Van Storage Ideas to Start a Mobile Locksmith Business

Starting your own mobile locksmith business is a great opportunity as an entrepreneur, and protecting your inventory and equipment with proper van storage will improve the overall return on your investment as you begin your business.

Outfit your van properly, and you will be more organized, efficient, and committed to your work. It’s frustrating trying to accomplish a task when you have to search around a haphazardly arranged van arrangement to find the right tools or supplies.

You don’t need to buy a brand new van to start your mobile locksmith business; however, it would be a wise investment to spend some time and money on the storage ideas that will help you do your job more efficiently. Some of the higher vans allow you to actually move around inside and sit at a workbench while cutting keys, without the risk of banging your head whenever you need to locate a tool.

Here are three things to consider when selecting van storage systems for your locksmith business.

Plan Van Storage Space for a Workbench

Since you are a mobile locksmith business, plan your storage space with a workbench in mind. Don’t settle for standing outside, at the rear doors of your van. Put yourself inside your mobile office and get yourself out of the weather to do your work in comfort. Take time to measure out your space and find the best location for a workbench and a step stool for comfort. A good mobile workbench allows for six or seven feet of space to spread out and accomplish your tasks.

A full-length workbench can accommodate a key machine as well as file storage and the locking drawers necessary for your keys and other supplies. Maximize the storage space at your workbench by including catalog organizers, hooks, safety equipment and other accessories that will make your job easier.

Van Storage Should Include Locking Drawers

There is nothing more annoying than listening to hundreds of key blanks jangling like loud wind chimes while you are driving down the road. Storing your product in well-cushioned, locking drawers is a wise use of your cargo area. The keys will be protected from “road rash” marks from rubbing against each other or other items.

Locking drawers as part of your storage space will also protect you from flying objects if you need to stop or swerve suddenly. Plus, it looks very professional to have drawers full of your product, categorized and ready to use.

Van Storage is Best Organized with Adequate Shelving

One of the most important storage concepts is to determine your shelving needs. What tools and equipment will you need for your mobile locksmith business? What storage location of these tools will make your work most efficient?

Look at your van as a mobile work cell, and set it up as efficiently as possible. You will accomplish your service calls faster, and will be able to make more service calls throughout the day because your van storage plan has helped you become efficient.

What Are the Best Online Business Ideas to Start an Internet Business?

Have you ever felt like making money online is for everyone but you? This is not true. You can make money online. It is a matter of finding a business model that fits you – something that you will work at and take action on. If you think making money online is as easy as pushing a button – you need to stop reading right now. The best online business ideas to start an internet business will take work.

BUT, once you have a business model in place, it just gets easier and easier to do that work. And, if you’ve set up the right kind of business model, you can make money in your sleep.

Finding a fit to your personality and work methodology is a sure-fire key to success. It is something you will be passionate about and you will follow through with massive action. These two things are critical for you to make money online.

There are several business models available to make money online. You can sell things on Craigslist easy enough. Find something that you already have or can obtain reasonably inexpensively, maybe tweak it a little or fix it up and you can sell it on Craigslist (for free) or on eBay (for a fee).

Several people make good money Blogging. The key here is to write things people want to read, add some ads to your blog relative to your topic and you are off and running. It’s not that hard. The key to blogging is to being real, being yourself. There are several free websites that you can do this on and monetize your website in the process.

Some folks are using affiliate marketing to make a massive income on line. They find a product people are hungry for and they divert traffic to their site, convert that traffic to sales for the product, and earn a hefty commission in the process. Some product commissions can be as high as 50% to 80% of the total product value.

Affiliate marketing is a great business model for those who would rather promote products created by other people and companies. This model allows you to make commissions without the hassle of dealing directly with consumers. It takes research, though, to find the best products to promote and once you find them, promote the heck out of them.

To work in the field of affiliate marketing, takes some learning and I suggest that you download a program and learn what to do. Most people, when they start affiliate marketing, think they have to re-invent the wheel. You don’t. Take advantage of those who know what they are doing and follow along with the easy to download E-book and/or videos. In some cases, if you pick the right system to learn from, you can be making money within a week or two.

