Description
Book SynopsisTired of the 9-to-5 grind and want a way to earn or to supplement your income? Easy. The media has named the growing trend toward micro-entrepreneurship the Rise of the Creative Class, the Gig Life, or the freelance economy. All of those refer to the nearly 4 million workers who were self-employed this past year, and millions of others who currently supplement their income with freelance work. While the trend has been spotted before, there''s one stark difference between micro-entrepreneurs today and the Free Agent Nation citizens of the late ''90s: technology. Micro-Entrepreneurship For Dummies shows you how to navigate this confusing technological landscape in order to make a contributable profit.
Micro-Entrepreneurship For Dummies aids you in making the best use of micro-entrepreneurial platforms, with helpful advice that includes information on signing up for and selling products on websites such as Airbnb, Craigslist, Taskrabbit, Uber, and Etsy.
Table of ContentsIntroduction 1
About This Book 1
Conventions Used in This Book 2
What You’re Not to Read 2
Foolish Assumptions 3
How This Book is Organized 3
Part I: Getting Started with Micro-Entrepreneurship 3
Part II: Finding Great Micro-Entrepreneurship Ideas 4
Part III: Marketing and Selling Your Micro-Business 4
Part IV: Considering Taxes and Legal Issues 4
Part V: The Part of Tens 5
Icons Used in This Book 5
Where to Go from Here 5
Part I: Getting Started with Micro-Entrepreneurship 7
Chapter 1: Micro-Entrepreneurship 101: Just the Basics, Please 9
Understanding What Being a Micro-Entrepreneur Means 10
Following your path to be a micro-entrepreneur 10
Figuring out whether you have what it takes to be a micro-entrepreneur 11
Recognizing potential opportunities 11
Deciding What Type of Business Works for You 12
Making Your Micro-Business Noticeable 13
Advertising your services or products 14
Identifying your market 14
Communicating with your clients 14
Marketing your business 14
Being Aware of Taxes and Other Issues 15
Getting others to help you in your business 15
Growing your business 16
Tackling taxes (but fortunately no death) 16
Chapter 2: Knowing Your Path as a Micro-Entrepreneur 17
Recognizing Whether You Need a Formal Business Plan 17
Eyeing What Your Business Plan Addresses 18
Naming the Type of Business Plan You Have 20
Looking Closer at a Business Plan and What It Constitutes 21
Updating Your Business Plan 24
Creating Your Business Plan: Helpful Resources to Review 25
Making Other Stops on Your Path 26
Making Your Business Path Easier: Tools for the Road 27
Going online for some education 28
Teleconferencing or videoconferencing 28
Using open-source software 29
Organizing and being more productive 29
Relying on colleagues 29
Chapter 3: Understanding Yourself: What Makes You Tick 31
Tapping Into the Process of Starting Your Business 31
Doing your 10-10 list to find your passion 32
Focusing on where enjoyment meets competence 34
Figuring out your personality and the type of entrepreneur you are 35
Remembering your great moments 36
Recognizing the Qualities You Need to Be a Micro-Entrepreneur 36
Having initiative 36
Being able to prioritize 37
Managing your time 38
Staying focused 38
Striving for excellence 39
Being persistent 39
Showing creativity 40
Beginning Your Business Life 40
Recognizing why starting at home makes sense 41
Setting up your environment 42
Chapter 4: Setting Up Your Internet Presence 45
Having a Web Presence: Something You Need as a Micro-Entrepreneur 45
Creating Your Website 46
Doing some pre-planning 46
Recognizing the four basic elements 47
Tackling marketing considerations after your website is up 52
Setting up Your Blog 53
Deciding on your blog’s purpose 53
Figuring out the blog’s set-up in advance 54
Understanding a blog’s features 55
Tapping into blogging resources 56
Marketing your blog 57
Considering Other Alternatives to Give You a Web Presence 58
Facebook 58
LinkedIn 58
Chapter 5: Honing In on Opportunities 59
Identifying Customers; Differentiating between Their Wants and Needs 60
Knowing the lifetime value of a customer 60
Recognizing the type of market: Horizontal or vertical 61
Eyeing the Basic Categories of Successful Home Businesses 61
Category one: The problem solver 62
Category two: Anticipating a megatrend 62
Category three: A combination 64
Getting the Lowdown on Niches: What to Focus Your Business On 64
Choosing the right niche for you 64
Recognizing recession-proof niches 65
Seasonal niches 67
Good times niches 68
Special interest niches 69
Searching for Success: Finding the Information You Need 69
Researching niches 69
Viewing educational tutorials 70
Searching news sites for information 71
Perusing article directories 71
Testing opportunities 72
Relying on Your Background for Opportunities 72
Avoiding Fraud 73
Steering Clear of Liability Problems and Other Legal Issues 74
Part II: Finding Great Micro-Entrepreneurship Ideas 77
Chapter 6: Creating Your Arts and Crafts Micro-Business from Scratch 79
From Nothing to Something Good: Entering the World of Arts and Crafts 79
Making your art and craft and a profit at the same time 80
Finding the raw materials 83
Buying wholesale 84
