Your Questions About Business Online Services Group

Jere answers:

I’m going to offer up some advice free of charge because I Googled you and love your website and what you do. It gives me a warm and fuzzy feeling inside and I hope that I can be of service.

Keep on keeping on with the site and your social media.

I’m going to say that your target demographic is parents (and grandparents). Here’s what I would do:

Target your local schools, preschools, MOMS Clubs, libraries, parks and any social circles/clubs that the local grandmothers frequent (cooking, knitting, reading, etc).

Once you have that covered, keep expanding your reach to neighboring counties and communities until you’ve conquered the world. 🙂

Create a media kit / press packet. For the places that are outside a reasonable driving distance, this is most important. Give them a personal call and say “Hey, I’m this awesome person from Project Kids Give. Here’s what we do. By the way, could you provide your mailing or email address so I can send you a little more information?” Then link it over to them so they can look it over. Ask the clubs (like MOMS Clubs) if they’ll send it to all of their members.

Visit online forums for parents, especially ones for the 3-8 year old age range. Chat it up with them. Provide genuinely helpful information with a link to your site as a reference to who you are.

Look into advertising online via websites that are targeted for parents: anything from parenting magazines to toy stores. Those ads can garner widespread exposure.

Contact local, state and national news/media sources: newspapers, radio, tv. Get your press releases and your elevator pitch ready. Show them that you’re a newsworthy story, that you are a cause worth talking about.

If I can be of any further assistance in helping you with your marketing or technical endeavors, please feel free to contact me. Good luck!

Jere answers:

You can start a virtual assistant business and use these organizations to help you find work

?International Virtual Assistants Association http://www.ivaa.org/
?Alliance for Virtual Businesses http://www.allianceforvirtualbiz.com/
?International Association of Administrative Professionals http://www.iaap-hq.org/
?Virtual Assistant Networking Forum (VANF) http://www.vanetworking.com/
?Virtual Business Group http://www.virtualbizgroup.com/
?Virtual-Professionals.com http://www.virtual-professionals.com/

Another option for you is to be part of a virtual call center, which is one of the growing work at home businesses today

Read this MSNBC’s article on this industry http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7739611/ns/business-us_business/t/call-center-agents-without-call-centers/#.TknJns1lYjw

AOL also published an article about virtual call centers, and named it as one of the best work at home jobs http://jobs.aol.com/articles/2011/01/27/work-from-home-jobs-for-retirees/

Some companies where you can apply

Alpine Access http://www.alpineaccess.com = no fees and you will be considered as an employee, not as an independent contractor

LiveOps http://www.liveops.com/ = considers agents as independent contractors; no upfront fee but requires applicants to pay for the background check

Of course, you can also choose to start your own business from home. It will depend on what you can do, what suits you and what could fit in your resources. Some examples

Best Businesses Using Craft or Physical Skills
– antique restoration
– auto detail service
– carpet cleaning business
– errand/delivery service
– housecleaning business

Best Service Businesses
– bed and breakfast operator
– caregiver
– catering service
– senior day care center
– tutoring service

Best Professional Businesses
– desktop publisher
– magazine writer
– import/export service
– income tax preparation service
– event planner

Jere answers:

A true business credit card is a line of credit that is taken in the name of the business, under the business’ credit. Activity, whether good or bad, is reflected on your business’ credit report through D&B and other financial institutions, and the liability for any debts incurred and bills owed is with the business.

However, some companies out there offer “business” credit cards which they require a person guarantee for. These institutions will often ask for a personal guarantee, and will almost always ask for a social security number from the person applying for the card. If this is the case, the credit card is not a business credit card, but is simply a personal credit card which is used for the business. The business is not liable for bills and debts – you are.

When applying for a credit card for your business, watch out for areas asking for your SSN (and not your TaxID or EIN) and be wary of any credit card that asks for a personal guarantee. By ensuring that your credit card is in the name of your business, you can help to build your business’ credit, while avoiding creating problems with your own.

Many companies offer a list of credit cards that are issued under the business name only. Those lists typically run $300-$900, depending on the quality of the information inquiring. I would suggest starting your search online via google or yahoo. Search for “strong business credit” (just like that in quotes) to find services that sell the information.

Good luck,

Ilya Bodner
Small Business Owner
Initial Underwriting Group

Jere answers:

1. Give Testimonials When you purchase a CD, music book, or any product or service and it exceeds your expectations, e-mail the band/business a testimonial. Tell them in the testimonial the benefits you got from the product or service. Give them permission to publish the testimonial on the web site if they include your sig file at the end.

2. Leave A Message When you visit a web site with a discussion board, leave a message. You could post a question, interesting content or a compliment about their web site. Include your signature file at the end of the message. Some discussion boards let you post your banner ad or text link. DON’T spam the board. Offer good, solid comments and your effort will be rewarded. That goes for the next unique way too…post the unique qualities of your band

3. Sign Guestbooks When you visit a well designed website leave a compliment on their guest book. You could give them a compliment on their content, ease of navigation, graphics etc. When you post your compliment include your signature file so other people will see it when they sign the guest book.

4. Write A Review When you visit a website you enjoyed a lot, write a review for the website. Write about the benefits you gain from the site, the website design, interesting online services it offers etc. E-mail the review to the site. Tell them they can publish it on their web site if they include your resource box at the end.

