However, there is a whole other market out there, and you do not want to overlook it. There are people all around you, nearby and around the world, who may be looking for exactly the product you sell. But they may not be able to come hear you speak in person. Perhaps they cannot arrange their schedules to match the time when you will be appearing at a conference, but they still have a need for your product.

This is where the magic of the digital age can be beneficial for both of you. Through today’s technology, they can find your web site; read about your courses, training sessions, or other valuable information, and buy from you any time of the day or night.

You do not have to be present to demonstrate or sell your product. You just have to describe it; tell the visitors to your site how it can help them; and make sure you have shopping cart technology in place to process their orders.

Today’s society has come to rely on instant gratification. If the visitor decides he or she wants your product, and they are ready to buy, it is imperative that your site be ready to allow them to do so.

It is important that your site allows them to enter their name and email address, along with any other information you need to collect, then accept their payment, whether credit card or PayPal, and to immediately deliver that product to them.

The delivery should come in the form of an immediate download link, along with a download link that is emailed to them. If some glitch happens between the time that they place the order, and the point when they should see the immediate download link, the link that is emailed to them acts as a back-up to ensure they get the product.

In order to maintain a good business relationship with your customers, it is essential that they receive their purchase as quickly as possible. That is one reason digital information products are so popular. Customers see it now, and want it now. The progress in technology allows them to download an audio file, an e-book or any other .pdf file, as soon as the system verifies the charge to their credit card or bank account.

In addition, digital information products can be an easy, cost-effective way to market your business on a shoestring. Besides your computer and an internet connection, the only things are a word processing program that will convert your documents to a .pdf file, and a program which will record your voice. These can all be obtained as open source.

After you have written your e-books, training manuals or workbooks, upload them, as well as any audio files you have created, to your server or shopping cart system, and you are in business.

The Shoestring Business Coach™ offers training and information products that can easily be downloaded at your convenience. More details on these products will be uploaded shortly, and this page will be updated to reflect those links.

- Teresa Beeman -
Shoestring Business Coach™

When I give you Recommended Resources, you can rest assured that I have either trained with these people myself, or found enough value in their products to tell you about them.

Mike Stelzner is no exception. Mike is known around the world as the ultimate expert in writing white papers. I call him “Mr. White Paper.”

In the past few months, I have attended two of Michael’s training events – the White Paper Success Summit 2009 and the Social Media Success Summit 2009. He put together two fantastic Summits with outstanding presenters. The knowledge I gained from attending these online events was priceless.

Now he’s doing it again, only this time it will be in person. Unfortunately, I will not be able to attend because it’s happening the week of my knee surgery.

However, there is still time for you to take advantage of his Boot Camp in San Diego, coming up in just a few weeks.

If you want to discover how to best grow your business in this down economy, generate tons of leads or take the lead in a crowded market, you won’t want to miss this live event:

White Paper Boot Camp, San Diego: Friday August 7th at the Hyatt Regency Mission Bay Resort, led by Michael A. Stelzner, author of Writing White papers.

Frost & Sullivan and InformationWeek agree, white papers are the most effective marketing tools in a down economy. Creating the right white paper and applying the right marketing tactics will change the course of your business.

Two examples:

VistaPrint collected 5,000 leads and closed 500 sales—in just 60 days!

“One day with Michael Stelzner could make your business wealthy,” says Ryan Malone, vice president of marketing and business development at Apani. “Following Stelzner’s exact process tripled our number of qualified leads—outperforming all of our other marketing combined.”

At White Paper Boot Camp, San Diego, you’ll discover:

* How to painlessly create great white papers that will bring endless leads (Michael will walk you, step-by-step, through the entire process)

* Proven strategies to attract people to your white papers (no guessing… you’ll know precisely what to do to attract tons of prospects, based on real case examples)

* Marketing tactics to transform your papers into opportunity magnets, helping you achieve success (Michael will reveal all the latest tactics, including using social media to promote white papers)

See a special video.

Boot Camp Instructor:

MarketingSherpa calls Michael the “Grandfather of White Papers.”

In addition to authoring the bestselling book Writing White Papers (in its 4th printing), Michael has written more than 130 white papers for many of the world’s most recognized companies, including Microsoft, Dow Jones, FedEx, LinkedIn, Motorola, Monster, Citrix, Hewlett-Packard and SAP.

Michael has also trained large corporations such as Qualcomm and VeriSign, and has presented at national conventions for MarketingSherpa, MarketingProfs and STC.

Here’s what an attendee at a prior boot camp has to say: “Michael Stelzner gets a standing ovation. He really knows white papers, and hardly stopped for air. He delivered non-stop, valuable information interspersed with exercises and still had plenty of time for audience questions.” – Patsi Krakoff

This special event includes all the latest strategies, tactics and techniques for creating and marketing ultra-compelling white papers—the kind that will transform your business.

