Income For Baby Boomers

Podcast

11. How-to Details for Starting Your Online Business – David Cohen

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11 - David CohenDavid Cohen

His book is called “Bust Out!: Ignite Your Inner Entrepreneur”

He started his businesses on a shoestring.

Do a self-analysis of what you would be willing to do all day and get lost in it.

Then figure out who your customers would be and do some market research. Talk to people.

Figure out your customers’ pains.

Perform secondary research to see how the industry is doing. Is it growing, shrinking, or stable?

Study the leaders in the industry and see what they are doing.

Look at what their websites look like.

You need to do R&D…rob and duplicate.

You have to go to field where you can make a living.

See if you can be a marketing representative in your field initially in order to get your feet wet.

Register a good business name and get a good logo at www.fiverr.com.

Create a three-page website with who you are and how you will solve various problems.

Network with groups at places like industrial tradeshows

LinkedIn is the best social media site for businesses. Think about who your customer is and who he/she would be.

1st-LinkedIn 2nd-Facebook 3rd-Twitter as far as establishing a presence on social media.

Join other groups and write articles regularly.

Join groups first; start yours later.

Track the keywords that people are finding you with.

On your LinkedIn profile, state who you are, for whom you work, and how you will solve their problems.

Offer your consulting services right from the beginning.

Create an EBook or regular book as soon as possible to show credibility.

Bring your books to any meeting in order to sell to people at the end of any talk.

Use your eBooks to trade for people’s email.

3-6 months into your new business, create a consulting package—books, tapes, mastermind groups, and consulting.

Approach both sides for your business idea. If you are dealing with firetrucks, approach both the manufacturer and the fire stations.

Let the manufacturers know that you have connections with the fire stations and vice versa.

Again, connect with trade associations, city planning departments, tradeshows.

Offer to speak for 30-45min at these tradeshows and sell your books. Some tradeshows will also pay you for speaking.

How much did it cost you to get to this point? Only about $2k.

From here on, bootstrap. Let the sales and profits finance each new step.

You should realistically make 30-40k your first year with a 20% increase each subsequent year.

Coaching can increase the speed of your success.

Go to the local economic development office for help.

Use your local library—much info there.

Some libraries have all the equipment for radio, podcasting, and video recording.

Use www.kickstarter.com and www.indiegogo.com when you have a product you are developing.

Look into micro loans and decide what you risk tolerance is.

Ask the help of your bank. They usually have a business rep. who will give you free help.

Use crowd funding and community funding.

Banks will often give you low rates for a signature loan. Try them first.

TV is not the best for most businesses initially.

Join www.toastmasters.org 

Speak at tradeshows and at every market event you can.

See what associations have a budget for speakers.

Write in periodicals. Start a YouTube channel.

Focus on one field at a time.

The bigger a problem you solve, the bigger the pay.

Don’t be afraid to learn new things.

The best time to start a business was yesterday. The next best time is today.

Take baby steps if you’re in fear. Start a part time job and work the business part time.

Learn how to sell and how to position yourself.

What nuggets have you learned in life that you could sell?

Teach a college course on your specialty.

Contact info for David Cohen

Author, speaker, coach, lover of jazz, coffee bars, good conversation and baseball

The Boomer Business Coach-Helping Baby Boomers Do a Business they Love and Do it Successfully

www.theboomerbusinesscoach.com

416-630-3527

Be sure to check out our book…Bust Out-Ignite your Inner Entrepreneur now on line at Amazon at… http://www.amazon.com/Bust-Out-Ignite-Inner-Entrepreneur/dp/0986678961

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3. Work as a Virtual Assistant @ $45+/hour by Next Month – Kathy Goughenour

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3 - Kathy GoughenourUSA based Virtual Assistants can make vastly more than those in other countries.

There is room in almost every field for virtual assistants (marketing, website construction, customer service, etc.)

Used the marketing skills she already had to become a VA.

A great opportunity to cash in on the skills you already have.

Kathy’s program begins with a questionnaire to find exactly where your skills are.

It’s very easy to get clients online, but you must have a website.

WordPress is a great place to start.

It’s very cheap to start. All you need is a computer and a long distance telephone capability.

By putting in 20 hours a week you can begin making money in about two months.

Created a business by marketing for realtors all over the US.

Created a six-figure VA business in about 6 years.

With what she knows today, can help you create a six-figure business in three years.

After the crash of the housing market, switched to marketing professional speakers.

After changing markets, only took 30 days to begin making 50k a year.

