As 81 million American baby boomers begin to move into their retirement years, they are redefining what retirement means. For many, it doesn’t mean they’ve stopped working, but rather that they are exercising more choice over how they work. According to a 2009 survey, some 75 percent of people who chose to engage in some form of work found the work satisfying, and in four out of five cases, they were able to find white collar jobs for what are known as “encore careers.”
Picking the perfect second act for your career can involve trying a field that’s always interested you, helping out with a cause that you believe in, or getting a chance to run your own business.
If it’s running your own business that appeals to you, chances are you don’t want to sink a large chunk of your retirement savings into a new venture at this point. Therefore, the key is getting started with minimal investment up front. This is very possible these days, depending on how you set up your business, and what type of business you choose to go into.
Getting Started with a Shoestring Budget
To start a business with relatively little up front capital, the key is to minimize fixed costs. Variable costs–expenses of the pay-as-you-go variety–are preferable because they allow you to ramp up or scale back investment depending on how the business is going.
Here are some key tools for keeping fixed costs to a minimum:
• E-commerce Solutions. Who needs a business location when you have the Internet? The ultimate low-overhead storefront, the Internet gives you access to a world of potential customers. Utilizing E-commerce colutions is much cheaper than having a physical place of business where you receive customers. For example, it allows you to avoid the many expenses of having a retail outlet, such as rent, utilities, staffing, and insurance.
• Outsourcing Back Office Infrastructure. Rather than building a complete organization from scratch, try to outsource anything that isn’t central to the unique value proposition of your business. For example, functions such as customer support, credit card processing and human resources are only needed occasionally or periodically. Therefore, it makes more sense to utilize outsourced call center services for telemarketing or customer support or HR outsourcing for human resource activities than to try to staff it internally.
• Use Online, Social Media Strategies to Promote Your Business. Developing a full scale online social media strategy can seem overwhelming at first. But you can implement simple things by hiring interns to do the leg work such as starting a blog or using Twitter, and tracking different programs making adjustments along the way.
Low-Cost Entrepreneurial Business Ideas
If the above are some techniques for structuring a business with minimum up front investment, what are some lines of business which lend themselves to getting started with minimal capital?
One rule of thumb is that services generally require less investment than manufacturers or retailers, though with e-commerce some re-sellers can operate cheaply if they have tight supply lines and add value in the process. Focusing on services, the following are some examples of businesses that might be right for the current environment, and can be started on a shoestring.
• Business consulting. If many retiring boomers are going to be starting their own businesses, why not use your business experience to help show them how to do it?
• Green consulting. People are striving to become more energy-efficient, for economic and environmental reasons. If you have expertise in this area, consulting with businesses and homeowners on how to reduce their consumption is a natural.
• Public relations. If you have media and promotional experience, you could be in demand with the new wave of entrepreneurs starting their own businesses. In particular, bringing knowledge of modern promotional techniques such as social media strategies could be valuable to these new businesses.
• Employment counseling. Between a weak economy and an aging population, there are many people facing a career crossroads these days. Helping them find the right niche can be a good way to make use of any personnel experience you have.
• Online Lead Generation. Sales Lead Generation is growing by leaps and bounds as far as start up industries are concerned. This is a very special industry that affords flexibility and freedom that is unparalleled. And, there is even a significant demand for highly specialized lead generation consultants to help companies generate qualified business leads in this market.
Running your own business may not have been your parents’ idea of retirement, but things are very different today. If you have the entrepreneurial itch, starting a venture might just give you the satisfaction and extra income to make your “golden years” more than just an expression.
In recent years we’ve seen a HUGE increase in the number of small businesses owned by women. This growth has been so dramatic that millions of people now think of a woman when they visualize who owns the businesses they buy from.
Women everywhere deserve a big pat on the back for this amazing accomplishment. But as is always the case for small business owners, there is still a lot of work to be done.
