How To Be Happy Now And Achieve More In Life Just By Thinking Right?
Happiness is a choice one makes for herself or himself. Confused? Well most people think that they will become happy if they get a list of desires. But what happens is, when we get some of our desires, we become temporarily happy and then we add more desires to the list. So now we have some of the things we wanted, that makes us happier, but then there are more desires on the list so does that make us unhappy?
It depends on how you view your life, if one is content with what they have done and achieved in their life, then they feel happy and if one is not content about what they have done in their life then they are feel unhappy.
So the answer to being happy is quite simple, Isnt it? One just has to be content with oneself to be happy thats all, which is why they say happiness is a state of mind; its a choice one makes for herself or himself. Isnt it you who choose to be content with what you have or to worry about what you dont have. For everybody its always going to be the same, we have some of the things we want and we do not have some of the things we want, then where are you going to focus, on what you have or what you dont have? Happier people simply focus on what they have rather than on what they dont have.
So does this mean that we give up on our desires? NO ABSOLUTELY NOT, you never give up on your desires. Work for them and get them all, only that focusing on what you have keeps you happy, when you are happy you function better and when you function better then you act better and the outcomes of your actions are better. So wont you be able to achieve more in life? Some call this being positive.
This is a very simple trick to life, one just has to shift their mental focus to what they have in life and it makes a world of a difference to one. Ask the greatest gurus in the world from the east or from the west, they will all tell you this one thing “Contentment is the key to Happiness, and Happiness is the key to everything, love, health, wealth, fame, fortune or power whatever you desire”
Santosh is a life enthusiast and writes practical tips on being happy on his happiness blog http://www.thehappinesschronicles.com ,you can sign up for his blog updates for free and receive practical happiness tips everyday right to your mailbox.
Start an Online Business in 7 simple steps
Albert Einstein said, Make everything as simple as possible but not one bit simpler. Online business simplified, truly has only 7 steps and if these 7 steps are followed in a disciplined manner step-by-step then success in your online business is definite:
1. Find a niche market inline with your skills and identify your business idea.
2. Develop your business vision and strategy.
3. Develop or source your product.
4. Develop your website to promote or sell your products.
5. Develop your internet marketing and sale strategy.
6. Drive traffic to your site.
7. Convert the traffic to sales.
Step 1. Find a niche market inline with your skills and identify your business idea
A niche is a group of people having a problem and are looking for a product or service to solve their problem but are not easily finding any solutions.
Finding the right niche inline with your skills and interest will be critical towards your success in an online business.
This is something I learned the hard way, I spent a lot of time in areas that had a lot of demand but also had a lot of supply. What happens in a competitive scenarios is that the big fish always takes the prize.
Then what must the small fish do? Find a niche market where products or services are not easily available, provide a efficient solution to the problem faced by the niche market and become a market leader in this area and become a big fish.
It is very important that the market you find is in line with your skills, interest and passions because the internet marketing business is essentially information based and you will need to write content for articles, blogs, press releases, and answer questions in forums to establish your credibility as an expert in the niche you have identified.
There are several free and easy tools using which you can find a niche market you are passionate about. The value you get out of working in an area you are passionate about is the fun, enjoyment and happiness of doing something you love. This goes a long way into making you online business successful.
Step 2. Develop your business vision and strategy
Once you know the niche market you are going to target then the next step is to develop your business vision and strategy.
The business vision essentially details where you want to see your business in a few years and what is the value you will provide to your customers through your products and services, the key questions you must answer when developing you business vision are:
1. What do you want to accomplish by your Business?
2. What value do you want to provide to your customers through your Business?
3. How much Revenue do you want to generate from your business in the first 6 months?
4. How much Revenue do you want to generate from your business in the following 6 months?
5. Where do you want to take your Business in 5 years?
The business strategy details your approach to take your business to the market to make money, some of the
1. What is the business model you are going to use to generate revenue?
2. Who are your Customers? What are their wants and needs?
3. What is the product you will sell you your customers?
4. What is the competition you need to face?
5. How you are going to present your business to the market?
6. What is going to be your unique selling proposition, what makes your business different from your competitors?
7. How much are you going to charge for the product or service you will provide?
Step 3. Develop or source products for your niche market
Once you know your niche market and have developed your business vision and strategy, the next step is to source or develop products for your niche marketplace. Sourcing or developing the best solution that solves the problem in the most efficient manner will give you an edge over your competition.