All clients want is for you to show that you can competently complete the work on time.

Speak the language of the target market.

Can work and travel at the same time.

She can customize training specifically for you skillset.

Write one blog post a month to expand your marketing.

Blogs can take any form—audio, video, or written.

The finer you can refine your niche, the better.

Clients will spend about $500 a month.

Social and Recommended Sites

www.lynda.com (great place to learn basic skills)

www.hostgator.com (place to host your website)

www.expertvatraining.com (her website)

www.wemarketyouprofit.com (her VA site)

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5. Business Coach Reveals Secrets for Online Success – Rick Day

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5 - Rick DayHe is a parallel entrepreneur—runs four businesses at the same time.

Learn from friends who own their own businesses.

Use what you know and who you know.

What can I apply to all my businesses vs. what is specific to each?

Investigate your hobbies and see if there is opportunity to build a business there.

Use your skills to consult for previous employers.

LinkedIn in a great place to get your name out there.

Use business events to network and meet clients, employers.

Get a business card for meetings and conferences.

When starting your own business, sketch a brief plan first in which you outline milestones and the tools you need to achieve them in the desired timeframe.

Ask yourself what are you skills, and who will your customers be?

Contact major publishing firms and ask editors if you can write articles for them.

Write a blog and send it for publication in the field to build yourself a reputation.

Identify a market and do keyword searches on different social media platforms.

¾ of all tweets have links to other sites.

Tweet things with links to articles that reference your work.

Comment on articles in similar fields as yours.

Use your blogposts to create and eBook.

Offer the eBook free to those who provide their emails.

Figure out what you want to offer, to whom you want to offer it, where to find those people, how to inform them about the product, then finally how to get them to buy it.

If you are burned out in your current career path, take one of your passions and monetize it.

Ask yourself what you’re good at and how you can apply it.

You have to embrace technology.

Social and Suggested Sites

http://www.businessbyday.com/ (his website)

https://www.facebook.com/businessbyday (Facebook)

@RickAMDay (twitter)

https://www.linkedin.com/in/rickamday (LinkedIn)

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7. Get Paid to Create Cocktail Books and Hold Wine Tastings – Warren Bobrow

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7 - Warren Bobrow

  1. Don’t worry about your start…it’s about how you finish.
  2. You can become your own worst enemy. Don’t work against yourself.
  3. He left material possessions behind in order to follow his dreams.
  4. Losing him job was actually a blessing as it allowed him to follow pursue his passions.
  5. Dreams are the first step. You must dream success to become successful.
  6. Follow your hobbies and find something that resonates with you.
  7. Sometimes you have to get rid of excess baggage that might be slowing you down.
  8. Don’t be attached to a job you hate, even if you’re making a lot of money.
  9. Establishing a social media presence is essential- Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram Pinterest
  10. Twitter is a good start because it is not a fully mature platform. Having pictures of yourself is essential though.
  11. Thank people for their respect.
  12. Use open ended questions.
  13. Facebook is useful because you can show your (smiling) face.
  14. Build a free website.
  15. Have a good handshake and be professional.
  16. Have an elevator pitch.
  17. Create a good book idea and send it to publishers in the field.
  18. Even if a book only takes a month to write it can take up to a year to publish.
  19. Find what you love to do and you will never work a day in your life.

Social and Mentioned Websites

Books

  • “Apothecary Cocktails: Restorative Drinks from Yesterday and Today”
  • “Whiskey Cocktails: Rediscovered Classics and Contemporary Craft Drinks Using the World’s Most Popular Spirits”

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6. Start a Company on a Shoestring Today – Jim Beach

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6 - Jim Beach

  1. Started a business to pay the bills. Necessity is the mother of invention.
  2. Used a credit card to get started.
  3. Your business doesn’t have to be sexy. $500 is a reasonable amount of money to begin with.
  4. You don’t need a business partner.
  5. $68,000 profit off a $500 investment on Amazon.
  6. Good employees are forced to leave jobs for nothing they did wrong.
  7. Google the phrase “new business ideas.”
  8. You don’t have to be new…just better.
  9. Look around and find a problem to solve.
  10. Go to tradeshows to find products.
  11. Research first; invest after.
  12. Call ten companies and have 10 conversation. This will tell you a lot about your field of focus.
  13. Don’t spend months writing a book plan.
  14. He started by advertising one idea and made a brochure after getting 100 responses.
  15. Real orders are the true test of a product.
  16. His wife went from working on Amazon to teaching him how to use Amazon.
  17. Don’t fall in love with your idea. If all indicators say stop, stop.
  18. He looked for incremental increases in innovation, not bold new ideas.
  19. Get a check from your first venture, then register a company.