The one thing your small business MUST have is a web site. Sure, ten years ago having a site was an option many small businesses could do without. But that is no longer the case. Here’s why:
* These days consumers and business leaders are more likely to use search engines than the Yellow Pages. They’ll type the name of your town and your type of business into Google and start their research from there.
* A web site lets you put as MUCH information as you want in a public forum. You no longer have to pay thousands for a big newspaper ad just to let customers know about your prices, new services, or show photos of what you do. Now you can keep all that information available on your web site 24/7 at little or no cost.
* You know as well as I do that most customers are a little shy about asking questions. Often they don’t even want you to know they’re interested until AFTER they have learned more about your product, service, or idea. A web site allows that vast number of potential customers to privately and anonymously read all about your business. Then, when they’re ready to buy, they’ll come forward with their questions and orders. This is a MUCH more efficient way to do business, which leads to my next point.
* Web based business operations can be EXTREMELY EFFICIENT. Customers often prefer convenient email over phone or in-person visits. Email encourages customers to organize their ideas, contacting you when they know what they want and are ready to act. You’ll find your web site generates many more customers and the customers you get are better organized.
Women everywhere deserve a big pat on the back for this amazing accomplishment. But as is always the case for small business owners, there is still a lot of work to be done.
* Finally, women love to buy from women-owned businesses. Women, as a group, tend to be less compulsive shopper than men. While a large segment of men will buy an item on impulse, the vast majority of women prefer to learn about your product or service, getting all the details they can before placing an order. Web sites are perfect for presenting a lot of information at very little cost.
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Regardless of the type of business you conduct, there is a significant risk of being sued in our litigious society. Lawsuits can range from claims of negligence to defective products to disputes with employees. Incorporating is a means of guarding against these potential threats.
Single Incorporation – Protecting Your Personal Assets
Incorporating your business is a method for creating a legal wall between your personal assets and business. Any judgment against your business will not impact your personal assets. While your home, savings, stocks, etc., are protected, what happens to your business? If a judgment is rendered against your business, the business assets are as good as gone. This doesn’t have to be the case.
Double Incorporation Strategy – Protect Your Business Assets
Many businesses can benefit from pursuing a double incorporation strategy. The strategy is designed to address the situation where a business has significant assets that are exposed to litigation risk. If you incorporate your business, it is all well and good that your personal assets are not at risk. But what if your business has a number of high value assets such as manufacturing machinery, office equipment, popular domain name, custom software or other items? Merely incorporating your business will not protect these assets because they are owned by the business entity. Since a successful lawsuit would result in a judgment against the business entity, all assets of the business could be seized as part of the judgment. In short, you lose your machinery, office equipment, intellectual property or any other item of tangible value. The double incorporation strategy prevents this scenario.
As the name suggests, the double incorporation strategy involves the creation of two business entities. The first is your “at risk” business that interacts with your customers or clients. The second entity, a “holding corporation”, is then created to own the valuable assets of your business. This holding corporation then leases the relevant business assets to your “at risk” entity. If the “at risk” entity is sued, the holding company merely recovers its assets and the plaintiff is forced to settle for pennies on the dollar because the “at risk” entity has few assets. In essence, the plaintiff wins the battle, but loses the war.
Lawsuits can range from claims of negligence to defective products to disputes with employees. Incorporating is a means of guarding against these potential threats. The first is your “at risk” business that interacts with your customers or clients.
Most people know that a business entity can be used to create a protective shield for their personal assets. If your business has high value assets, now you can use this double incorporation strategy to protect those assets as well.
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I don’t know how many times I’ve flipped through the channels and heard Lou Dobbs talking about “Exporting America.” Now, I know Lou is discussing the political and economic context of American companies outsourcing their jobs overseas. However, this new one-dimensional definition of outsourcing has other implications to some of us in the States.
I am no expert on politics, economics or Lou Dobbs, so I’ll keep my opinions on those subjects to myself. However, what I would like to discuss is the negative connotation that the word “outsourcing” has taken on in this country.
