Business Opportunities, Entrepreneur Resources and Tools, Business Reviews

Despite all the negativities around payday loan, it is proven to be one of the methods that may help you fund your online business startup.

What is a payday loan?

Payday loan or payday advance shares a similar concept to cash advances - a short term loan granted to borrower that should be repaid in full, plus a relatively high interest, when the borrower receive his/her next paycheck.

Typically a payday loan amount ranges between $100 and $500 and is due in less than one month period.

The use of payday loans

Payday loan is one of the strong candidates to finance your small online startup that requires less than $500 in investment fund.

The main benefit of payday loans, especially for those that are offered online, is fast turnaround time, easy to apply and low-credit-score-friendly. The main drawback, of course, is the high interest rate, typically around 400% APR.

One example of online payday loans provider is Payday One, offering state licensed cash advances, based and licensed in the US.

In my opinion, payday loan is best fit for a part-time entrepreneur, full-time employee with poor credit score (due to a previous bankruptcy, for example) entering the online business market, as Internet business are typically low in investment.

How to start an online business with payday loan: a possible scenario

[click to continue...]

If you are planning to open an eCommerce store, please consider to think small.

Why?

First, let me tell my story. I am embarrassed to say that I have started an eCommerce store before, and I failed.

Why I failed? Because I took ‘think big’ principle a bit too far.

I open an online natural remedy store on my own - I use Joomla! CMS, I buy a professional template, I buy a premium shopping cart script, I partner with a dropshipping company, and I purchase SSL to secure transaction. I do SEO, marketing, promotional campaigns myself.

All is text-book, what-should-be-done, and best practices. I think big - I envision my eCommerce store to run, grow and make me some money online.

I turned out wrong - my hosting company performance is lackluster, and the SSL I bought is collecting dust. In fact the whole website and business concepts I have are collecting dust!

I have invested thousands of dollars, and I can never be able to recover my investment. I learned the hard way that start small, simple and ‘light’ are the best way to ace in eCommerce.

Think small, act big with hosted eCommerce

One of the small, simple and ‘light’ steps that I should have taken that day is having my eCommerce store hosted by a professional eCommerce hosting service provider.

A hosted eCommerce service provider is a company offering you the ability to host your online retail store, as well as the tools to manage your back-end operation.

I found that Shopify is one of the better hosted eCommerce services on the Net.

For a small sum of money per month, even for free, you can host your eCommerce store at Shopify, and stop worrying about SEO, web hosting, bandwidth and security issues. you can start focusing on your business - something that I failed to do before.

You might think, “monthly fee? I don’t like it. I’ll start on my own, on a tight budget, immediately!” - I recommend you to rethink your online business strategy and highly consider the overheads, in term of money and time, to run on your own. Especially if you are not an experienced eTailer or programmer/designer.

Shopify offer you a simple and fast process, from sign-up to up-and-running eCommerce store. Ready made templates, loaded shop features and store management help you to start your business immediately.

Even if you don’t like the ready made design, you can always hire a designer that Shopify can recommend, or go DIY. In my opinion, the stock designs that Shopify include to each store is better than most eCommerce store design on the Net.

If you are interested in offering the hosted eCommerce service to your clients or collegues, Shopify Affiliate Program allows you to do just that. Shopify offers you 20% revenue share for all eCommerce systems created.

And no, I’m not their affiliate - so you can trust me on this :)

How to make more money online with hosted ecommerce

[click to continue...]

Small business owner always have these things in mind - how to maximise profit, minimise overhead, manage human resource, secure financing and win clients.

Money, money, money.

Many owners forget that not all small business ownership always related to money.

Being successful doesn’t always mean more money, and to success doesn’t always mean making more money. There are privileges and responsibilities of small business owner that does not even related to money.

Why bother to do things beyond money

Come on, now. You are labeled ’successful’ not because you are an ace in running your small business. Your local community offers you the privilege to make good money in it.