There are several kinds of products you could develop for your niche market, the most popular information products are:
Downloadable e-books, audios or videos, you can convert one of your passions or interests into an e-book, an audio or a video, a great advantage with e-books, audios or videos is that you have minimal investment and no inventory or shipping costs.
Sell paid subscriptions or memberships, If you have an area of skill or specialty which needs a lot of fresh information to stay current in the field then you can put all that information onto a site and charge a monthly or a yearly membership fee for accessing this information, this is a great business model, and as you have members joining you, if you provide them with great value and keep them happy then these members could become your customers for life.
Blogging, the new trend across the globe is blogging, several people write a blog just for fun, people generally choose an area they are passionate about and write about it. If you are really good at something and write a blog for the topic and several people visit your blog, then you can sign-up for advertising on your blog and easily generate income. There are several blog sites available on the internet where you could use to setup and start your blog in 5 – 10 minutes for free.
Newsletters and ezines, newsletters and e-zines are like magazines in the offline world, just that the internet makes it so easy to publish that anyone can publish an e-zine or a newsletter. We all know that people buy magazines on various topics they like, now they are happier if they could get the magazine in the comfort of their inbox.
Step 4. Develop your website to promote or sell your products
Once you have finalized on your products the next step is to setup your website to sell or promote your products.
If you are harrowed by the thought of creating a website then let me assure you there are tools that make website development much easier. If you are not from a computers or technical background, do not worry there are several methods using which you can have a website or blog developed in a matter of a few clicks and a few minutes.
Developing the website intuitively maybe the most important step for an online business, but truly it is only as important as all the other steps in this article.
Whats more important in an Online Business is CONTENT, online business essentially is information based business hence the content is what matters the most on a website, good quality content always wins.
This is another reason why you should be an expert in the niche you choose, if you need to write good quality content you better be good in the field or area you choose, the one thing you need to do is write, you could also hire ghostwriters who could do the content writing for a nominal fee.
Step 5. Develop your internet marketing and sale strategy
Once your website is up and running the next step is to market your business, marketing you business essentially means taking your product to people who would be interested in buying it and the sale strategy is how you sell to the people who arrive at your site to see your product.
The internet marketing and sale strategy must answer the following questions:
1. How are you going to reach out to your target market?
2. What marketing methods will you use to drive traffic to site?
3. What is your sale strategy?
4. How will you establish credibility with your customers?
5. How will you collect leads?
6. What is your follow-up mechanism?
The marketing plan must include:
1. Traffic or the number of visitors that must visit website per month to meet revenue goals.
2. What must be the conversion ratio of the traffic to leads?
3. What must be the conversion ratio of the leads to customers?
Step 6. Drive Traffic to your Site
There are several free and low cost internet marketing and traffic generation techniques you can use to drive traffic to your site.
Some of the prominent free methods for traffic generation are article marketing, forum marketing, viral marketing, social bookmarking, pr & publicity, organic search engine traffic.
Low cost methods for marketing include email marketing, affiliate marketing, web directories, joint ventures and pay per click (PPC) traffic. PPC traffic in a less competitive niche market would be not very expensive and you could get clicks for as less as 0.05$ per click and in a competitive market this could go to as high as 50$ for a click.
You must find the marketing method that works best for you by methodology and budget, when developing your marketing plan, decide 1 or 2 marketing techniques at a time and focus your attention on the ones that work for you best. Monitoring the amount of traffic is essential to know where you stand and where you want to go. Google Analytics is a great tool to measure the amount of traffic to your site.
Step 7. Convert traffic to sales
The sale process essentially converts the people who arrive at your site to buying customers. The process essentially has only two parts:
1. Capture leads or prospective customers.
2. Convert the Prospects to actual customers.
The key thought through peoples minds when putting their hard earned money on your product is “Am I getting the value for the money that I am paying for this product”. It all comes to one word at this point “CREDIBILITY”. It is the job of your sale process to convince the customer that his money is safe and he can trust you and your product.
If you are a well known person in the market you are working then surely people will trust you without thinking too much and put their money on your products, If you are not well known in the market then the only way you will really be able to sell to this market is by establishing credibility with your prospects.
