Seven Great Small Business Ideas

By >> Steven Kirby

In recent times and with the economic climate as it is, more and more people are looking for a second income. A small home business can be a great way to bring in some extra cash or a stepping stone to finding freedom from your regular day job. Below are seven great small business ideas that can be ran from home.

> Laundry services. Believe it or not people don't like to do their own laundry! This includes ironing, washing, stain removal. These are all things that you can do in your home and probably already have all the necessary equipment.

> Card making. Somewhat of a cottage industry, card making services are popping up all over the place. Desk top publishing and cheap printing services make it extremely easy to set up your card printing service. You could make birthday, Christmas and special occasion's cards and sell them through an eBay store.

> Cupcakes. This old favourite has made the cupcake industry extremely competitive and the huge mark ups make this a great business to go into. You should note though that there are certain regulations you must meet before you can set up in any food industry.

> Sandwiches. Everybody needs to eat right. You could make sandwiches fresh in the morning and travel to the thousands of offices in every town centre. You probably would only get around the first few before you run out of stock.

> Set up as a web host. The internet is vast and everybody who wants a website will need hosting. It sounds like a technical nightmare but it is actually very easy. Get a reseller account from one of the big hosting companies and start selling chunks of it off for a profit.

> Grow your own veg. Contrary to popular belief farming is not dead. As we said in a previous idea, everybody needs to eat. You will need to invest some time in growing vegetables. Your profits won't come overnight so you will need to do something else while they grow. Then sell them wherever you can.

> Classified buy and sell. Most people think that it is difficult to spot a bargain but in fact it is very easy. We are not talking eBay here; we are talking classified adverts in local press, newspapers and magazines. You will soon be able to spot a bargain just by looking at the prices of other similar items and checking the prices on the web.

The trick to coming up with small business ideas is to ask yourself the following questions:

Does your idea solve a problem?

Does your idea have a market, is it in demand?

Can you make a profit from your idea?

If all else fails you could spy on other people. If others are being successful then the chances are that you can be successful with a similar idea.

For great ideas and advice about small business click the link.

Click here now for advice and information about starting, running and financing your small business ideas.

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Looking For Christian Home Businesses? Here Is Some Advice Before You Sign Up!

By >> Daniel Dwase

There are many Christian home businesses out there and if you want to set something up there are a lot of opportunities there. If you just do a quick search on Google for Christian home businesses you will see just how many opportunities there are.

Many people may think that because they are specifically Christian home businesses then they are more likely to be offered by reputable people and therefore more likely to succeed. This is not necessarily the case and you need to be fully aware of the fact that people may be using the Christian term to entice you in when they are not Christians themselves and do not have Christian morals.

It is a shame that we cannot trust everyone but there are a lot of people out there trying to take advantage of people and it is well worth keeping your eyes wide open and making sure that you are signing up for good Christian home businesses.

Make sure that if you are looking for Christian home businesses through a company then find reviews of that company. Check out whether they are good, how they look after their customers and what their customer service is like.

You should be able to find information about them on forums or message boards and hopefully even speak to people who have used them or know of their reputation.

If there is no information about a company then this either implies that they are very small and unknown, new or not good.

If you are not sure about a company and the Christian home businesses that they are advertising then email them. Ask them a few questions about the way they operate and you will learn a lot.

Even the speed of the reply will tell you something about them and if they do not reply at all then it would not seem worth bothering with them.

You should be able to tell by their response to your email whether you feel they have a good customer service and therefore whether they are a good company to deal with or not.

Lastly, as with any business, it is important to bar in mind that someone who promises what looks like impossible returns or profits is probably not telling the full truth.

It is possible to bring in huge amounts of money from any business if you invest a lot of time money and has lots of people helping you out but on your own, with limited time and money to invest then it is likely that you will make less.

Just bear this in mind... before you think that something looks like a fantastic opportunity due to the promises of huge returns... if it looks too good to be true then it normally is.

Daniel Dwase is founder of Christian Business Forum a website for Christians who are looking to earn extra income part-time or a full-time starting a home-based business. Visit his website and download your Free Home Business Affiliate Masters Course Ebook.

