5 Ways to Customize a Private Label Ebook to Make it Your Own

One of the best things about a PLR ebook is the way that it allows you to make changes and edits to your heartís content. This is now your creation and itís up to you what you want to do with it to all extents and purposes.

So, the only question that remains isÖ what do you want to do with it?

Give it a New Title

Changing the title of your ebook is a good way to prevent people from seeing the same product being marketed over and over again on different sites. At the same time, changing the title of an ebook can subtly change the way that readers will interpret the content within. You can that way slightly alter the target demographic, or subtly alter the way that readers will interpret the book.

Reword the Content

Changing the title will change the way that people interpret your content slightly. Changing the content itself though will of course have a much bigger impact. This way you can change the voice to better suit your own, you can add or remove sections, you can alter conclusionsÖ you could even throw in a few affiliate links or plugs for your other products.

Add More Content

A simple way to add more value to an ebook youíre selling is simply to write a few more pages or even to add more content from another PLR product you own. Why not combine several into one ëmegaí book?

Get the Cover Redesigned

One step further than changing the title of your ebook is to change the cover entirely. You should find this relatively simple, as most PLR product sellers will include Photoshop files for you to edit as you please. Otherwise, you could always outsource this process to someone from Fiverr and have it redesigned from the ground up.

Add Your Branding

One big reason to redesign the cover in the first place is so that you can create better synergy with the rest of your branding. The aim here is to create a single cohesive design and message that will run through all of your different products and services. This helps people better understand what your brand is all about and build the kind of trust you need to make sure they want to buy subsequent products that you sell. Itís always important to think about the long game!

Written by Yola Bastos Co-Founder Women Flix 

 yolabastos@womenflix.org 

https://linktr.ee/yolatvbastos 

 Women Flix, Supporting Women all the way to Success! 

 Women Flix Limited, a company limited by guarantee, incorporated in England and Wales (company no. 13047578 ).

The Best Ways to Use Positive Affirmations to Manage Stress

Stress is an inevitable part of life. However, when stress levels remain high, they can start to have a detrimental effect on both your emotional and physical well-being. It is imperative to find ways to manage stress and repeating positive affirmations is a way for you to increase feelings of inner peace, and to combat daily stress. The idea is to take the positive statements of what you want to manifest in your life and repeat them enough that they become a part of how you think and see the world. 

Here are some of the best ways to use positive affirmations to help you manage stress.

Repetition

The most popular way that you can harness the power of affirmations is by merely repeating the affirmation to yourself regularly. Saying them out loud to yourself several times a day, in the mornings or evenings, can be incredibly useful. When you repeat them out loud, you hear them more clearly, which can make them more effective than if you were to repeat them to yourself mentally.

Do-It-Yourself Recording

To hear your affirmations more times throughout the day, you can record yourself repeating the positive affirmations and play the recording while you are driving, when you’re reading in the evenings, or when you are exercising. Be sure to talk in a calm voice, and consider playing your favourite soothing music in the background. DIY recordings are a great way to create a tailor-made experience for your specific needs. 

Use Post-It Notes

A fun way to utilize your positive affirmations daily is by writing them down on Post-It Notes and placing them around your house to provide you with positive messages throughout the day. You can put them on the refrigerator, your bathroom mirror, and other places that you see frequently. This technique can be incredibly useful on its own, or you can use it with some of the other affirmation techniques as a reinforcement.

Self-Hypnosis

If you want to increase the effectiveness of your positive affirmations dramatically, you can use self-hypnosis with them. Self-hypnosis is a way to cement your affirmations into your subconscious thinking much quicker than merely repeating them when you are in your normal conscious state.

While not all positive affirmations will be helpful in helping you relieve stress, most of them can effectively transition you into a better frame of mind and help you build resilience and help you find enjoyment in your life. 




Written by Yola Bastos Co-Founder Women Flix 
 yolabastos@womenflix.org 
https://linktr.ee/yolatvbastos 

 Women Flix, Supporting Women all the way to Success! 

