The Lazy Persons Guide to Building a Business While Doing Nothing

Total freedom, these strong words inject such power in the minds of many. Who wouldn’t to have total freedom? Just think of the thought of having total freedom, while building a business and you’re literally doing nothing! You won’t have the stress of dealing with highs and lows. Wow, it’s like your little heaven on earth! You are your own boss, no need of clocking in. No need to pull an all-nighter because you have a deadline, or do the accounting of your business. You can be right in the comfort of your own home while creating your business total freedom what a privilege.

From the time the thought of building a business enters into your mind, you automatically become an entrepreneur. But who is an entrepreneur? One can refer to their selves as creator of business enterprise; a businessperson who runs a business at his own risk. The entrepreneur is the one who has the ideas, plans and the financial capital, as well as the managerial skills, to open, funds and financial capital, as well as the managerial skills, to open, fund and maintain a business.

What is a Business?

So I want to build a business. But what then is a business?  A business can be defined as a company where goods and services are exchanged for one another or for money. Every business requires some form of investment and enough customers to whom its output can be sold on a consistent basis in order to make a profit.  Since we have established what is a business we can think a little further now. Meaning, we now need to develop some business strategies to start building a business. For the record, a business can either be a sole trader, which means that you have full control, it can be partnership, meaning you are joining up with someone, or maybe even a group. If you are considering building a partnership business you may want to consider what type of partner you would want to be.

In a business you can either be an Ordinary Partner, Sleeping Partner, Limited Liability and unlimited partner or a private Limited partner. Now what do these terms mean? I don’t understand. Don’t be alarmed, the answer is right here.

• Ordinary Partner- an Ordinary Partner is one that plays an active part in the running of the business and is also involved in making decisions.
• Sleeping Partner- these are partners that have a financial interest in the business but take no interest in the day to day running of the business.
• Limited liability and unlimited liability partners- limited liability partners are those that run the risk of only losing the money that they have invested in the business.  Limited liability stands to lose all monies which they have invested. They also run the risk of losing their personal possessions.

From the fact that you are thinking of having total freedom would imply that you will be a sole trader. This means that you are in business on your own. Since that is established, yet another question comes to mind.

What do I do next?

As with any business the first thing that you would want to do is to choose an appropriate name. The name of the business is very important. This is the identification, the image. Choosing the name is a big thing, just imagine, choosing a name that someone can’t even pronounce. This will turn off the person instantly. Try to choose a name that everyone will remember that will also tend to feel welcoming. Now that is established. You need to put some marketing strategies into place.

Marketing Strategies

Before you can apply any marketing strategies, you must first know what a market is. A market is simply a place where buyers and sellers meet to do trade either in goods and services. Secondly, you need to decide what type of goods and services you would want to provide. It may be wise to choose something that is not already on the market. For example weight loss supplements. If you do so you would be like the little fish swimming in the big pond. In business it’s a dog eat dog world. It may sound harsh but hey, it’s just the facts of life.

Some other marketing strategies and activities that can be taken into consideration are as follows: market research, sales planning and promotion devices, advertising, branding, package, pricing, merchandising, public relations, warehousing, channel of distribution, hire purchase trading and after-sales services. Of course this list is not exhaustive since there are many more activities which are involved in marketing than those outlined above. How can you go about using these strategies to build the business?

Applying the strategies

Marketing search is like the backbone of the business. This is what helps you to decide what product to put on the market. This is especially helpful if you are very new to this, choosing the right product is what will give your business potential growth. A simple way in which this can be done is to probably conduct surveys to see what the customer actually wants. Keep to the back of your mind that your consumers are what make the business grow. Without consumers you won’t have a business. Product research and consumer research is a vital key aspect that should be studied with utmost care and attention. Another vital aspect of this area is Advertising research, in this type of research all forms of the media are used. Even trade bulletins and magazines may be used in an attempt to get the views of consumers about a particular product.

The next step is to go step by step your sales planning and promotion devices, these devices refer to special buying incentives applicable during a particular length of time.  As mentioned earlier advertising helps your business grow, it draws in profit. As the new kid on the block, it might be wise to conduct a Persuasive advertising method. This type of advertising is mainly designed to coerce or persuade people to buy goods and services. Consumers, according to the manner in which goods and services are advertised, are encouraged by

the advertisements to make purchase.

 

Branding is a form of trade mark. Packaging is also important is it distinguishes your product from the other competitors. Pricing is also important because this is what will actually make your cash flow increase thus allowing you to generate profit. Once you have taken these points into consideration you will then need to pay keen attention to the demand and supply of the intended product. Another think to consider is that starting a business is not a walk in the park, challenges do arise, and you will need to learn how to deal with them. Also remember that when you start a business, you are swimming a pool of risk.

Here are some to maintain a good business

1. Get cash flow running immediately– cash flow is the meat of the business, and is definitely important to feed bottom line products. This is why advertising is important. Besides persuasive advertising there is also perhaps competitive advertising that can be done. Competitive advertising is the kind which tries to compete with others. This is whereby products compete with those that already exist. There won’t be much work done as it is already on the market. You also need to consider ways of bringing in cash quickly. For example in a professional services business, you can ask for deposits on work up-front, with balances due on delivery.

2. Find innovative ways to keep cost low– it doesn’t matter how much cash flow you got. It is worth nothing if it is a negative one.  In a nut shell you have to make sure that more surpluses is coming in than how it is being paid out.