This event is for you if you want to achieve any of the following objectives:

* Increase the flow of quality leads to your business,
* Establish your business as a leader in your space,
* Create a virtual sales tool that actively sells “under the radar”
by educating prospects, and/or
* Grow your prospect list or newsletter subscribers

Visit here for more details.

WHAT: A full day of hands-on white paper writing and marketing training
WHEN: Friday, August 7th, 2009

WHERE: In San Diego at the beautiful Hyatt Regency Mission Bay Spa and Marina

HOW MUCH: Early Bird Discount: Save $200! (Click here for the price.)

I hope you’ll grab one of the remaining seats before they’re gone.

Sincerely,

Teresa Beeman
Shoestring Business Coach™

P.S. Business professionals just like you are coming from all parts of the U.S., including North Carolina, Hawaii, Virginia, Texas, Florida and New York. Many are staying a few extra days and making a vacation out this unique opportunity.

Go here to discover how this can transform your business.

P.P.S. As a way of saying “thanks” for checking out the Boot Camp, there’s a gift waiting for you entitled“Making Your White Paper Stand Out From the Crowd” (valued at $39).

Go get it here.

You could even see it in the eyes of the participants of that show. While it was a chance to get their big break, they also knew that it was only a TV program.

Yet, when interviewed at the end of the show, after being rather rudely dismissed, some of them just couldn’t quite grasp the reality of what had just happened to them.

Some uttered the famous “Just wait. You haven’t heard the last of me. I’ll show ‘em!”

Some laughed it off. But I couldn’t help wondering if they weren’t a little hurt. They had apparently showed some promise; otherwise, I doubt they’d have been picked for the show in the first place.

But firing a boss is a different thing altogether.

Remember that old song “Take This Job and Shove It”? The song was a hit in 1977 for a country singer named Johnny Paycheck, and was probably the first time on record that somebody had publicly fired their boss. The idea caught on, and pretty soon lots of people could be heard saying they wanted to terminate their employer.

While the concept of self-employment wasn’t as popular in the late ’70’s as it is today, the desire to work for oneself, and have a home-based business is probably ages old. Everyone has some degree of yearning to be free from the confines of being a slave to someone else’s clock.

Think about your own employment status. How many times have you racked your brain, wishing you could come up with just one idea that would allow you to fire your boss? It happens to us all, at one time or another.

So how do you fire your boss? My suggestion would be “very carefully”. Be sure you don’t burn any bridges, and that you have a well-thought-out plan for making that break.

I’ve come up with some unbreakable rules for becoming your own boss, being self-employed, or starting a home-based business – whatever term you want to apply to it.

Rule #1- Get a plan

If you have a knee-jerk reaction, and quit your job on the spur of the moment, you’d better have money in the bank to live on, or have been working on a plan of action just in case you needed it.

If you know that you want to be out the door as soon as possible, try to develop an exit strategy at least six months prior to actually leaving.

Rule #2 – Do your research

Know exactly what you’ll have to do to replace basic essentials that were probably a part of your employment.

What will you do about medical insurance and retirement plans? You may be able to keep your insurance under COBRA, but can you afford the premiums?

I know of one instance where a man changed jobs, but had to pass a probationary period before getting insurance at his new job (which, by the way, is becoming more and more the standard).

He and his wife felt they simply could not afford to be without medical coverage for six months, so they opted for COBRA. The cost was a whopping $824 per month. That’s almost $5,000 for the six months!

And when you become self-employed, the rules for retirement accounts change. Be sure to find out what you’re entitled to, and then figure out what you can afford.

Making money now, but having no retirement money ten years from now could put you in some undesireable circumstances.

Rule #3 – Remember your obligations

Don’t forget about family members who are depending on you. Mortgages still have to be paid. You’ll still need utilities. Groceries still have to be bought.

If you’re married, your spouse may make enough to carry you through until you get your business going. But if you’re already just scraping by on two incomes, quitting your job could put you in more of a bind.

And don’t forget about the fact that lending institutions sometimes take a dim view of the self-employed unless you’ve been in business for yourself for a long time.

If you’re single, then you’ll just have to decide what will affect you, and what you can live with or without.

In the end, it’s up to you to go over the facts of the situation, and make the decision. If you’ve covered all your bases, and are really ready to make that break, then go for it. And tell your boss you’re not working there anymore.

-Teresa Beeman -
Shoestring Business Coach™

There are literally countless other businesses you can start with little or no money. Read the list, and see what else you can come up with.

And don’t forget to send for “7 Tips for Starting a Home-Based Business on a Shoestring”. It can help you get started toward owning your own business.

