Looking To Start?
As our financial and cultural situations evolve, there is renewed interest in entrepreneurship and starting a business for oneself. In times such as these, additional income streams (especially secondary to existing careers or as replacements due to job loss/layoffs) are on more people’s minds.
If that is you, I suggest you also consider purchasing an existing business as a possible alternative to starting one on your own. If you already have a business, you might consider the acquisition of another business as your means of growth in addition to other more-organic measures.
In either case, an existing business can often be a quicker and cheaper vehicle for starting or growing your business.
Real Estate investors have used this model for years, but it can work equally well in other industries. Especially if you can acquire businesses or parts of a business poised for growth under better management, this type of endeavor can be a very lucrative option and generate returns more quickly than a startup or expansion on its own.
- Are there similar businesses (or associated businesses higher/lower in your value chain) available?
- Are there existing businesses serving expanded areas of service or additional markets where you have little influence?
Don’t overlook often-ignored opportunities to start or expand your business. While they are not always the answer, they can often be.
This line caught my attention over the weekend as I watched a few moments of a Harry Potter movie. It intrigued me in our current environment where audience sizes and raw numbers are interpreted as justification or evidence.
While the sentiment that “the market (or audience) is right” may be accurate in a sense, that is not evidence of truth.
Just a few hundred years ago, mankind was convinced that we were the center of the universe. Less than a hundred years ago, most were sure that travel into space was fantasy. Just a few decades ago, no one would’ve imagined phones that we carried in our pockets.
In each of these cases, it was visionaries and dreamers who worked against common conventions and presumptions of the wider group that led to our greatest advances.
Often, like Lupin who (in the book) died during the Battle of Hogwarts, those visionaries and dreamers might not live to see the manifestation of their success. Others (like Steve Jobs) get to see some or all of it.
Either way, you get to define success for where you invest your time and energy. Usually, counting the number of people who “agree with you” is not the best way to measure it.
For those checking out the book reviews, I finished The Ultimate Sales Machine by Chet Holmes. My post of notes from the book is complete. You can check it out on my blog at this link.
If you would like to read along, I will be starting Content Inc. by Joe Pulizzi soon.
Note: Book links are Amazon affiliate links.
Other links
11 Digital Marketing Trends to Grow Your Business in 2021
As digital marketing grows in the marketplace, there are more opportunities and things to learn. Marketing Insider Group highlights 11 trends to keep in mind for your business as you create (or adapt) your strategies in 2021.
Note: Chief among their list is Authentic Human Contact. As many of us grow more and more tired of automated marketing efforts targeting us via our phones and social media accounts, companies who can use digital platforms to build and foster real interactions and relationships will reap the greatest rewards. It is simply time that companies stop trying to target their market with these types of “lowest common denominator” techniques.
Why Content is So Important for SEO
Content (and good content) is one of the most effective tools to improve optimize your rankings in the search engines. Producing relevant material targeted to inform your audience remains a powerful mechanism to attract their attention. If you can add local flavor highlighting differentiators within your selected service area(s), you can produce even faster results.
For more SEO hints, you can check out this link as well.