 Women Flix Limited, a company limited by guarantee, incorporated in England and Wales (company no. 13047578 ).

3 Mistakes to Avoid In Your Daily Affirmation Practice

Affirmations can be an incredibly powerful tool that you can use to help you achieve your life's desires. Thousands of people use positive affirmations to obtain success and realize their dreams. However, there are just as many who practise affirmations but never see results. This might be because they are not using them correctly. Here are three mistakes you want to avoid in your daily affirmation practice if you want them to work for you.

Giving Up Too Early

With affirmations, consistency is incredibly important. Once you get started with your practice, the repetition has a lasting effect that will continue to build upon itself. Repeating your affirmations daily make it much easier to maintain. Plus, every time you say the statement you significantly magnify the results. The mistake that many people make is that they give up the process entirely too early. When you give up too soon, you don't give the affirmations enough time to set into your subconscious.

Using a Different Affirmation Each Day

Using a different affirmation every day is like trying to work on a dozen various projects at once. Since each project requires your energy and attention, you can't help but shift your focus and effort from project to project. However, if you want to see results right away, then you have to focus on just one affirmation and stick with it. When it comes to affirmations, it is all about focus. To make your affirmations effective, you have to use the same affirmation daily for at least 30 days.

Lack of Attention Mastery

If you've been using positive affirmations for a while and have yet to achieve results, and you've tried everything else, it could mean that you aren't entirely focusing your attention on the affirmation. The reality is that most people have incredibly short attention spans, and they are distracted continuously like toddlers. To make your statements work for you, you have to master your attention span, which only comes with practice. By practising your positive affirmations daily, you can learn how to master your attention. When you can learn how to master your attention, you will start to master your manifestations.

If you haven’t had success with your daily affirmations yet, don’t worry, you just have to make a few simple changes to your daily practice. Avoid the mistakes listed above, and you’ll quickly find success with using affirmations to achieve everything you desire. 

Written by Yola Bastos Co-Founder Women Flix  

yolabastos@womenflix.org 

https://linktr.ee/yolatvbastos 

Women Flix, Supporting Women all the way to Success! 

Women Flix Limited, a company limited by guarantee, was incorporated in England and Wales (company no. 13047578 ).

Creating Shareable Content For Facebook

How To Create Content That Users Will Share On Facebook  

You want to get as many shares for your content as possible to generate free traffic from Facebook. It is also a great way to extend your reach as people will share your content with their friends.

Follow the advice below and you will maximize your chances of your content being shared. Assuming that most Facebook users have around 200 friends, then even a low response of 1% will work wonders for your traffic. Remember that these people have friends as well.

• Use Emotion in your Posts

There will always be a lot of competition in a Facebook users news feed so you want tour post to stand out. A compelling title is essential, as is using emotion in the post so that you fire up the user which will encourage them to share it with their friends.

You can use a number of emotional triggers in your posts such as:

• Fear
• Anxiety
• Outrage
• Humour

The more that you can stir the emotions, the more likely it is that your post will get shared.

• Make your Call to Action Strong

You need to make it really clear what you want the user to do in your post. Don’t assume that they will know what to do because they won’t. If you want users to share your post then make this clear to them. Ask them to think about the friends that they have who would benefit from reading the post. 

• Good Images get more Shares

Facebook is a visual platform so add images to your posts. Don’t just use stock photos as a lot of other marketers do. Striking images that have good captions are the best for sharing. You can easily add a caption to your image by using a free online graphics service such as Canva.com.

Using related images is important. Let’s say that your post is about motivation – you could use an image of a person winning a race for example and add a caption such as “You can win your race too”.

• Posts that feature other People

When you create posts that include others you will increase the likelihood of them being shared. A good example of this is an interview with an expert in your niche. You can create a small sample of the interview for the Facebook post and then link to your website for the full interview.

Make it your business to know who the people are in your niche that your audience really respects. Find them and follow them and make a contribution to their page by adding a useful comment. Invite them to participate in an interview with you. Most people will accept your invitation.

