by Curtis D. Tucker

Looking for some business ideas? We'll be posting groups of business ideas that we come across from time to time so be sure and check this blog often. Here's a fun group of entrepreneurial business ideas.

1) Chimney Sweep and Fireplace Cleaner
2) Build a Community Website and sell advertising space on it
3) Design and create unique baby and dog costumes
4) Ghost debunker - show people they really do not have ghosts
5) Clothes alterations and shoe cobbler
6) Used musical instruments - fix and resell vintage items
7) Mobile auto detailer and oil changer
8) Movie and book exchange store - help people trade
9) Birthday party entertainer - magic, music and balloons
10) Tree house building and swing set assembly service

Make it happen!

Labels: Business Start-Ups, Ideas

by Curtis D. Tucker

The mission of Etsy.com is to enable people to make a living making things, and to reconnect makers with buyers. The Etsy community spans the globe with buyers and sellers coming from more than 150 countries. Etsy sellers number in the hundreds of thousands.

Etsy requires no HTML to sell online. Setting up shop on Etsy is easy and takes only a few minutes. You can customize your shop with a banner, profile, shop policies and more. It's all done automatically and you do not have to be a webmaster.

You get your own URL for your shop based on your username, http://username.etsy.com

You can sell handmade goods, vintage items and craft supplies on Etsy. Etsy is not eBay. You can reach the ideal customer for your products when you sell on Etsy.

Sign up for free. To start selling on Etsy, you'll first need to register for an Etsy account. To become a seller, you'll need a credit card for verification purposes.

It costs 20 cents to list an item for four months. When your item sells, you'll pay a 3.5% transaction fee.

What is being sold on Etsy?
Candles - Greeting Cards - Belts - Jewelry - Quilts - Stickers - Puzzles - Puppets - Vases - Candy - Pet Supplies - Pottery - Comics - Art - Wallets

What could you make to sell on Etsy?

Labels: Business Start-Ups, Ideas, Internet, Make Money

by Curtis D. Tucker

There are many reasons to become an entrepreneur and even a few as to why not to become an entrepreneur. I'll describe the best reasons to be an entrepreneur and hope they give you the inspiration to become one yourself.

Enjoy the read and throw in your own ideas as to why entrepreneurship is a great way to make a living.

1) Being your own boss. There's hardly a better reason to work for yourself other than the fact that you are the boss and you call the shots.

2) Income potential. One of the top reasons to be an entrepreneur is that you are not saddles into a yearly salary. You are free to work hard and earn more money. In many cases there is no limit to the amount of money you can earn.

3) Freedom. You are free to set your own hours, free to work on the things you feel are important, free to try new things, free to experiment. There's freedom to spend more time with family.

4) Diversification. You don't have to put all of your marbles in one jar. You can start multiple streams of income, eliminate ideas that do not work and create residual income that makes you money while you sleep.

5) Excitement and fun. Doing something that you love makes work feel like play. If you can work at something that you enjoy you'll never dread working hard and waking up every day. There's excitement in thinking of new ways to make money.

6) Confidence. Showing yourself and others that you can make a living on your own merit can build great self esteem. Being an entrepreneur will help you become better leader.

7) More creativity. You will become more creative once starting your own business. You'll need to think outside the box and create solutions on the fly. Your creative juices will be in full force as you work your way through marketing, innovating, promoting and problem solving.

8) Satisfaction. There's something to be said for helping out other people. Your product or service will benefit or improve the life of another person which will be very satisfying. Accomplishing your goals and actually having a successful business brings its own satisfaction.

9) It's a challenge. Becoming an entrepreneur will be very challenging and you will run into many road blocks. You'll enjoy figuring things out and overcoming adversity.

10) Security. There won't be much security in the beginning but in the long run you will control your own fate. There are no layoffs, no downsizing and no wondering if your job is on the line. A successful entrepreneur will not only bring security to himself but can also bring security to the family and children that might one day take over the business.

Labels: Entrepreneurship

by Curtis D. Tucker

One of the best shows on television today for entrepreneurs is a show called Shark Tank. This is a great show for finding fun business ideas and also seeing what others have come up with. Watch as young entrepreneurs pitch their businesses and ask for money. Be sure and note the amount of money they ask for and how much control of their companies they lose.

Not only does the show give you start up ideas but the Sharks on the show give some very useful advise and they ask even more important questions. All of the Sharks on the show have made millions or billions on their own and they are using their own money to finance these start ups.

When you watch the show be sure to note the questions being asked. These are the same questions you will need to answer when you go looking for financing your business. The show can give you clues as to which types of products and services the entrepreneurial gurus feel have potential.

