Solo Entrepreneurs Rule!

Hey Gang,
Need your feedback on something. The gurus say having a subscriber list is the way to learn who my visitors are and what you want to know about. What do you think? An email to you when a post is updated or a newsletter with things I don't put in this post - let me know by posting a comment.

Now for something you can use if you are still making excuses about starting your business part-time or going full out.

Book Review: Go It Alone, Do What You Do Best Let Others Do The Rest by Bruce Judson.
Publisher bio: The founder of several successful go-it-alone businesses, Bruce Judson is a Faculty Fellow at the Yale School of Management and named by Advertising Age as one of the nation's top interactive marketers.
My Recommendation: Buy It! Being a small business is hard enough without getting lost in information overload. Go It Alone is a quick read, but the information is sharp with no fluff and can be used as you go along. My copy is pretty ratty looking from highlighting and writing notes on every page I could find space. Here's a sample:
Chapter One - Overview of the New Go-It-Alone Business
From products and services, eight to eighty, if you can believe it you can do any business you want and do it Alone!
Chapter Two - Principles of Success
This is no rah-rah, let's all sing happy songs chapter. This is reality check time. Find out what a solo entrepreneur needs to succeed. Some of you are afraid to get started because you think you don't know enough. Believe me, after reading this chapter you are going to be kicking yourself that you didn't get started yesterday! Amazon.com has it new at $16.29US the last time I checked.

My favorite is Chapter 7 - Why You Don't Want to Be a Free Agent or a Franchisee. If you've been thinking about either, run and get this book. For those of you who have a habit of doing your free reading at B&N or Borders, read this chapter first! It will save you a lot of time and grief, trust me.

That's it for tonight. But I'll leave you with this:

Optimism doesn't wait on facts. It deals with prospects. Pessimism is a waste of time. Norman Cousins

Solo News

Hey Gang!
As you can see I changed the name of the blog. Quite a few of you want to start a homebased business and not on the internet. Great! I don't have all my eggs in one basket and neither should you.

I'm checking some links to make sure they work before they get uploaded. Like many of you--I'm not an internet techno whiz. Plus, I'm doing a bit of begging to a couple small business owners to get information interviews for you to get ideas in your own business. Will let you know how it's going in my next post.

Have you seen the sites with this is my online check/bank statement blah blah? Now ask yourself this: How many times has anyone asked to physically see verification of how much money you make except when getting a loan? or filing your taxes?

Not saying these folks are lying, but what makes them think you should believe them or even care? As far as I'm concerned - What they made online has no relation to what I MIGHT MAKE online! Stop with the see how much money I made shtick.

BOOK REVIEW
Title: 202 Ways to Supplement Your Retirement Income
Author Bio from Publisher: James Stephenson is an expert at helping others choose and run their dream businesses. He is author of six popular books, including 202 Things to Buy and Sell for Big Profits, 202 Service to Sell for Big Profits and Ultimate Startup Directory.
My Recommendation: Save Your Money - Book is over-priced at $19.95!
What really pissed me off about this book was the author has obviously never spoken to a real, live retiree. 90% of retirees are on a fixed income. If he had really done any serious research, telling them to buy a franchise or liquidated inventory is ridiculous.

Chapter 3 starts on page 37 - then runs another 26 pages. Get this - pages 38 to 64 is some kind of Business Description Worksheet. It doesn't take that long to write a full blown business plan. This is just a worksheet!?!

Chapter 6 begins with Everything Else You Need To Know. Here he goes into such enticing topics as Standing Behind Your Products, Cost Plus Pricing, Establishing Credit Terms and my personal favorite Inventory Management.

Remember now--this is supposed to be for someone supplementing their retirement income! He eventually strolls into the 202 Ways in Chapter 7
Don't look for any meat here either - there isn't any. Mid-page 136, he suggests being a Bed and Breakfast Host with this:

If you have a big enough house...

. I won't go into the rest but the bottom line is he refers you to a book on the subject printed 2004 in Entrepreneur Press, a B&B web site directory or two and the American Bed and Breakfast Association. Will this one chapter get you into this business? Honestly, no. What he nicely slides past anyone with $19.95 looking for real information is a real resource from real people operating a B&B. Ask an owner why don'tcha! How hard could finding one real person who runs a bed and breakfast be?

