Micro-Entrepreneurship For Dummies

Paul Mladjenovic is a certified financial planner, micro-entrepreneur, and home business educator with more than 25 years' experience writing and teaching about financial and business start-up topics. He owns RavingCapitalist.com and is also the author of Stock Investing For Dummies.

• Introduction 1About This Book 1Conventions Used in This Book 2What You’re Not to Read 2Foolish Assumptions 3How This Book is Organized 3Part I: Getting Started with Micro-Entrepreneurship 3Part II: Finding Great Micro-Entrepreneurship Ideas 4Part III: Marketing and Selling Your Micro-Business 4Part IV: Considering Taxes and Legal Issues 4Part V: The Part of Tens 5Icons Used in This Book 5Where to Go from Here 5Part I: Getting Started with Micro-Entrepreneurship 7Chapter 1: Micro-Entrepreneurship 101: Just the Basics, Please 9Understanding What Being a Micro-Entrepreneur Means 10Following your path to be a micro-entrepreneur 10Figuring out whether you have what it takes to be a micro-entrepreneur 11Recognizing potential opportunities 11Deciding What Type of Business Works for You 12Making Your Micro-Business Noticeable 13Advertising your services or products 14Identifying your market 14Communicating with your clients 14Marketing your business 14Being Aware of Taxes and Other Issues 15Getting others to help you in your business 15Growing your business 16Tackling taxes (but fortunately no death) 16Chapter 2: Knowing Your Path as a Micro-Entrepreneur 17Recognizing Whether You Need a Formal Business Plan 17Eyeing What Your Business Plan Addresses 18Naming the Type of Business Plan You Have 20Looking Closer at a Business Plan and What It Constitutes 21Updating Your Business Plan 24Creating Your Business Plan: Helpful Resources to Review 25Making Other Stops on Your Path 26Making Your Business Path Easier: Tools for the Road 27Going online for some education 28Teleconferencing or videoconferencing 28Using open-source software 29Organizing and being more productive 29Relying on colleagues 29Chapter 3: Understanding Yourself: What Makes You Tick 31Tapping Into the Process of Starting Your Business 31Doing your 10-10 list to find your passion 32Focusing on where enjoyment meets competence 34Figuring out your personality and the type of entrepreneur you are 35Remembering your great moments 36Recognizing the Qualities You Need to Be a Micro-Entrepreneur 36Having initiative 36Being able to prioritize 37Managing your time 38Staying focused 38Striving for excellence 39Being persistent 39Showing creativity 40Beginning Your Business Life 40Recognizing why starting at home makes sense 41Setting up your environment 42Chapter 4: Setting Up Your Internet Presence 45Having a Web Presence: Something You Need as a Micro-Entrepreneur 45Creating Your Website 46Doing some pre-planning 46Recognizing the four basic elements 47Tackling marketing considerations after your website is up 52Setting up Your Blog 53Deciding on your blog’s purpose 53Figuring out the blog’s set-up in advance 54Understanding a blog’s features 55Tapping into blogging resources 56Marketing your blog 57Considering Other Alternatives to Give You a Web Presence 58Facebook 58LinkedIn 58Chapter 5: Honing In on Opportunities 59Identifying Customers; Differentiating between Their Wants and Needs 60Knowing the lifetime value of a customer 60Recognizing the type of market: Horizontal or vertical 61Eyeing the Basic Categories of Successful Home Businesses 61Category one: The problem solver 62Category two: Anticipating a megatrend 62Category three: A combination 64Getting the Lowdown on Niches: What to Focus Your Business On 64Choosing the right niche for you 64Recognizing recession-proof niches 65Seasonal niches 67Good times niches 68Special interest niches 69Searching for Success: Finding the Information You Need 69Researching niches 69Viewing educational tutorials 70Searching news sites for information 71Perusing article directories 71Testing opportunities 72Relying on Your Background for Opportunities 72Avoiding Fraud 73Steering Clear of Liability Problems and Other Legal Issues 74Part II: Finding Great Micro-Entrepreneurship Ideas 77Chapter 6: Creating Your Arts and Crafts Micro-Business from Scratch 79From Nothing to Something Good: Entering the World of Arts and Crafts 79Making your art and craft and a profit at the same time 80Finding the raw materials 83Buying wholesale 84Touring the World of Crafts 84Adding Beauty and Profit 85Selling Your Creations: Focus on Etsy 86Setting up on Etsy 86Selling on Etsy 87Identifying Other Online Selling Venues 87Eyeing Offline Selling Opportunities 89Focusing on the Four Rs 89Chapter 7: Selling Other Stuff: The Golden Rules of Success 91Identifying Your Selling Options 92Understanding What You’ll Sell: Specialize and Understand Value 94Finding Items to Sell: Buy Low 95Buying