This is a bi-weekly column dispensing advice and help for technology startup founders and aspiring web entrepreneurs written by resident startup advisor and mentor, Jeffrey Paine. Jeffrey is the founder and executive director of Battle Ventures and Founder Institute Singapore. You can ask Jeff a question on startups and entrepreneurship by emailing us at administrator [at] youngupstarts [dot] com.

Hi Jeff –

I have a question for you. We’re a start-up group-buying site in the U.S. focusing on the local (non-metro) and hyper-local markets which are being overlooked by all the other group-buying (daily deal) sites in the space.

My question is this: I noticed that a lot of newcomers are generating large numbers of opt-in email users. What is the best practice to employ to get our numbers up and what’s their secret?

Ron Butler
Founder/CEO
Ambianik.com

Dear Ron,

Let me try by answering your two-part question:

1. What is their secret?
If a competitor launched with an email list which converts well into eventual users, this can be credited to them finding the list and executing on it. Most of the time an email list of some sort with demographics can be purchased for a fee, another way to do this is to partner with a company with such email database and compensate them with equity in the business or some kind of CPA (cost per acquisition) remuneration package (some structure where boot strapping startups can stomach as opposed to paying for each email address).

2. What is the best practice to get your numbers up?
Well since it is a hyper local market you are targeting, you need to find exactly who this target audience who will be clamoring all over your deals. I assume you have limited funds and need a bootstrap way of reaching them. Besides the obvious flyers in campuses, finding online influencers (i.e. local bloggers), local traditional media coverage, you can also try to gather a mailing list of sorts, to not pay much for it, you need to be creative, but first find the companies with the exact user/reader demographics as yours and you can try to work out some kind of a barter trade. For e,g, a local monthly magazine publisher who organized events may have a list of readers that may fit your target audience, offer the publisher free listing for subscription deals in exchange for the permission to market to their email list.

Regards,

Jeff

(Credit: www.workingnaked.com)

Making the decision to start your own business is exciting, even more so after the business has launched and you feel pride and accomplishment at seeing your vision come to life. However, once the business has started to take off, one of the challenges that young upstarts often face is how to manage their time and their new office space, which many be smaller than they were used to in perhaps a more corporate setting. While this new small or home-based office may appear to have little space for anything more than a desk, credenza, bookcase and file cabinet, it’s not about how much space you have; it’s how you use that space. When setting up or reevaluating your current small or home-based office, think vertically and put your walls and corners to work.

Managing Space

1) Add shelves above or next to your desk to gain more storage space and to reduce desktop clutter. You can use open shelves or a hutch that sits on your desk to increase your storage space. A tall, four-shelf bookcase (ideally with adjustable shelves) can hold dozens of books and reference materials. Adjustable shelves make more sense than fixed shelves because they eliminate wasted space above and below the shelves.

2) If you use an L-shaped arrangement, use the space where the two surfaces intersect to hold your printer, fax or all-in-one (AiO) machine (printer/copier/scanner and/or fax). AiO machines are great space savers for a small-sized office because you only need one machine to perform several functions.

• Brother International Corporation (Brother) manufactures inkjet AiO and laser printer and AiO machines that cater to the small or home-based office worker with their exceptional value and wide set of features. For those in need of vibrant image printing, the newest addition to the inkjet AiO line is the MFC-J615W, which includes valuable features such as: easy to setup wireless (802.11b/g) or wired Ethernet networking; the ability to scan directly to media cards, PictBridge-enabled camera, or USB flash memory drive; and easy editing with the 3.3″ Widescreen TFT color LCD display. Small business owners in need of sharp text, quick speeds and a heavy printing cycle should look towards the Brother laser series, in particular the MFC-9320CW. This unit has a compact footprint, built-in wireless network interface and offers a USB direct interface to print PDF and JPEG files from a USB flash memory drive.

3) Make one piece of furniture serve two purposes. For example, a lateral file cabinet can hold your AiO on top and files inside. (A hint about lateral file cabinets: if you don’t want your files facing left or right, place two letter-sized frames front to back so when you open a drawer, the files are facing you.)

4) If you have only a few desk drawers, use a rolling file cart to store extra files or supplies below your desk. If you store the cart next to your desk, you can store your printer, fax or AiO machine on top.