Another good “people” orientated post is the “roundup”. This is where a number of niche influencers have contributed to an article on your website. You can mention their names in your Facebook post and then provide a link to your article.

• Freebies and Giveaways

If you create a post where you are giving away something valuable for free then this should get shared a lot. People love to get good stuff for free and they will also enjoy telling their friends about it. 

Written by Yola Bastos

Co-Founder

Women Flix

yolabastos@womenflix.org

https://linktr.ee/LifeCoachWomenFlix  

Women Flix, Supporting Women all the way to Success!  

Women Flix Limited, a company limited by guarantee, incorporated in England and Wales (company no. 13047578 ). 

Avoid These Facebook Mistakes

Avoid These Facebook Mistakes

If you want to drive the maximum amount of free traffic from Facebook then you need to avoid the mistakes that a lot of other marketers make. A lot of people have a tendency to just jump right in where Facebook is concerned and end up with no results or even having their accounts closed.

• Facebook is not an Advertising Platform

You cannot just set up a Facebook Page and then start advertising your offers. This will be seen as spam and your account could be closed very fast. Facebook is a social network so you need to follow the rules to get the best results.

Your first job is to connect with your audience. Provide value in your posts and offer some things for free. Getting your audience to know, like and trust you is the most important thing. It is OK to make some promotional posts but don’t do this all of the time. Facebook users will quickly lose interest in you if you are all about self-promotion.

People use Facebook to connect with their friends and family and have fun. They do not tend to use the platform to buy stuff. So you need to use the gentle art of persuasion to get them into your sales funnel. Provide them with value first and then tell them about what you have to offer.

• Don’t Use Clickbait

Facebook is clamping down hard on clickbait posts. A few years ago you could use clickbait to get lots of views to your posts but not anymore. A clickbait post is one that deliberately misleads the user and often has a high degree of sensationalism associated with it.

How would you feel if you read a post title that said something like “the real secret to making money online” and then you clicked through to the website only to find that it didn’t reveal the secret at all or expected you to pay for this information? You wouldn’t feel good about this would you, so don’t try these kinds of tactics on your audience.

Provide your users with helpful titles and descriptions in your posts so that they can make their mind up if they want to click through or not. Your audience will appreciate you doing this and so will Facebook. Avoid using misleading, exaggerated or sensational headlines. People will stop reading your posts if you do this.

Facebook doesn’t like users leaving its platform but it knows that this is inevitable. If a user clicks on your link and then comes straight back to Facebook then they will assume that something was wrong with the information that you provided on your website.

By telling your audience what to expect when they click through to your site it is more likely that they will spend more time there. Facebook sees this as a good thing and will reward you with greater reach for your posts.

• Optimize your Website

You do not want Facebook users to click through to your site and then have to wait for ages for your pages to load. Your website needs to be as fast as possible so fix any loading speed problems.

As most Facebook users have mobile devices they will not be impressed if your website is not optimized for mobile. There are many ways that you can fix this and you need to test it on your phone or use an online emulator.

Written by Yola Bastos

Co-Founder

Women Flix

yolabastos@womenflix.org

https://linktr.ee/LifeCoachWomenFlix  

Women Flix, Supporting Women all the way to Success!  

Women Flix Limited, a company limited by guarantee, incorporated in England and Wales (company no. 13047578 ). 

Why Facebook Marketing

• How To Optimize Your Facebook Page For Free Traffic

You may well have seen Facebook Pages created by some of the most famous brands. The reason that these brands have these pages is that they work for them. So why not create a Facebook Page for your business to get more traffic to your offers? Here are some tips to get the most out of your Facebook Page.

• What is your Goal with Facebook?

Why have you decided to use Facebook for marketing and the generation of free traffic? You need to be clear about what you want to achieve and then create a plan to increase your followers and your engagement levels. How will you convert your Facebook audience into loyal customers?

We recommend that you set your goals for Facebook marketing before you create your Facebook Page and your content plan. Too many marketers just approach this in a haphazard way and are then disappointed with the results.