A proof - great business in wrong location means bankruptcy - Sadly, I learn about this first-hand. On the contrary, a mediocre business in a prime location can pump revenue into your business, enough to buy you time to oil your business and perfect your business plan to grow.

So, if you consider yourself a successful small business owner, think of ways to give back to your local community. You can do this even without spending a dime - well, a little may be, unlike philanthropy acts businesses commonly did.

Why? Because I believe there are ways in the world that can do good, with or without involving money. Money buys convenience. But giving back to your community without spending money is a challenge.

I call it guerrilla philanthropy

[click to continue...]

This blog post is inspired by Yaro Starak’s blog post - Is Internet Marketing Just Another Fools Gold Rush?.

He mainly talks about the analogy of Internet marketing as fools gold rush - that is, the period when gold rush craze era begin. Yaro explained that during that time, the smartest of all is the business people that sell shovels, picks and other tools to search for gold. The first and early prospectors did struck gold, big time. Unfortunately, as the story of their success spread like wild fire, most new prospectors left empty handed.

The analogy explain Internet marketing - many said Internet marketing early ‘prospectors’ are the one who struck gold and being rich, while Internet marketing experts sell tools (”shovels and picks”) on how to make money online, as the craze era begin, just like the gold rush era.

Some so-called Internet marketing experts sell getting rich online tools, that actually don’t make them rich themselves! This is what Yaro called the blind leading the blind.

While Yaro agreed at some point that the reality of Internet marketing is just like the modern world pyramid scheme, he insists that the continuing growth of resources and demand will keep Internet marketing and online business a promising land. Moreover, he indicates that today is just the early days of the Internet marketing industry and online business as a whole.

But then, why only a few made it, if it is still early?

How to be the few who made it

Here is a question that you have been asking yourself during your make money online journey - “If online business is so lucrative, why only a few made it?”

[click to continue...]

There are practically numerous methods to fund your business, short term.

Short term business loans are needed if your business is in need of immediate cash. Some examples would be purchasing equipment, store remodeling, and even paying off debt.

The most common way to fund such short term business financing need is bank loans and borrowing from relatives.

Bank loans involves collateral, or if not, a form of personal guarantee. With the today’s tightening credit control practiced by banks, It would be difficult to obtain a loan these days.

Borrowing from relatives might be your best bet. However, in my opinion, borrowing from relatives is a more difficult and riskier than a bank loan. How come? Simple - you put your relationship at stake, and a single problem with your payback will put a strain in you relationship that could last for a long time.

Alternative funding: business cash advance

If you run a small business with a good amount of your business transaction are credit card transaction, business cash advance could be the solution for you, especially when bank loans and relatives funding are difficult to obtain for some reasons.

Business cash advance is basically a form of lending, which lenders pay borrowers a fixed amount of cash now, in exchange for a fixed percentage of the borrower’s future credit card transaction value until the contract is fulfilled.

Just like any other small business loans, there are pro and cons with this kind of business funding.

Pros of business cash advance

[click to continue...]

Small business owners are always looking for resources on money and finance. I do, too.

In my case, I look for money and finance info in authority sites, feeds and newsletters, news portals, and social bookmarking sites.

Authority site on money

The first thing you always want to know is which products and services are the most appropriate for your situation, at the most affordable rates.

If you go online to seek for such information, you always want to find sites that compare services and products.

I just found a resource - it is UK-based, but very much useful for a more general audience - Money.co.uk.

Money.co.uk is one of the resources on money that offer you wealth of information on money and finance, as well as comparisons on credit card, mortgage, insurance, and many more.

In my opinion, it is a financial authority site with wealth of information, more in quality and quantity than finance information sites I often visit before.

I particularly enjoy and find useful information on credit card quotes, as well as insurance quotes comparison.

You can also compare mortgages and if you don’t want to compare anything at all, you may find the money news and tips section helpful.