3. Explore your options– sometimes it is best to sell people what they want to buy, rather than to sell what you want them to buy. Too often, people jump into a business built around a product or service they think will be successful, rather than one that is already proven to have a market. For this to happen both cost and expenses need to be at a reasonable level.

4.       Always overestimate expenses and underestimate revenues– this is a good thing in that it closes the pool of risk a little, because if you underestimate you will end up in trouble.

5.       Find ways of increasing profits exponentially– In business, there are five strategies that impact profits. If you can master them while keeping your costs in check, you will run a successful business.

It’s pretty simple, get more leads, convert more leads into customers, increase the number of times those customers buy from you, increase the average price point of your sales and increasing your profit margins.

Total Freedom

As mentioned earlier, you want to have a business while doing absolutely nothing, you want total freedom. So how can I operate a business and still have total freedom? Luckily, over the years technology has increased rapidly.  There are outsource that is available at your finger tip. But to understand the concept you need to know what is outsourcing.  In business, outsourcing is the contracting out of a business process to a third-party. Taking the first steps toward outsourcing can be time-consuming, but figuring out how to build your business with help from outside professionals can offer increased efficiencies and economies of scale. “Progressive entrepreneurs realize the unstoppable power of outsourcing to handle aspects of their business that are essential but simply don’t make sense for them to deal with personally,” says David Walsh.

When to outsource?

For each every business, the right time to outsource varies. Some businesses have in-house staff to handle daily activities, but may need outside help to undertake new projects that don’t warrant another full-time employee. When you and your current employees are unable to manage the day-to-day business of your company and build the business satisfactorily, it may be time to consider outsourcing. For a very small business it may be wise to start outsource from the beginning. Starting out with a bookkeeper and a virtual assistant, and grow the team from there.

What to Outsource?

Chances are you’re already outsourcing some business tasks, such as book keeping, and now a days almost any task can be outsourced, doesn’t matter how big or small. “Don’t outsource something just because you don’t want to do it,” says Jim Lanzalotto, principal at Scanlon Louis, a marketing and strategic outsourcing company. “Sometimes there are things you don’t want to do but they are important to your core business.”

Before choosing which tasks you can farm out, take a hard look at your business and determine your strengths and values. “Small businesses must identify their core competencies and capabilities and focus their own R&D, talent management and resources on being the best in their industry at these,” says Marc Resnick, Ph.D., a small business consultant and director of the Institute for Technology Innovation at Florida International University. “Outsourcing any aspect of [these tasks] would be a big mistake because they would cease to offer anything that their own customers couldn’t get elsewhere. So a small business that focuses on product design should not outsource anything related to developing its internal design talent or their design activities. But they should investigate all opportunities for outsourcing tangential processes like payroll services, IT and so on.”

The types of tasks that are best outsourced fall into three general categories, according to Gregg Landers, director of growth management at CBIZ MHM, the nation’s eighth largest accounting and business services provider. They include:

• Highly skilled, or executive, expertise. For example, you may not need to pay a CFO’s salary, but you could have a CFO-level person to come in a few times each month to provide financial analysis and ensure that the bookkeeper is handling the books well, Landers says.
• Highly repetitive tasks. Accounts payable, data entry and shipping inventory could fall into this category.
• Specialized knowledge. “An example might be the IT support for your accounting system or your network,” Landers says. “You may not be able to afford or need a full-time IT person, and it is easier to change to an outsourced provider with the right skill set as your IT needs change.”

Hiring the right contractors

Be very sure about who you are hiring to work for you. While technology makes it much easier than it once was to find capable, reliable outsource providers, the selection process is still vitally important.A good starting place is your own network; ask other business owners or your accountant, lawyer, or banker if they can recommend a provider offering the services you need. Whether you use a web-based marketplace, a personal referral, or a personalized matchmaking consultant, the key to identifying the right contractor is to know exactly what you’re looking for.

How to start a Business with No Money

 

Making it Work

After you’ve found a provider, your work isn’t over yet. Even after you’ve checked references, “don’t be afraid to put a little extra time creating a specific contract that outlines exactly what performance is expected,” Resnick says. “Use incentives to motivate the outsourcer to focus on what is most important to you rather than their own preferences or their assumptions about what you want.”

Communicate your expectations and the steps included in the job clearly; never assume that contractors are thinking what you’re thinking. “When there is a problem [with the work], I am often the one to blame, as my instructions may not have been clear enough,” says Jeremy Belcher, owner of FoxyMelody.com, who has hired numerous contractors through eLance. “It is very important that the requirements and expectations are laid out in the beginning, and that nothing is left to assumption.”

Even when you clearly state your expectations, “there will be a learning curve on the provider’s side,” Belcher adds. “Hang in there. The provider will get better, and you will have the freedom to focus on more important tasks.”

Your final responsibility as a successful outsourcer is to step back, relinquish control, and allow your new team members to do the job you’ve hired them to do. “You need some measure of trust,” Resnick says. “If you are going to micromanage all of your outsourcing, the savings in management attention and time that is the whole point of outsourcing is lost.”

If you’re used to doing everything yourself, consider delegating the management of outsourcing relationships to another member of your management team, a move that may help you let go, according to Resnick.

“It’s less about logistics and entirely about mindset,” Walsh adds. “Many owners take pride in having the world on their shoulders and their entire organization buried in their mind. Knowing your business is critical, but keeping yourself indispensable is reckless and un-scalable. Realize that removing yourself from low-level operations is the smartest investment you can make in the long-term success of your business.”