Brilliant Business Ideas with Low Investment!

A lot of youngsters are already tired of going for a 9-5 job and are looking for options elsewhere. And, the older generation who no longer want to simply sit at home, watching television, are also searching for better ways to engage themselves in something constructive. However, to start a business from scratch, a huge sum of initial capital is imperative. This is a problem in case of both our youngster and the old person. I myself have been wondering of how I could start my own venture but without investing a lot. So on doing some quality research, I came up with the following ideas that don't require too much of effort on the monetary front.

Sow the seeds of your own small business!

1. Consultancy: 
I am sure this is the first thing that crossed your mind when you thought about starting something on your own. But a lot of people get stuck at just the thought and often don't know how to move forward with this idea. All you need to do is first identify your domain of expertise in which you will be offering your consultation. Next is to tap all the contacts that you have made in life so far. You never know who would offer you a helping hand. So clear out all your inhibitions and get into business. Initiate a casual and friendly proposal to those who belong to your connection of friends and relatives. For those who belong to your professional connection, opt for a more formal approach wherein you mention details like costing, benefits, needs and other advantages of hiring you as their consultant. Follow-up regularly and incessantly. Remember, you need their business more than they need you. You could offer your services in the financial sector, matrimonial services, digital marketing or even website hygiene.

2. Content Writing:
If you are truly passionate about writing and can offer your services as an ace content writer, then don't even think about anything else. Content is the key to success these days. Be an important contributor to that success.

3. Mobile Food Court:
Do you love food and own a car of your own? Then you need nothing much but a small induction gas stove that you can use to cook yummy dishes and set up a mini-restaurant in your car itself. Give yourself a fancy name, create social handles that have the potential to go viral and there you are - the perfect recipe of Success!

4. Customized Gift Store:
Birthdays and Anniversaries can and will never go extinct. The demand of these days being celebrated will only increase over the coming years and never get depleted. If you think you have the skills to create something really interesting and creative that could serve as a personalized gift to someone special, then start your own store that can run from your humble abode itself.

5. Blogging:
Have you ever wondered if blogging about your favorite hobby could fetch you any income? Oh yes, it can! You could blog about traveling, cooking, eating, dancing, dressing up or even shopping and earn money for writing well. Explore more here.

6. App Creation:
Are you crazy about mobiles and have a kick-ass concept to create a mobile application? Then go ahead and just employ a freelancer to build your app based on your idea and design. Register the app and start seeing your bank balance grow!

7. Wholesale Reselling:
Go to a local market where you can purchase items in bulk at reasonable rates and resell this in retail market with a dash of creativity from your end. Go on and pick any item of your choice. It could be dresses, jewelry or accessories like bags and shoes. Give it an innovative touch like exquisite designs, pairing it with something else interesting that only you could offer and there you go!

8. Selling Your Art-form:
Are you a great artist? A graceful dancer? Or a soulful singer? Whoever you are, simply start your own channel on YouTube or create your own site and teach your art-form to the masses who are just as passionate as you are. Start an online tutorial service for a subscription fee and make money for each course that you chalk out. If you are not sure about doing it yourself, you have popular websites where you can get listed and become famous!

Now that you have a fair idea about all the avenues out there in the market, take your pick and start your venture! Here's wishing you all the luck and success :)

Trending tips to design an awesome website!

I am sure all of us have done this at least once. You hear about some new product and immediately check on your phones for the website of the company that sells the product. If its nice and appealing, you may choose to buy the product. If the website doesn't entice you, I am sure you wouldn't prefer to stay on it even for a minute and decide that the product is not great (while in reality, it may be an amazing product). It is imperative for any company, small or big, to have a really alluring and self-explanatory website. So what are the key elements to creating a great website? Ask the following questions and see if you are able to answer each one with utmost clarity and precision.

1. Is there clarity in the purpose of your website?
Who are you? What do you do? What can your audience find on your site? Do you cater to specific need of the society? All of these questions must be clearly answered in your website with simple yet powerful words that highlight your product/service.

2. Does your website strike the correct chord with your target audience?
Stick to simple and effective communication in the language that they prefer. Give them what they exactly need in their style.

3. Is your site capable enough to create a compelling need for your audience to stay longer on it?
Your website must have a good, wait..great value proposition that forces your customers to keep reading through the various elements of your site. Don't let your audience move away from your domain easily.