5) Open up more desk space by storing memorabilia, cards from friends and clients, or phone lists, on a bulletin board instead of in piles. Don’t use the board to post tasks to accomplish or important information about projects, unless you know you’ll refer to the board daily.

Managing Time

After you’ve managed your space, you can take control over your time. The best practices for a young startup struggling to manage time are:

1) Utilize a “To Do” list, whether paper-based or electronic, formal in a planner or an informal paper list. It doesn’t matter what system you choose, as long as you find a system that works best for you.

2) Throughout the day ask yourself if what you’re doing is the best use of your time. Are you working on something that you need to finish today or is it something you could finish another day?

3) Figure out your best time of day and schedule important tasks for that time. Whether you jump out of bed every morning ready to get to work, or crawl out of bed knowing you’ll reach your peak in the afternoon, plan accordingly. Concentrate on important tasks during the time you’re more productive and leave the less important tasks for when your energy level is low.

4) Stay focused on the activity at hand. It’s easy to start one project and then bounce to another without finishing the first. At the end of the day, you may feel exhausted but you haven’t accomplished as much as you’d hoped. The next day, refocus, stay on task and you’re likely to accomplish more the next day.

When you’re working in a small or home-based office, your space and time may be limited, but the possibilities for your success are endless.

***

Some books by home office expert Lisa Kanarek:

• Home Office Solutions: Creating a Space That Works for You
• Organizing Your Home Office For Success
• Organizing Your Home Business (Made E-Z)
• Home Office Life: Making a Space to Work at Home

(Credit: WebFactoryBelgium.com)

1. Custom Signage

An amazing way to get started is to creatively affix custom signage, such as stickers, or vinyl banners, featuring your website address or business name to any number of places such as your:
- car
- bike
- motorcycle
- storefront
- home

The possibilities are endless, so get creative, while maintaining caution not to become a nuisance to anyone.

2. Business Cards

Another very common way to market your website offline is through use of a business card. Every time you have the opportunity to get introduced to someone in any new forum, hand them a card. After all, your business card is your greatest networking weapon.

When in the workplace, you may want to use your letterhead or stationary as advertising tools. You could also have your website address pinned up on your work desk. Each time someone comes to meet you or visit you or ask you a query, they will inadvertently take note of your website address flashing from your desk.

3.Voice Mail

You could also mention the website address or business name on your voice mail greeting. While informing callers that you will return their call, you can also ask them to check out your website, and thereby taking an opportunity to advertise your online business. In this moment you have the callers undivided attention as he will undoubtedly wait to leave a message. Thus, you have turned an ordinary phone call into extraordinary opportunity to market your website.

4. Mobile Ring Tones

Customize the ring tone of your phone. I’m not talking about T-Pain and the auto tune, or those midi file ringtones from the old days.

Do a professional voice recording of the name of your company website or business name. Use this recording as your phone’s ring tone. Each time your phone rings anywhere, anyone and everyone around you can hear your website or business name. It will be a catchy and surprising thing for any listener and will certainly raise curiosity.

5. Word-of-Mouth, Literally

There’s nothing like word-of-mouth marketing. Every time you come across someone new, just skillfully weave in your website address or business name into your conversation.

6. Comments And Feedback

Another idea is to post a comment or a feedback or a letter to any or all of the local or international newspapers or magazines, and in the “From” address line, write your name, followed by your website address. Can you imagine the kind of mass distribution of those magazines or newspapers, and the resultant kind of traffic that it can generate?

7. Guerrilla Marketing

Another great option is to hit any library. Cleverly sneak into the section that deals with the area of specialization of your website or business, and those books are your playground. You could take them one by one and insert a card or a bookmark with your website address written on it. Can you imagine the kind of business relevant traffic you will drive straight to your web site with this idea?

8. Billboard Advertising

And if these great ideas aren’t enough, there is simply the old fashion roadside attention getter, the billboard. Thousands of travelers take note of billboards. Each passer-by is a potential customer. The number of people whom you can access through the use of a billboard can increase exponentially when out in high traffic areas, or seasons.

So what are you waiting for? Get started with these offline website traffic accelerating ideas right NOW!

(Source: Cartoonbank.com)

As if there wasn’t enough to be concerned about in regards to internet safety, there’s a new, pressing worry when it comes to your online privacy and what it means for your day to day life.

