Survey Yourself Before Going Into Business

1. Why should there be anyone would do business with you?

This could be the very first question that you must ask yourself before anything else. You got to demand yourself to an answer to this. Why the heck on earth would anybody pay for this "Junk" you're selling? Yup, "Junk", as I phrased it. It doesn't matter how good your product is to be, to the eye of others, it's just another piece of product in a sea pool of other similar products.

So, still be very proud of your product or service? Truly you're 100% proud of it? You truthfully and deeply believe people would be dumb by NOT buying from you?

Well...you passed the first barrier! You're ready to start go to next stage.

2. The basic business needs 3 things: Lawyer, CPA, and Creative or crazy fellow, which could very well be you.

Almost every business gets themselves for the first two. It's understandably so. Good creative person are really hard to find, hard to manage, and you'll never sure of what you're paying for.

Every established and sizeable business knows the creative side plays a heavier weight than the lawyer and CPA. CPA's and lawyers can help you when you are up there. But at the early stage when your business is still an infant, your business live or die depending on it's business branding activities in areas like business identities, logos, marketing campaign, advertising copy and business slogans.

Now, are you NUTS enough? Have people been calling you NUTS? If so, you are ready for the next stage! Do give yourself a "Cheers"!

3. Singing for Your Own? You Got To Promote Yourself In Every Possible Way.

Do all of them. Yes, Do whatever possible to get your business name to be up there! Get your Business Brand being noticed by others. There more the merrier!

Business can just comes and go so fast before anybody could hears of them. People are busy, what do they care? They don't care about you and your business. Why should they care? Get serious. Do everything you can possibly and reasonably afford to do. But beware; you must not mislead others because it'll backfire quickly enough to wipe your business off.

Do you "Sing for your own self"? Then you've passed! Move on to next stage...

4. Big Decision: Could You Win The Competition.

It's very likely that you're entering a crowded business market when you first started. Take a hard and closer look at what other fellows are doing; what your competitors are doing right now could affect your business greatly.

At this stage, you got to decide: Are you going for "Head to Head" fight? Competing on better quality? Crazier pricing strategy? Extra Mile Service Level? Better Marketing Campaign? or what else? Or you would avoid all that, and create you own niche, where you are the leader?

If you decided to be offering the same or very much similar product at the same price, but your marketing materials doesn't look half as good as your competitors...hey, you're in deep trouble! If you're charging half compare to others, then it's still alright to "Look" cheap, simply because you are the "Cheaper" alternative where people are looking for.

5. Marketing is basically just a matter Perception.

"Perception" is just another fancy word for thoughts. The thought by the public has in mind all about you and your "Good" or "Bad" business. Good salesmen control the perception more on personal level like putting on neat suit, very nice smile and sincere voice, firm handshake...etc.

And your business marketing campaign need to strive to achieve equivalent level of effects. And it needs to be at a more abstract level by means of having an attractive Business Name, Eye Catching Business Graphics, Professionally dressed-up staff. Any things that just might seduce and persuade a potential visitor to become a paying customer.

6. Your Business Identity; Your Business Equity.

The Business Name, the Logo, the projected Business Look, the public's perception, recognition, or even affection if there is; these are critical to business success. Big businesses routinely pay big buck like million dollars for these aspects for the business.

Your Business Identity must be well organized to target at desired market. It's what termed as the "Face" side, the side which public always sees first. Work on refining it so it works wonders. Improve it to get better and even better, and then protect it, and treasured like your beloved!

Yup, there are so many people who just bought a ready business. But every time they run a new marketing campaign, they tend to fall into trap of projecting a different business image and look. Really, don't ever make such mistake like an amateur.

Consistently stick on to the business branding strategy that your have chosen on the very early stage. This is your Business Equity. By keep changing the business look, you'll get the public confused, and worse still if they see that you don't even have the basic respect for your business identity.

Don't destroy the business equity; you need to be utmost concerned with your business image to the public. It has its own personality. It has to stand out from the rest. It has to send clear signal to the targeted market: "Here We are, Come To Us", "Get Us Today".

Do Love Your Business, just like you love yourself.
James Little shares his thoughts at Business Resources and Suggestion while ventures into online business. Network sites include Top Web Resources Marketplace and Business Centre provides resources for internet entrepreneurs.

James Little shares his thoughts at Business Resources Suggestion Centre (http://suggestionsite.com ) while ventures into online business. Network sites include Web Resources Marketplace (http://topkeyword.info ) and Business Centre (http://businessafe.com ) provides resources for internet entrepreneurs.