• Business Writer
• Web Designer
• Consultant
• Pet Sitter
• House Sitter
• Professional Organizer
• Life Coach
• Sales Representatives
• Personal Shopper
• Tutor
• eBay seller
• Researcher
• Transcription Services
• Virtual Assistant
• Cleaning Services
• Lawn Care
• Wedding Consultant
• Professional Planner
• Sewing and Alterations
• Internet Marketing
• Property Locator

See something that interests you? Or maybe there’s something listed that gave you another idea. Give your imagination free-rein, and you might come up with the very thing that will be perfect for you to start your own business.

-Teresa Beeman -
Shoestring Business Coach™

When you first start out, everybody you encounter tries to persuade you that they are an expert in their field.

They may try to sell you on the idea of doing what they do to make money. But it may mean that person is going to make money long before you see an income from your efforts.

This can be anything from multi-level marketing to promoting a product. We all know that list is endless. Every product that comes along is the best thing since indoor plumbing.

You can become the next representative for the product that’s going to grow hair, rejuvenate you and make you look young again, or fill you with vim, vigor and vitality.

But have you considered there might be a better, more profitable, more enjoyable way to start a business on a shoestring?
Some people get caught up in the excitement of the moment, and go way out in left field, when the answers are probably a little closer to home.

Let me tell you a true story.

A friend of mine has had a lot of jobs – everything from selling real estate to being a professional researcher. She had worked in offices, cleaned offices, and run other people’s offices. For a variety of reasons, she found herself burned out, worn out, and out of work. She was determined not to be anyone else’s employee again. She wanted to be her own boss, and have her own business.

Great! I suggested she read my “7 Tips for Starting a Home-Based Business on a Shoestring”, and then we’d talk.

So she got the tips – and that was all she did. Instead of going about it in a systematic way, analyzing what she knew, and what she already had that could be used to start a business, she suddenly came up with a bright idea. She was going to sell stilts! Seriously. This is not a joke. She told me she was going to sell Baby Boomer toys, and that stilts were the perfect thing.

She knew someone who had a wood-working business. This person had made a comment about all the scraps he had left over, and she wanted to have him cut the scraps into stilts.

When I asked her how she was going to manage a web site that sold the stilts, package them, ship them, and process payments, she didn’t have an answer. When I asked what her back-up plan would be if the man had no more scraps, she didn’t know.

So I asked if she had made a list of all the pros and cons of having only one product to sell. No, she hadn’t done that either.

When I asked if she had done any research to see what kind of competition she would have, she said no. When I pointed out that it could take some time to market the product then see sales coming in, and asked if she had a back-up plan for income, she said I was getting too technical.

When I asked if she had read the “7 Tips for Starting a Home-Based Business on a Shoestring”, well, no, she hadn’t done that either. She was just so excited to have come up with an idea, that she was ready to run with it, blinders and all.

I told her she was making a lot of work for herself, and truthfully, I didn’t want to work that hard. Being in business for oneself doesn’t have to mean hard physical labor.

Now if that’s your idea of a great business, go ahead. You can have my part. But it’s not for me. I’m in line for a knee replacement, and that doesn’t sound like my idea of a good time.

So what are some good ideas for shoestring businesses? Truly, it does depend on your interests, skills and abilities. But the list is endless. With today’s technology and a little investigation, you could have a business up and running in no time.

You can find a starter list under the Business Tips section of this site. Look it over, then see what you can add to it.

If you come up with anything you need some help with, drop me a line through the Contact page.

And if you can add to the list, let me know that, too. If you suggest an idea that I can put on the list, I’ll have something special for you.

- Teresa Beeman -
Shoestring Business Coach™

The number of people who would like to own their own business is increasing every day. Workers want more control over their lives, and are tired of being slaves to someone else’s clock.

But most of these men and women don’t have a clue about what they can do to replace their income. Yes, they would like to be their own bosses, but they don’t know where to start; don’t have any idea about how to run a business; or don’t really know what they’re interested in.

Totally replacing one’s income can seem overwhelming, especially if you don’t have any knowledge about the process, or what to do once you get started.

Even worse than being dissatisfied with a job is the prospect of being a victim of downsizing, or going to work one morning, finding the doors
locked, and the business shut down completely. The possibility of being a victim of poor management in an unstable economy is looming over the heads of many workers today.

While being in business for oneself is not always easy, it certainly does have its advantages. The owner gets to decide how big to build the business, and the freedom of choosing the direction they want to take that business. As the old saying goes, the sky is the limit, and options are endless.

If you’d prefer to keep it small, and be a sole proprietor, that’s completely under your control. But if you want a large business with lots of employees, you can aim for that, and work to make it happen. That’s one of the advantages of being in business for yourself. You make the decisions.

