You’ll want to select what is called a “target audience.” This is an identifiable group of people you believe will be the best prospects for your business.

But for many small business owners, narrowing their focus to one primary group of people can be a challenging task. They want to help everyone — and very often their product or service CAN help a variety of people.

It also goes against human nature to narrow your focus in order to grow a business. Common sense seems to tell us if we want to grow our business big, we need to appeal to more people.

In reality the opposite is true. When we narrow our focus to a particular group of people we become an expert in solving their particular problems. We get to know them very well and we can develop additional products and services to fill their needs.

So how do you decide who to market to?

Following are 5 tips:

1) Think about the type of people who can MOST benefit from what you have to offer.

2) Think about who you would most enjoy helping, or working with.

3. Think about the type of people who will be easiest to reach, AND who will be most receptive to what you are selling. These will be people who KNOW they have THE problem you can solve and are LOOKING for a solution.

4) Know that just because you select a particular group of people to focus your marketing on, does NOT mean you can’t help others who may come to you. It only means you’re going to focus your proactive marketing efforts on the target group you select.

5) Lastly, don’t over-think it. Listen to your gut, pick a group you feel you can really help and proceed with the development of your marketing plan. Marketing is a fluid process. The important thing is to start. You can always refine your audience and your plan later as you learn more.

(C) 2005 Debbie LaChusa

Preparing to Export.

When you’re preparing to export your products, there are quite a few things you need to do. Firstly, make them as light as possible for the purposes of international shipping. Check that you’d be able to get the things you’re selling to the place where you plan to sell them without it becoming prohibitively expensive. Next, check if there are any customs requirements — you might find that either your own country or the target country has laws that will require you to register what you’re sending and perhaps pay extra taxes. On the other hand, selling internationally may mean that you don’t have to charge your own country’s sales tax.

Obviously most of these things don’t apply to non-physical products. One thing that you still need to be careful about, though, is currency fluctuations — how stable is the currency you plan to start trading in? If it has problems, you might want to price products in your own currency instead.

Look for Niches All Over Again.

When you’re trying to sell things to international customers, you need to make sure that there is a market in each country. Something that is very useful and in-demand in your country might just cause confusion abroad — or, likewise, something that’s only moderately popular where you are might be seen as revolutionary.

If you’re not sure, you could talk to a few local businesspeople about how they think your product would be perceived, and they may be able to suggest a suitable target market for you. As always, research is key.

Produce Internationally, Supply Internationally.

If you’re going to start exporting, you might want to consider importing as well. If you buy in bulk, you can generally get things far cheaper from developing countries, especially the ‘Asian Tiger’ countries like China, Taiwan, Indonesia and South Korea. Give it a try — you could be delighted to find that they can make your product for a fraction of what it costs you, and all you have to do is a little quality control.

I understand that this approach is particularly useful for clothing products, which are labour-intensive yet can be produced cheaply and well by these countries. Note that you’re unlikely to be exploiting anyone — the country you’re importing from simply has a lower cost of living. To be extra sure, shy away from offers of having things made in developing countries or dictatorships.

Try to Be Culturally Sensitive.

When you’re dealing with international customers, you need to take their culture into consideration. In some countries everyone knows English, while in others they would be offended if you didn’t get your materials translated. For all you know, the name of your product might be a rude word in some language or another, or the marketing might be focusing on benefits that people from some countries are unlikely to respond to.

This is one of the reasons why you’re best off selling to countries that you have some experience with. Ideally, you should have the ability to speak the language, as well as having spent some time in the country. Failing that, read as many guides as you can and see if you can meet with people of that nationality socially.

Note that you should be especially careful about dealing with countries where there is some history or possibility of political unrest, as you can lose a lot this way.

You Are Not a Jetsetter.

Finally, remember that it’s a bad idea to start flying around the world to pitch your products or meet your customers, especially in the age of the Internet when almost everything can be done from your home. Did you really get into home business to throw away your profits on expensive flights and hotels? Exactly.