Fallout from Facebook’s f8 conference announcements has “Facebook privacy” trending as one of the hottest topics in our country today. Chances are, if you’re like most Americans, the discussion goes beyond even the reaches of Facebook. You have a Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, LinkedIn and/or MySpace account and you’re reasonably active online.

Additionally, you might have other online subscriptions, post to an online message board, or sign up for freebies and deals online. Facebook’s recent snafu’s serve as a reminder once again of this fact:

Nothing you post online (even under a screen name) is safe from prying eyes. Most of it is likely to be shared with third parties.

It truly is an ”Age of Awkwardness” when it comes to privacy.

Job Applicants

It’s a scenario with which some job seekers are all too familiar. You apply for a job, make it to the all important interview process, get along perfectly with the interviewer and then wait for a call which never comes.

It could be because you didn’t do as well as you thought, but it could also be a result of the interviewer using a search engine to find out which internet sites you belong to, what your Facebook profile says, and what sorts of posts you make on your favorite message boards.

So what does one do when nothing private is actually private, and when your private activity online can have serious consequences to nearly every facet of your life?

First, assume that everything you say will be read by…well, everyone. A good rule of thumb too keep in mind is that if you wouldn’t say something in a crowded public place where everyone could potentially hear you, don’t say it online either.

Use privacy settings on sites like Facebook. While the systems might seem complicated, it’s worth learning how to control who sees what when it comes to protecting your online reputation. Privacy setting changes on sites regularly, so keep up with those newsletters and messages from social media sites and change your account as needed.

Managing Your Online Reputation

It’s called reputation management, and these days it’s almost 100% online. Your online presence and what “ranks for your name” creates a perception about you, like it or not.

To be proactive, consider purchasing the domain which corresponds to your full name, merely to keep it out of the hands of someone else. For instance, if your name is John Smith, look into purchasing www.johnsmith.com. Plug your name, phone number, and email address into three or four search engines on a regular basis to ensure that the information you find is information you’re comfortable having in a public forum.

Remember, once you post something online, it’s out of your hands, and it can remain for years. A little forethought goes a long way.

James Sun reveals his secrets of success.

I attended James Sun’s ‘The Secrets of Success’ luncheon seminar organized by artiste management company Fly Entertainment, and came away with some ideas of what made the entrepreneur-investor and television personality successful:

1. Have a vision.

James shares that he grew up with a chip on his shoulder as the son of a poor first-generation immigrant to the United States from South Korea. His father didn’t speak English, and they were constantly bullied as an Asian family in a predominantly white neighborhood. But the discrimination gave him a purpose, and he resolved as a child to improve his lot in life.

2. Have chutzpah.

James Sun says to be an “active opportunist’. He recalls that as an 11-year old, he once brazenly approached the owner of a small window-cleaning business and demanded a deal. James wanted a 30-percent commission in return for confirmed sales leads from a section of his neighborhood – in jest the owner bargained him down to 25-percent, which James readily accepted.

With that deal in hand, James corralled the other kids in the neighborhood as sales runners and soon the business of the window-cleaning company exploded. He didn’t quite yet achieve financial independence, but it was a great start.

3. Invest your time carefully.

James made an interesting observation while running around his neighborhood selling window-cleaning services. He realized that people of poor families had a predictable daily routine – they got off work around 4 or 5, came home, grabbed a beer, and watched some TV. People from richer families had a different one – they would get off work around 5 or 6, came home, grabbed a drink, and proceeded to read – usually reading materials like the Wall Street Journal. So at age 13, he went away thinking to himself: “Reading Wall Street Journal will make me rich.” James would later put his financial knowledge to good use – he started his own brokerage firm, and the rest the say, is history.

James put this down to a matter of investing time in the right things. “Everybody is given the same amount of time – 24 hours – in a day,” he says. What you do with it, matters.

4. Be memorable.

James shares his experience during the auditions for Donald Trump’s The Apprentice in 2007. He was shopping in a Seattle mall one day when he spotted a long queue – and found out that it was for the final round of auditions for the reality TV show. So there he was, clad in T-shirt and jeans, amongst a crowd of smartly-suited hopefuls, that he decided to audition. He was so different – Asian, young, somewhat cocky – that he made an impression with the interviewers. Of course, it’s not about going around in T-shirt and jeans (whatever you think of Mark Zuckerberg’s success), but being memorable counts.