from individuals 95Buying from businesses 96Buying from the government 97Making a Profit: Sell Higher 98Going the eBay Route 99Listing on eBay 100Managing ongoing auctions 103When your auction expires 104Chapter 8: Selling Your Services 105Knowing Who Your Prospective Clients are 106Focusing on consumers 106Capitalizing on companies 107Selling to government agencies 108Meeting and Finding Prospective Clients 108Horizontal venues 109Vertical venues 109Directly via search engines and directories 110Hooking Up with Elance and Other Horizontal Sites 110Identifying the client 111Signing up and understanding the set-up process 112Grasping how the bidding process works 113Gaining the assignment: Now what? 114Maximizing your Elance success 114Becoming a Virtual Assistant 116Recognizing what a virtual assistant does 116Marketing yourself and finding work 117Micro-Tasking for Small Bucks 118Using Fiverr 118Investigating more about micro-tasking 119Chapter 9: Writing for Money 121Discovering the Writer inside You 121Cultivating important writing skills 121Grasping some important business skills 123Identifying your equipment needs 124Avoiding pitfalls in freelance writing 124Choose Your Writing Specialty 125Blogging in the blogosphere 126Providing website content 126Locating Places That Pay for Writing 129Finding websites for cold, hard cash 129Perusing freelance writing resources 130Accessing other freelance resources 131Getting Paid Multiple Times 132Chapter 10: Getting Into Self-Publishing 133Tapping into Written Self-Publishing 134Getting started 134Naming your self-publishing tools 135Considering your delivery option: Digital and physical together 136Identifying the different types of written self-publishing 137Using resources for written self-publishing 140Trying the Audio Publishing Route 140Recognizing the formats you can use 141Creating your audio product 142Seeing what equipment you need 144Considering Video Publishing 144Spelling out the ins and outs to video 145Creating your own video 146Knowing what equipment you need 147Using YouTube 148Handling Legal and Management Stuff 149Getting an ISBN 149Respecting copyright 149Stating your disclaimer 150Setting up your ecommerce for digital content 150Chapter 11: Being a Successful Affiliate 153The Lowdown on Affiliate Programs 153Eyeing the pros and cons of being an affiliate 154Knowing the types of affiliate programs 155Viewing additional resources for more info 156Starting As a Beginning Affiliate 157Step 1: Discover your interest 157Step 2: Identify your competence 158Step 3: Investigate before deciding 158Step 4: Select your marketing approach 159Step 5: Focus and be persistent 160Spotlighting the Top Affiliate Sites 161Clickbank 161Commission Junction 165Amazon 166Chapter 12: Cashing In on Advertising 169Generating Cash from Advertising: Spotlight on AdSense 170Content is king 170Keywords are queen 171Ad placement is the third consideration 172Tracking and changing your approach 174Identifying other advertising sources that pay you 175Getting Customers and Sales with Pay-Per-Click: AdWords or AdCenter 176The lowdown on PPC and how it works 177Creating your first PPC ad 180Keywords 101: Just the basics 184Part III: Marketing and Selling Your Micro-Business 187Chapter 13: Understanding Your Marketing Approach 189Identifying Your Target Market 189Understanding the importance of having a target market 190Choosing your target market: The how-to 190Researching and focusing on your target market 192Knowing where your target market is 193Identifying Your Competitors 194Positioning yourself versus your competitors 195Staying updated on your customers’ actions with competitive analysis 195Turning competitors into partners 196Doing Your Marketing Plan 197Uncovering your marketing strategy 197Remembering your mission statement 197Knowing your target market 198Analyzing your competition 198Identifying what makes you unique 198Developing a pricing strategy 199Promoting your marketing activities 199Tracking with a marketing worksheet 201Tracking your marketing costs 202Creating an action plan 203Ensuring you offer a quality product or service 203Chapter 14: Communicating with Prospective Customers 205Recognizing Your Role: You’re Already a Salesperson 205Letting you in on the big secret to salesmanship: Be convincing 206Breaking the ice — the cold call 207Tackling the cold call: Helpful tips to make it successful 209Getting additional help 211Getting referrals 212Focusing on Your Sales Message — Your Cold Call in Print 213Communicating benefits versus features 213Knowing the AIDA formula 214Communicating effectively via email 216Turning to additional resources for help in writing sales copy 218Cold Calling with a Video: Use YouTube to Your Advantage 219Chapter 15: Utilizing Search Engine Strategies to Market Your Business 