The growth of the Internet has led to an explosion of home based Internet businesses using affiliate marketing as a way to make money. Home based business built on affiliate marketing means that you set up a website and redirect the traffic to an affiliate that pays you each time a customer makes a purchase by clicking through your website. This is an example of a free home based Internet business because it doesn’t cost anything to sign up with other businesses as one of their affiliates.

However, there is a lot more to just setting up a website to make money. Home based businesses operating on the Internet cannot just expect the sites to make money without some extra work. The cost of an Internet based business is not quite free, because you do have to pay for the domain name and the web hosting, but when you compare it to the cost of setting up a bricks and mortar business, then you might consider it almost a free home based Internet business.

In order to make money through affiliate marketing you do have to become knowledgeable about how it works. Choosing onine merchants that people want to buy from will help you make money. Home based business owners with small internet businesses can get the information they need about operating a free home based Internet business by reading all the available information on affiliate marketing. The main thing is to choose a merchant that sells products consumers want.

To make money, home based business owners need to search the Internet to find the online merchants that rank highly in the search engines. Study the websites that have links to affiliates and find out how you can take advantage of a free home based Internet business. Think about what is hot in the market right now and set about finding merchants that offer quality products like these. Once you do this and have your website up and running, you will be well on your way. You do have to keep working at least a few hours each day to make money. Home based business using the Internet also means you have to be constantly on the lookout for new products and ideas.

If you want to make money, home based business on the internet is a low cost and effective way to do it.

Two of the fear factors mentioned above are partially behind why people choose to ignore the Ebay Business Opportunity. Not knowing how to run a business and worry about start up costs can be put to the back of your mind right now if you crave financial freedom. This is definitely a win win situation if you want it to be.

There are no large amounts of money to hand over to start up and as for knowledge – well you learn as you go along. This is exactly how other Ebay entrepreneurs began and are still reaping in the rewards
The Ebay Business Opportunity is not just for the hungry who have decided enough is enough and wants out of the rat race – it is also a second income for many people on a budget.

Remember the Ebay Business Opportunity is a risk free venture so what are you waiting for – all that is required from you is sheer determination and a little time. Any knowledge on how to run your Ebay business can be found through the Ebay support system or from fellow Ebayers. Beginners gather information by visiting the forums. You will find many Ebay entrepreneurs willing to share what they know with you but remember if you are competition for them then you may not get the help you need. The internet is larger than life so what you need to know can be found elsewhere online.

If you are new to the Ebay Business Opportunity and money is your biggest worry then fret not – have a trial run selling second hand goods that you may have stored in the loft, attic or garage. What you see as trash will bring in cash. So before you go discarding any old items for the refuse man think on how it may be of use to someone else.

The cost to list items on Ebay can vary thus depending on the size of the item you are selling – for example if it be a car then expect to pay more than that of a salt and pepper set. Your dummy run at selling for the first time can include book sales even an e-book on a hobby of yours – the list is endless as to what you can sell. The Ebay Business Opportunity will have restrictions and guidelines on certain articles or items they allow to be sold on the auctions – as in i.e. offensive materials etc.

What other business besides the Ebay Business Opportunity gives you the chance to change the way you live without taking away your second income if you are already holding down a couple of jobs to make ends meet.

So what can you do to build a business which focuses outwardly on the customer, and not inwardly on the business?

Build Passion and Commitment

The first building block is passion and commitment. This is the very foundation stone of a customer focused business. Without passion and commitment the structure you will build above will be weak and prone to collapse at the first sign of stress.

The passion and commitment has to come from you and your staff. All of you have to totally believe in the concept of the customer being the centre of everything you do. From the moment you step into work everyone has to do whatever it takes to satisfy the customer.

As the key person in the business what can you do to build passion and commitment? Lead from the front and set an example. Keep the concept at the top of the agenda and demonstrate it in everything you do. Keep talking about it. Celebrate all the great examples of putting the customer totally in focus.

