It's been said that 80% of all small business dies within the first 3 years. And the rest are somehow struggling along with meager revenues. Only a handful is successful. Home based business has an even shorter lifespan. Every enthusiastic home based venture starts out with a big promise, a lot of excitement and enthusiasm.
However at the first signs of trouble or a slow take off the people become panicky. Having been accustomed to regular pay check, when the money does not roll in week after week and the bank balance hits the low digits, there is a sense of panic and the exciting home business gets trashed.
My own experience tells me this happens just when you are through with organizing, setting up and the difficult transition period of reaching out to the customers, you decide to wind up the business in favor of a job.
Now here are a few tips to persevere and make a success of your home business.
Plan in advance your finances for running your family for a minimum period of 6 months.
Plan every aspect of your business – right from creating the product to final shipments - on paper. Don’t leave out anything. This is what is called a business plan. Make it elaborate and group each aspect under a heading and subheading.
Home workers need to set a disciplined work schedule. Having no bosses around or compulsions of commuting may make you take things easy and relaxed. At least for the first 6 month work as if you are in employment and put in the required hours. You can relax and cut down on working hours when you start earning enough.
Don’t procrastinate or put things off for tomorrow. Action is one major ingredient for success. If you need to do something do it today. Do it now.
It is essential to keep your motivation high. Read about the success of other small business and home business owners and learn what they did right. Duplicating someone else who has succeeded makes it easy to succeed yourself.
You may suddenly find yourself alone without the social support of colleagues and friends. Even persons you considered your best friends may avoid you if they feel you are in trouble. That is OK. You get to know who’s who in times of adversity. Learn to depend on yourself than outside support.
Be prepared to take the temporary pain and denials. Robert Kiyosaki of Rich Dad Poor Dad fame and his wife slept in their car for a few months and lived in a basement of a friends house for many more months to achieve what they set out - their financial freedom.
Believe in yourself and keep going even if the going gets tough. The rewards far outweigh the pains and temporary sufferings. Remember the darkest hour is just before the dawn breaks out and sun rises.
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Rental Property Investment - Finding The Properties
Rental property investment starts with finding the best deals. To do this, you can increase your odds by finding more deals. Who's more likely to get a cheap apartment building, an investor that looks through the MLS listings and calls it a day, or the one that uses ten resources? Here are those ten:
1. Look in old papers to find "For Rent" ads. Call if they are a few weeks old. The landlord may be ready to sell, especially if he hasn't yet rented the units out.
2. Look up old FSBO ads. Call on two-month-old "For sale By Owner" ads, and if they haven't sold, they may be ready to deal. Owners often give up the effort, but still would love to sell. Help them out!
3. Drive around looking for "For Sale By Owner" signs. Owners often don't want to pay to keep the ad in the paper every week, so you won't see all properties there.
4. Find abandoned properties. That's a pretty clear sign that the owner doesn't want to deal with the property. He might sell cheap.
5. Talk. Let people know you are looking and sometimes the properties will come to you. There are a lot of owners out there who want to sell, but haven't yet listed their property.
6. Talk to bankers. You might get a foreclosed rental property cheaper if you buy it before they list it with a real estate agent.
7. Offer someone a finder's fee. There are people that always seem to hear about the good deals. Have such people coming to you.
8. Eviction notices. If your local papers publish eviction notices, or if you can get the information at the courthouse, it can be useful. A landlord who just went through the procees of evicting tenants is a likely seller.
9. Use the internet. Go to a search engine and enter the type of real estate you are looking for, along with the city you want to invest in. You never know what you might find.
10. Put an ad in the paper. "Looking for rental properties to buy," might be sufficient to generate a few calls.
There is a lot more to learn to do it right, but finding good properties is a good place to start for rental property investment.
1. Look in old papers to find "For Rent" ads. Call if they are a few weeks old. The landlord may be ready to sell, especially if he hasn't yet rented the units out.
2. Look up old FSBO ads. Call on two-month-old "For sale By Owner" ads, and if they haven't sold, they may be ready to deal. Owners often give up the effort, but still would love to sell. Help them out!
3. Drive around looking for "For Sale By Owner" signs. Owners often don't want to pay to keep the ad in the paper every week, so you won't see all properties there.
4. Find abandoned properties. That's a pretty clear sign that the owner doesn't want to deal with the property. He might sell cheap.
5. Talk. Let people know you are looking and sometimes the properties will come to you. There are a lot of owners out there who want to sell, but haven't yet listed their property.
6. Talk to bankers. You might get a foreclosed rental property cheaper if you buy it before they list it with a real estate agent.
