A good name for the business

I am spending a great deal of time at the moment thinking about a new business I want to start up. I know what the main part of this is and am itching to get going. It has been going around my mind for quite a time now. Lately though I have been trying to trap it on paper. This is always an important step. Whatever is in my head looks kinda different when I try to organise it.

For the last couple of days I have been tussling with a very big problem that must be overcome before I can move on. The business needs a name. Now if it was a purely offline business this would be fairly simple. However, it’s major part is going to be online. This means that I need a suitable domain name. This is turning out to be an enormous obstacle. It seems that anything that seems to be ideal is already taken. So I am exploring the not so ideal (and the downright stupid!). It needs to be a dot com ending as far as I am concerned because if people try to commit to memory they will try dot com before anything else and I don’t want my traffic going to others. Also there is the question on whether to hyphenate or not to hyphenate. Again – people are likely to forget the hyphens.

The English language has so many words which mean almost the same as one another that you’d think there would be plenty of alternatives. What I find though is that the word(s) I want cannot be substituted.

The rest of the business planning seems to be falling quite neatly into place. There are so many segments to be thought out in order to produce some sort of cohesive whole. I believe it is important to have everything in place in order to start the business. If I don’t know what I am doing and where I am headed there is no way that my clients/customers will.

It is absolutely essential to have plans in place before the start and then it is just a case of following through and filling out all the areas. On the other hand, the planning should not be so detailed that it prevents progress. You have to get going before perfection is reached because that would be never.

Embracing Knowledge

You often hear it said that knowledge doubles every eighteen months. This comes from Moore’s Law which was applied to the microchip and computers. However, I believe that is true of an individual’s knowledge and can be overwhelming. Let me explain.

The more I learn. The more I investigate. The more I know. The more openings there are to investigate and learn about. Now I know that given time I can cope with the investigating and the learning and I will have more knowledge. However, the drawback is “time”. I only have 24 hours in the day and some of that is detailed for sleep and food.

I love working at my computer. I produce content for my websites and I like to keep up several blogs. Also it is great to join in discussions on various forums and to comment on favourite blogs. Oh and drop in on MySpace and Facebook.

The more I learn about all this; the more I want to learn So now I spend most days being overwhelmed by what I set myself. I end most days completely dissatisfied with my achievements.

Obviously the answer is to stay focussed on the projects in hand at the time. Easier said than done though. It seems to me that every little step I want to take to improve a web page entails learning something new. Now that in itself is fine. That knowledge though will on one hand take longer and be more involved than at first glance. It will also lead me down at least two other paths I knew nothing about.

OK that was a bit of a rant. Let’s look at the advantages. When people come to me for help and advice I tend to know what they are asking about even if I don’t necessarily understand the whole procedure. Also if I know something about a topic I seem then to be able to pick up little bits here and there that I would have missed had I not had some knowledge of it.

You should never be put off by a subject which seems to be beyond your abilities. Get into it gradually, or throw yourself in at the deep end. Just grab knowledge for the sake of it. Later it will come together like a jigsaw puzzle when you have all the pieces.

Whatever the problem, it is answered somewhere on the internet. These are great days for learning. The whole world is your University. Gosh when I was studying I only had books (if I could get hold of them).

What is InterNetwork Marketing?

What is InterNetwork Marketing? Well I think it first of all breaks down into several parts. Then it is about how it comes together. Confused? Never mind. Follow on.

First the break down into the individual parts:

Marketing via a network. Now I have phrased it in this manner because you will be reading something else into the words otherwise. In order to market an item you must build a network. This network will be of individual people, small businesses, large corporations. Whatever the size you need a network. Avoid being reliant upon one outlet. Never put all your eggs in one basket.

Marketing via the internet. This is where people tend to believe that all you have to do is put up a web page and hey presto instant riches. Wrong. The internet is a place where you can market your goods and services. However, it needs working at just the same as offline. There are differences of course. The internet is global and it works for you 24/7.

Marketing via offline methods. This you can do locally. Usually something physical must be present such as a store outlet, hard copy advertising or links to other distributors.

These three methods of marketing all work extremely well. Different people prefer different methods for various reasons. In this day and age though I believe that if you use all methods of marketing you will build a good, strong business bringing in multiple income streams.

So what did I mean by bringing the parts together? Marketing is all about YOU. It is YOU that you need to market. You will sell various goods and services but the product that you market is YOU. Think about it. If you have choice how do you decide where to buy?

If you need to buy groceries perhaps you immediately think of Wal-Mart. This won’t be just because it is the cheapest – rather that you know exactly what you are getting for your money. If you are in a strange town and you need a quick lunch you look for a MacDonald’s. Why? Because you know that you will get exactly the same whichever town you are in.

The names are brands. YOU are your brand. Build your business in a way that inspires trust. Market yourself so that people will turn to you.

I've been working offline

I hadn't realised that so much time had passed since I was last on here. I've been very busy with one of my offline businesses which needed my physical input. I love the buzz of interacting with clients face to face.

So why don't I do this all the time? Well the biggest reason, I suppose, is that if you are hands on then you are paid for your time. This, of course, limits me for the amount of income that can be generated by the time available and my own stamina. So although I enjoy the contact and the very real satisfaction of helping people, I do feel the need to have other methods of providing income.

There is much more security when the forms of business are diversified. Also I find that my attention is maintained when I can become thoroughly involved in a project which I work on fully until that part of it is complete. By moving on to another task I find that it is almost like taking time off. You know what they say: "A change is as good as a rest". I find that this is absolutely correct.

As you know, I have in place a range of income generating businesses. However, I am never satisfied and love to be putting in place further income streams. How about you?