223Grasping How Search Engines Work and Where You Can Search 223Getting the Lowdown on Search Engine Optimization (SEO) 225Before you start your own SEO research 227Beginning your research: Google can help 227Using other SEO tools 231Making Yourself Findable 232Using keywords 232Increasing links to your site or blog 233Getting your business listed on search engines and directories 234Chapter 16: Using Blogs and Ezines in Your Marketing Plan 237Choosing Whether You Want a Blog, Ezine, or Both 237Using Your Blog to Make Money 238Making money directly 239Making money indirectly 239Doing both 240Promoting Your Blog 240Getting listed in search engines and blog databases 241Doing a micro-tasking blast 241Using multiple blogs 242Guest blogging 242Doing some video blogging 243Doing an Ezine 244Knowing what to write about in your ezine 245Building a list 246Using bulk email service providers 252Advertising with your ezine 253Chapter 17: Marketing through Social Media 255Succeeding on Social Media: Follow Some Golden Rules 257Maximizing Your Time on Facebook 258Getting started on Facebook 258Using Facebook to build your business 259Creating a Facebook fan page 260Using Facebook advertising 260Relying on other Facebook marketing resources 261Focusing Your Attention on LinkedIn 261Setting up your profile 261Making connections 262Joining LinkedIn groups 262Marketing with Twitter 263Implementing strategies 263Relying on other Twitter resources 264Considering Other Social Media Sites 265Squidoo 265Pinterest 265Using other sites 266Chapter 18: Implementing Other Marketing Strategies 267Writing Articles to Market Your Business 267Grasping how article writing works 268Knowing where to send your article 268Pointing to profits 270Using Publicity and Press Releases 271Knowing what newsworthy means 271Drafting a press release 274Knowing where to send your press release 276Doing a radio or TV interview 277Focusing on Forum Marketing 279Eyeing the benefits of a forum 280Using forum etiquette 281Selling on forums: The how-to 282Part IV: Considering Taxes and Legal Issues 285Chapter 19: Outsourcing: Getting Others to Help You 287Defining Outsourcing and How You Can Use It in Your Business 288Identifying the Pros and Cons of Hiring an Outsourced Worker 289Seeing the upsides of using outsourced workers 289Naming the downside of using outsourced workers 290Hiring an Outsourced Worker: The How-To 292Establish clear goals, milestones, and requirements 292Focus on qualified workers versus cheap workers 293Review portfolios and samples 293Have an agreed payment plan before you hire 294Use an agency 294Consider other potential issues 294Finding Outsourced Workers 295Using general outsourcing websites 295Trying virtual assistant resources 297Tapping into micro-task sites 298Chapter 20: From Micro to Macro: Growing and Selling Your Business 301Hiring Permanent Employees 301Identifying payroll taxes 302Recognizing other employee-related costs 302Getting Your Hands on Money to Finance Your Business 303Eyeing the debt financing route 304Trying equity financing 305Considering joint ventures 305Going public 306Looking At Franchising and Dealerships 307Franchising 308Independent dealership and service marks 308Selling Your Business 309Figuring out what makes a business sell 309Sticking to the steps to sell your biz 310Looking for additional help for selling your business 312Chapter 21: Uncle Sam Comes Calling: Tax Issues for the Micro-Entrepreneur 315Understanding Net Loss and Profit 316Keeping Good Records 316Being Aware of Certain Tax Obligations 318Dishing out federal income taxes 318Handing over state and local taxes 319Submitting sales tax on products sold 319Identifying General Tax Benefits for Micro-Entrepreneurs 320Recognizing the most common tax-deductible business expenses 321Deducting home-office expenses 322Focusing on depreciation of assets 324Dealing with inventory and goods for resale 325Eating and entertaining on the job 325Putting money into a pension plan 327Setting Up Your Business 327The simplest business structure you! 327The second-simplest business structure: Sole proprietorship (the DBA) 328LLCs, corporations, and partnerships 329Reporting Your Business Activities 330Part V: The Part of Tens 333Chapter 22: Ten Beginning Micro-Entrepreneur Pitfalls (and How to Avoid ’em) 335Failing to Understand Yourself 335Listening to the Marketplace 336Checking What Others Do 336Acting without Planning 336Getting Educated 337Spending Too Much Money 338Sticking to One Specialty 338Failing to Rinse and Repeat 339Paying Attention to What Your Customers Tell You 339Anticipating Legal Issues 340Chapter 23: Ten (Plus One) Ways to Make Money Quickly 341eBay 342Elance 342Clickbank 342Fiverr 343Etsy 344About.com 344Amazon 344Gazelle 345Items Wanted Classifieds 345Cash in on the Real You 346Gigwalk 346Index 347