7. Offer someone a finder's fee. There are people that always seem to hear about the good deals. Have such people coming to you.
8. Eviction notices. If your local papers publish eviction notices, or if you can get the information at the courthouse, it can be useful. A landlord who just went through the procees of evicting tenants is a likely seller.
9. Use the internet. Go to a search engine and enter the type of real estate you are looking for, along with the city you want to invest in. You never know what you might find.
10. Put an ad in the paper. "Looking for rental properties to buy," might be sufficient to generate a few calls.
There is a lot more to learn to do it right, but finding good properties is a good place to start for rental property investment.
Using SWOT Analysis To Improve Your Business
Analyzing the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) of a business is a well-established tool that is widely used by academics, consultants, and advisors. Although it is a simple concept, business owners often struggle when trying to use it because it is so broad. It is difficult to determine where to start, what questions to ask, and where to focus. The obvious problems get attention while many other important issues get overlooked. SWOT analysis is a great tool, but its effective use requires additional structure.
Strengths and weaknesses relate to internal factors, while opportunities and threats cover external ones. The internal factors can be divided into five categories: management, workforce, sales and marketing, operations, and financial. The external factors are also divided into five categories: threat of new entrants, bargaining power of suppliers, bargaining power of customers, threat of rivalry from competitors, and threat of substitution.
To approach the analysis in a structured way, prepare a checklist using the categories mentioned above. Identify factors within each category that are important to your business. Under management for example, a major weakness for virtually every small business is relying too heavily on the owner. What would happen to the business if something happened to the owner? In the workforce category a factor could be employee turnover and the availability of new hires. The threat of new entrants might include the possibility of a big box retailer opening near your business. The bargaining power of suppliers and customers categories should consider the possibility of losing a major supplier or customer. Come up with several factors for each category to complete the checklist. It is important that you do not try to rate or solve each issue as you identify them. If you do, you will get bogged down on each factor and never complete the analysis.
Once the checklist is complete, you should rate each factor based on its importance to your business. Use an alphabetical scale from A to E, where A = very important, B = important, C = some importance, D = little importance, and E = not important. Next rate each factor based on proficiency (internal) or vulnerability (external). Use a numerical scale from 1 to 5, where 1 = very proficient or not vulnerable, 2 = proficient or little vulnerability, 3 = average proficiency or some vulnerability, 4 = poor proficiency or vulnerable, and 5 = deficient or very vulnerable.
The factors with the lowest letter and highest number (A5) are the biggest weaknesses or threats. The ones with the lowest letter and lowest number (A1) are the biggest strengths or opportunities.
Using this structured approach makes a SWOT analysis possible and practical for any small business. To make this process worthwhile you must use this information to take action. Work to fix the worst problems first, prepare for the biggest risks, take advantage of the best opportunities, and build your secondary strengths.
Strengths and weaknesses relate to internal factors, while opportunities and threats cover external ones. The internal factors can be divided into five categories: management, workforce, sales and marketing, operations, and financial. The external factors are also divided into five categories: threat of new entrants, bargaining power of suppliers, bargaining power of customers, threat of rivalry from competitors, and threat of substitution.
To approach the analysis in a structured way, prepare a checklist using the categories mentioned above. Identify factors within each category that are important to your business. Under management for example, a major weakness for virtually every small business is relying too heavily on the owner. What would happen to the business if something happened to the owner? In the workforce category a factor could be employee turnover and the availability of new hires. The threat of new entrants might include the possibility of a big box retailer opening near your business. The bargaining power of suppliers and customers categories should consider the possibility of losing a major supplier or customer. Come up with several factors for each category to complete the checklist. It is important that you do not try to rate or solve each issue as you identify them. If you do, you will get bogged down on each factor and never complete the analysis.
Once the checklist is complete, you should rate each factor based on its importance to your business. Use an alphabetical scale from A to E, where A = very important, B = important, C = some importance, D = little importance, and E = not important. Next rate each factor based on proficiency (internal) or vulnerability (external). Use a numerical scale from 1 to 5, where 1 = very proficient or not vulnerable, 2 = proficient or little vulnerability, 3 = average proficiency or some vulnerability, 4 = poor proficiency or vulnerable, and 5 = deficient or very vulnerable.
The factors with the lowest letter and highest number (A5) are the biggest weaknesses or threats. The ones with the lowest letter and lowest number (A1) are the biggest strengths or opportunities.
Using this structured approach makes a SWOT analysis possible and practical for any small business. To make this process worthwhile you must use this information to take action. Work to fix the worst problems first, prepare for the biggest risks, take advantage of the best opportunities, and build your secondary strengths.
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