4. Is your site simple, creative and user-friendly?
Always follow the golden rule of KISS - Keep It Simple Silly. Simplicity is often more appealing than complexity. Add creative and effective elements to your website that navigates the user in a very easy and seamless manner. Avoid broken links, unpleasant color schemes and too many unnecessary links. Align the design with the tone of your business and taste of your audience.

5. Are there enough Call-to-Action (CTA) buttons on each page of your site?
This does not mean that you load each page with CTA buttons, but have apt and effective ones that let your users find what they want at the correct time and place. Incorporate intelligent elements in your design that capture intricacies of user behavior and work favorably for you.

6. Is your website optimized for multi-device usability?
Ensure that your website works equally well across all devices including desktop, tablet and mobile. Additionally, make sure that you test your site on multiple browsers and fix any kind of bugs that you may notice.

7. Is the content on your site static or dynamic?
Keep dynamic content that has the potential to refresh your site frequently. This enables search engine crawlers to automatically find you and list you in their result pages.

8. How long does it take for your site to load on any device?
Page speed is an important aspect that not may developers pay heed to. Your site should load quickly so that viewers don't migrate away from your site due to extended waiting period. Avoid too many heavy components, and if at all those components are necessary, optimize and compress them for optimum user experience.

9. Are you aware of the F-Layout?
User behavior states that a normal human being always reads from left to right and top to bottom. Use this to your advantage and work towards placing your best elements in correct positions that catch your users' attention.

So, have you been able to answer all of the above questions? Go ahead and tick them all off the list!

Website design is an integral part of your business and never should you neglect this aspect. All the best in designing the best website for your business. In case you need to hire a really good website developer, you could look for great options here.

Do you have what it takes to be an Enterprising Entrepreneur?

A successful entrepreneur possesses certain key qualities that separate him from the common man. Skills can be attained with practice, however, there are some attributes that are in-built and developed in an individual over the years. Do you think you have those qualities in you? Take a look at the personality traits of a startup superhero in this infographic.

So, what are you waiting for? Start here to get more visibility and also find your target audience! Share your traits in the comments section below. 

Inspiring Stories of Indian Entrepreneurs!

Indian entrepreneurs are really very inspiring and some of their heroic stories are untold. Being enthused by such success stories, I did a bit of research on various websites and magazines to figure out how one could make it big with simple yet powerful ideas. Based on this little research, following are a few really amazing stories that encourage you to go that extra mile with a humble idea and reach the pinnacle.

Sulekha.com : This is a really inspiring story that I came across when I was reading a magazine in the plane. Mr.Satya Prabhakar and his wife went to America through his work and slowly settled there. However, back then, they did not have any relatives or friends who could help them with small services like a good Indian cook to help them out, a decent Indian salon for their beauty essentials, etc. They decided to start noting down all the help they figured out somehow and developed a blog to spread the word across to their neighbors and fellow Indians in their community. Now, he is the owner of a really big company called Sulekha.com, that has its wings spread not only in India, but in USA, UK and Middle East. What started as a blog is now a big business. Sheer brilliance and dedication. Something this simple really inspires me a lot. Every successful startup caters to some or the other need of the society and Sulekha happens to be the biggest example of that!

Jayaashree Industries: Arunachalam Muruganantham, India’s “Tampon King.” He acquired this title by figuring out how to locally produce low-cost sanitary napkins that have the dual benefit of not only providing women with an affordable, hygienic management method for that time of the month, but also providing employment to many women.

Sandeepha Restaurant: Starting from merely 50 paisa per day, Mrs. Patricia Narayan now earns INR 2 lakh a day. She started her career 31 years ago as an entrepreneur, selling eateries from a mobile cart on the Marina beach a midst all odds. Today, she has overcome the hurdles and owns a chain of restaurants.

ID Idly Dosa batter: Musthafa P.C, a school dropout who went on to study at IIMB, quit his software job to start an enterprise that sold idly-dosa batter. His is a success story that has trickled down to his 600 –odd rural employees too.

Tips to succeed at Job Fairs

Man is a social animal who is constantly on the lookout for change. For a lot of us who are currently employed, job satisfaction is a rarity. And for freshers, who are seeking suitable jobs, it is always tempting to accept an offer that may appear to be great but not in the long run. For you to appropriately make a choice based on your interest and field of expertise, job fairs are conducted where multiple employers come under one roof and give you the choice to appear for a pre-determined number of interviews. However. job fairs tend to attract a lot of crowd which means added competition for you as a job seeker. So here are a few tips that will help you stay on top of others and excel at such career fairs.