The Reason Why Paid Survey Sites Multiply Faster Than Bacteria

Imagine if you could make a dollar every time you handed someone a special sheet of paper. To earn the dollar, all you would have to do is get people to read that sheet of paper.

Normally, you would think that making money in this fashion would be a great thing. However, you would soon find out that you'd have a very big problem on your hands: copycats.

Generate huge amounts of cash for yourself and people will always take notice. Not only will they copy your business model, but they will do anything they can do make their business look good while making your business look bad.

Enter the infamous paid survey site. Websites that claim you can make big bucks by taking a few surveys online every now and then.

It wasn't long ago when I first saw one of these sites and thought to myself: "Wow, what a great way to make a little extra cash for myself."

Little did I know, this was just one of a million other survey sites out there basically offering the same type of deal. I was under the impression that the site I joined was reputable and unique.

That couldn't be further from the truth. Hundreds, if not thousands of these paid survey sites exist. Unfortunately 99% of them are exactly the same.

Why so many clones you ask? It's because paid survey sites are similar to the "sheet of paper" example that I mentioned earlier. Paid survey sites are a profitable business and they are incredibly easy to copy.

Let's take an example:

Joe spends a Sunday afternoon surfing the web and stumbles across a paid survey site. He reads that he can get paid for his opinion by taking surveys online. All he has to do is pay an upfront membership fee to access the database of companies who send out the surveys.

Joe signs up, pays the membership fee, takes a few surveys and makes a few extra bucks. Joe then becomes aware that this paid survey site business model works like a charm. It was able to convince him to pay to access the directory, so why wouldn't it be able to convince other people?

Joe then decides to create a survey site of his own. He already has the big list of survey companies from the site he previously joined. The only thing he has to do is register a domain name, purchase a web host, put a page together and voila: a new paid survey site is born!

So now, not only does Joe receive money from the surveys he's taking, but also from the upfront membership fee he charges his visitors to access the exact same list of survey companies that got him started in the first place!

Each person that signs up at Joe's new website represents yet another possibility that he or she will take notice of this survey site business model and create one them self.

Thus you can see just how quickly these types of sites are copied. They really do multiply faster than bacteria!

But what does this mean for you?

Well, quite frankly, you're getting ripped off. Not only are these paid survey sites copycats of one another, the list of companies that they charge you for is actually available for free!

Yes, you read that right. These survey companies are not classified C.I.A documents. They're out there on the web to be found. They're just looking to do market research and they need help from people like you to give opinions on their products.

The trouble lies in knowing where to find these companies. That's where these paid survey sites enter the picture. Upon paying the membership fee, you are given access to a huge, neatly organized list of companies that send out the surveys.

But I would wager you would have an uneasy feeling inside your stomach knowing you're paying for something that you know is freely available. Am I right?

Those were my feelings as well, so I decided to do some legwork and create a website listing some of the top survey companies without charging a fee upfront to access them.

After all, not everyone wants to be known as bacteria.

For over three years, Michael Hole has been an online entrepreneur and is the creator of several websites, including one of the best sources to find free listings of paid survey companies: http://www.WealthBySurveys.com

Interesting Opinions On Cigars From Recent Survey

According to a recent survey by the ASC (alt.smokers.cigars) the following results were obtained from a recent online survey of cigar smokers:

86% of cigar smokers report that they do not inhale.

The average number of cigars smoked per week is 6.74 at and average price of $4.34

The best individual cigars were the Romeo y Julieta Churchill(Cuba) with 8 votes, the Cohiba Esplendido(Cuba) and Montecristo(Cuba) each with 7 votes, and rounding out the top five were the AF Flor Fina and the AF Hemmingway Signature both from the Dominican Republic with 5 votes each

The best cigar brands overall were A. Fuente from Dominican Republic with 15 votes, A. Fuente Hemmingway(DR) with 12 votes, the always popular and internationally known Cohiba from Cuba with 12 votes, Excalibur by HdM of Honduras, and in 5th La Gloria Cubana from the United States.

The worst cigars were Phillies, Swisher Sweets, Habana Golds, White Owl, Te-Amo, Dutch Masters, Hav-A-Tampa, El Producto, Garcia y Vega, H Upmann, Hoyo/Excalibur, and King Edward.

According to the survey the 10 most popular cigar smoking celebrities are George Burns in first place, followed by David Letterman in second, then Arnold Schwarzenegger in third, Groucho Marx fourth, Rush Limbaugh fifth, Tom Selleck sixth, Bill Cosby seventh, Jack Nicholson eighth, Winston Churchill ninth, and the character Cosmo Kramer from Seinfeld tenth.

The favorite cutting methods were the guillotine, Bulls Eye, and the V-Cut respectively.