Ok, my rant for this weekend is over. Please, if you really want to supplement your income, retirement or otherwise, leave this book at the library - don't spend money on it.

Until next time, I'll leave you with this:

Always be ready to walk away from a deal

Charlie Coyle

What Motivates You!

Hey Gang.
Well it's the second week in February--have you started your small business yet? I hope so. I'm going into my 'life coach mode today. If you don't want to read this, fine--go do something else, but some of you need a reality check. You know who you are too.

Let's do it. Tell me--Do you know where you are really financially? I hear you groaning..."I know where I am. In Debt!"

Stop right there. In debt is not specific. It's whiney, pathetic and only half true. How much debt do you have? $5...$15...$50,000? Be specific.

What happens when you get specific? You have a starting point to make changes to get where it is you want to go. You can't fix what you don't know isn't working until you get real about it in the first place!

Action Principles I don't know how long this will be available so go Get it TODAY! Written by Bill FitzPatrick, this little Pdf will work on Macs and PCs. There are 100 simple little principles, when applied will help you make the changes in your life you want to see.

Next question: Where do you want to be a year from today--2007? 2008? 2010? 2050? Unless you get specific---You are going to be right here reading this in the Blogger Archives or kicking yourself at what you missed in 2006 on the Internet Archive!

What are you going to do differently? You are here because starting your business is important to you. You also will be going it alone, and that's fine too. But it's up to you...I can give you resources that have helped me and others to get going. I can point you to what seems to work for other people, even if I don't use them.

People are different. I hate sites that force videos on me and I refuse to re-visit a site that has them. But give me an MP3 and I'm all over it! You may be different---that's what makes the world turn.

Your first step is to get real about money. Where you are with it and how much you feel comfortable having. I don't care how many ebooks you read, courses you buy or seminars you go to--if you don't get real about what money means in your life right where you are today, none of it is going to work!

Freebie coaching is over. Here's a few places to get you started learning about taking control of your finances. Remember: Nothing works until you do!

Bloomberg Financials Clear, non technical stock investing advice. Yes you can start investing with less than $100 a month. Education is where you start.

REIT Everybody wants to be the next real estate tycoon! Not why I recommend this organization? I learned how to invest in real estate by NOT Debting from these folks. Check it out and you'll see what I mean.

Now for some business goodies
Anthony Blake Forum Open to anyone who wants advice about running and succeeding in your business. No blatant advertising is allowed.

MicroEnterprise Journal At $5.95 a month, it is a small price to pay for such a great journal for the 'one woman-man' show. Find out what's going on in Congress that will affect you and your business. Forewarned is forearmed!

Nichebot Excellent Keyword tool! One I ALWAYS USE to help find out what people really type at those search engines---Use it for FREE and put your business on over-drive!

That's it for today. I'll leave you with this:

"It's not enough that we do our best;
sometimes we have to do what's required."

- Winston Churchill

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I've been doing this too long

Me Again---yeah, twice in 2 days.

I found this piece of software that you may want to avoid. I have not used it either and have no intentions. Getting banned by Google or Yahoo isn't my idea of a good day.

This is a 'blog and ping' generator. It systematically posts multiple entries to multiple blogs. First you setup hundreds of blogs, none with real content on them just keywords repeated over and over again. Then load up the software with all the blog login information, make a crappy post and hit the blogs. Supposedly this will get your top rankings in Google--with a big hitch.

You will get your business website banned by Google when (not if) you get caught using this software. On the FAQ blog the programmer claims to have over 4000 phony blogs that he regularly pings every 6 hours or so. When he gets caught or his sites get banned - he just starts over again changing IP addresses.

Children can you say Slime Ball?

Here are a couple links with very good articles for those of you getting overwhelmed in starting your first internet venture:

Smart IT Consulting. Archive 16 discusses automated link exchanges. At least you will be fore-warned.

Hosting Voice . This one may be over your head if you are really new online but if you can print and save it, trust me it's something you want to keep in mind for later.

Search Engine Watch has great article s on all the search engines, large and small. Go check the archives and heed the warnings.

Ok, ranting over. Next post I'll share a few good blogs you may want to bookmark. You have bookmarked this one?!!

I'll leave you with this:

"We should not let our fears hold us back from pursuing our hopes" - John F. Kennedy