There are a million and one ways to make a million dollars. Some go for the IPO route. Some spend their careers on Wall Street. Some work their way up the corporate ladder to then be able to retire with a 401k that keeps them comfortable for the rest of their lives. The method I'll be talking about here is designed to make money by designing a business that works on its own, and in record time. The mind set is quite different than the conventional way of building a business. The fundamental principles that follow are in some ways in contrast to what most would consider the right way to build a successful business. With the right guiding principles, and the tools to put them into action, you can be on your way to building a passive income in 6 months. To hear my weekly podcast on business automation tools and tips, search for "Automate My Small Business" in iTunes Store or Zune Store. Or visit the website,
www.AutomateMySmallBusiness.com
Fundamental Principles
The goal is automation. Keep that in mind every step of the way. It is easy to fall into the trap of doing everything yourself, or even saying to yourself that you will just hire the right people that then need to be managed by you. Don't do it. This doesn't mean you don't work your ass off from day one. Boot strapping the business, working from your garage, or wearing multiple hats is an important part of being an entrepuerer. In fact it is necessary. But eventually the plan is to let it all go. And that needs to be well established from the very beginning. Automation is the goal, so design the business to work without you in the end.
Fail small and fail fast. Keep the capital investment small while testing a business's feasability.Don't spend thousands of dollars on a business idea that you haven't fully tested and even made a little money on already. It might take you a few times before you perfect your skills as a business owner. So if you throw all your money at the first attempt, you won't have any to put into the next one. Yes, that's right. Chances are you will fail. But that is OK. We all do. The important thing to remember is to fail small and fail fast. Then get back up and try something else. Entrepenuership is a skill. You get better at it, the more you practice.
Outsource everything. There might be a few exceptions to this rule, but I have not found any. With today's global economy, and the fact that most positions are information based, almost anything can be outsourced to someone on the internet or around the world. Take Bookkeeping for example. Is there really any reason to have a bookkeeper or accountant come to your office everyday or even weekly to do your books? I have a company in India that does all my bookkeeping and accounting over the internet using a web based bookkeeping software called Quickbooks ONLINE EDITION. That way. I can see the books anytime by simply logging on to the website. I'll discuss more on this in the "Business Tools" section. But the point here is that you can eliminate a lot of headache and liability by removing the human factor and find ways to outsource the tasks to other companies that can do it better than you, and can scale quickly without you having to scale your operations. Since we are on such a quick ramp up plan, you need to scale quickly without worrying about getting more office space, or personnel.
Business Tools
Get a Web Page to sell from -
www.Volusion.com ($30 per month, and much better than Yahoo Store)
Get a Virtual Fax Number -
www.MaxEmail.com ($2 per month) or free with your RingCentral number
Get a Paypal Account -
www.Paypal.com (Free) lets you accept credit cards too.
Get your finances online - Quickbooks Online Edition
www.qoe.com ($20 per month)
Get Microsoft Exchange outsourced -
www.sherweb.com ($9/mo Hosted Exchange, $9/mo Blackberry Enterprise Server)
Get Inexpensive Online Backup - Jungle Disk
www.jungledisk.com (15 cents per GB per month)
Get great Website Hosting -
www.DreamHost.com ($9/mo) Unlimited domains can use one account.
Get unlimited software tutorials -
www.Lynda.com ($25/mo Unlimited access to all software)
These are the tools of business for the 21st century. These tools can automate a business to work 24/7 while you work from your laptop (anywhere and at any time). I have also built up a large list of individual web designers, bookkeepers, marketers, graphic designers, and even virtual managers that I've found on Elance or oDesk. If you email me, I will share some of my favorite independent contractors with you.