• Pay Attention to your Profile

It is very easy to set up a new Facebook Page and a lot of businesses fail to make use of all of the real estate that they have available for promotion. One area that is often neglected is the “About” tab which a lot of people will want to read. Make sure that you add a good description of you and your business here.

Be sure to fill out all of the sections on your Facebook Page. Add an appealing cover image to your profile and write a compelling description. Always add links to your website from your Facebook Page.

Your cover image is really important. It needs to sum up your business and contain text that explains why users should follow your page. Don’t make the mistake of using a stock photo here as a lot of marketers do.

Take photos of yourself and other members of your business and include these in your cover photo. It is essential that you get users to know, like and trust you and seeing your face is a good start. Don’t be shy here.

• Use Tabs on your Facebook Page

You have customizable tabs available with your Facebook Page so use these to make things easier for your audience. Set up different tabs to organize all of your important content. For example, if you have a freebie or giveaway then you can add a tab for this so that users can go straight to this.

• Add Links to your Website

Take every opportunity that you can to add links to your website. The intro of your Facebook Page is something that most users will read, so provide benefits to them of following you and also link to your site here. Use a good call to action here. 

You can also add a link to your site in your About tab. Tell people that they can learn much more about you and your business by clicking the link. Be sure to add links to your site in the Personal Information and Biography sections of your Facebook Page as well.

Written by Yola Bastos

Co-Founder

Women Flix

yolabastos@womenflix.org

https://linktr.ee/LifeCoachWomenFlix  

Women Flix, Supporting Women all the way to Success!  

Women Flix Limited, a company limited by guarantee, incorporated in England and Wales (company no. 13047578 ). 

The Inspiring Story of How Sylvester Stallone Went After His Dreams and What We All Can Learn From It

We all have goals and dreams that seem a little far fetched. Sometimes we hardly even admit them to ourselves, but then when we lie awake at night and we dream about the thing we always wanted to be. And we assume it can never happen…

Well, I am of the belief that you really can make anything happen as long as you have the determination and as long as you never give up. Sometimes it means working incredibly hard and sometimes it means taking the less obvious route to get what you want.

And to demonstrate, consider the case of Sylvester Stallone…

• How Stallone Landed His star-making Role, Despite Everything

If you’ve ever looked at someone highly successful and wished you could swap place with them, consider that they weren’t born that way – and that maybe they once thought the very same thing.

At the ripe age of 30, Sylvester Stallone had only $106 to his name and had been forced to sell his dog, Butkus. Those are some hard times.

Sly always wanted to be a film star but whenever he applied for roles, he would be turned down on the basis of his slurring voice and his heavy stature. He was considered only for roles like ‘thug 1’, never starring roles.

So Stallone stopped trying the same thing and instead turned to something else he was good at writing. Sly wrote the script for Rocky allegedly in a single night (though he returned to edit the draft many times) and submitted it to a producer after an audition that didn’t go that well.

The studios loved the story of the spunky underdog who came good and they offered him $300,000 to make the movie – roughly the equivalent of $1 million today! Remember: Sly has $106 in his accounts right now. But he turned them down and said he would only let them make the movie if he could star.

The studio was reluctant and offered more and more money. Eventually, they agreed to his terms but only on the proviso that he would take minimal pay and would have a tiny budget to work with on the movie. The rest, as they say, is history.

• What We Can Learn

The first thing we can learn from this is that it’s never too late to be what you always wanted to be. You might be jealous of other people right now but you’re probably on the right course – just stick with it!

The other lesson to take here is to stick to your guns – to know what you want and accept nothing less. Had Sly taken the $300,000, none of us would know his name today.

And finally, don’t always take the most obvious route to the top. If you’re not having any luck going the obvious way, then come up with a new strategy and get creative! There is more than one way to every destination. 

Written by Yola Bastos
yolabastos@womenflix.org
https://linktr.ee/LifeCoachWomenFlix  
Women Flix, Supporting Women all the way to Success!  
Women Flix Limited, a company limited by guarantee, incorporated in England and Wales (company no. 13047578 ). 

