Introduction
My name is Alan Bunyan and I live in Hertfordshire in the UK. I recently celebrated 40 years of marriage. I have two grown up children and now three grandchildren.
Why am I telling you this? Well you can probably see that I am no young whiz kid. So learning about a new industry or starting a new business is not easy no matter what age you are.
Since selling a CCTV business a few years ago I have been helping with marketing a few family businesses. I have launched this website because I want to help anyone who is contemplating starting up their own business.
The way I believe I can help new start up businesses is to provide information I have found, from my own experiences and from other successful entrepreneurs.
We often read in newspapers and see on TV interviews and programs about the hugely successful entrepreneurs but not of the thousands of other local successful businesses. A well known successful business or a local successful business will have gone through a range of challenges and setbacks to reach the postion they are in now.
My objective is to record a selection of businesses that have used the Internet to become successful and a selection of traditional local businesses that have become successful.
Using the Internet to launch a new business?: As much as I love new technology and I have been involved in a number of emerging markets over the years I have found there is so much to learn about the Internet. Especially, if you want to make a living via the Internet. And unlike a book that you start on page one and read until you have finished it the Internet has no one to guide you through the mountain of information available.
So where do you start if you want to make a living from the Internet? For me, I think you have to do what you would normally do when you want to start up a ‘traditional’ business. You research the products or services you want to provide and you then check out the competition. Then you should be able to come up with your own USP ( Unique Selling Point).
In my search I have come across many different products and services offered by many different individuals and organisation. I have purchased many information products, ebooks and video packages. Some good, some very good and some, I will not call bad but, just didn’t help me.
I have been very careful in what and from whom I have bought and have found that there are many genuine people involved in Internet marketing. Most of us do not normally buy the first time we have contact with a new product or service provider on the Internet. Unless the company is very well known we tend to be cautious. There is normally a number of communications with the provider before we are confident and ready to buy.
I realised there are thousands of people using the Internet for the first time everyday. Also there are thousands looking for ways to earn a living on the Internet. My biggest problem was having to learn the hard way on my own.
Already we have a growing number of Internet companies that have become household names like Google, Yahoo, Facebook, eBay, Pay Pal, Amazon, YouTube and this list will grow and grow. There are also a growing number of individuals on the Internet that are not only making very good incomes but are becoming well known in the Internet marketing community. It is these people who I want to tell you about on this website because if you are just starting out on the Internet you can take a long time finding the genuine from the not so genuine.
Considering setting up a ‘traditional’ business? What is a ‘traditional’ business? In my view high street retailing, self employed tradesmen, hoteliers, car sales, servicing, financial services, etc are traditional businesses. These businesses normally set up to service their local community first. As the business developes and expands so does the client base, growing from local to countrywide and even International.
The first costs a business incurs after initial setup costs are overheads, and unless you can work from home overheads become regular monthly out goings that must be met from profits and before drawings are taken. A businesses success is greatly increased if there is sufficent funds invested to get you through the startup period.
Most businesses fail in the early days due to lack of money, either because the business was taking too long to produce sufficent profit to draw an income or the finances invested into the business ran out before the business became profitable.
Do you let the business grow organically or do you drive the business forward from a predetermined plan. What do you do when you come across a problem and how do you over come it? Most people who want to set up their own business only try once to set up that business. If a business fails, which a high percentage do, then the chances are they will not try another business launch.
A traditional business can and should use the Internet as well as traditional methods of marketing of their products and services. As the saying goes you can have the best product or service in the world but if nobody knows about it then nobody will ever buy it. Marketing means advertising your product or services and in the early days of a new business the investment in either time or money marketing your business is crucial. The more successful you are at marketing the faster your business will move into profit and growth.
They say it takes a business on average three years to get off the ground and if you are still in business after three years your chances of building a successful business are very good. I know this is fairly accurate and can speak from personal experience. In fact one of my family businesses is at the three year mark as I write this. The owners have only recently started to draw a small income from the profits of the business.
That family business is at a stage now of facing a few challenges. They are getting busier and will soon need a second vehicle for deliveries. Also as they get busier they will need to employ additonal staff to produce the products they sell. They are getting enquires from around the country that they are having to decline at present because they cannot deliver outside a ‘local’ area. How do they overcome these challenges?
Please explore this site. It is a work in progress like any other blog and there is much to tell ………