If you’re looking for a business model that involves article marketing and uses all free methods to make money online, other than the cost of the how-to program itself, you can find that right here. I have purchased many moneymaking schemes online and for the person just starting out, without a lot of money to spend, you want to find something that is going to work right out of the gate.

How to Start a Cake Business – Some Tips and Ideas to Make a Good Start

A cake business is a great opportunity to make money with your baking and decorating skills and of course, if you love decorating or it has become one of your hobbies, it is indeed great to make money out of something that you enjoy doing. You can start by finding some tips and basics of learning how to start a cake business, learn from those who have been there and avoid mistakes in putting up your own business.

Here are some things that you might want to keep in mind in learning how to start a cake business. Considering that you already have your baking skills honed and your love for cake decorating unparalleled, then here are other things you have to keep in mind.

Start with a business plan. We tend to make plans in mind and eventually end up with so many ideas that you do not know where it would lead you, but it is important that you put your business plan in writing so you will know where to start. It will also help guide you on your business goals and in how to achieve them.

Plan your investment. Determine how much you will invest including the things and equipment you need to have. Prioritize your investment. Plan everything out from the equipment that you will need to the skills and personnel you need. You may also need to take care of some business fees too.

Of course, you should include your marketing plan as well. With the many bakery and cake business already existing, you have to come up with a unique idea or concept that would make your products sell and, of course, you have to be into the competition. Even if you are still starting, find ways to be competitive as well.

Don’t just settle with your existing skills. Find ways to upgrade and improve our baking skills as well as your cake decorating ideas. When it comes to cake designs, especially when you re dealing with wedding cakes, people are always looking for something unique and you should be able to cater to that needs of your clients.

Explore and take advantage of the internet. In learning how to start a cake business, you don’t have to focus only on putting up your physical store, you can also explore the great advantage of the internet. Put up a website and display your creations online. A lot of people are turning on to the internet to find ideas and cake designs and you can take advantage of that one too.

Start with these tips on how to start a cake business. In fact, you can start everything online if you still don’t have the resources to put up a physical store. You can make it a small home business, market it in the internet and provide delivery services. This way you will be able to start with just little investment than putting up your physical store.

How to Start a Candy Bouquet Business Online

If you are looking for a do-it-yourself type of business and you have an artistic flare, you might consider starting a business with creating gift arrangements of candy bouquets. Candy bouquets are becoming very popular and are the perfect unique gift for all occasions.  Everyone loves candy and everyone loves these sweet delights.

Getting started in a candy bouquet gift store is simpler than it seems and getting started online is much easier then opening a full service retail store. In getting started online, there are 10 general steps I used which I will identify below:  

Step 1: Choose your form of business organization.   You may choose between sole proprietorship, partnership, limited liability partnership, corporation and etc.   

Step 2: Choose a name for your business. You will want to keep three things in mind here. First, choose a name that is fitting for your product and if possible have your product name in the business name. Second, keep it simple and make it something a customer may remember. For example: If someone was selling widgets, they may pick a business name “Widgets by Sam” or maybe “Cool Widgets for Websites.”  Third, not only should your name be fitting it needs its own brand or its own identity to set yourself apart from your competitors.   

Step 3: Obtain business licenses and permits. Each state has their own requirements so contact your state business licensing department. In my state of Minnesota, you fill out a form and pay a business licensing fee, and you list it in a newspaper as a new business. Others states may require additional steps.  

Step 4: Create and write up a business plan. You can find many templates to help you create and write up a business plan online. They will identify all the areas you need to consider such as products you sell, market, demographics, financing options, goals, etc. This document is critical in pulling together a plan of what you are going to do and how you are going to achieve it. You will also need a business plan should you need financing. If you choose to go the route of an online candy bouquet store, there is a minimal investment up front. Your up front investment would generally be for inventory and office equipment or supplies to get started.   

Step 5: Determine funding and financing needed. Take the business plan you created to a bank or look for investors if you have determined you need financing. Each investor will want a copy of your business plan to take a look at all the details of your business. If you have determined it is a minimal investment which you have funding for then you will not need to go to a bank or seek investors.     