Hop on over to this page to see many of the past business ideas and then be sure to start watching the show. Shark Tank Business Ideas.

Labels: Business Start-Ups, Entrepreneurship, Ideas, TV

by Curtis D. Tucker

Flipping websites can be very profitable for those that are in tune with Internet real estate. Flipping domains and websites is very much like buying and selling "real" real estate. You buy or build low and sell high.

Building websites from the ground up can make you the most profit but it takes some web building knowledge and does entail man hours. Buying small websites and flipping them is much faster but less profitable.

With the popularity of Wordpress this has become much easier than in the "old" days of the Internet. A small amount of web design knowledge can be turned into a high profit business.

Why would someone buy a website from you? Because they want to invest in real estate property but they do not have the time to build sites and wait for them to rise in the search engine rankings. High traffic websites full of original content can make big bucks. A popular website that is full of advertising is a great little profit center.

The more traffic you get, the more ads are clicked on and the more products get sold. Most profit from today's websites comes from advertising and from subscriptions. If you have a large user base and email list you might have a site worth some money also.

Simple subjects can actually be the best sites to sell. I know of a simple niche website that listed nothing but names. These name lists combined with some related articles created a decent amount of traffic. With nothing other than these names and the traffic, the site sold for an amount in the five figure range.

You can build smaller, low traffic sites and flip them for a few hundred dollars here and there. Great domains can also be purchased and sold.

Another route that I will get into later is to build yourself a collection of these sites and live off of the advertising dollars. A few dozen websites making $5-$20 a day can add up. This is where you might become the buyer instead of the seller. More on that later.

Be an Internet mogul today!!

Labels: Ideas, Internet, Make Money, Websites

by Curtis D. Tucker

The greatness of the Internet is that you can become an expert overnight. Use your knowledge and expertise to write articles, write blog posts and upload how-to videos. Fill your website with as much original content about your niche as you can. Your pages will get indexed and people will start linking to you. All of this leads to you being thought of as an expert in your field.

There are many websites and blogs with photography tips. These sites are very popular and garner huge amounts of traffic. If you are in a niche field it will be even easier for you to rank higher and look like an expert.

Let others use your articles as long as they link back to you. The free publicity and link juice in invaluable. Don't share all of your content, but just enough to help market your site.

Free marketing online can help increase your sales and client base. Use every resource available online. Create your own website, your own blog, a Facebook business page, a Twitter account, get LinkedIn, build a Squidoo page and enroll in all free sites related to your business.

My personal blog and personal photos recently helped me find myself on the homepage of CNN.com, which included a photo, article and link to my site. This same photo will be used in an upcoming national magazine. Other unrelated photos were used on a statewide TV news station with the printed address to my blog.

Put yourself and your business out there in any way that you can. The more information and content you have online, the better chances you will have of being found. You can never have enough content online. Get in the habit of writing at least one new article a week. Submit to article websites and ask about writing for related magazines and blogs.

Tag every photo you put online with the best possible keywords. Your images will get picked up on search engine image searches which does increase traffic. The Internet is the ultimate marketing tool and in most cases it is absolutely free!

Labels: Internet, Marketing

by Curtis D. Tucker

Who doesn't love a great cupcake? Cupcakes are all the rage and finding original cupcakes that knock your socks off can be a daunting task in most towns and cities. If your town does not have a fantastic bakery that sells cupcakes I can almost guarantee there is a need.

Almost anyone can make cupcakes so you will need to sell more than batter and frosting. You'll need to sell a quality, originality, service or uniqueness that others do not have. Think about unique ways of decorating, unusual wrappers, funky packaging and other hot selling points.

Making ends meet with just cupcakes might be stretching it so be prepared to also offer small cakes, cookies and other fun pastries. Be the alternative to the local donut shop. A great coffee, hot chocolate and tea selection can make the difference. Don't forget about awesome lemonade in the summer and apple cider in the winter.

Also think about other marketing strategies like creative decorations, whimsical designing, fun uniforms, memorable cupcake names, retro furniture, stylish promotional items and any other factor that will set you apart.

Offer a place for tea parties, poem readings, showers and other celebrations. Use fun cartoon characters to help attract those young whipper snappers and senior discounts to draw the old fogies.

Do your research and make sure you have your ducks in a row before jumping in head first. The food industry has many hoops you'll have to jump through so be sure you understand the rules and regulations in your area.

Now start baking and send me a picture of your shop once it's open!

Labels: Business Start-Ups, Food