Business Start Up Ideas

These days, don't even think about starting a business if you don't have an innovative, fresh, and unique idea for bringing it to the masses. Every year over 600,000 new businesses start up and 560,000 close according to the SBA's 2007 statistics. This statistic alone should tell you that 1) there are plenty of people just like you who have the idea to start a business and 2) very few succeed. However, if you honestly believe that you have a solid concept and the know-how to make it a reality, take a few of these business start up ideas with you.

Write a Press Release

Many people overlook the usefulness of writing and publicizing a press release to announce their new business idea. There are two main purposes for writing press releases. For one, you are trying to garner media attention for your new product or service. When you publicize a press release that has a really good angle, it increases the chances that local or national media outlets will come across info about your new business idea and possibly even publish it in their paper or magazine. It's free advertising (other than the press release submission service you use) that can expose you to a wide variety of people who will be interested in your business including customers, suppliers, and even possible investors. 1888 Press Release has an affordable service that allows you to distribute to popular web media sites while PR Web has a more extensive reach to media outlets around the world.

Keep in mind that even if you don't have an actual product that needs to be sold, a press release can still be a very valuable advertising tool to let the world know about you and your business.

Organize a Focus Group

Here's a great idea for a new business start up. Invest some of your initial money into organizing a focus group. A focus group is simply a group of the type of people you plan to target with your new product or service. So as an example, if you are selling a new type of robust wine, you'd gather a group of eight to 10 serious wine drinkers into a room and ask them questions about the product. Allow them to test the wine, show them possible ads having to do with the wine, and get their suggestions on what would make them choose this wine over all others in their local liquor store. The information you get from a focus groups can be shocking, yet humbling. It will help you to put your business start up idea into the proper perspective.

Hire an Assistant

Many new business start up owners make the mistake of trying to be "superman or woman" when it comes to their new business. You can't realistically take on all of the responsibilities of running a business all by yourself, but at the same time you probably want to be careful with your expenditures. So instead of hiring employees, start off by hiring a part-time assistant. A good assistant will help keep you organized, answer calls and emails, and compose documents for you. You will have more free time to focus on your business start up ideas. You can find an assistant (usually a college student) for about seven to $10 per hour.

Get a Toll Free Number to Field Calls

When you are in the first steps of getting your business together, it is a good idea to distribute your phone number to everyone you meet who you believe might add value to your new business. But you probably don't want to give out your personal cell phone or home phone number, unless you don't mind going over your cellphone minute plan or possibly getting business calls during dinner. So instead, get an 800 number; it's convenient, safer, and you can turn it off when you don't want to hear from people. There are some companies who will set up an 800 number for you instantly online for just a couple of dollars per month. Setting up an 888 or 800 number is worth the peace of mind of knowing that you are getting all of the business related calls you need without having your personal life constantly disrupted. Put your new 800 number on all of your business cards.

Set Up an Online Presence

Regardless of what your business start up idea is, it is always worthwhile to establish an online presence. Even if you don't have every detail in place at the moment, a website helps to motivate you to grow your business idea. You don't have to make a fully developed website; just one or two pages will work in the beginning stages of your business. You can get a small website for $25 a year including hosting and a free domain.

If you will need to process sales on your website, you should start off with an online merchant account through Paypal. Paypal doesn't charge you any upfront fees; they just take a small percentage of each sale to process customer credit cards on your behalf. Paypal also has a convenient and easy to use shopping cart feature.

Get a Cellphone Merchant Account

Have you ever met up with a customer on the street who said they wanted to buy your stuff but they need to use a credit or debit card? Get a cellphone merchant account. A cellphone merchant account will allow you to process a customer's credit card number using your cellphone. All you need is to apply for a merchant account (only one company does this at the moment), receive your merchant number, and call into the service each time you have a credit card sale on the road.

Source:

SBA Statistics About New Businesses

http://www.sba.gov/advo/stats/sbfaq.pdf