Step 6: Determine insurance requirements. Contact a local insurance agent to get quotes and determine what you feel is best for your business needs. They will work with you and keep you informed of your options.   

Step 7: Set up a business checking account with your personal bank. Since you already do banking with them, you should be able to set up an account rather easily and at minimal cost.  

Step 8:  Purchase your startup inventory. Your business plan should have identified the products you will be selling, suppliers, and costs associated. Determine and order your startup inventory needs.   

Step 9: Create business products. You will need to create your candy bouquet arrangements, brochures, business cards, etc. You may want to start small and as you expand add products to your business.    

Step 10: Setup your online website or hire someone to do that.     

Advertise your business. You may choose to advertise locally through newspaper or radio. You may advertise through internet marketing. All ways of advertising should be considered.   

In conclusion, these 10 steps should help get you started in starting your own venture into a candy bouquet business. Here I cut it down into 10 smaller more manageable tasks. These steps are a guide to help you as you begin and get started.        

Buy a Business Plan Template to Jump Start Your Writing

A business plan template is a product which can give your writing a significant jump start, shaving hours and maybe days off of your business plan development time. Rather than working on a plan from scratch, pulling together directions and guidance from multiple websites or sources, using a business plan template offers you direct and practical guidance on how to create a full business plan all in one package.

Guidance

The template should include directions to show how to customize it to reflect your specific business. This may come within the template itself or in a separate set of instructions. Regardless, the effect is like having a business plan consultant with you, nudging you in the right direction throughout your writing process.

Format

A business plan template comes pre-formatted, with appropriate fonts, colors, and sections. The cover sheet, table of contents, headings, and page layouts will be preset. All of this work allows you to sidestep concerns about your format and presentation style, and move on to focus on the ideas behind the plan’s major sections.

Graphics and Charts

A template may present many potential spots for graphics and charts to replace text. This will make your plan much more attractive and save you the time of developing these graphics yourself.

Financials

A financial model in Excel or a similar program will give you a significant short cut when it comes to the financial section. After entering your financial assumptions (such as average price, units you expect to sell, revenue growth rates, startup costs, and operating costs), the model should automatically generate valid pro forma financial statements in the format required by funders (generally, greater detail for the first one to three years, with annual numbers for the first five years of operation. Not only do you not need to be an accounting whiz to use such a template, but you can quickly and easily try out different financial assumptions and see how they change your statements and return over the years.

Blogging – How to Start a Simple Blog From Scratch? The 6 Simple Steps to Help You

Someone have asked me before: “I want to make some money online, but I don’t have money to even start a home business. I know I can use blogs to sell stuff, but I am not good at computers, and I don’t even know how to start a simple blog. Can you help me?” I smile. “Don’t worry”, I told him, it’s not as difficult as it seems.

Starting a simple blog with blogger.com can be a challenging task if you do not even know how to go about it. But not to worry, you can easily start a Free blog with Blogger.com and later monetize your blog with affiliate programs and ads …

Before you start to create your first blog, decide the name of your blog and get your Google email account username and password ready.

Here’s 6 simple Steps How to Start a simple Blog with a Blogger account:

1) Go to Blogger.com, and choose “Create Your Blog Now” to create your blog.

2) Create a Google Account. Do you have a Google account? If yes, just sign in with your Google account username and password. If not, create a Google Account here.

3) Enter the name or title of your blog here. For example, if your blog is on “Website Traffic”, so you may want to put “Website Traffic or How to Get Traffic to Your Website” here. Then, also, what will your your domain blog address to called? Choose a “keyword-rich title” domain preferably or an easy-to-remember domain name to reflect your personality or brand.

4) Next, choose your template. There are various great Blogger templates available, so pick your favourite template here. Click “Preview Template” here. If you don’t like your template, you can always change it later.

5) Great, your new Blogger blog has been created. Congratulations

6) Now, it’s time to write your first blog post… You can starting writing your content. If you have nothing to write, leave it, you can always come back again. Remember to “Preview” your post first before you “Publish” your blog”.

