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To be on your own, set sights on services sector...
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To be on your own, set sights on services sector...
Sruthi, a web developer quit her full-time job eight months ago to strike out on her own, and now she runs her own website development company from her garage.
Preethi, a postgraduate in psychology and social work has tied up with an NGO to offer counselling sessions for a nominal fee at their office. Sujitha was laid off from her PR job a four months ago and instead of doing the rounds again in search of a job, she used her thriving professional network to kick-start a services business that takes care of everything from arranging day care, domestic help and housekeeping services to grocery shopping, picking up dry cleaning, making reservations, travel arrangements and everything in between.
With the recession pushing them to the brink and with job markets getting more competitive, more people are looking at the viability of earning a living by selling their services.
The biggest advantage going for service based businesses are that they require minimal or no inventory and are almost entirely dependent on personal skills and talent. Whether you are a writer, accountant, attorney, stock broker, real estate agent, PR rep, artist, interior decorator, fashion designer, administrative assistant, programmer, cook, beautician, teacher, trainer, typist, HR specialist, or medical transcriptionist (just to name a few), you can spin gold purely from your talent and transform your business dreams into reality!
Understandably, it is much more difficult to convince someone to buy a service as compared to convincing someone to buy a product.
You usually do not have a standard pricing in services business for this precise reason.
The services people will pay for, and how much they are willing to pay, depends on a number of factors including location, timing, economic conditions, their need, perception of satisfaction and more.
Unlike a business that sells a tangible product, a services business is purely built on the trust and goodwill between the buyer and seller. In fact, many small-scale services businesses thrive solely on networks and word of mouth recommendations.
Selling your services knows no limits. Age, experience, education or financial resources not withstanding, many of your skills and talents are marketable and have the potential to grow into fulltime business opportunities.
Service businesses can be highly competitive and to retain your edge you need to be a credible provider of expertise in your business domain. Image is everything here, and so is the ability to build a personal brand. A personal brand will define what your business stands for, and help you stand out from the competition.
By creating a reliable and trustworthy image for your business, you will engage your customers, get more return clients and referrals and build a solid reputation for your business.
Any service business calls for extreme hard work. First, the entrepreneur himself/herself is the organisation. You need to have a clear cut idea on who you are going to serve, who your target clients are going to be. You need to have the exceptional ability to convince your customers that you will provide the best in class service.
Fixing the charges for service is going to take a lot of budgeting skills and you would have too consider several market factors. Remember once you fix a price for a particular service, you cannot expect immediate enhancement if your calculations are wrong.
You have to consider the time delivery of these service. People expect service at all hours.
That aspect must be made clear in the very start or there will be customers who will leave you.
The services sector provides potential for people different specialities.
If you have the time, resources, passion and perseverance to invest in a business venture and are dying to breathe freedom and satisfaction by turning your unique talent into a viable and successful business enterprise, this might just be a call to get you thinking!!!
Source:
http://-
Preethi, a postgraduate in psychology and social work has tied up with an NGO to offer counselling sessions for a nominal fee at their office. Sujitha was laid off from her PR job a four months ago and instead of doing the rounds again in search of a job, she used her thriving professional network to kick-start a services business that takes care of everything from arranging day care, domestic help and housekeeping services to grocery shopping, picking up dry cleaning, making reservations, travel arrangements and everything in between.
With the recession pushing them to the brink and with job markets getting more competitive, more people are looking at the viability of earning a living by selling their services.
The biggest advantage going for service based businesses are that they require minimal or no inventory and are almost entirely dependent on personal skills and talent. Whether you are a writer, accountant, attorney, stock broker, real estate agent, PR rep, artist, interior decorator, fashion designer, administrative assistant, programmer, cook, beautician, teacher, trainer, typist, HR specialist, or medical transcriptionist (just to name a few), you can spin gold purely from your talent and transform your business dreams into reality!
Understandably, it is much more difficult to convince someone to buy a service as compared to convincing someone to buy a product.
You usually do not have a standard pricing in services business for this precise reason.
The services people will pay for, and how much they are willing to pay, depends on a number of factors including location, timing, economic conditions, their need, perception of satisfaction and more.
Unlike a business that sells a tangible product, a services business is purely built on the trust and goodwill between the buyer and seller. In fact, many small-scale services businesses thrive solely on networks and word of mouth recommendations.
Selling your services knows no limits. Age, experience, education or financial resources not withstanding, many of your skills and talents are marketable and have the potential to grow into fulltime business opportunities.
Service businesses can be highly competitive and to retain your edge you need to be a credible provider of expertise in your business domain. Image is everything here, and so is the ability to build a personal brand. A personal brand will define what your business stands for, and help you stand out from the competition.
By creating a reliable and trustworthy image for your business, you will engage your customers, get more return clients and referrals and build a solid reputation for your business.
Any service business calls for extreme hard work. First, the entrepreneur himself/herself is the organisation. You need to have a clear cut idea on who you are going to serve, who your target clients are going to be. You need to have the exceptional ability to convince your customers that you will provide the best in class service.
Fixing the charges for service is going to take a lot of budgeting skills and you would have too consider several market factors. Remember once you fix a price for a particular service, you cannot expect immediate enhancement if your calculations are wrong.
You have to consider the time delivery of these service. People expect service at all hours.
That aspect must be made clear in the very start or there will be customers who will leave you.
The services sector provides potential for people different specialities.
If you have the time, resources, passion and perseverance to invest in a business venture and are dying to breathe freedom and satisfaction by turning your unique talent into a viable and successful business enterprise, this might just be a call to get you thinking!!!
Source:
http://-
