In three major media publications this week it was reported that the pet supplement industry is where the natural products industry was 15 years ago, and I agree.

From my perspective sitting a top a new business and website — I’ve looked at the markets and studied everything I could get my hands on and all indications are that the trend is solid and it makes perfect sense.

In the natural health business, all product categories are packed, jammed tight in which several major players dominate and penetration is tough, there are listing fees and branding is expensive.

At this juncture not so in the supplements business for animals. Herbal bladder control capsules for dogs, all natural anxiety formulations, urinary tract support, joint relief for horses — take a walk through any pet store, natural foods store or vet clinic and you will see a complimentary medicine revolution taking place. As a result many top guns such as Thorne, Heel, FoodScience Corp, Nordic Naturals and Flora Health USA are seizing the opportunity and moving into the business and using pet supplements as the tip of the spear to maneuver.

In the August 4th issue of Nutrition Business Journal, the title of which is Are Pet Supplements a Good Brand Extension for Human Supplement Firms, they reported the going is tough and this new territory has its own intrinsic set of challenges such as a convoluted regulatory environment and a veterinary field that is ultra cautious. But from 50,000 feet it makes perfect sense.

Whilst I was the CEO of Biomed International (Canada) and Terra Medica Natural Medicine (United States) we were looking for additional revenue streams where we could find them. The reason was simple. We were operating professional lines of German homeopathics and there were just so many accounts we could land and that meant a revenue ceiling and diminishing long run returns as our costs and overheads slowly rose.

So brand extension into new markets with formulations that could be tweaked to work in the pet busines made perfect sense to us at the time. But the article in the Journal also said something else smart too, and that is that there is no automatic guarantee that extending your reach into the pet world is going to work. You may have a signature brand but can it translate to the animal kingdom?

“It’s definitely a good time to get into the business, ” said Dale Metz, CEO of FoodScience Corp. and a founding member of the National Animal Supplements Council (NASC). “But if you are a human supplement company and you think you can just take your existing product line and put it in a capsule for an animal, that is not the case. Its complicated.”

In my view there are two amazing product lines (both of which we carry) called Nordic Naturals Cod Liver Oil and Udo’s Pet Essentials from Flora Health USA that will do brilliantly – and in fact already are proving to be top performers in our webstore.

We stock their pet supplements and oils and our sales are rising. Udo’s and Nordic — these guys are the best in the supplements biz so re-calibrating their formulations and moving into the pet business is one smart move.

However, I think all companies that are moving in this direction have one thing in common and that is branding. At this early stage its not so clear that Brand can affect sales in the pet market and the reason is I think is that consumer is different, or maybe we don’t really understand their behavior yet because its just too soon. Inotherwords will the Nordic brand in Whole Foods translate to Woofits Pet Store here on Cambie Street?

So for me the moment I can’t answer that question, however I realize the big BOOM opportunity! I love figuring out my customer and calibrating how to talk and discuss and appeal to them. For me starring into the abyss is fun and I relish the opportunity to figure this out. Right now for example allpetnaturals is running Facebook ads and from that we are gathering very rich information about about our customers, and where they live and the surprises keep coming at me everyday.

But back to the supplments business and pets for a minute or so more. I would say that we really don’t grasp brand power and how that translates to sales in this new frontier, we don’t really understand consumer behavior yet and the marketing is all different. For one thing, human behaviors around pets is highly emotive. As pet owners yourselves you are especially cautious and careful and in a funny sort of way more so than when you buy vitamins for your kids. Lets be honest about this right?

So this foggy triangle is what I think is one of the barriers to success in the category slipover into pet supplements. As more and more firms begin downloading their supplements and other herbal or biological medications into the pet world they will find themselves up against these three things.

Over the next few weeks I will be reporting how we are unraveling these questions and sharing these insights with you – which will make us both more savvy and aware. Thanks for reading and good health to you and your wonderful pet companions. Namaste.

When perusing small business articles, it is all too easy to imagine the response of some people who might like to start their own business but think that it’s well out of their reach.

“This is all very well but how do I start my own business with no money?” you may ask. Well, it’s easy to see how people on very low incomes (the unemployed, those only in part time work or on minimum wage) can feel trapped in their current circumstances and believe that the dream of owning their own business will almost certainly remain just that.

Fortunately, in this day and age that’s no longer necessarily the case. There is in fact a great deal of help available – ranging from simple advice and support to financial aid – for both low income earners and others who may fit into the category of the disadvantaged (such as carers, former offenders, and the homeless) who wish to try and make it on their own.

Like anyone else considering setting up their own business, the first thing they need is, of course, a good idea. If you don’t already have one as yet, then take a look at your skills, your likes, your dislikes and see if you can use those attributes as a way to find a business that could be to your liking.

Once you have an idea, you need to make sure that there is a market for the services or products you are planning to offer via your new business, and ensure there is not already such a degree of competition in this field that your new enterprise would have little to no chance of succeeding in a packed market.

There is also the question of what kind of business you would be interested in starting up – home based, co operative, or social enterprise? There is also a great deal to consider when ensuring that you know in advance the correct amount of tax and National Insurance that you will have to pay toward your new business.

This involves deciding what kind of legal structure you wish to set up. Options include Sole Trader (the simplest and most common way for small business owners, but involves personal liability), a Limited Liability Company (company finances remain strictly separate from your personal finances), Partnership (two people running a business together, with equal responsibilities, liabilities and share in the profits) or Limited Liability Partnership (almost the same as a Partnership but liability is limited to the amount each partner has invested in the business).