While starting your online business, you may face a bit of “hiccups” or failures along the way. However, as long as you never give up and are persistent, you should have no problem solving your online “hurdles”…

I would like to quote what Abraham Lincoln says “Success is going from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm”. How true this is! Never lose your enthusiasm on your online business because I strongly believe that at the end of a “dark” tunnel, there is always “light”. So, have confidence in yourself, my friend, and I will see you at the top.

So You Want to Start Your Own Real Estate Business, Huh?

First, allow me to say congratulations on deciding to be your own boss. It is one of the toughest and scariest, yet rewarding decisions an individual can make. You are about to venture on an incredible, life-long journey filled with limitless possibilities. However, make sure you are properly prepared, or else the outcome may be devastating.

The main purpose of this article is to serve as a detailed checklist for preparing, creating and structuring your own real estate business. I will also explain the advantages of detailed planning and management, and the pitfalls for failure to do so. First things first: what’s the name of your new company? What type of business entity will you form? A sole proprietorship is the quickest and easiest; however, it may lack the necessary asset and liability protection warranted by your business model. My personal favorite has always been the Limited Liability Company (LLC). It’s quick, inexpensive, and provides individual shelter.

In addition, in which state will you register to do business? Are there any state and/or local licensing requirements? All of these questions should already be answered in your business plan. Some of you may be thinking, “I am going to buy foreclosed properties, rehab them, and sell them for a profit. What further explanation or planning do I need?” Well, if this is your mindset, stick to your full-time job. I recommend going online (Google it) and downloading a business plan template to assist you with development.

In addition to your business plan, you better have projected financial statements, including a cash flow forecast, projected income statement, and anticipated balance sheet. There are numerous advantages of generating these statements. Clearly depicting your yearly operating expenses allows you to recognize the number of real estate transactions you need to successfully complete in order to break even and/or realize a profit. Taking the time and effort to implement these tasks will help you overcome some of the major impediments when starting your real estate business.

The biggest recurring mistake I’ve seen amateur entrepreneurs make is quitting their full-time job even before completing their very first real estate deal! Undercapitalization is one of the biggest oversights when starting a new business. If you do decide to quit your full-time job, make sure you have enough of a monetary cushion to cover your living expenses for twelve months. Ideally, you want to have a surplus in your bank account in order to fund your business (i.e. – entity formation fees, licensing, marketing expenses).

Finally, will you be self-employed or a business owner? No, they are not the same thing! Being self-employed means when you stop working, your business stops working. If you are not marketing for leads or answering phones, then no one is. Being a business owner (hiring and maintaining employees) allows the freedom and independence that entice people to start their own businesses in the first place. Most amateurs quit their full-time job expecting to start and sustain their own business profitably, while playing golf or going to the beach four days a week. WRONG! The transition from self-employment to business ownership is the hardest obstacle to overcome. It took me almost a year of interviewing hundreds of job applicants, working fourteen hour days, pulling all-nighters, and sacrificing my personal and social life to successfully build and develop each of my businesses to the point where they could all run on “Auto-Pilot.”Remember, a business is only as strong as its weakest link.

I hope that what I have shared with you has been of great value. These observations and opinions are my own and stem from what I have learned and experienced over the last five years by way of educational literature, private entrepreneurship meet-up groups, numerous real networking events, and, by far the most crucial and valuable means, trial and error. Still there is so much to discuss and write considering that this topic, in itself, serves as the basis for three hundred page bibles! At the very least, herein lies the grounds and basic framework for preparing to start your own real estate business including obstacles to anticipate.

Entrepreneurship Formula – Step by Step Guide to Start Your Own Business Through Online Marketing

Many people have a big misconception that they have to quit their job to start their own business. In reality, it is perfectly doable to start a new business while you are still working. I highly recommend that anybody starting their own business gives themselves a year to start getting online exposure before leaping into anything. Laying down the foundation for online marketing success is most important. These days, if you are not online, you will struggle to be truly successful.