How People End Up With Boring Jobs

 

Sad though it surely is, most of us do not end up in the jobs that we dreamed of when we were younger. In fact, most of us won’t end up with jobs that are even close to being as exciting or as inspiring as the ones we used to tell people we wanted when we were five or six.

When we were young and we believed anything could happen, we wanted to be astronauts, rock stars, the owners of huge international businesses, action heroes, superheroes…

So the question then becomes: why are so many of us stuck working in offices? Why are so many of us entering data into spreadsheets? Why is it so common for us to work late hours in jobs we hate? Why does ‘success’ mean more responsibility but no more job satisfaction?

How did this happen?

• The Unfortunate Story

The answer varies from person to person but unfortunately, there are a few consistent elements that seem to hold true across the board. Many of us will go through essentially the same story that will lead us to the same end destination. 

It starts early when we’re at school and we’re forced to start specializing and choosing. Which course at school is most likely to help you to become a bestselling author? Or a pop star? Hmm. We end up biding our time by doing something that we enjoyed at school – history or geography maybe.

Then we go to college and we study that course for a year or three, only to find ourselves back at home living with our parents and without a job when we leave. If we want to get back our independence, then we’re going to need to take on a job just to pay the bills. 

So we start working for our friend’s Dad’s company. Or we work in a supermarket. Or maybe an estate agent.

Then we get a few promotions and we find ourselves climbing the ranks – actually, we’re on an okay salary.

And it’s just as well too – because our responsibilities are beginning to increase as we find ourselves with partners, maybe wanting to buy a house, maybe with children.

And before you know it, you’re ‘area manager’, or you’re ‘director of logistics’, or you’re an estate agent.

They’re not bad jobs but they sure aren’t exciting and they sure don’t fill you with impassioned excitement. But you have kids on the way and you really need the money: now is not the time to do something foolish like starting your own business, or changing jobs, or taking out a loan. And nor do you have the time in the evening to do the things you want to do…

• It Doesn’t Have to End This Way

But here’s the good news: the story isn’t over yet. You can still be the things you’ve always dreamed of being. In fact, with more money behind, more experience and more contacts, it’s more likely than ever. All it is going to take is for you to acknowledge just how important it is to you and to decide that you’re not going to settle for the way things turned out.

There’s still time…

Written by Yola Bastos
yolabastos@womenflix.org
https://linktr.ee/LifeCoachWomenFlix  

Women Flix, Supporting Women all the way to Success!  
Women Flix Limited, a company limited by guarantee, incorporated in England and Wales (company no. 13047578 ). 

Some ‘Impossible Goals’ and How to Make Them Happen

 

Many of us have goals and dreams that sound impossible and that other people will perhaps tell us can’t be done. Sometimes, those goals are so preposterous that we don’t tell anyone at all – and in some cases, we’ll hardly even admit those goals to ourselves!

For example, if you have always dreamed of being a film star, then there’s a good chance that on some level you don’t think it’s going to happen and so you won’t actually pursue it with the vigour that you should pursue it.

Likewise, if you always dreamed of being an astronaut, then you probably know it can’t be done and so won’t even try.

Except that this is entirely the wrong attitude. Rather, you should be working toward your goals but simply taking a different approach to making them possible. Because anything is truly possible, as long as you know how to think outside the box…

To demonstrate this, let’s take a look at some highly unlikely goals and see how you could really go about making them happen…

• Recording Artist

Want to be a pop star or a guitarist? Then how about starting your own music channel on YouTube? Perform your songs and build a following and then you could eventually start charging for your full albums through Band Camp and similar sites. It’s probably only a matter of time until someone offers to give you a recording contract once you have the numbers behind you!

• Bestselling Author

These days you don’t need to find a big publisher to become a bestselling author. Of course, that is one route to the top but another option is just to write your own book and publish it yourself.

