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Do What You Love
Or Love What You Do!
Your customers aren't the only ones who have to love your products or services. If you don't enjoy what you're doing, your online business is practically doomed before you get started.
You must be able to generate enthusiasm for your business. Particularly in the early stages, you will be living and breathing whatever it is you've chosen to pursue. If you get sick of it, you'll put less effort into making it work.
Other than staying power, having passion for your business helps you increase sales. When you're enthusiastic about your products or services, and you truly believe what you have will benefit other people, that passion comes through in your dealings with customers-even on the Internet.
Have you ever worked with anyone who really enjoyed their job? Almost every workplace has one: the co-worker who has a smile and a greeting for everyone, who knows every customer by name. This person never comes in late, and never seems in a rush to leave. You can bet he or she doesn't watch the clock all day, and isn't exhausted after work.
When you have passion for your work, it spills over into every area of your life. You'll find yourself looking forward to getting started instead of dreading the alarm clock. At the end of the day, you'll feel refreshed and energized instead of drained and discouraged.
What if you can't do what you love? Maybe your one true passion is stamp collecting-an admittedly tough field to make a living in. However, even those with specialized interests can find some way to blend enthusiasm with work. If you can't do what you love, then love what you do! The avid stamp collector might consider creating an exclusive line of hobbyist equipment…including stamp albums.
You need at least one aspect of your business that really lights you up. If nothing else, the things you love will help you get through the things you hate-like when you find yourself working at two in the morning to complete a last-minute project, or haggling with an impossible-to-please client over payment details. Your passion will smooth out the rough patches and help you remember that yes, this really is worth it.
What gets you fired up? Take this quiz to help you zoom in and focus on your interests and skill areas, so you can discover the best business for you.
Note: For best results, answer the following questions honestly, and as completely as possible.
Gender
- Geographical location
- Type of home (apartment/house/trailer, city/suburbs/country)
- Number of children/grandchildren
- Ages of children/grandchildren
- Single/married/divorced/widowed
- Religion, political affiliation, family income range
Other pertinent information
- Companies you worked for
- Positions you held
- Organizations you volunteered for
- Community activities
- Groups you belong to
- Diplomas/degrees you earned
- Classes or specialized learning programs you completed
Any other accomplishments
- Past and present hobbies
- Personal collections
- Things you've "always wanted to do"
- You favorite books and genres
- Your favorite songs and types of music
- You favorite movies and/or television shows
- Pets past and present
Anything you do for fun
- Places you spend time in
- Places you'd like to spend time in
- Your dream vacation destinations
- Your favorite restaurants
Your favorite stores
Your friends' ages
Your friends' geographic locations
Your friends' family types, styles and sizes
Personality traits you like
Personality traits you dislike
Where your friends live
Where your friends work
LI> Activities you enjoy with your friends
Hobbies you share with your friends
Once you've determined the best area for your business, it's time to do some brainstorming and research. Find out what your industry is missing, and develop a product or service that will fill that need-this will be your niche.
Before you begin your brainstorming process, keep two things in mind. One: have a notebook and pen with you at all times to write down ideas as they occur. And two: write down any idea that occurs, no matter how far-fetched it may seem. One of your crazy ideas might just develop into a viable niche product.
With that in mind, here are some ways to discover the missing link in your business area.
Improve an existing product. Have you ever bought something with great expectations, only to find out it didn't quite meet your needs? Is there anything related to your business topic you can think of that could be improved-and do you think you can improve it? If you can make an existing product better, you can present your improvements to the existing market.
Adapt an existing product. You can "borrow" ideas from other business areas and adapt them to fit your niche. One way to do this is to determine a common problem in another market sector, find the solution that sector uses, and then adapt the solution to your target market.
Repackage an existing product. There are hundreds of reseller programs out there on the Internet. Reseller programs generally consist of e-books and e-courses on a number of subjects, which you can purchase the rights to and then resell for 100 percent profit. However, when it comes to reseller programs, many Internet marketers end up vying for a portion of a shared consumer group, since they're all selling the exact same product to the same market.
If you're interested in reseller programs, you can differentiate yourself from the crowd by combining multiple related products into a "package." For example, you could combine web templates with script applications and an e-book on Internet marketing to create a complete product set for webmasters. There are endless combination possibilities available through reseller programs.
Solve a problem. Every business area has problems. Some are inherent, and some are generated by industry changes that can leave gaps to be filled. Discover some of the unmet problems in your business area by hanging around forums, message boards and blogs related to your topic. Find out what people are talking about, and try to identify what's missing, then develop a product or service that will fill that need.
Tap a trend. What's hot in your market today? Pay attention to advertisement on television, in magazines and newspapers, and on the Internet. Keep track of what types of products are generating the most interest, and then focus on your business area to find out how you can tap in to the trend.
An example: assume beauty products are currently popular (and generally, they are). If you've decided your niche market is new moms, you could write an ebook or series of tips designed to help moms with babies or young children save time and money in their daily beauty regimes.
Profit from the public domain. Every day, more copyrights expire. Books, movies, television shows, songs, and images enter the public domain and become available for anyone to use.
Public domain content can be used in a variety of ways to generate a viable business. You can recreate public domain books, modernize or alter their contents, and sell them as e-books. You can create calendars, posters, tee shirts, and other custom products using familiar public domain images. You can use public domain movie footage and audio content to create new products.
Interested in learning more about what is considered in the public domain? Use the following links to find extensive databases of public domain content:
Project Gutenberg: www.gutenberg.org
Wikipedia's public domain catalogue: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/public_domain
E-books from Project Gutenberg: www.promo.net/pg
Still stuck for inspiration? Consider one of these home business ideas with powerful potential for success.
Pet-based products
- Wedding consultant/planner
- Life coaching
- Web design
- Dietary consultant
- Teaching toys
- Specialty teas and coffees
- Education and tutoring services
- Travel planning/home-based travel agency
- Cooking products/books for kids
- Niche exercise equipment or programs
- Specialty gift baskets
- Web community creation
- Virtual real estate sales
- Homemade candles or essential oils
- Home organization planner
- Hand-crafted jewelry
- Freelance writer
- Event planner
- Custom invitations and labels
- Virtual secretary
- Income tax preparation
- Homemade soaps or body lotions
Of course, you can always carve a further niche into one of these ideas to make it your own.
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