Touring the World of Crafts 84
Adding Beauty and Profit 85
Selling Your Creations: Focus on Etsy 86
Setting up on Etsy 86
Selling on Etsy 87
Identifying Other Online Selling Venues 87
Eyeing Offline Selling Opportunities 89
Focusing on the Four Rs 89
Chapter 7: Selling Other Stuff: The Golden Rules of Success 91
Identifying Your Selling Options 92
Understanding What You’ll Sell: Specialize and Understand Value 94
Finding Items to Sell: Buy Low 95
Buying from individuals 95
Buying from businesses 96
Buying from the government 97
Making a Profit: Sell Higher 98
Going the eBay Route 99
Listing on eBay 100
Managing ongoing auctions 103
When your auction expires 104
Chapter 8: Selling Your Services 105
Knowing Who Your Prospective Clients are 106
Focusing on consumers 106
Capitalizing on companies 107
Selling to government agencies 108
Meeting and Finding Prospective Clients 108
Horizontal venues 109
Vertical venues 109
Directly via search engines and directories 110
Hooking Up with Elance and Other Horizontal Sites 110
Identifying the client 111
Signing up and understanding the set-up process 112
Grasping how the bidding process works 113
Gaining the assignment: Now what? 114
Maximizing your Elance success 114
Becoming a Virtual Assistant 116
Recognizing what a virtual assistant does 116
Marketing yourself and finding work 117
Micro-Tasking for Small Bucks 118
Using Fiverr 118
Investigating more about micro-tasking 119
Chapter 9: Writing for Money 121
Discovering the Writer inside You 121
Cultivating important writing skills 121
Grasping some important business skills 123
Identifying your equipment needs 124
Avoiding pitfalls in freelance writing 124
Choose Your Writing Specialty 125
Blogging in the blogosphere 126
Providing website content 126
Locating Places That Pay for Writing 129
Finding websites for cold, hard cash 129
Perusing freelance writing resources 130
Accessing other freelance resources 131
Getting Paid Multiple Times 132
Chapter 10: Getting Into Self-Publishing 133
Tapping into Written Self-Publishing 134
Getting started 134
Naming your self-publishing tools 135
Considering your delivery option: Digital and physical together 136
Identifying the different types of written self-publishing 137
Using resources for written self-publishing 140
Trying the Audio Publishing Route 140
Recognizing the formats you can use 141
Creating your audio product 142
Seeing what equipment you need 144
Considering Video Publishing 144
Spelling out the ins and outs to video 145
Creating your own video 146
Knowing what equipment you need 147
Using YouTube 148
Handling Legal and Management Stuff 149
Getting an ISBN 149
Respecting copyright 149
Stating your disclaimer 150
Setting up your ecommerce for digital content 150
Chapter 11: Being a Successful Affiliate 153
The Lowdown on Affiliate Programs 153
Eyeing the pros and cons of being an affiliate 154
Knowing the types of affiliate programs 155
Viewing additional resources for more info 156
Starting As a Beginning Affiliate 157
Step 1: Discover your interest 157
Step 2: Identify your competence 158
Step 3: Investigate before deciding 158
Step 4: Select your marketing approach 159
Step 5: Focus and be persistent 160
Spotlighting the Top Affiliate Sites 161
Clickbank 161
Commission Junction 165
Amazon 166
Chapter 12: Cashing In on Advertising 169
Generating Cash from Advertising: Spotlight on AdSense 170
Content is king 170
Keywords are queen 171
Ad placement is the third consideration 172
Tracking and changing your approach 174
Identifying other advertising sources that pay you 175
Getting Customers and Sales with Pay-Per-Click: AdWords or AdCenter 176
The lowdown on PPC and how it works 177
Creating your first PPC ad 180
Keywords 101: Just the basics 184
Part III: Marketing and Selling Your Micro-Business 187
Chapter 13: Understanding Your Marketing Approach 189
Identifying Your Target Market 189
Understanding the importance of having a target market 190
Choosing your target market: The how-to 190
Researching and focusing on your target market 192
Knowing where your target market is 193
Identifying Your Competitors 194
Positioning yourself versus your competitors 195
Staying updated on your customers’ actions with competitive analysis 195
Turning competitors into partners 196
Doing Your Marketing Plan 197
Uncovering your marketing strategy 197
Remembering your mission statement 197
Knowing your target market 198
Analyzing your competition 198
Identifying what makes you unique 198
Developing a pricing strategy 199
Promoting your marketing activities 199
Tracking with a marketing worksheet 201
Tracking your marketing costs 202
Creating an action plan 203
Ensuring you offer a quality product or service 203
Chapter 14: Communicating with Prospective Customers 205
Recognizing Your Role: You’re Already a Salesperson 205
Letting you in on the big secret to salesmanship: Be convincing 206
Breaking the ice — the cold call 207
Tackling the cold call: Helpful tips to make it successful 209
Getting additional help 211
Getting referrals 212
Focusing on Your Sales Message — Your Cold Call in Print 213
Communicating benefits versus features 213
Knowing the AIDA formula 214
Communicating effectively via email 216