The two most popular methods of lighting the cigar were the butane lighter at 51% and wooden matches at 33%.

According to those surveyed 47% said that they smoked a wide variety of cigars while 38% reported smoking their favorites and testers.

Most reported their reason for smoking cigars was relaxation, followed by "makes me light headed" and enjoyment of smoking.

The length of time the responders had been smoking cigars ranged from newcomer to over 40 years with the average being 7.2 years.

49% of those surveyed said they bought both boxes and singles, 34% bought only single cigars and 17% bought only boxes.

44% of the surveyed cigar smokers bought their cigars locally while 42% bought locally and mail order, and 14% through mail order only.

Of those with a humidor they had an average of 162 cigars in the humidor and at an average total value of $250 with most of the cigars coming from Dominica, Honduras, Cuba, and Nicaragua.

According to the survey 88% said they would smoke Cuban cigars on a regular basis if it were not for the United States ban and their opinion about Fidel Castro was pretty even with 53% saying that they had no opinion about him and 45% being Anti-Castro. 43% said they thought the Cuban Embargo would be lifted by 2009.

Gregg Hall is a business consultant and author for many online and offline businesses and lives in Navarre Florida with his 16 year old son. Get great quality cigars at http://www.cubancigarsplus.com

StellarSurvey.com - New effective market research option that won't take a toll on your budget

StellarSurvey.com - New effective market research option that won't take a toll on your budget

StellarSurvey.com http://www.stellarsurvey.com, announced today the launch of a new web based survey tool that utilizes a powerful, user friendly interface for creating and managing surveys over internet.

"As far as we know, SurveySurvey.com is the cheapest option available on the market today. With StellarSurvey.com, people will discover the most affordable and convenient way to create and manage their surveys," said Julia Kornilova, president and co-founder of StellarSurvey.com.

A free account includes all the basic features of StellarSurvey.com and allows you to create surveys and collect up to 100 responses per month. This option is great for anyone who doesn't need professional features, or just wants to see how easy it is to use StellarSurvey.com.

A professional subscription is only $9.95 per month (or only $94.95 a year) which is twice as cheap as SurveyMonkey.com and five times cheaper than Zoomerang.com.

Even with this bargain price, StellarSurvey.com doesn't cut back on features. Professional subscription with StellarSurvey.com includes a wealth of advanced features, such as an unlimited number of surveys, logic to skip questions based on earlier answers, custom themes that enable you to create your own look and feel, result sharing and analysis. To see more features of StellarSurvey.com, go to http://www.stellarsurvey.com/pricing.aspx.

StellarSurvey.com is based fully on the most reliable latest technology that includes ASP.NET 2.0 and SQL Server 2005, explains Kornilova. "Combining the greatest talents on our team and the latest technologies available today enabled us to develop the strongest survey engine on the market."

"The mission of StellarSurvey.com is simple - provide you with the most affordable, powerful, and easy to use tool to create web surveys," said Julia Kornilova. "Everyone who sees the wealth of features StellarSurvey has to offer will be immediately impressed."

President and Co-Founder of StellarSurvey.com

Can You Really Make Money with Online Surveys?

I am sure you have seen the "Paid Survey" sites that claim
to pay you for your opinion. Question is: Will they really
pay you for just taking simple surveys online?

Well, I did a little experiment. Actually, it was a pretty
big experiment. I researched several hundred of these
companies.

What did I find? You guessed it:

Most were scams.

They want your email address so they can spam you. Or they
require you to accumulate 10 million zillion points before
they pay you. Or they say they pay but don't.

But, as I was weeding out all the scams I would
occasionally come across a legitimate company. It didn't
happen very often, but out of the hundreds of companies I
researched, I found 68 good ones.

Now, let me tell you -- you are not going to get rich doing
surveys online. And, if anybody tells you that you can earn
"thousands" a month -- they are lying to you. (My best
month so far I earned $104.00)

But, on the other hand it's not very hard work either. Most
surveys are short. I did one this morning that took less
than 5 minutes. It only paid $4.00 but for 5 minutes work I
am not going to complain. Yesterday I did one that paid
$10.00. Two weeks ago I did a $25.00 one. And a couple of
months ago I had one that paid $50. It varies. And sometimes
there are very short screener surveys that don't
pay anything -- you have to take the screeners to see if
you qualify for the paid surveys.

All in all, it's not a bad way to earn a few extra bucks a
month.

James J. Jones is the publisher of the Paid Participation eLetter. You can subscribe at: http://www.getpaidnetwork.com/sub
Find out more about Paid Participation programs at: www.getpaidnetwork.com