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Grasping the right opportunity

Guest post by: Roy Derrick

Article Overview: Would you desperately like to change career path and start up a business working from home but lack the confidence to take the necessary steps? Having your own business can offer massive rewards not least of all the opportunity to work flexible hours to suit your own needs. However it is important to grasp the right opportunity to suit your individual needs as there would be nothing worse than replacing what you may already have as a 9-5 grind with a self inflicted grind. Therefore it is important to choose the right business opportunity to suit your individual needs. This article will hopefully assist you to make the right decision.

Grasping the right opportunity

If you're thinking of setting up your own business, the chances are you're doing it to either improve your financial situation or to achieve a better lifestyle. No matter what the reasoning; there are a number of things you can do to make sure you make the right decision:

1. Take a close look at your interests and skills. If you're starting up your own business for the first time, the best place to start for ideas is by looking at what interests and what skills you have. After all, there's no point in replacing what may have been a 9 to 5 grind with a self-inflicted grind! Successful businesses are often built on peoples' passion for what was previously a leisure activity which they've turned into a money-making idea. By taking a really good look at your interests you'll be able to see if any opportunities jump out or you can search on the internet to see if anyone else has managed to turn any of your hobbies into businesses. Once you've analysed your interests, do a really good skills audit! There's no merit in cheating here. If you're a really strong people person, it would be a shame to hide behind a 100% online venture and if you're someone who likes to lie in bed late in the morning, there's no point in opening a newsagents!
2. Your lifestyle. Lifestyle is a widely used (and often abused) word in this day and age and can be used to describe anything from your diet to the choices you make when decorating your home. In a work environment, lifestyle is only too often ignored. People with young children may require a very different life: work balance to employees who are close to retirement. True wealth is, for many people having the lifestyle you want and the lifestyle you need to allow you to get the most from your time on this earth. At the end of the day, though, we all know that there's no getting away from the fact that the bills have to be paid. We can't all have the luxury of choosing a job to fit our lifestyle, which makes us inwardly and outwardly happy, which fulfils our dreams and motivates us even when we're down and tired. However, more and more people are finding financial freedom, prosperity and true wealth in the ways we've described by becoming masters (or mistresses) of their own destiny, by giving up the daily 9 to 5. Either as a result of jumping or by being pushed they choose a home based business where they can let their inner light shine through, where they can find true happiness and they can restore their work: life balance.
3. Research. Once you've identified what you like, what you're good at and what type of lifestyle you ideally want, you need to make sure there's demand for what you decide you might offer. Market research takes many different forms and can be as complicated or as simple as your business warrants. It may be that you can do your own research online and satisfy yourself from what you see in cyberspace that there is likely to be a demand for what you want to offer at the price you want to charge. On the other hand, you may need to get out and about to speak to people to ask their opinion about your planned offering and pricing. Either way the only person you'll be cheating is yourself if you don't carry out proper research to make sure that people are at least likely to buy your proposed product or service before investing the time and money to set up your business.
4. Investment and risk. Another important aspect of deciding which opportunity to grasp is how much money you have to invest in your new venture and how much risk you're prepared to take. Never forget that investment in a new business doesn't stop at the set up charges; ongoing investment of time and of money needs to be planned and shouldn't be underestimated.
5. Product or service. Deciding whether to sell a product or offer a service will depend very much upon your responses to the questions above. Each has their pros and cons and these need to be considered carefully when making your decision.
6. Franchise or independent. Whether you choose to seize a franchise opportunity or go it alone when you set up your business is a question which shouldn't be taken lightly either. A franchise has the benefits of being a well researched idea, with some proven chance of success but at the same time comes at a cost, which is often much higher than you'd imagine. Another frustrating side to franchises can be the lack of freedom to operate in the way you want to. So if you're a free spirit, with little to invest, it's unlikely that a franchise will be the answer you're looking for.
7. Physical or online. In today's society where people are arguably as comfortable having their needs satisfied by online businesses as by shop-front businesses, another big decision is whether to go online with your idea or opt for the bricks and mortar solution. The route you choose will depend upon your offering, your interests and your desired lifestyle.

So whatever business opportunity you decide to grasp, do your homework, be prepared to work hard and never give up!

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Related Forum Posts
Re: How do you stay motivated as a startup? - [quote="BuzzAroundBooks":oaw6ne0y]Hi Everyone, I was wondering if some of you could share a few tips on how you stay motivated as a new entrepreneur. For instance, what do you do when: • You lose an opportunity, sale or client • You see a competitor doing something very well • An expense costs more than you bargained for • Your hard work and efforts haven't yielded any significant results yet Thanks![/quote:oaw6ne0y] Lose an opportunity - i try to remember that there are millions of fish in the sea... i lose one.. there's still plenty of opportunity to go after more. And depending on who it is.. i feel honored to have even had the opportunity to go for it. Seeing a competitor do something well is actually a good motivator for me. It will push me to finish or upgrade one of my services or marketing campaigns. All of business is about trial and error... so if my hard work isn't seeing results, than i tweak my practices a bit until they do. Test and retest. Talk to others...see what it is that i'm doing differently.
Re: Student Business Plan competition huge prizes submit NOW! - This is a successful annual competition that will do wonders for any aspiring entrepreneur. The mentorship sounds fantastic, and the opportunity to present yourself to worthwhile investors (let alone the best investors) is a tremendous opportunity. Good luck to everyone during the judged rounds!
Another favorite quote - Said by the inimitable Edna Mode among others: "Luck favors the prepared." I can't count the number of occasions where serendipity placed the perfect opportunity close to my hands...all I had to do was reach out and touch it... but I was not prepared with the information I needed to take advantage of the opportunity. I [i:ny1pux5q]should [/i:ny1pux5q]have been, but I wasn't. Ah, the regrets of yesteryear...
Re: to franchise or not? - A licensed business opportunity is similar to a franchise; however there are some differences. This type of opportunity is typically less expensive than a franchise. Royalties are not a requirement. Also, since the license is the only purchase made, rather than an entire business model, franchise fees and marketing fees are not charged.
Re: Specific Strategies To Raise PR Levels? - Trent is right, PR is important for link building, it is harder to link to a high PR site, but if the opportunity comes in your way do it. People try to avoid low PR sites, because of the idea these sites will pull them down, but as I mentioned in other forum, those low PR sites may gain high PR in the future and then they will charge for a backlink, and then you will be sorry you missed your opportunity.


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