This is possible today thanks to sites like Lulu. Lulu is a website that allows you to use ‘POD’ publishing, which in turn stands for ‘Print On Demand’. This means that you can create a book and only pay for the printing costs each time someone orders one of them. That means that you don’t have to order a huge number of books and then try to sell them – instead, you can simply start selling right away and you’ll just lose a fraction of the cover price each time you do. That also means you’re not splitting your profits with a publisher!

Of course, the downside is that you’ll have to do all of your own marketing and editing. But if you can do that, then you’re good to go!

• Astronaut

Always wanted to visit space? Then one way you can do that is to sign up for Virgin Galactic. That will give you a chance to visit space, without needing any training!

Now of course there is the chance that it will never happen, and it’s a lot of money too – you might just have to start saving. But the point is that as soon as you start working toward the goal you always dreamed of, life becomes a whole lot more exciting!

Written by Yola Bastos
yolabastos@womenflix.org
https://linktr.ee/LifeCoachWomenFlix  
Women Flix, Supporting Women all the way to Success!  
Women Flix Limited, a company limited by guarantee, incorporated in England and Wales (company no. 13047578 ). 

The Most Important Question to Always Ask: Does it Help Me Achieve My Goals?

Why do so many people not get what they want out of life?

Why do so many people find themselves falling into jobs they don’t really want? Or living places that don’t make them happy? Or with lifestyles that they find stressful?

How does someone go from dreaming of being a rock star to being locked in an office to enter data onto a spreadsheet?

Well, there are many factors. But it usually starts by not clearly defining your goals or what you want. Because until you know exactly what it is you actually want, how can you possibly expect to get it?

That means it isn’t good enough to decide you want to be ‘rich’, you need to know what you want to do to become rich. What kind of work you enjoy, how many hours you’re willing to work etc.

Likewise, if you hope to become a rock star, then you might want to think about how you actually intend to make that happen. What does being a ‘rock star’ entail for you and how are you going to make it happen? What would you settle for?

And when you make all these decisions, you need to ensure that this is truly what you’re passionate about – that your intended goal is something that you enjoy thinking about, enjoy working on and can’t wait to make a reality.

• The Simple Way to Make Decisions

The reason this is all so important is that it will then allow you to make all your future decisions that much more easily. This is going to act like your barometer and your road map, to help you to get to the end destination that you want. 

Now, whenever you find yourself making a decision, the question to ask is: does it help you achieve your goals?

So for instance, if you’re umming and having over buying an expensive piece of equipment, then the simplest way to decide if it is a good idea or not is to ask if it will help you to accomplish your goals. Likewise, if you’re unsure about where to live, or whether you should take a particular job opportunity, ask whether the decision is going to take you nearer or further from your goals.

The problem with many people who aren’t quite sure what they want is that their objectives end up on a kind of back burner and that other things seem to start getting in the way.

But if you really want to achieve something amazing – if you have a dream business idea that you really want to make happen – then you need to make this your priority and you need to change the way you think about everything else.

And it shouldn’t feel like a sacrifice either. Because if you really love what you’re working toward then it will mean fully embracing the thing you really want to be doing anyway. You just need to find what that passion is…

Written by Yola Bastos
yolabastos@womenflix.org
https://linktr.ee/LifeCoachWomenFlix  
Women Flix, Supporting Women all the way to Success!  
Women Flix Limited, a company limited by guarantee, incorporated in England and Wales (company no. 13047578 ). 

Why it’s Never too Late to be What You Always Wanted to Be

Many of us wanted to be amazing things when we were younger. Some of us wanted to be astronauts, some of us wanted to be rock stars and some of us wanted to be rock stars. Maybe you dreamed of owning your own business.

Then you reached your twenties and realized that achieving those dreams was harder than you thought and that you needed money faster. So you start working a regular job in the meantime. Then you reach 30 and have a spouse and kids. Then you reach 40 and realize you’re old and tired. And in short, you realize that you’re never going to be that thing you always wanted to be.

Dreams are for younger people, right?

• Why Dreams Get Easier, the Older You Get

This is certainly the stance taken by many people but in reality, the opposite should be true. As long as you hold on to those dreams, they actually often become more attainable the older you get.