A good sales copy with testimonials will enable you to establish credibility with your prospective customers. If you are new to the market in which you are working then you might have to use appropriate pricing strategies to compete in the market, generate some sales and get some feedback from your customers in the form of testimonials to establish your credibility.
A good quality product which solves the problem in an efficient manner is a must for testimonials and online success. Over time as people buy your product and your credibility improves people will be ready to invest more money on your products and you can increase the prizing of your products.
These were the 7 steps to setup an online business, follow these 7 steps in the same order and you will successfully be able to setup a profitable internet business with a steady flow of Income.
Santosh Ramachandran is successful Internet Entrepreneur. His website The Online Business Success Hub offers a complete step-by-step guide to start and manage a successful Online Business.
10 Reasons to Start an Home Internet Business
Internet business and its popularity is growing by the day. Top reasons for its growth are the low cost of investment it requires, the fact that it can be started for any skill, hobby or interest, it can be run from the comfort of your home and it has enormous money making potential. But that’s not it, here are the top 10 reasons why thousands of entrepreneurs are starting an internet business:
“Reason 1 – Incredibly low start-up costs”
A computer and an internet connection is all that is needed to start an online business. In fact you can start an internet business with the computer and internet connection you are using to read this article right now. The only other cost you need to incur is the cost of hosting your site, you can host your site on one of the several free resources that are available on the internet or use a paid service for a very nominal fee.
“Reason 2 – Incredibly low maintenance costs”
Information products are easy to deliver, no warehouse or inventory costs, and can be easily delivered anywhere in the world through a simple download link on your website.
“Reason 3 – Incredibly large profit margins”
Information products do not need any raw material to create, they are purely electronic data created on your computer, so it can be replicated at no cost, so once you have completed your product, you can simply keep selling it again and again for 100% profits.
“Reason 4 – Incredibly low marketing costs”
Marketing costs for an online business are nearly non-existent as compared to a offline businesses. In-fact there are tonnes and tonnes of resources on the Internet you can use for marketing your business absolutely free. Web 2.0 sites like Facebook, MySpace, Digg, YouTube, etc are growing in popularity and power by the minute, these sites are free and have a great amount of traffic visiting these sites. Anybody can easily tap traffic from these sites.
“Reason 5 – Do a job you love”
The best part of an internet business is that you can easily convert one of your own skills, passions or hobbies into a lucrative internet business.
“Reason 6 – The whole world is your marketplace”
The lucrative power of an online business is due to the immense reach of the internet, you can reach out to the whole world. Currently nearly 2 Billion (2,000,000,000) people across the globe are connected to the internet. Considering this, if you appropriate a good niche market then you can easily have a few thousand prospects to target every month.
The revenue being spent on the internet is already in the range of above 100 billion dollars per year and is growing every year. More and more people are using the internet to find what they want than the conventional methods, then wouldn’t doing Business on the internet be a good idea?
“Reason 7 – Easily receive payments from anywhere in the world”
It is now very easy to receive money from anywhere in the world through a credit card. You can easily sign up for an online payment processor account and receive money for your products online. Setting up your account with these online payment processors is as simple as setting up an email address on google or yahoo and you can easily transfer the money from these online payment processor accounts to your Bank Account in your country.
“Reason 8 – Easily host and develop websites with easy to use site building software”
There are several great resources on the Internet that make website hosting as easy as signing up for an email address with Google or yahoo. These sites also provide you with tools where developing a website is similar to creating a document on microsoft word.
In-fact you can have your website up and running in 15 minutes.Its remarkable how easy developing and hosting a website has become.
“Reason 9 – Easily automate your business to work on auto-pilot mode”
An Online Business on completion of the initial work can be set completely to work on auto-pilot mode. The website does all the work for you, people come to your website, read your sales-copy, leave their email information, and you automatically follow-up with them using emails till a sale is made. Once this process is setup the website works on its own, the amount of attention you have to spend on your business reduces significantly, leaving you with time to do the things you love to do.
“Reason 10 – Work from anywhere, have more time for yourself, spend more time with your loved ones”
An internet business can be managed from the comfort of your home or from anywhere you have a computer and an internet connection. You can work while you are at home taking care of your children or spending time with your loved ones or even when you are on vacation.
Santosh Ramachandran is successful Internet Entrepreneur. His website The Online Business Success Hub offers a complete step-by-step guide to start and manage a successful Online Business.