James disagrees with the efficient market theory, which states that one cannot consistently outperform the market i.e. “you cannot be better than average”. He says it’s widespread thinking like this that keeps people from achieving their best.

5. Just do it.

James says “ideas are cheap; execution is expensive”, sharing the story of Sun Tzu and the 360 concubines to prove the point. He also posits – do the possible today, and soon you’ll be able to do the impossible.

Thank you to Fly Entertainment for the kind invite to this luncheon seminar.

Don't think. Just do. (Image by Joanna Alberti)

Running your own business can be immensely exciting and rewarding. It could well be the best way to earn an income, especially if you have saleable skills, an innovative idea or an interest that could be turned into a profitable business.

However, it is important to ask yourself why you want to do it. It isn’t for everyone. Remember that it can be lonely being the boss and that you are likely to have to jump through a lot of hoops to get going; you most likely will have to work long hours, tackle paperwork and regulations and be Jack-of-all-trades to get your new venture off the ground.

Nevertheless, if you believe you have a strong business plan, the necessary resources and the determination to succeed, why not give it a go?

I have put together the below top ten tips for budding entrepreneurs as a list of things to consider before diving in:

1. Research the market. Find out whether customers will buy what you are offering, and use feedback to refine your product or service.

2. Write a business plan. Describe your business, how it will operate and its finances for the first two years. Ask your chartered accountant if you need help writing your business plan. He or she will also be able to advise you about the appropriate structure for your business. The regulations and costs of setting up a business can be complex and off putting. Get an expert to help you.

3. Raise finance if needed and build in contingencies. Being under-financed often leads to poor performance at the start. As setting up always takes longer than you think, you also have to ensure your financing has built in flexibility.

4. Choose the right staff. Unless you are planning to be a one-man-band, pick the best people you can afford. They may work for less than the market rate initially if they are convinced of the potential for growth of the business. Consider share option schemes to attract the best staff and to motivate them to work to achieve your business goals.

5. Find a mentor. It is helpful to have someone to bounce ideas off. Learn from customers and suppliers and ask the views of your chartered accountant and other advisers.

6. Ensure you have the right financial information. This is vital, not least to understand your trading performance. Set up records from the start, using software if you are comfortable with it. Employ a good book-keeper or talk to your chartered accountant about outsourcing accounting services.

7. Monitor key performance indicators. Ensure that you have right data, such as turnover, gross margins, overheads, finance costs, net profit, cashflow and working capital, on a daily, monthly and annual basis.

8. Be alive to possibilities and dangers. Don’t exclude taking the business in a different direction if you see potential elsewhere or there are problems ahead. Watch out for competitors in difficulty and listen to your customers, suppliers and staff.

9. Learn. Absorb all that you can from the experience of being an entrepreneur and from those around you, and – not least – learn from your mistakes.

10. Reduce the chances of failure. Do something you already know, or employ people with experience in the sector. Manage your overheads and working capital. Appoint a chartered accountant with experience of start-ups before you launch your new enterprise.

This post was contributed by Mark Billington, Regional Director, Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) South East Asia.

Scott Gerber is Entrepreneur Magazine's Young Entrepreneur columnist, CEO of Gerber Enterprises and founder of AskGerber.com.

Shortly after my college graduation, a few friends and I started a new media company. Within a few weeks we fleshed out the concept, wrote a business plan and set out to seek financing. With a little hustle, I managed to get us a meeting with a well-known investment firm to discuss the opportunity. Even though our business had yet to bring in a single dollar, and none of us had ever been the CEO of coffee shop let alone a multi-million dollar enterprise, we were all confident that we had a sure thing on our hands. After all, our financial projections forecasted gross revenues of $200 million. What investor could say no to that?

We’d be rich. All we needed to do was raise a small amount of capital – $15 million.

I remember thinking, “How hard could it be?” We were obviously, naïve, foolish and delusional.

There was one small problem with our plan. None of us had any idea how to pitch an investor. So I did what any clueless entrepreneurial upstart would do: Google searched “how to pitch an investor”.

Nothing that I read online could have prepared me for what was to come. We would quickly find out that our presentation was doomed before we ever set foot into the meeting. In reality, it was doomed before we started writing the business plan.

At the beginning of the meeting one of the investors asked me to hand him a one-page executive summary review. I hadn’t prepared a summary, so I handed him the first 11 pages out of the binder encasing my 95-page business plan. Strike one.

