A Cool, Free Way to Figure Out a Business Idea’s Potential

Every day, it gets cheaper and easier to start a business. Want to put up a website? Try the free, open source WordPress platform. Need to sell some stuff? There are free or cheap e-commerce engines that manage the front end of the process. Even fulfillment can be automated, depending on what you’re peddling. And advertising is a plug-in from Google.

But what doesn’t get easier despite disruptive technology is putting together a viable business idea and creating a solid plan for executing on it. I’m not familiar with them, but have no doubt there are websites that aim to automate the business-idea process. I can’t imagine the businesses created this way will last very long or get very big.

The good news is that even if there’s no Web shortcut for good ideas, there’s now a free option that takes you through the rigorous process, holding your hand every step of the way, and forcing you to work out your ideas, through tutorials and worksheets. Most times, these tools are not free, and are usually very expensive…

Why Entrepreneurs Aren’t Risk Lovers

Successful entrepreneurs need to have an outsized appetite for risk. They have to thrill to danger, relish the idea that they might lose it all with one roll of the dice.

Right?

Wrong, obviously, or we wouldn’t have written it that way. (Also, we probably would not have started a business.)

Many people have debunked those ideas, most recently Malcolm Gladwell, writing in the New Yorker. Using as examples Ted Turner and John Paulson, who famously made billions betting against the housing bubble, he argues that successful entrepreneurs are not braver than everyone else. Instead, they are very good at finding opportunities to minimize risk so they don’t have to be brave….

How to Go It Alone

The Wall Street Journal is calling this the “age of going solo.” The reasons are obvious: more people are working independently, because they gave up on the corporate world or were chucked out. A startling 20-plus percent of US workers are freelancers, consultants, contractors or (my personal favorite) “micropreneurs.”

Are you one of them? Could you be? The Journal’s story by Richard Greenwald offers some powerful tips on how to succeed. Read the original article for more, like what to beware of in a professional network.

Think long term

You might see this as a temporary, in-between jobs situation. But it might not be. And if you think of it that way, you won’t be very good at it. And with competition for gigs fierce, your halfhearted approach won’t make you a pile of money.

Learn and teach

You need cutting-edge skills, both to justify your rates and improve your chances of getting a full-time gig, should you want one.

The Year of One

Of all the year-ahead prediction lists we’ve seen out there, one caught our eye for its thoughtfulness and perception. Small Business Labs, the blog of Emergent Research, a trend analysis and forecasting firm, sees a coming year of going one’s own way, from individuals to businesses. The theme for this year may be “solo.”

1. The Shift to Contingent Workers Turns Employees into Entrepreneurs: Employers large and small are shifting from full-time employees to part-timers, freelancers, outsourced services, partnership arrangements and other forms of contingent workers. They are doing this to save money and increase business flexibility. Despite the economic recovery, 2010 will see the contingent workforce grow as companies continue to limit hiring of full time staff. Many of these contingent workers will create or work for small businesses.

2. Personal Businesses on the Rise: Enabled by the Internet and low-cost information technology, the number of personal businesses (one employee businesses) has grown twice as fast as the overall economy over the last decade and exceeds 22 million. With the unemployment rate remaining high and traditional employment options limited, 2010 will be another year of strong growth in the number of personal businesses. The growth in personal businesses will also result in an increase in overall small business formation and numbers in 2010.

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Small Business 2009 Motto? What Doesn’t Kill Us…

This may be the year everyone wants to forget. Layoffs ruled, credit cut off our breath, and small businesses couldn’t catch a break. While the colossal banks on Wall Street got a bailout, many small businesses couldn’t get a loan.

Even so, the tough times can make us stronger — or at least point out what we might not want to do again. Here’s a look back at the year that was and what we learned:

You don’t need your office as much as you once thought you did. If the overhead is overwhelming—ditch it. Michael M., a small business owner in New Jersey, went virtual: Everyone worked from home, and the overhead costs were limited to warehouse space for his products…

Don’t Close Your Business, Change It

When Amy Lechelt-Basta opened her clothing boutique on Chicago’s north side in 2006, sales were strong and business was bustling. But by this past summer, things had deteriorated so rapidly that she had to close up shop. However, all was not lost, because she transitioned her skills and expertise selling clothes into a consulting business that advises individuals on their wardrobes. Take a lesson from Lechelt-Basta: When life throws you lemons, make lemonade.

If you’re one of the many business owners whose companies have been pummeled by the economy this year, you don’t have to throw the baby out with the bath water. Even if you think you’ve hit the end of your resources and are considering bankruptcy as the only option, you probably still have some tricks up your sleeve; find the hidden strengths in your business and needs of your clients and you’ll find a new market opportunity…

Yes, You Should Pre-Poach Now

You laid off a bunch of people this year. You’d love to staff back up, but you believe you can’t even think about that … not until the business improves. Right? Wrong. Now – instead of when you’re under pressure to hire – is the best time to identify and build relationships with talent.

Business expert, headhunter and founder of AskTheHeadHunter.com, Nick Corcodilos stresses that in order to effectively recruit great employees, you need to make a connection with them long before you actually need them. You need to seek out those interested in what your company offers and build relationships with those that have common interests and goals when neither you nor they are desperate. The following tips can help you attract and maintain relationships with key talent now…

Last-Minute Holiday Marketing Tips

There are just days left in the holiday shopping season, and that means your marketing efforts are getting a lot more intense. But the new rules for the changed economy say no business owners should have to unload a huge chunk of their earnings into a holiday season marketing program, even though they might have spent this way in the old days … and even if their businesses lean a lot on this time of year. So which low-cost marketing strategies yield the best results?

The following strategies represent some recession-friendly, creative ways to market your company over the next few holiday weeks…

When There’s Nothing Left to Do But Sell

Quen Ton, owner of a manicure shop White Daisy Nail Spa in San Francisco, Calif., took advantage of lowered rent prices during the recession to start the business after working for years in others’ shops. Even so, she has found the process of growing her business very challenging, is operating at a loss and surviving on her husband’s income. If business does not pick up by the holidays, she will have to sell.

So as a small business owner, how can you know when it’s time to sell? Well, here are a few signs: being too far behind in expenses to catch up; facing competitors that are way too far ahead of you in the marketplace; insurmountable conflicts between you and a business partner or business partners; the inability to manage unexpected business growth.

If you are seeing critical signs that point to selling your small business as the only viable option, the following four tips can help you navigate a sale…

3 Tips for Landing a Small Business Loan

Matthew and Marnie Brannon, co-owners of Midwest Fiat in Columbus, Ohio borrowed $110,000 earlier this year to help them expand the vintage Italian car parts and service shop they have run for five years. The process took six months of diligent work, but the Brannons learned some valuable lessons about what it takes for small business owners to beat the odds and get funding during a downturn.

Two of their most important tactics for securing a coveted business expansion loan included making their plight known by publicizing their loan search through the press and other outlets as they were struggling through the process. They also worked on building relationships with potential funders by using contacts within their business network with ties to the banking industry. Combining different tactics helped them eventually attract investors and fulfill their dream of expansion.