Turning to additional resources for help in writing sales copy 218
Cold Calling with a Video: Use YouTube to Your Advantage 219
Chapter 15: Utilizing Search Engine Strategies to Market Your Business 223
Grasping How Search Engines Work and Where You Can Search 223
Getting the Lowdown on Search Engine Optimization (SEO) 225
Before you start your own SEO research 227
Beginning your research: Google can help 227
Using other SEO tools 231
Making Yourself Findable 232
Using keywords 232
Increasing links to your site or blog 233
Getting your business listed on search engines and directories 234
Chapter 16: Using Blogs and Ezines in Your Marketing Plan 237
Choosing Whether You Want a Blog, Ezine, or Both 237
Using Your Blog to Make Money 238
Making money directly 239
Making money indirectly 239
Doing both 240
Promoting Your Blog 240
Getting listed in search engines and blog databases 241
Doing a micro-tasking blast 241
Using multiple blogs 242
Guest blogging 242
Doing some video blogging 243
Doing an Ezine 244
Knowing what to write about in your ezine 245
Building a list 246
Using bulk email service providers 252
Advertising with your ezine 253
Chapter 17: Marketing through Social Media 255
Succeeding on Social Media: Follow Some Golden Rules 257
Maximizing Your Time on Facebook 258
Getting started on Facebook 258
Using Facebook to build your business 259
Creating a Facebook fan page 260
Using Facebook advertising 260
Relying on other Facebook marketing resources 261
Focusing Your Attention on LinkedIn 261
Setting up your profile 261
Making connections 262
Joining LinkedIn groups 262
Marketing with Twitter 263
Implementing strategies 263
Relying on other Twitter resources 264
Considering Other Social Media Sites 265
Squidoo 265
Pinterest 265
Using other sites 266
Chapter 18: Implementing Other Marketing Strategies 267
Writing Articles to Market Your Business 267
Grasping how article writing works 268
Knowing where to send your article 268
Pointing to profits 270
Using Publicity and Press Releases 271
Knowing what newsworthy means 271
Drafting a press release 274
Knowing where to send your press release 276
Doing a radio or TV interview 277
Focusing on Forum Marketing 279
Eyeing the benefits of a forum 280
Using forum etiquette 281
Selling on forums: The how-to 282
Part IV: Considering Taxes and Legal Issues 285
Chapter 19: Outsourcing: Getting Others to Help You 287
Defining Outsourcing and How You Can Use It in Your Business 288
Identifying the Pros and Cons of Hiring an Outsourced Worker 289
Seeing the upsides of using outsourced workers 289
Naming the downside of using outsourced workers 290
Hiring an Outsourced Worker: The How-To 292
Establish clear goals, milestones, and requirements 292
Focus on qualified workers versus cheap workers 293
Review portfolios and samples 293
Have an agreed payment plan before you hire 294
Use an agency 294
Consider other potential issues 294
Finding Outsourced Workers 295
Using general outsourcing websites 295
Trying virtual assistant resources 297
Tapping into micro-task sites 298
Chapter 20: From Micro to Macro: Growing and Selling Your Business 301
Hiring Permanent Employees 301
Identifying payroll taxes 302
Recognizing other employee-related costs 302
Getting Your Hands on Money to Finance Your Business 303
Eyeing the debt financing route 304
Trying equity financing 305
Considering joint ventures 305
Going public 306
Looking At Franchising and Dealerships 307
Franchising 308
Independent dealership and service marks 308
Selling Your Business 309
Figuring out what makes a business sell 309
Sticking to the steps to sell your biz 310
Looking for additional help for selling your business 312
Chapter 21: Uncle Sam Comes Calling: Tax Issues for the Micro-Entrepreneur 315
Understanding Net Loss and Profit 316
Keeping Good Records 316
Being Aware of Certain Tax Obligations 318
Dishing out federal income taxes 318
Handing over state and local taxes 319
Submitting sales tax on products sold 319
Identifying General Tax Benefits for Micro-Entrepreneurs 320
Recognizing the most common tax-deductible business expenses 321
Deducting home-office expenses 322
Focusing on depreciation of assets 324
Dealing with inventory and goods for resale 325
Eating and entertaining on the job 325
Putting money into a pension plan 327
Setting Up Your Business 327
The simplest business structure you! 327
The second-simplest business structure: Sole proprietorship (the DBA) 328
LLCs, corporations, and partnerships 329
Reporting Your Business Activities 330
Part V: The Part of Tens 333
Chapter 22: Ten Beginning Micro-Entrepreneur Pitfalls (and How to Avoid ’em) 335
Failing to Understand Yourself 335
Listening to the Marketplace 336
Checking What Others Do 336
Acting without Planning 336
Getting Educated 337
Spending Too Much Money 338
Sticking to One Specialty 338
Failing to Rinse and Repeat 339
Paying Attention to What Your Customers Tell You 339
Anticipating Legal Issues 340
Chapter 23: Ten (Plus One) Ways to Make Money Quickly 341
eBay 342
Elance 342
Clickbank 342
Fiverr 343
Etsy 344
About.com 344
Amazon 344
Gazelle 345
Items Wanted Classifieds 345
Cash in on the Real You 346
Gigwalk 346
Index 347