Less than four slides into my 32-slide presentation, the second investor interrupted me and said, “OK. Stop. I get it. You definitely don’t need $15 million.”

Defending our business plan, I overconfidently replied: “It can’t be done for less.”

“Really? It can’t be done, huh?” he responded with a smirk masking a hint of laughter. Strike two.

Both of the investors then proceeded to hit us with a barrage of questions:

“How much money have you personally put into your business? Anywhere near $15 million?”

“Why should I pay a bunch of twenty-somethings with no track record $100,000 executive salaries?”

“How much revenue has the business produced to date?”

“Why should I give you $15 million when the company hasn’t even made $15?”

“How can you possibly substantiate gross revenues of $200 million in year three?”

“Why are you trying to produce, market and distribute 10 products at the same time before you see if a single one sells at all?”

The questions went on and on. None of our answers were favorable. Strike three.

As you might have guessed, I didn’t walk out of that meeting with a $15 million check. I later realized, however, that this was one of the greatest educational experiences of my young career. I learned more about real-world fundraising in 30 minutes than many entrepreneurs learn in a lifetime. To this day, whenever I pitch investors for capital, I always remember these six hard-learned lessons:

1. Less is always more.

An elevator pitch is vital. Verbose presentations and lengthy explanations will not impress investors, and most likely will turn them off. Present your business in a manner that’s short, sweet and to the point. Investors need to be confident that your business will attract and retain customers. If they don’t grasp your concept in a short time span, they may presume that customers won’t understand it either.

2. Never hypothesize. Execute, execute, execute.

Inspire confidence with facts, not fiction. Most investors seek out low-risk businesses with proven managers that are as close to guarantees as possible. A company with cash flow, a track record and real-world experience has a better chance of getting investors than a business plan forecasting large returns. Find ways to test your business’s viability on a shoestring budget, and turn your idea into a functional business before you seek investment.

3. Leave the hockey sticks on the ice.

Excite investors about your big picture, but be reasonable and responsible. Avoid hockey stick projections. Respectable investors will not take you seriously if you present them with nonsensical financial graphs that claim your company’s revenues will grow from $100,000 to $50 million in three years. Show investors that you have a grasp on reality with three versions of financial projections: best case, moderate case and worst case. Base each of these models on facts, past and present performance data, industry and competitor analyses and a series of well-thought-out, defendable assumptions.

4. Learn to love discount stores.

Being cheap is chic. In an age where spending is out of control, you’ll need to prove that you are a fiscally responsible manager who knows how to get the most out of a buck. Give yourself wiggle room in your operations and marketing budgets, but avoid being excessive. Never ask for a large salary or big-budget perks. Investors want you to be in a position where everything is on the line.

5. Rome wasn’t built in a day. Your business won’t be either.

Investors are wary of funding over-eager businesses that seem destined to bite off more than they can chew. Before asking for millions of dollars to fund 50 divisions and hundreds of product lines, prove how well you can create, manage and fulfill demand for a single product. Demonstrate that your business can crawl before you say it can walk. Perfect your marketing tactics, sales strategies and operational procedures. Investors appreciate companies with sustainable step-and-repeat business models that are poised for exponential growth. Remember, even Google’s success is based on a single product.

6. Choose not to be the smartest person in the room.

Know what you know, know what you don’t know and find the people who know what you don’t know. Build a team of credible experts. The smartest leaders in the world are those who surround themselves with smarter people. Investors are funding a management team as much as they are investing in a great business concept.

Are you a young entrepreneur with a unique venture? Email Scott about it at pitchme@askgerber.com.

Scott Gerber is Entrepreneur Magazine‘s Young Entrepreneur columnist, CEO of Gerber Enterprises and founder of AskGerber.com. Visit AskGerber.com to find out how your business can get featured in Scott’s new book, Never Get A Real Job. For information on speaking engagements, media appearances or Gerber Enterprises’ portfolio of businesses visit www.GerberEnterprises.com. Follow Scott on Twitter @askgerber.

The Other 8 Hours shows how you can maximize spare time and be a Cre8tor.