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Five Ways to Make Your Small Business Promotion More Social

By Adam Bean

Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn

You are constantly told every where you go that you need to get on these platforms immediately, and start using them as an effective small business promotion strategy.

Now that is all well and good, and I give the same advice myself to all the local business owners I speak to. However the main area I see business owner's just like yourself fall down in once they do get set up online (Often after they have been dragged on there kicking and screaming) is being Social.

So what I am going to do for you today is focus on one platform which is Facebook. Mainly because I still believe it is the most important social platform for any business to utilize properly, yet it is still the main platform where I see businesses completely failing at creating any sort of decent social interaction that is going to be of benefit to their business.

So today we are going to address the mistakes the businesses I see make, and give you five key strategies that will ensure that you don't fall into the same trap.

Implement these strategies and watch your page transform into an online community where customers will want to connect and share your sensational products and services with their friends.

All right here we go then, here are my top five tips for making your small business promotion via a Facebook Business Page, more social.

> Number One.... You can always give what you want ( Good old Mum would have taught you this one)

A complaint from business owner that I hear pretty much constantly is...

No one comments on my page, and there is no real interaction going on. So the first two things I look at are, the content they are sharing, and the amount of quality effort they are putting in to interacting on other pages.

Let's look at the content first.

If no one is commenting, then it is fairly obvious it is because the content being posted on the page is boring. Usually when I take a look through their wall feed, the content is just a lot of posts saying something like....

Buy this, or we have this special today. That is not going to cut it on Facebook, and we will address how to provide interesting content in the next couple of steps.

Next question I ask them is.....

How many pages have you liked as your business profile, and made genuine quality comments on? The answer is usually none or very few.

But I am not interested in other pages they usually whine. I just want people to come and interact on my page! Well guess what? your page is a reflection of your attitude towards the platform you are using. If you have no interest in what anyone else is doing, guess what? no one is going to take any interest in what you are doing. Unless you happen to be a famous celebrity that is!

>> Number Two... Add some video

With the huge range of flip camera's and smart phones that are available, creating a good quality video is a fairly simple process. Now this doesn't need to be a Hollywood block buster. Just a simple one to three minute instructional video will suffice. Need idea's on what sort of video's your market would like to see? the get your hands on a copy of the idiot's guide to your market. They have done all the market research for you, and there are literally thousands of idea's for instructional video's that you could create inside each guide.

Failing that head over to You tube and find someone else's video that is entertaining or helpfully and share it. Just on a side note. Content on your page doesn't always have to be strictly about your business. A funny video can sometimes be just the tonic you need to kick off the conversation on your page.

>>> Number Three... Add some Audio

Smart phones come into play again for this one. My two favorite apps that make it incredible easy to record audio are, Cinch and Audioboo. If you can download an app, and string a few sentences together, then you are over qualified to create audio.

Again we are not talking about making a hit single or anything like that. All we are doing is creating a quick instructional message, or even just talk about a local event that is coming up and how great it is going to be. Another easy strategy to come up with an audio topic is to interview someone of interest. Again it doesn't have to be a rock star or anything like that (Although that would be good if you can get hold of one) it could be a local person that is running a charity event, that would like to get their message to your market.

>>>> Number Four... Photos

A picture is worth a thousand words, and they will quite often create a lot of interaction on your page. Particularly if you can find something that is a little bit different and it makes people laugh or smile. Crack out those smart phones again for this one, and my favorite app that will let you add filters and effects to make that picture just a little bit different is Instagram.

>> Last of all and certainly the most powerful is... Personalize <<

Makes sure that when people comment you answer them, and double up the power of this essential strategy by using their name. When people realize that you have actually taken the time to use their name, they are often overwhelmed and ensure that they tell everyone they know just how great your business is.

All right that is it for today. You now have more than enough information to go out and immediately make your small business promotion more social. All you need to do now is put these steps into action!

Social Media marketing is the new "norm" of online marketing, and if your business doesn't have a Facebook Business Page it is being left behind. If you are wondering where to start, and ow it actually works. Come across to my blog and learn more about my "Social" Small Business Marketing Ideas.

http://smallbusinessmarketingideas.tv/small-biz-blog/

http://www.facebook.com/beaniesmarketingtips

Cheers Beanie

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