Finance feeds and newsletters

I will most likely subscribe to exceptional websites or blogs that offer RSS feed subscriptions or newsletters. If a site offer them both, I usually subscribe to both.

I can access wealth of information from a ‘dashboard’ - in this case, Google Reader, then visit an article or two that interest me the most.

[click to continue...]

I am proud to announce that I am starting a new blog, Knol Today.

Knol Today is a magazine-blog that blog on selected knols in Google Knols.

If you are new to knols, here is what a knol basically is.

According to Google Knol, a knol is an authoritative article about a specific topic.

Google Knol is an interesting subject to blog on, because it is a cross between Wikipedia and Squidoo - Google Knol has the wiki-like feel of Wikipedia, and a more personal feel of Squidoo.

I will blog on a broad range of topic, from science to business, from health to sports. So, this project is really a challenging one for me.

A call for Knol enthusiasts to be authors on Knol Today

I would also like to invite Knol enthusiasts to apply for Knol Today’s author, because it is inherently impossible for me to blog on all those topics all by myself.

Initially, I would like to partner with two or three authors.

Authors compensation

I plot the blog not to be financially compensate authors, because in my opinion, it is rather impossible to remunerate fairly.

Therefore, I am offering the chosen authors to have the following perks:

[click to continue...]

I want to learn more, every day. Continuous learning - with the cool word kaizen - is my key to stay competitive and explore new opportunities.

I learn through forums, webinars, ‘inner circle’ memberships and online degree programs.

While most places I learn in offer free access, some of them are costing you money for a reason - quality. Let’s focus on online degree.

Entrepreneurs need a college degree?

With all the responsibilities I have today - family to take care, business to manage and opportunities to rake - the only way I can obtain a degree is through online education.

Why online degree? In fact, why a degree?

To tell you the truth, I hate commuting and attending classes, and would like to learn from the comfort of my home - so an online degree is a perfect fit for my situation. An example of online university is University of Phoenix, located in nearly 200 locations US-wide.

Entrepreneurs - do you have a college degree? If not, I would like to convince you to have one. A college degree does offer you more ‘leads’ and opportunities.

A college degree is relevant in entrepreneurship?

I know what you are thinking… Why I need a degree if I can get what I have now with the way I am? What a degree can signify?

[click to continue...]

If you are interested in franchising as I do, you must have been heard opinions and recommendations about franchising.

Unfortunately not all people offer you the right recommendations, and sometimes people’s opinion on franchising is not based on the truth.

In many cases, all you hear about franchising is actually myths!

10 Myths in Franchising

Here is the 10 myths in franchising:

1. Being rich through franchising
   Unless you are the franchisor or you own MacDonald’s, this is misleading. If your definition of ‘rich’ is being financially free, then you need multiple successful franchise units. I never encounter a case where owning a franchise unit will make you rich!
2. Franchising requires nothing on your part
   Not true. Owning a franchise unit requires a certain amount of work. It’s not the type of business that allow you to invest and forget. Yes, some franchisors allow absentee franchisees, but not the way you might expect. Controlling and management are two equally important thing a franchise owner have to do.
3. Owning a franchise unit is your shortcut to entrepreneurship
   Not automatically. Entrepreneur can’t be bought - investing in a franchise unit is not you shortcut to entrepreneurship. Even many experience that although franchising requires a certain amount of entrepreneurship, you have to follow certain rule that, in effect, limit your entrepreneurial idea.
4. Your success is guaranteed
   Wrong. Franchising is about offering your an established brand name and tools to succeed - the only person that can guarantee success is you. If you know a franchise offering you a guarantee to success, run away from it.
5. Franchising cut the chase of trial and error
   Well, most of the case, you are still have to take a certain degree of risk, frequently - trial and error is a natural part of business. Franchiors give you road map, but how you drive through it is up to you.

[click to continue...]

Social bookmark me! These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
•