Your financial life has a certain trajectory—similar to a train on a track. There will be twists and turns, but you can easily determine where you will end up if you stay on the financial track you’re currently on. What if the traditional methods of working hard, cutting expenses, and saving don’t work for you? Brown bagging it every day won’t cause you to jump tracks and end up somewhere completely different. The guy living in the mansion overlooking the ocean didn’t buy that house by clipping coupons, and the chick passing you in a $400,000 Maybach didn’t get that way by eliminating her morning latte. For most of us, the gap between where we are and where want to be is so wide that we’ll never be able to close it by following traditional financial advice.

What’s the solution? If you’re tired of scraping by you’ve got to create. If you want to move out of your apartment or make more than minimum wage, you’ve got to create. If you want a big house overlooking the ocean, to travel first class, to quit your job, or to drive your dream car, guess what? The answer is in the other 8 hours. The answer is to shift from being a full-time consumer to being a part-time Cre8tor.

A what? A Cre8tor is a creative entrepreneur who has a day job but wants more. He isn’t content with the status quo, and is less than thrilled with the thought of working another 40+ years. He knows that the only way to “jump the tracks” to get to a new financial level is to do something different during the other 8 hours. A Cre8tor utilizes his strengths, passions, and/or expertise to create something unique and valuable—maybe he’ll start a blog, work on an invention, write a screenplay, or start a business. If you settle for a paycheck, you’ll only be worth what your employer pays you. But if you create something valuable, there’s virtually no limit to your worth.

A long commute, brainless boss, and an empty bank account can wreak havoc on your outlook, hope, and purpose, but a side project or venture can bring inspiration to your life. When you’re passionate about what you’re creating during the other 8 hours, you can endure even the worst day. It will change your whole morning routine.

Creating provides purpose and it provides a reason to get out of bed in the morning. It provides the hope that life can improve. When you create, it engages your mind and your soul.

Should you really spend some of your precious other 8 hours creating, or would we be better off having fun and enjoying ourselves? Studies show that most of us are not fulfilled mentally or emotionally in our day jobs. We work, not because we are passionate about what we’re doing, but for a paycheck. Even though you might be stuck at your day job doing something that doesn’t fully capture your mind and heart, that doesn’t mean what you create during the other 8 hours has to feel like work. In fact, it shouldn’t feel like work at all. I want you to be excited and passionate about what you create and about the potential results you can achieve.

With very few exceptions, anybody who has attained any level of financial success has created something. It might be a book, a CD, an invention, a website, or whatever. Look around you. Everything you see was originally just an idea in someone’s head.

You are living in the most exciting and mind blowing time we have ever experienced. It is rich with opportunities that literally didn’t exist just a few years ago. Unless your last name was Rockefeller or Carnegie, it used to be incredibly difficult to become rich. Becoming a millionaire wasn’t even a dream or an ambition. It was such an impossibility that it wasn’t worth a moment’s thought.

Because of technology, efficiencies, and a global economy, it’s much easier to become wealthy with much less effort than at any other time in history. As a Cre8tor, you’ll add more excitement and purpose into your life. You will live your passion and make more money.

The benefits to becoming a Cre8tor are clear. Now let me show you step-by-step how to become a Cre8tor. Go to other8hours.com to discover how you can become a Cre8tor and experience new wealth and purpose in your life.

P.S. – As an exclusive bonus, get four free critical resources that will help you live your richest life. Go to other8hours.com to get an Other 8 Hours assessment, poster, video, and audio now!

This post is contributed by Robert Pagliarini. In his new book, The Other 8 Hours: Maximize Your Free Time to Create New Wealth & Purpose, Robert empowers people to live life to the fullest by radically changing the way they spend “The Other 8 Hours” – the 8 hours not spent sleeping or working. Robert has appeared as a financial expert on 20/20, Good Morning America, Dr. Phil, ABC Morning News, NPR’s Marketplace and in The Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, BusinessWeek, Money Magazine and many others.

Do you do market research before starting up? Well, you should.

90% of startups fail within their first two years of operation despite the fact every startup founder being personally convinced that people would easily buy their services during the initial phases of their startups. The key reason behind this: most startup founders never realize the importance of a detailed market research before starting their venture, which leads to a startup founder analyzing the situation wrongly and making bad decisions. A proper market research won’t only help an entrepreneur to understand how his or her target audience but would also help to decide whether or not the target audience is ready for the products they are going to launch in their venture.