Build Processes Around Your Customer Not The Business

All great businesses have clearly laid down processes on how to get things done. Whether you have a formal Process Manual or a Quick Reference Guide, which sets out your processes, a clear procedure provides confidence and clarity for both your staff and the customer.

But don’t just build your processes around making things easier for you, build them to make things easier for the customer. Look at every step in the process and ask yourself, “Can we do something to make it even easier for the customer to do business with us?”Are there steps which can be refined or even eliminated all together? Be inquisitive, bold and challenging!

Build a Relationship

Building a relationship with your customer is at the very heart of a customer focused model. Build a strong, firm relationship and you will have a customer for life. The basis of relationship building is A.B.C. – Always Be Communicating. Here are some ideas on building an enduring and profitable relationship through ABC:

• Make a point to periodically call your customers. Set up a diary system to provide you with a regular reminder or prompt. Call them even if you have nothing sell! A strange concept perhaps but you never know what will come out of the conversation

• Issue quarterly newsletters telling them about your latest products, what you have planned for the future, a customer profile, news about new employees. Find anything which would be of interest and at the same time binding both of you closer together

• Make it a point during any conversation to find out something about the business you didn’t know before. File away any interesting fact and think how you can use it in the future. Imagine how powerful it would be when you ask how the idea they mentioned in your last conversation was going!

• Do memorable things. Send birthday or anniversary cards to your key contact, a simple thank you note for doing business with us, send articles or newspaper cuttings, which you think will be of interest to them

Build a Culture of ‘Wanting To Know’

If you are to build a reputation for being customer focused you should be making an effort to find out on a regular basis what they want from you. This can be achieved by either an informal phone call or a more formal survey via mail or e-mail. Find out what they like about your business, what they don’t like and what changes they would like to see.

Having gathered together all the information, suggestions and ideas, set out an action plan to follow up. Once you have acted upon the workable suggestions, get in touch with the customers again and tell them what you have done in response to their comments. This will demonstrate that you have taken their ideas seriously and really care about what they think. Powerful stuff!

Being customer focused can be very rewarding and help in building a great business. Which of these steps are you going to put into practice today? Remember this – let the customer be your focus and you will become their focus.

One thing that we see over and over again in resumes is an overload of information. I guess there are many resume writers that think quantity will impress people over quality. They are dead wrong. Employers are busy people, and don’t have all day to dig through a mountain of information. So keep it informative, but to the point. Don’t add things in there that aren’t relevant to the job. In other words, don’t list that you like pets when you’re applying for a job as a web designer. In keeping with the “to the point” rule, keep your resume to one page. They shouldn’t have to flip a page over to see what they are looking for. This is a waste of their time.

So what should you include on your resume?

A) Your name and other information on how to reach you. It’s kind of pointless handing in a resume if they can’t get back to you.

B) Your Objective. There are quite often other positions to fill, so make sure to specify what you are applying for.

C) Training and Education. List your training and education with the most recent being on top. List only what is related to the job. Make sure to list any side classes you took that could be related to the job.

D) Experience. Make sure once again that you are showing quality, and not quantity. If you are really weak in the experience area, still be careful as to not make it seem like you are just trying to fill in some space.

Although you want to keep a resume to one page, you must not do so by using a font that is difficult to read because it is too small. I find that a font size of 12 or so does the trick. Anything smaller than a point size of 11 is pushing it, and might make it hard to read. This is especially the case if the employer is older. One test to see if the font is too small is to ask a parent to read it. If they have to squint or move the resume back and forth until they find a good reading distance, you might have something that is challenging to read. Fonts that you might want to use are Times New Roman, Arial, Garamond, Bookman, or Helvetica. These are easier to read, and can be found pretty much on any computer. Don’t bother with crazy script fonts or other fun looking fonts. You want to make sure your resume reflects professionalism and structure, not a casual direction or feel.