There are thousands upon thousands of small businesses in this country whose sole survival depends on other companies outsourcing their needs. Just think about it for a moment. How many companies in the service industries only exist to support the needs of other businesses?
Imagine if every company had to act as a fully self-sufficient corporation. They must handle all of their own HR issues…no more employment agencies, payroll companies, etc. They must employ a full-fledged IT department to handle all of their own web design, networking, software and database designs. Each enterprise has to have enough administrative assistants, data entry specialists, desktop publishing experts, marketing gurus. The list is endless.
If American companies were to completely eliminate all forms of outsourcing, life as we know it would end!
Now, we all know that this is not what Lou or anybody else who has defined outsourcing as one of the most popular buzz words of the last few years is talking about. I understand that most people know that the business to business outsourcing within America is not a bad thing. Nonetheless, it seems strange to me that one word can take on such a life of its own. It’s really not a new phenomenon, yet it is the first time that I’ve encountered one of these controversial terms in my own ventures.
Let me say that as a business person in a field that is solely based on other businesses looking to my company to meet their needs, I find myself quite often searching for synonyms to outsourcing. Not that there’s anything wrong with it, but when I’m advertising, I’m forever brainstorming for words to replace that one that starts with o and ends with source! After all the talk that’s been spinning around Washington and the rest of the country, it seems that it’s turned into a dirty word.
I’ll keep my opinions on those subjects to myself. However, what I would like to discuss is the negative connotation that the word “outsourcing” has taken on in this country.
Obviously, most people understand that there are all types of outsourcing. On the other hand, when you’ve got limited time and space are you going to choose a “hot button” word to describe what you’re selling?
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Franchise is a method of doing business by licensing trademarks. A recurring royalty fee being the prime source of income, the advent of franchise business dates back to the 1850s. The earliest example being the bars of New South Wales, the agreements between these bars and the breweries can be considered the foundation for modern franchise businesses. Further examples of early franchises include the telegraph system (operated by various railroad companies but controlled by Western Union) and exclusive agreements between automobile manufacturers and local dealers.
The term franchise holds multiple definitions. Encompassing a plethora of varied business relationships, franchises sometimes do not follow their legal definition per se, for example, an appliance maintenance franchise. In this case, though the after sales services are supposed to be done by the manufacturer, they grant the license for maintenance to some other party, thinning down further the dividing line between outsourcing and franchising.
A franchise agreement is the first step between the willing parties; the agreement binds the parties together through contractual provisions, strengthening further the arrangements of selling one’s own products or services through another person holding the license. The agreement also specifies the area of operation under the franchise holder, though the franchise provider usually denies a complete and exclusive control of the franchise holder over that particular territory. Franchise in the US abides by the jurisdiction granted by the state and federal laws though there is no federal registry of franchising or any federal filing requirements for information. However, franchise holders are required to have a Uniform Franchise Offering Circular (as per the Federal Trade Commission rules); it helps in disclosing the business transactions and purchases that remain involved. As of now, the Financial Times declared that if sales by US franchise businesses were translated into national product, they would qualify as the 7th largest economy in the world.
Franchise-based restaurants opened gates for the wave of franchise businesses since the 1930s. First came the traditional sit-down restaurants (Howard Johnson’s) and then McDonalds in the 1950s rendering United States a franchise business dominion to the point where proprietorship business has become the exception rather than the rule.
The earliest example being the bars of New South Wales, the agreements between these bars and the breweries can be considered the foundation for modern franchise businesses. Further examples of early franchises include the telegraph system (operated by various railroad companies but controlled by Western Union) and exclusive agreements between automobile manufacturers and local dealers. The term franchise holds multiple definitions. Encompassing a plethora of varied business relationships, franchises sometimes do not follow their legal definition per se, for example, an appliance maintenance franchise. A franchise agreement is the first step between the willing parties; the agreement binds the parties together through contractual provisions, strengthening further the arrangements of selling one’s own products or services through another person holding the license.
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