Whether large or small, owning your own business can, and probably will, come with its own set of challenges. This is part of the journey to becoming a successful business owner, and the Shoestring Business Coach^TM can help you with those challenges.

Undercapitalization is the primary reason businesses fail. In fact, it is estimated that 9 out of 10 new businesses will fail in their first two years, because the owners underestimated how much money they would need to operate.

Too often, enthusiastic new business owners go out of business getting ready to do business, only to find they didn’t plan for the economic ups and downs of being new business owners. Don’t let that happen to you.

Not only can a business be built, but it can be profitable in probably less time than you think, using the knowledge, skills and resources you already have at your disposal.

Other Facts You May Find Interesting:
8-10 million businesses in the U.S. are operated from the home

Nearly 400,000 new businesses are started each year

In 2005 19.8 million businesses had only the owner as an employee

Remember that technically, a blog is a web site, but the difference between the two is huge. You’ll see why when you go through the list of Reasons.

Before I get into the list, I want to reiterate my position that your blog should be completely owned by you. What do I mean by that?

It’s simple. Decide on a domain name, buy it from a reputable name registrar, and put it on your own server. Yes, you can have a blog at no charge, but you do not own that blog. If, for any reason, the blog host you are using disappears, so does your blog.

If you have any questions about this, just let me know. I’ll be happy to help. Now, back to our list of “10 Reasons Why You Should Have a Blog Instead of a Static Web Site“.

1. A blog is faster. Blog themes are all over the internet, and many good quality ones are available at no charge. After you find one you like, download it from the site, upload to your site, and presto! You’re in business with a blog.
2. A blog is easier. Learning HTML and CSS to make a website can be a challenge for some people. Blog themes are ready to go when uploaded, and many of them allow you to easily make modifications in order to customize the look and feel of the blog.
3. A blog can be updated any time you are ready. No more waiting for a web master to put in the code, then upload your new copy. Just log into your blog, add your content or make changes to an existing post any time.
4. Add your video and audio files yourself. It’s simple to do with a plug-in, and it can jazz up your blog with additional information.
5. Blogs are interactive. This means your visitors can leave a comment or ask questions. It gives you an opportunity to communicate with the people who visit your blog
6. A blog can help you build your list. You can make it easy for your visitors to sign up for a free report or subscribe to your RSS feed so that they will be notified every time you put up a new blog post. Simply add a subscription box to your blog, and invite them to sign up.
7. Blogs are search-engine-friendly. There are plug-ins that will help optimize your site so your blog content can be found more easily in the search engines. These plug-ins can also help manage your meta tags and sitemaps.
8. Search engines play favorites with blogs. Static web sites rarely have new content, while blogs tend to have new content on a regular basis. Readers visit a blog more often that a web site, so the search engines tend to give blogs a higher ranking.
9. Blog posts can be put on auto-pilot. When you are going to be away, or busy with another project, simply write your posts in advance, then schedule them to post on any date, and at any time designated by you. How easy is that? Your blog will have fresh content, and you don’t even have to be at your computer!
10. Blogs are very popular with Social Media Sites – and Social Media is taking the entire world by storm. There are even plug-ins to allow the visitors to your blog to share the blog content. Check it out on this blog!

Will there be teleseminars? Yes! Will there be digital downloads? Yes – both written materials and audio files.

What kinds of classes will there be?

I am putting the finishing touches on some new classes that will include:

• Bringing in Business With a Blog
• How to Make Money With Social Media
• The Basics of Operating a Business on a Shoestring
• How Affiliate Marketing Can Fill Your Bank Account
• How and Where to Find Clients to Build Your Business

And much, much more!

If you are on my mailing list, be on the lookout for news from me about starting dates and times.

If you are not on my mailing list, why not join now?

-Teresa Beeman -
Shoestring Business Coach™

So I ask what the person what they are interested in, and quite often they don’t know. They have no idea what kind of business they could run.  That’s when I realize that much of what I’m hearing is a desperation to just find something else – anything else – to do.

This can also lead to the typical problem of “analysis paralysis” – over-thinking a situation, going over every possible idea or thought a million times until they are just worn out from the whole process. Already tired from working in a job they don’t like, now they’ve worn themselves out trying to figure out a solution to what seems like an insurmountable problem – what else can I do for a living?

The vicious cycle repeats itself throughout the day, making it hard to concentrate on the job, and it repeats itself throughout the night, making it impossible to sleep. And the poor person going through all this just feels like screaming, “Give me a break!”

As I see it, there is only one true way out of the situation, and that is to do a complete workup of what will help them break the cycle, find some peace of mind, and start doing something more rewarding.