First, I recommend that you start your own business as opposed to buying a franchise or becoming a reseller. Subway is not in the business of making you rich. Yes, some manage to do it. If it was a foolproof plan, however, everybody would own one. To avoid having to deal with manufacturers, begin a service type business. Also, think locally. When you are just getting started, don’t try to compete on a national level. Start small and work your way up little by little. If you take care with each step in the process, a few years down the line you’ll be ready to launch a much larger campaign and your competitors won’t know what hit them.

Lay down the foundation to get ranked highly on Google so your business can last for years to come. Follow these guidelines to make sure you do it right:

1. Pick a domain name that describes what you do. Do not name your company after your last name. Name it after the product or service. When I began my firm, I did not know this and it took me a while to get Google’s authority on a particular subject. Now, my site gets around 400 hits per day, though I feel this could have been achieved far more quickly if I had chosen a domain based on the service I was providing. Only use.com domains, and shorter names are better than longer ones. To give you an example of how important this is, Google “NYC Sales Recruiters.” Look at a company by the name of Sales Expert Executive recruiters. They have a template based 10 page website. Then, look at mine. We have 170 pages of articles written about sales recruiting. That is how much weight the search engine puts on domain names. It took me nearly a year to learn how to beat them in most categories.

2. Brand your company for Google. Start out with what are called long-tail keyword phrases. Long-tail keyword phrases are 5 words. When I began to learn online marketing, I went after words like “New York City sales recruiters.” Then, as time progressed, I began going after shorter keywords and the traffic to my site increased.

3. Study how to build backlinks to your website. There are tons of articles out there telling you how to do this. Building backlinks to your site is very important, and at first, should be done gradually. Right off the bat, the best way to build links is to submit your website to several website directories. You can find these through some very basic research. It’s well worth the money. Then, begin a blog and frequently update it with posts. Have HTML links with the keywords you are going after pointing back to your site. Also, write interesting articles and submit them to online article sites such as Ezine. Writing is the key to gaining backlinks to your site and is the most important facet of online marketing success. However, when submitting your first articles to these sites, make sure they are perfect. If you mess up on the first few, the editors will dismiss your subsequent efforts.

4. Keep track of your site’s progress. You should begin to see an increase in website traffic and your Google page rank start to climb. Make sure people can contact you through the website. There is no better way to gauge your success with online marketing then how many clients are coming in.

So that’s opening your own business, in a nutshell. Depending on the industry you choose and the product or service you are selling, you will run in to your own unique problems and obstacles. Figuring out how to get past them, however, is just part of the fun.

Learn How You Can Start Your Own Online Business Without Building And Hosting Any Website

Since the inception of information and communication technology, almost everything is now computerized, even businesses are now operating online, and so on…

So many people – Nigerian and some other part of the world keep talking about online businesses, and so many other source of income online. Yes, no doubt there are a lot of online businesses, but getting to know and understand the basic scope and approach towards the different online businesses that can turn to money generating system is another problem so many people face. Some people even go to the length of stressing the fact that they are not oppurtuned to take part in such online businesses based on their financial capability of starting it. Yes, it is true that the online business involve some start-up capital, such as building and hosting your own website, buying of reseller right of some information e-book to sell on your site and so on…

All this emphasis on financial capabilities are an excuse, as there are so many means and method you can use in starting your own home based online business without building or hosting a website nor buying any reseller right e-book for sale, for a start.

You can start your own home based online business by taking it through blogging and just selling information with the help of affiliate marketing and Google AdSense. To start with you are require to register for a blog through BLOGGER.COM. The registration process is as simple as ABC, and it is free, meaning that it does not require any payment for you to sign-up for your blog. After the sign-up process, you can now proceed on deciding on the type of information you wish to sell depending on the area of interest you desire to target.

The area of information you desire to target decide your subject. Subject is another vital appealing scope which is required in every blog. It is an interesting step that determine the class or level of AdSense Google will place on your blog as soon as you sing-up for the Google AdSense.

The moment you have decide on the subject, you are require to learn how to write the content in your blog to the best of it effect by learning how to effect key words and phrase people frequently use when searching for information on internet, as it play a vital role on how it is been rank by most search engine.

