ends up being a ‘do what I did to you’ sham.
I do respect the legit sites that charge for their hard work and connections. That is a business service, but hopefully you will be paying not only for important content but also for support on understanding it. When in doubt always check with www.bbb.org (Better Business Bureau). You will find valuable resources there like: BBB accredited business and charities, complaints, programs and services, etc. It works for U.S. and Canada.
I conduct my research mostly online thru my twitter account (@aboutebusiness). It is a very interesting world at www.twitter.com. I highly recommend it as a way of marketing your business and yourself. I also read books about business, marketing, and computers. To give information on those is a tricky because I don’t want to infringe on any copyrights. I usually refer to the book’s page on www.amazon.com, or to their website.
My next step on research will be to actually interview and gather information directly from business owners. There is no better way to have a clear picture on how to own a business than from a real business owner.
I felt I had to clear up my definition of www.aboutebusiness.com. This is a personal journey on starting an online business. I hope to provide you with useful information along the way.
My goal with www.aboutebusiness.com is to provide information on starting an online business and effective ways of running it. I also want to provide information on web design, marketing, and social networking. Slowly –it’s a lot of work- I am gathering useful knowledge that I can post here.
I do not charge for access or information and I do not willingly direct people toward sites that do charge. It is actually a pet peeve of mine. I dislike websites that offer information on how to become successful and rich ‘for a small amount’. Of course they are rich; it is your money that makes them rich! You go ahead and get their package only to find out it ends up being a ‘do what I did to you’ sham.
I do respect the legit sites that charge for their hard work and connections. That is a business service, but hopefully you will be paying not only for important content but also for support on understanding it. When in doubt always check with www.bbb.org (Better Business Bureau). You will find valuable resources there like: BBB accredited business and charities, complaints, programs and services, etc. It works for U.S. and Canada.
I conduct my research mostly online thru my twitter account (@aboutebusiness). It is a very interesting world at www.twitter.com. I highly recommend it as a way of marketing your business and yourself. I also read books about business, marketing, and computers. To give information on those is a tricky because I don’t want to infringe on any copyrights. I usually refer to the book’s page on www.amazon.com, or to their website.
My next step on research will be to actually interview and gather information directly from business owners. There is no better way to have a clear picture on how to own a business than from a real business owner.
I felt I had to clear up my definition of www.aboutebusiness.com. This is a personal journey on starting an online business. I hope to provide you with useful information along the way.
Monday, May 3, 2010
Organize yourself before going into business!
Before I go deeper into my ‘dissertation’ about writing my business plan, I fell the urge to talk about self-organization.
If you are a stay-at-home mom/dad or have a job and have decided to start your own business, make sure to determine your priorities.
Write achievable goals and give them a deadline. Create a schedule that is realistic and most important: follow through!
I am constantly looking for new ways to stay focused. Everywhere you click online you find interesting facts and tales. It is very easy to get distracted.
Make a to-do list with a time frame before opening your web browser or email. I set up my timer to 15 minutes each time I start a new task. It keeps me from wandering off. If I am not done by the time the alarm sound, I just go to the next task.
Sometimes I have the same to-do list for a week! But I get it all done when I need to. If I concentrate on one item for hours everything else tends to pile up. Even if I finish that one task after all that time it feels like I didn’t accomplish anything. I get that horrible, overwhelmed feeling of time wasted and it takes a while for me to recover.
Here is some information on self-organization that I think hits the spot:
http://www.wikihow.com/Organize-Your-Life
http://www.organizedleader.com/tips-on-setting-achievable-goals.html
Just counting on having a brilliant idea is not a good enough strategy. You need to have the drive and the focus to achieve success.
If you are a stay-at-home mom/dad or have a job and have decided to start your own business, make sure to determine your priorities.
Write achievable goals and give them a deadline. Create a schedule that is realistic and most important: follow through!
I am constantly looking for new ways to stay focused. Everywhere you click online you find interesting facts and tales. It is very easy to get distracted.
Make a to-do list with a time frame before opening your web browser or email. I set up my timer to 15 minutes each time I start a new task. It keeps me from wandering off. If I am not done by the time the alarm sound, I just go to the next task.
Sometimes I have the same to-do list for a week! But I get it all done when I need to. If I concentrate on one item for hours everything else tends to pile up. Even if I finish that one task after all that time it feels like I didn’t accomplish anything. I get that horrible, overwhelmed feeling of time wasted and it takes a while for me to recover.