In this article we discuss the tips which one should follow while conducting a market research for their startups:

Contact Your Target Audience: Search people on the basis of their age, gender, locations and monthly income who you think can be your potential customers and tell them about your new ventures or services you are planning to offer. Ask them whether they would like to try any such service in future or not. Ask them about their opinions, expectations, needs, price they would like to spend for such kind of service. These things would help you to understand your target audience’s way of thinking.

Analyze your Competitors: Research the level of competition you have to face in your new venture. Sometimes the competition in niche markets is very high that you may need a huge budget for marketing to attract customers. So if you don’t have sufficient funds, it would be better to leave such startups instead of facing loss in later stages.

Visit Local Authorities: Almost every city has a specific department which helps local people in starting small businesses. You can go to such offices and discuss with them about the feasibility of your new venture and how much initial investment would be required.  Governments do give grants to startups in specific niches, so check if your venture is related to any such niche.

Local Libraries and Newspapers: You can visit local libraries and search market reports related to your niche. Every good library has a separate book section related to business and finance, where you can find books which cover the market information about your startup idea. The other thing you can do is to search the classified sections of your local newspaper. If you can find enough ads from people who are looking for your services, then there will be a good scope in the market.

Search Online: Last, but not the least, is to search online. You can find lots of free and useful information on web like latest market reports, experiences of successful founders of similar startups, resources you will need to set up your venture and everything else you can think about.

This guest post is contributed by Rudo Malequin, who works as Internet Marketing Executive for Fortepromo, which creates customized promotional products for startups and help them to promote their brand in market.

Matt Wilson, co-founder of Under30CEO.com.

Considering starting a business while in school? Companies like Dell, Microsoft and hundreds of others started in a dorm room and so can you. Here are several reasons why you should take the leap and take control of your future while in college:

1. Campus Advisory Board – Is there a school of business on your campus? If there is, you will have access to entire advisory departments: finance, management, marketing, accounting, legal and more.  Professors are more than willing to help use their expertise and connections to see a student from their school succeed in the business world.  Start your business and don’t hesitate to ask for help. These PhD’s are often well networked and experienced.

2. Word of Mouth – Word spreads quickly on campus and it will be your cheapest form of marketing.  There is no better endorsement to buy a product or service than having a recommendation from a friend.  It’s almost like hearing “Hey, everyone is going to this party tonight, you have to be there.”  Napster music sharing service started in a college dorm room and spread like wildfire because of the students’ proximity to one another.  Use this to your advantage.

3. Technology - Colleges are a hotbed of technology and people who understand it.  Chances are your school offers WiFi, copy and fax machines, scanners, software, a high tech library, students walk around with cell phones, iPods, and laptops.  You are in one of the most well connected places on earth – take full advantage.  Everything that you need to start your business is right infront of you.  In a real bind? Make friends with the IT department and they will help you out. 

4. Campus Resources – Many colleges have amazing alumni networks, incubators, and entrepreneurship clubs set up already.  If they don’t–look into creating a chapter of the Collegiate Entrepreneurs’ Organization on your campus.  The more entrepreneurial people you surround yourself with the more driven and motivated you will become.  Entrepreneurship is a long hard battle, you will need a quality support group.

5. Access to Cheap Labor – Your college or university is full of young people trying to gain new experiences and a little bit of spending money.  Need help with your business? Look no further than other college students.  Many students will do unpaid internship if you make the experience worth their while.  Find other entrepreneurial minded students and pay them a commission based salary or find someone who wants to work part time for an hourly wage.  Need web development done? Ask around campus or post a job with your Career Services Center.

6. Now is the Time – Don’t wait until you have a mortgage and kids to start your business, do it while you have some breathing room attending college.  You could be out partying 24-7 or you could make the sacrafice now.  You might even have the option of moving home after graduation and boostrapping your business from your parents basement.  Tackle the challenge of starting a business while you have a crutch to lean on.

Learn How to Attract a Celebrity Following for your Business with Little to No Budget with this free Online DVD to Young Upstarts readers at http://rockstarbusinessseries.com

This is a guest post from Matt Wilson, co-founder of Under30CEO.com.  His workshops and keynote speeches have taught young people how to build huge brands online through the Rock Star Business Series. Get backstage access to his Online DVD free for Young Upstarts readers and Learn How to Attract a Celebrity Following for your Business with Little to No Budget.