 

Books

  1. School for Startups: The Breakthrough Course for Guaranteeing Small Business Success in 90 Days or Less
  2. Exposing Google Maps: Essential Security Fixes and Solution
  3. Why I Don’t Recommend Hacking Google or wiretapping the FBI & and United States Secret Service

Social and Mentioned Sites

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9. Make money writing anthologies other peoples expertise – Jill Vanderwood

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9 - Jill Vanderwood

  1. She has in innate motivation to help others.
  2. Writing is best done somewhere private where you feel comfortable.
  3. Establish a belief in yourself first so you can concentrate on others.
  4. Get a feel for the room ahead of time.
  5. Prepare bullet points only.
  6. When you prepare bullet points, memorize some also so you have a backup.
  7. Perfect your speaking skills to gain advancement in your job.
  8. Use props to bring in the audience.
  9. Transfer tension from you to the audience to keep them on their toes.
  10. TV is the most difficult place to speak.
  11. Radio is easier than public speaking.
  12. Newspaper is easy because they do the writing and publishing while you only answer questions.
  13. Usually there is no release to sign.
  14. She prefers self-publishing because you have all the control and get all the profit
  15. She pays $2 a page for editing.
  16. Do free speeches at libraries.
  17. There is some chemical precursor to fear, so adjusting diet can be helpful.
  18. Anthologies are very useful for crediting other books and linking your experience to others’.
  19. If you want the audience to be excited, you must get excited yourself.
  20. Mention experts in the field in your speeches.
  21. If you lose your spot, think back to the last thing you said or ask the audience where you are.
  22. If you only are writing part time, a book may take 6 months to finish.
  23. A mini book may only take a month.
  24. Writing a book is like creating a product. It must be something tangible that you can market.
  25. After you write a book, go on the radio, do newspaper interviews, and write blog posts.
  26. Everyone has a story!

Social and Mentioned Sites

Books

  1. “Shaking Behind the Microphone”
  2. “Drugs Make You Un-Smarter”
  3. “What’s it Like, Living Green? Kids Teaching Kids, by the Way They Live”
  4. “Through the Rug”
  5. “Through the Rug 2: Follow That Dog”
  6. “Stowaway: The San Francisco Adventures of Sara the Pineapple Cat”
  7. “Achieve Your Ultimate Success”

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10. From Nothing to $50k a Year Online – Chris Vaca

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10 - Chris Vaca

  1. Started his career self-publishing on Amazon.
  2. You must promote your book—it won’t sell itself. Find as many different venues as possible
  3. You have to pick yourself and move on from failure. Find what you can learn from it.
  4. Build a website.
  5. Ask for feedback on your advertising.
  6. The size of your book doesn’t matter as long as the content is sound.
  7. Size of the book and price are not necessarily proportional.
  8. Don’t use fluff and filler.
  9. Some people make hundreds of thousands of dollars on 5000 word books.
  10. You must write about something you like and are interested in.
  11. The hardest part is getting started.
  12. Everyone has their own system with regard to the writing profit. Chris prefers writing long hand first.
  13. He had no writing background and no college education.
  14. You can buy an editing program or hire and editor.
  15. Failure is part of success because there is always something to be learned from it.
  16. If you write 15 hours a week you can have a book ready in one month.
  17. In 60 days you can expect sales to be anywhere between $100 and $1000.
  18. Advertise on twitter
  19. Advertise amongst your friends/family/colleagues.
  20. Research your subject to find the cover that best suits your book.
  21. Twitter is the best place for book promotion.
  22. First provided service for free then began charging.
  23. Public speaking income can range from $1000-$3000 per event.
  24. He charges $100 an hour.
  25. Pursue your passions, not others’.

Social and Mentioned Websites

Books

  • “What Kind of Society Are We Leaving Our Kids: From Temple to Honey Boo-Boo”
  • “Are the Golden Years Really Golden: Revised Edition”
  • “Age Should Never Be an Excuse for Not Succeeding: (Restoring Hope in Your Life)”
  • “Hey! Alan Colmes I Read Your Book: A Republicans Rebuttal”
  • “Real Men Eat Salami”
  • “America: A Society Gone Wrong”
  • “Hitting the Tri-Fecta of Life: A Healthy Mind, Body and Pocket”
  • “Florida: A Nice Place to Live but PLEASE Get Me Back to New York”

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