Make sure that your resume has room to breathe. Don’t clutter and squeeze things in just to fit them in. Adding some space creates a nice visual organization that breaks down the page into more manageable pockets of information, and makes it easier for an employer to find what they are looking for. It’s very hard scanning through information when it’s all squished together. So keep it nicely spaced.

When you are ready to finally print this resume, make sure not to get cheap on the paper it’s printed on, or the way it is printed. Use a laser printer when printing your resume up, and make sure it’s on crisp thicker stock paper that doesn’t have any blemishes or folds. Make sure to have at least 20lb stock. Outputting to a laser printer will ensure the darkest text, and that it won’t bleed or smear. Inkjets just don’t cut it for this task.

In the end, make sure you keep it simple and to the point. Don’t add what you don’t need to for the sake of making you look busy or important. Just add what is necessary to reflect the important aspects that will make yourself a good fit for that company. Give the resume room to breathe, and don’t skimp out on the printing process. Follow these simple guidelines, and you’ll be well on your way creating to a rock solid resume, and a strong impression on employers as well.

The first time you hear about a something new to use or adapt, your mind races forward, especially if the testimonials are realistic and seem to relate to what you are doing.

To illustrate, picture that ad salesperson standing right there in your business.
Temptation is staring you in the face. “It’s a great deal,” they tell you. Do you go for it or not?

Here are three sets of realistic questions to ask yourself as you evaluate the proposal:

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1. Take a step to the side and consider this. Is your current advertising already covering the basics? Is this new temptation part of your basic advertising plan or does it fall in the “next level” category? Remember that you’ve got to do the basics first, just as you have to open a showroom before you can decorate it. So make sure you are doing the basics well before you move to the next level.

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2. Will the new idea or technique stand on its own as a profit generator? Can the new idea or technique be integrated into your basic advertising thrust so it can compliment what you are already doing? Will it contribute to building a cumulative advertising effect?

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3. Can you afford it? Is your advertising budget already strained? Will this advertising method pay for itself? Or will it break the bank?

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Background: The informed small business owner keeps good records of all promotions and advertising. You want to develop enough information to figure out what works and what doesn’t. It’s called learning from your experiences of being in the trenches.

Temptation stares you in the face at the least expected times. Temptation can come from hearing or reading about super results others have gotten with their advertising.

Often it appears when a salesperson tells you about the “great deal” they are offering. Temptation can come from looking forward to how great it would be if you could get similar results. It always sounds so easy.

Is temptation worth listening to? By giving yourself honest answers to the three questions above, you’ll know if it’s time to move ahead to the next level and succumb to your latest advertising temptations.

© 2006 Jon Sinish

For example, in July 1996, the president and owner of Brookville Mining Equipment Corporation, Dalph McNeil, faced every business owner’s nightmare when the nearby creek crested at eight feet after a 24-hour downpour.

Expensive new machinery was covered in mud and a powerful current of water had swept away inventory and collapsed a 30-foot section of wall. The flood caused nearly $1.6 million in damages and losses.

After receiving a Small Business Administration (SBA) disaster loan, McNeil relocated his plant away from the floodplain and asked one of his employees to take on the additional responsibility of “safety coordinator.”

Besides doing quality assurance and control, the safety coordinator, according to McNeil, “runs monthly meetings with representatives of the company, making sure all the employees understand the early warning and evacuation plans, and the emergency procedures.”

“You can never be too prepared, as a small-business owner, for disaster,” McNeil remarked. “It’s something you don’t want to think about. How do you carry on business as usual, as quickly as possible, after a disaster? You have to be a bit of a fatalist, thinking in terms of the worst-case scenario for your business.” And while he hopes he never has to use the emergency plans he has in place, McNeil says he is now ready for anything.

Experts say preparedness starts with developing such an emergency action plan that is tailored to the company’s needs and addresses several disaster scenarios. The plan should include a timetable, budget, assignment of responsibility, prevention and mitigation steps to be completed, and a list of risks and hazards to the business. It’s also a good idea to encourage employee involvement in the process.