Why? For starters, being older gives you more experience and means you’re going to have a better idea of how to go after what you want. Then there’s the fact that you’ll have had longer to accumulate useful assets. That includes money – you’ll have more funds to put behind you – but also other intangible and tangible assets such as property, contacts, a better CV etc.

And if you’re retired, or if your children have moved away from home, then you’ll have more time as well.

And if you combine all that with a savvy knowledge of how to leverage your age, there’s no reason that you can’t get things done even when you’re older.

• Some Examples…

Many people want to be actors for example but never get around to it when they’re younger. When you’re older, however, you have the option of applying to appear as an extra in films and to play bit parts. You have the time now to attend and the older you are, the more in-demand you’ll find you become for smaller roles. Build up a CV and who knows!

Or you could start a YouTube channel. Silver surfers make up a massive proportion of the web and there isn’t as much content there for them. You could make a fitness YouTube channel for over 50s for example and it would likely be a huge hit.

You’ll likewise have more time to write books and more time to pursue hobbies. And if you can’t become an astronaut (admittedly unlikely), then how about signing up for a Virgin Galactic flight? If you can’t be a football player, you could certainly maybe be a coach or join an older team.

And this post isn’t just for people in their 80s. It applies to those in their 40s too. Did you know that the average age for successful startup founders is 40? Did you know that you’re twice as likely to start a successful business at the age of 55 as you are at 20-34? 

Never give up. 

Written by Yola Bastos
yolabastos@womenflix.org
https://linktr.ee/yolatvbastos

Women Flix, Supporting Women all the way to Success!  
Women Flix Limited, a company limited by guarantee, incorporated in England and Wales (company no. 13047578 ). 

Yes! You Really Can Launch That Dream Start-Up Business

 

They say that all of us have a book in us but it’s also true that all of us have an idea in us. Nearly everyone will have at some point had an idea for a business, for a product, for an app, or for a service. We all have ideas that we think could make money, maybe even have a positive impact on the world.

The problem is that we don’t have the know-how to make it happen or the time. Or money.

So, the question then, is how you take that chance and how you build a business even if you don’t just so happen to have a ton of experience, financial backing and all the right contacts. Let’s take a look at what you need to do…

• Start Now!

The first thing to do is to start your business right now. Too many of us mistakenly make the assumption that we need to quit our current jobs and then put all of our resources, time and effort into our businesses. It’s ‘all or nothing’ and there’s no way you can start a business half-heartedly…

Except that’s not true. In fact, there’s no reason that you can’t start your business in the evenings and weekends. Even if you just start a ‘shell’ of your business, it’s better to test that the idea has legs before you invest a lot of time and money into it. 

Start a website in the evenings, start buying and selling shirts in small quantities with a small budget. Just start now and only once you know you can earn a full-time salary do you need to consider quitting your current job.

• Bootstrap

Another reason a lot of people hold themselves back from starting a dream business is that they don’t have the funds that they believe they need. If you’re planning on selling a product you invented for example, then you will probably make the assumption that you need to invest in a large order (called the MOQ – Minimum Order Quantity) to start.

In fact, though, you can once again get by without doing that. One way around the problem is to start your business with two revenue streams, or maybe three. Find a way to start raising capital through your other services or products and then only once you’re making more money do you invest in R&D or large bulk orders.

For instance, you might sell a hand-made product and use that money to invest in manufacturing!

Otherwise, you can also get funding in a range of other ways. How about Kickstarter? This way you can generate funds from the web and not even need to give away any of your equity! Or how about a PayPal loan that won’t impact your credit score?

• Fail Fast

Another tip is to create an MVP – or Minimal Viable Product – and to start trying to make money from it as soon as possible. This is simply a way to test your business model before you invest too much in it. Don’t make the mistake of investing in an idea that you have no proof will work and don’t put off getting your business up and running. You can refine it once you’re live!

Written by Yola Bastos
yolabastos@womenflix.org
https://linktr.ee/yolatvbastos
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