Pre-Fair:

1. Shortlist your top companies

Carefully review the list of employers participating in the fair and select the top 7 companies of your choice based on their reputation, your field of interest and domain expertise

2. Research your shortlisted employers

Make sure that you research well on the companies that you have shortlisted as your priority. Browse their websites and other online properties to thoroughly know every single detail about the organization including their team, locations, business objectives, revenue model and other news related to them

3. Customize your resume

Prepare different resumes for the companies that you have selected to sit for. Based on their job description, tweak your profile to suit their requirement 

4. Practice an introductory speech

It is obvious that the first question that every recruiter asks is for you to introduce yourself. Why not prepare a really kickass brief that describes you in the most apt way with crisp and quirky words. First impression is always the best impression. So cash in on this and prepare a really good introduction for yourself

5. Prepare a list of questions for your recruiter

Always be ready with a set of intelligent and wise questions that you could ask your potential employer, such as, what is your strategy to drive sales in the digital space? or how did the inception of the company happen? and other such witty questions.

At the Fair:

1. Be punctual and dress appropriately

It is imperative for you to be on time or even a few minutes before time and dress in business formals to impress your recruiters

2. Plan your time well

Make sure that you schedule high priority companies first and then move to the rest. Such events could press you for time and if you do not manage well, you may not make optimum use of the opportunity in hand

3. Approach with confidence and humility

Firmly shake hands with the interviewer and hand out a clean crisp copy of your customized resume. Extend a warm welcome to them and stay focused and confident while responding to all their questions

4. Thank your recruiter

Request for the recruiters business card so you could send them "Thank you" notes after the fair. Immediately after the interview, politely thank your recruiters for their time. These gestures will definitely earn you brownie points, if not overdone!

Post-Fair:

1. Follow-up

Send out thank you emails to your recruiters and slyly ask for the status of the job position. Remember that you are in need of the job. Shed your ego and discover the developments in the position you are eyeing for

That's about it folks! These are really simple etiquette that you must follow while attending a job fair. Put your best foot forward and crack the deal! All the very best :)  

How to use technology to build your startup?

Startups are totally trending these days but every small business is not a successful one. Did you know that the success rate of startups is just 5%? Well what is it that this 5% of businesses is doing right and the rest aren't? Let us take a look at how technology, without much expenditure, can lead to a good start for entrepreneurs.

1. Time tracking tools must be put to good use to manage your time wisely and allocate appropriate amount of time to tasks with varying priorities. 1Time and Chrometa are a couple of good tools available in the market.

2. Use an efficient project management tool like Basecamp or Asana to maintain a record of all accounts that you are handling. It is ideal for a small team to communicate and share files and other related data.

3. Create a systematic email management system to not miss out on any important message and also to keep every single detail of your team documented in one place. You never know what will actually be of use to you at a later stage.

4. Use a methodical online invoicing system to bill your customers and avoid any kind of hassle with respect to funds. You could make use of Google Checkout or PayPal for this as they are authentic and very user-friendly.

5. Maintain your finances well with a productive online budget planner. You ought to plan your spends wisely when you are starting off with almost nothing or very little. Mint or GNUCash could assist you in this task.

6. Explore the possibility of creating an alternative source of income like selling your products online or getting associated with a complimentary product that would mutually benefit both the businesses.

7. Exploit social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and others that are free and at the same time super effective to popularize your business and connect with your targeted audience.

8. Start writing a blog that you can use as a rich source of content marketing. Gather as many readers as you can in your domain and educate them about the need of your product and how they can benefit out of that.

9. Use video marketing to create short yet engaging videos about your product. You can introduce your business, talk about features of your products that stand out in the industry, and create various videos that are worthy of going viral in the digital space.

10. Last but definitely not the least is going mobile. Create an interactive and fully functional app that aligns with your website design and interface. We all know that the world is going mobile and if you are not, then you are losing a lot.

Hope this helps you in elevating your business further and scaling greater heights with simple and cost-effective ideas. In case you have a few more ideas in your kitty, share them with our readers in the comments below.