A communications strategy is a key post-disaster recovery strategy. Phone numbers and e-mail addresses for your insurance carrier, suppliers, creditors, employees and customers, the local media, utility companies, and the appropriate emergency response and recovery agencies should be updated regularly.

This list should be maintained by a key employee and a backup person. Appoint a spokesperson to get the word out that your business is still open to dispel rumors of business failure.

Making sure your insurance coverage is adequate is another issue. According to the Insurance Information Institute, a recently released survey conducted for the National Hurricane Survival Initiative (done by Mason-Dixon Polling & Research) reports that one in three residents in hurricane-vulnerable states said it had been three years or more since they reviewed their insurance coverage.

When shopping for insurance, think about property damage and the loss of revenue and extra expenses that occur when business is halted by a disaster. Business interruption insurance covers necessary expenses that occur while the business is shut down. Many business owners don’t realize that basic hazard insurance does not cover flood damage. Additional purchased flood insurance is essential; most of the over $10 billion in disaster loans made by the SBA after last year’s Gulf Coast hurricanes were for flood damages.

The National Flood Insurance program provides coverage to property owners. For more information, visit the Web site at www.floodsmart.gov. Flood insurance must be purchased 30 days before the disaster hits to be in effect.

The word “chronograph” is derived from the Greek words for time and writing (“chronos” and “graph”). A chronograph watch is a type of watch that can act as a stop watch, measuring intervals of time when the wearer presses pushers on either side of the crown.

Types of Chronograph Watches

A watch’s primary purpose is to tell time; often this is done through visual demonstration of minute and hour hands. Sometimes a watch will also display the date. Anything beyond this information is called a “complication”. The following are chronograph watches that feature special, enhanced or extra complications.

While all chronographs can track elapsed time (seconds, minutes and – on some models – even hours passed), as well as time of day, there are some chronographs that can also record fractions of the second. This is achieved by use of a special dial or a scale at the very edge of the watch’s dial. A digital chronograph is able to read the 1/100 of a second, quartz chronograph – 1/10 of a second, and the mechanical – 1/5 of a second.

In order to restart the stopwatch feature on most chronograph mens watches, they must first be reset. “Flyback chronographs” are chronograph watches that can be restarted while still running, (without having to go through the usual series of presses).

Calendar watches display the day, month and year, sequentially, but must be reset five times during the year, (on the first day of March, May, July, October and December), as well as on leap years. A perpetual calendar watch is based on the Julian calendar (as opposed to the Gregorian calendar upon which that most of us rely). This calendar makes allowances for leap years and therefore only need to be corrected three times in 400 years!

Also called “striking watches”, repeaters were first created before the advent of electricity, allowing people to check the time even when it was not possible to flip a light switch or read an illuminated dial. These watches convey the time by striking a sound, much the same as a bell tower. Minute repeaters are by far one of the most complicated and intricate watch styles available, and frequently range from tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars. A very high-quality exception to this rule is the Citizen Calibre 9000. Available at KenmarWatches.com, the Citizen Watch Calibre 9000 offers perpetual calendar, dual time, and minute repeater complications for well under $400.

Other popular watch complications include moon phase displays and multiple time zones. Some watches have panels that show the inner workings of the watch, or other more obscure and specialized complications.

A Final Chime-In About Chronographs

Although chronograph styles appear to be ubiquitous to almost every watch collection in the world, names like Accutron, Bulova, Casio, Citizen, Hamilton, Invicta, Pulsar, Seiko, Technomarine, Tissot, Torgoen, Zodiac are known for their quality and precision. Recent entries, at reasonable prices, include watches by Nike, Adidas, Oakley and Nautica.

It is important to note that a chronograph is different than a chronometer, which is a high-precision watch that contains movements that have passed testing by the Contrôle Officiel Suisse de Chronomètres (COSC), an agency of the Swiss government.

When you Buy Watches online, be sure to check size, warranty information, shipping guarantee and their return policy.