You are to also note that the quality of the content you post on the blog, you also will need to make sure the appearance of your blog is appealing. Part of this is to make sure the pages are configured so they load with relative ease. No one likes to wait forever as the elements of a page load. This is particularly important if the readers you want to reach are more likely to live in areas where dial-up services is the only way to establish a connection to the Internet. Select colors, graphics, and images with care, and make sure the entire page looks great and loads within a reasonable amount of time. Doing this will insure that you will get more attraction from various visitors to your blog.

Where to Start Learning Android App Development?

When it comes to mobile development, there are a lot of options out there. React Native? Sencha? SDKs? APKs? Xamarin? It can all seem a bit much. Hopefully this guide gives you a good idea of what you are facing when you develop your first Android Application, and it basic steps it takes to get from an idea, to a Playstore listing.

The Idea

The first step to any mobile application is the idea. Think of something that you, or someone you know, would find useful to have on their phone. This could be something simple, like a new way to browse your favourite website, or something more complex, that might even involve a bluetooth device. You don’t always have to innovate, you just have to do something better than what is out there.

The User Experience

Don’t make the mistake of underestimating the value of your user’s experience within your application. If a user gets frustrated with your app, they are likely to stop using it. Have a look at your favourite applications. What makes them pleasant to use? Ask your friends to try the app out, look for feedback and utilise it.

It may help you to visualise the interface and use of your mobile application using “frameworking” and “timeline” software, but you can also just do it by hand on paper.

The Design

The design of your application is also very important. This includes the development of a “Brand”, a consistent design throughout your application and store listing using Logos, colours and fonts.

The Money

No one likes adverts. It’s the painful truth. Ideally, you should avoid trying to monetise your application too early as you may scare away potential long term users. It’s what Amazon did, they took (and are still taking) hits with their business in order to secure long term customers.

The Language

Despite what some people may try and tell you, the ability to write your own software is critical to a well designed application. It may seem scary to start with, but there are a large number of guides out there, such as Codecademy, or scotch.io, that will help you. Don’t try to run before you can walk.

As for which language you should learn, it comes down to what you want from your application, how much you are willing to spend, and what you are most comfortable with, which will be discussed below.

Your application will have to be well developed in order to succeed. After you feel comfortable developing in your chosen language, it is time to move to mobile development.

You have a number of options here, some easier than others.

One option is React Native, which is written using Web technologies, such as JavaScript, JSX and HTML. This is a version of Facebook’s React framework that can run “Natively” (in the operating systems own language) which generally increases performance. It can be very difficult for beginners.

Another option is Xamarin, a framework recently purchased by Microsoft, which uses C# and Visual Studio.

Yet another option is ExtJS developed by Sencha, which is again, JavaScript.

The most popular IDE for Android App Development, and the one I recommend for this guide, is Android Studio, which is multiplatform (Windows, OSX and Linux), and is developed by Google.

The Backend

Depending on which type of application you are looking to build, you may need a “backend”, basically a computer which deals with all the data your application requires, and generates. Applications that require a backend include a social network application, or a chat application, whereas applications such as a calculator or similar generally do not require any backend code.

Generally, this is written using PHP, NodeJS or some other code that sits on a server somewhere, usually with some sort of database such as MySQL or MongoDB. If you aren’t willing to purchase and run such a machine yourself, there are options out there such as Amazon Web Services or DigitalOcean, which only charge you for the resources you use!

The Testing

Ideally, it helps to have a test device, which could be your own device. To enable development on an Android device, simply click the “Build Version” within the phone’s settings, in “About this phone”.

If you don’t have a device at hand to use, that’s okay as well. Most Integrated Development Environments (IDE), including Android Studio and Visual Studio, include a device simulator for their respective operating systems. This can be useful to try different phones with slower hardware and different screen sizes, to make sure your application is widely accessible.

The Packaging

For the Google store, you have to create a “Signed APK”. The APK is created by the IDE, and then “signed” using a keyfile that is generated using your information. This key is unique to you, and makes sure that no one else can upload a copy of your application with embedded malicious code.

Google Playstore has it’s own guidelines and procedures that you must follow for it to be accepted, and it is not uncommon for applications to be rejected, so be careful.

If everything goes well, you will be able to see your application in the store of your choice. Good luck!

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