5. Send An E-mail To The Editor When you read a good article or enjoy a certain e-zine, e-mail a compliment to the editor. Give the editor permission to publish the compliment in their e-zine if they include your signature file at the end. The editor may post it on his or her website.

6. Also try google plus

7. Post some videos of them like a teaser in youtube . May be some samples nicely edited.

8. Best of all is word of mouth.

Jere answers:

Sounds like a great idea –
I too have been doing consulting and various small business actives for a number of years (currently am running four ventures).

I have looked at several competing groups over the years, but to this date have not actually purchased any yet. Here are some adds to your list:

* Identify the real assets of the organization – is it in the products, people or some combination of the two. If it is only the people, then your attrition costs could be higher than initially thought if you lose the key person (people) that are really satisfying the customers.

* I think that you are saying that the organization is in another country – if so, there very well could be local, state or federal governmental laws, regulations or other rules of business that could come into play. Ensure that your legal fees come from that country (or sometimes even various states within the USA) to ensure that you meet all local rules.

* Depending how long the organization has been in business, what will be the cost of changing the name of the company if in fact you intend to do that. If you keep their name and also have your own, then will you develop a competition between the two groups that will waste advertising dollars? Think through how to combine the two organizations to maximize the service to your customer base.

* What might current or perspective customers think of this purchase, merger or buyout? Will a purchase cause some conflict with local client in the other country now that they perceive that an outside (not one of them) is running the company?

* What are the Cost of Poor Quality (common calculations can be found in anything dealing with Six Sigma – http://www.isixsigma.com/dictionary/Cost_of_Poor_Quality_-_COPQ-63.htm) numbers in the accounting of both organizations? Will this purchase help or hurt your organizations?

* Do you have a mastermind group that can help you through this process? What would it take to develop a mastermind group if you do not already have one?

* Might you need various forms of professional help to run the businesses once they are both on line? Since you can only be physically in one place at a time (although net meetings are great), how will you ensure that each location is running smoothly and that customer satisfaction is the highest priority at each location?

These are a few questions that I come up with just off the top. There are other factors depending on the specifics of this particular purchase option. One suggestion that I might offer is for you to talk a very close look at the people you would have at each location and see how you can develop them into real entrepreneurs so that at some point they just run with ideas and grow the businesses for you.

You might use my standard advise to new owners (you already know most of this) with your employees to help convince them that they are important to you and that you really want them to stay around (given of course that you really do):

Anytime you want to start any kind of business, there are several basics that you will need:

* You should first sit down and think about what it is you want to do and then write out the scenario in detail! This may sound tedious, but it will help you clarify what it is you are thinking about. Also, when you talk to anyone about the business (mentor, bank, clients, prospective investor), you will have a clear vision to share with him or her. You can check any number of books at your local library or the Internet for ideas on creating a business plan or goals list.

* Is there anyone out there doing something like what you want to do already? Can you research what it is that they do and maybe even talk with them about what they do?

* Are there businesses out there that are doing some aspect that you want to do? In this case, you want to create an online drop shipment business. What websites have you seen that you like (can you talk with them)? How does the local McDonalds or other retail outlet do business that might help you in yours (i.e. How is McDonalds able to provide a product to a customer on demand at almost anytime of day – and do it with a much of high school kids)?

* Never listen to anyone who says that you CANNOT do something UNLESS they have been there and tried that!!!!! Anyone can tell you the good things that you can try or do, however, only someone who has actually tried the specific thing your are thinking can truly give you advise on the pitfalls that could await the unsuspecting.

* If you want to look for a mentor (free or paid – although mentors usually offer their time at no cost), the question that you should be ready to address is WIIFM (What In It For Me {the mentor})! What are you willing to do for your mentor to help them with something that they may need (for me it’s simple – I am looking for 10 points 🙂

Contacts:

* Contact your local Better Business Bureau or Chamber of Commerce – they have business people who will help start up operations.

* Contact your local high school, community college or university and find out whom the teachers are for courses related to your business (like business or computer/internet classes). Contact these teachers to get some ideas or even to see if they will take you company startup on as a class project or special project for some of the student to work on (might give the students extra credit and you a free startup). In the worst case, you might get the names of some good students whom you might hire to do certain aspects of what you need at a very low cost.

* Contact you local, county or state governments (check their websites) – many areas have small business administrations (or some other agency that can help with various things) that have any number of references and resources available at little or no cost.

* Go to your local library in the Reference Section and find the Encyclopedia of Associations. It is a three-book set published by Gale Research. The first book lists thousands of tiles of professional organizations and groups. It will give a code number to use in the other two books to find out more about that organization. Contact the organizations who have something to do with your idea and find out if they have a services to give you advise or local groups that you can network with. In many cases, just asking for membership and publications information may give you a lot of useful stuff.

Other outstanding sources that I have used in running my four businesses:

* Nightingale-Conant – the largest producer of audio/video training programs in the world. Many of their programs can be borrowed for free from local libraries. Http://www.nightingale.com

* Entrepreneur Magazine (http://www.entrepreneurmag.com) – many great tips and ideas about running a company.

* Rich Dad Poor Dad – http://www.richdadpoordad.com/ – by Robert Kiyosaki. Has any number of products (read the book first) that you can choose from.

* Start Up Nation (besides their website, they have a radio show that may be on in your area – usually Sundays and read the book) http://www.startupnation.com/index.asp

The secret to success in business is to read everything that you can relate to your subject and to talk with as many people in the field as possible.

Good Luck.