Here is some information on self-organization that I think hits the spot:
http://www.wikihow.com/Organize-Your-Life
http://www.organizedleader.com/tips-on-setting-achievable-goals.html
Just counting on having a brilliant idea is not a good enough strategy. You need to have the drive and the focus to achieve success.
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Step one to start an ebusiness or any business.
I decided to write a Blog about starting an ebusiness. What is an ebusiness? Ebusiness (eletronic business) is a business that is conducted over the internet. In my opinion it is a business without walls.
Slowly I am gathering useful information (at least useful to me) and sharing it with you. I am writing a Blog also because I am looking for feedback. So feel free to comment and criticize (please be gentle).
This is a learning process to me. I am glad for all the free content posted on the web today. There wasn't much back in 2005 when I first had my ebusiness idea.
I was glad (still am) for www.sba.gov. What a great place to start. It has free information, free training, and free support. (Don't you just love the word FREE?) I contacted someone at their office by phone and received a template of a business plan by email.
I can't tell you how many times I've re-written my business plan. It is a major way to define your business.
So this is the first step: write a business plan.
I had pictured the perfect ebusiness in my head. People were going to love it! It would be the next ebay. When I actually had to organize my thoughts and put it on paper describing what, how, and when, I ran into a few glitches. If it wasn't for my plan I might not have predicted those flaws and embarked on a flop.
I am still working on my plan and my idea. And I will keep writing and re-writing it until is well defined and attainable.
Slowly I am gathering useful information (at least useful to me) and sharing it with you. I am writing a Blog also because I am looking for feedback. So feel free to comment and criticize (please be gentle).
This is a learning process to me. I am glad for all the free content posted on the web today. There wasn't much back in 2005 when I first had my ebusiness idea.
I was glad (still am) for www.sba.gov. What a great place to start. It has free information, free training, and free support. (Don't you just love the word FREE?) I contacted someone at their office by phone and received a template of a business plan by email.
I can't tell you how many times I've re-written my business plan. It is a major way to define your business.
So this is the first step: write a business plan.
I had pictured the perfect ebusiness in my head. People were going to love it! It would be the next ebay. When I actually had to organize my thoughts and put it on paper describing what, how, and when, I ran into a few glitches. If it wasn't for my plan I might not have predicted those flaws and embarked on a flop.
I am still working on my plan and my idea. And I will keep writing and re-writing it until is well defined and attainable.
Blogged with the Flock Browser
Saturday, April 17, 2010
Flock.com is absolutely awsome!!
I am in love! Flock.com is so simple to use and very helpful. You find everything you need to keep current in one place. Thank you Flock.com.
Blogged with the Flock Browser
Friday, April 16, 2010
About eBusiness
I had a brilliant idea for a website. I really believed that it would be successful and that people would take interest. With affiliate programs I could make some money. In the past I had built a website for the small business I managed. I did some research on the subject, looked around for competitors, checked out the market. Then I purchased the domain and web hosting. I wrote “terms and conditions” and my “privacy policy”. Everything was going smoothly. When I tried to check what I needed legally to open an eBusiness I hit my first wall. Everything was related to real (not that eBusiness isn’t real) businesses - where you need an office and customers physically coming to see you. Seriously, with my laptop I can work from home or any location that offers free Wi-Fi. This doesn’t mean I’m less committed.
This is when the questions started piling up. I stumbled upon all types of sites trying to sell me information and services I could get or do on my own with a little more research and putting the pen to the paper. Ex: “how to get a business license, pay us and we’ll do it for you”, or “want to have a successful business like us? Pay $$ and we tell you how we did it! (Don’t you just love that one? They are still out there…)” That was all the information available back in 2005, it completely stumped me. I was confused and felt stuck. I had no idea what to do. Life goes on, time passes… I started questioning my own availability. Was this really worth the trouble?
This is when the questions started piling up. I stumbled upon all types of sites trying to sell me information and services I could get or do on my own with a little more research and putting the pen to the paper. Ex: “how to get a business license, pay us and we’ll do it for you”, or “want to have a successful business like us? Pay $$ and we tell you how we did it! (Don’t you just love that one? They are still out there…)” That was all the information available back in 2005, it completely stumped me. I was confused and felt stuck. I had no idea what to do. Life goes on, time passes… I started questioning my own availability. Was this really worth the trouble?
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