This might all sound a little too complicated, but fortunately, as stated above, there are many support groups out there ready to help people looking to start up their own business, including several that specifically target low income earners or the otherwise disadvantaged.

These groups can help you to deal with the issues raised above, as well as with writing a business plan, finding other means of support and helping you to find a network of people with similar issues or possibly even a business mentor to help you through.

Don’t be fooled into thinking “I could never do that” just because of what appear to be dark circumstances. These days, almost anyone can, with the right attitude, assistance and advice, become a small business owner.

The term small business defined as businesses with less than 100 employees. The average small business employs 5-20 employees, this is not a thoroughly researched number, but a close approximate. Many small businesses whose only employee is the owner operator; the printing industry is populated with 1-person offices as printing brokers.  

The opening of small businesses increases during economic downturns. The driving force behind this increase of small enterprises is the unemployed people unable to find employment. The unemployed who stop looking for employment do not just sit at home crying in their beer, as the news media would have you believe. No right think person who has a family just gives up trying to supply for their families needs, many start their own business.

The small business to the medium sized enterprise employs approximately 70% of those employed. A medium sized business defined in the United States as a business with fewer than 500 employees. Small and medium size businesses are not so small since the numbers of those employed by these concerns are about 50-70 million employees.

Now that we have a base line for this article, I would like to expose the difficulties of growing a small business into a medium sized company and then transforming this business into a large business.

Most of us who hear the word entrepreneur we think of Henry Ford, Bill Gates, or some other larger than life business owner who has in our minds earned the right to be called entrepreneur. The dictionary defines an entrepreneur as a person who undertakes a commercial risk for profit. The everyday small business owner does not see himself or herself as a larger than life entrepreneur.

One of the underlining difficulties facing a small business is that the vision of the small business owner is small. I do not say this to demean the small business owner, because the vision of each owner of a business is how to survive today, next week, next month, and throughout the year. These business owners are amazing people who not only drive sales, marketing, accounting, and purchasing, but do it all themselves.

Most entrepreneurs are the persons who will learn of their future business, while working in the profession as an employee and tirelessly learns the pros and cons of a product or a service. These are the people who eat, sleep and drink their job; we used to call these employees a company-person. They are the people who become successful even in the most difficult circumstances.

This is the person working as a salesperson, a chef, a press-operator, office worker, we could name almost any job title, and this person goes the extra mile. These employees can do their job better; in fact, they become an expert in their field. Soon because of their level of knowledge, they become a resource for others, and they begin to see that they can do their jobs on their own.

This trait of being an expert, which causes the business owner to succeed, is the same trait that will keep them small. The reason is the owner of the business knows too much, when someone knows too much they are not open to new ideas.

Being oblivious to what cannot be done and doing what others say is impossible has an example in nature. According to aerodynamics, the bumble bee should not be able to fly. The reason the bumble bee has such small wings to body mass to be able to fly, but the bumble bee flies because no one has told the bumble bee of this fact. The self-made business owner who keeps on impressing to their employees that certain things cannot be done. Effectively, grounding their employees so they will not soar to new heights by apply new business paradigms that will change the vision of the company.  

The entrepreneurs who are able to grow from a small business into a medium or a large company can traverse these boundaries if the founder does not tell the employees they cannot fly. If this entrepreneur vision allows for developing paradigms beyond the owner’s knowledge then company’s growth will result.

Part two of The Small Business owner to follow…

Everything.

Still don’t see the copywriting connection? Let me connect the marketing dots for you.

Imagine walking through your local mall. You’re on a mission and come Hades or high water you’re gonna accomplish it……..when through no conscious decision of your own, your head snaps to the right, your swift stride slams into a slow-motion vortex and your eyeballs stare, riveted to the scantily clad mannequins in Victoria Secret’s window.

Laugh if you like, but you know it’s true. There isn’t a man or woman alive who DOESN’T look twice at slinky slips and risqu?ingerie when so strategically staged.

So what do great headlines have in common with lingerie? Three things.

1. They get your attention.

2. They stop you in your tracks.

3. They make you want to know more.

That’s the theoretical explanation. Here’s the practical one broken down by “Rules,” “Key Words,” “Examples,” and “Formulas”…

Headline Rules

1. Immediately, succinctly and clearly answer the only question prospects care about, “What’s in it for me?”

2. If you have news, such as a new product or new way to use an old product, play it up BIG in your headline.

3. Avoid curiosity-based headlines. Curiosity is great when used with either option listed above, but it can’t get the job done all by its little lonesome.

4. Communicate that your solution is a quicker or easier way to get what the prospect wants.

5. Your headline is a hook, not a fishing rod. Don’t ask it to do more than its job.

Key Words

At last, Free, You, Gift, Finally, How, Sex, Instantly, New, Why, Money, Get, Now, Who else…, Guaranteed, Surprising, Announcing, Which, Easy, Yes, Introducing, Wanted, Save, Discover

Headline Examples

o What Do School Teachers And Sumo Wrestlers Have In Common?

o 7 Ways To Sell Your House Faster And For More Money

o Who Ever Heard Of 17,000 Blooms From A Single Plant?

o The Truth About Homeowner’s Insurance

o What Every Woman Should Know About Bargain Shopping

o How To Skyrocket Your Website Traffic

o How A Bald-Headed Barber Saved My Hair!

o Who Else Wants A Whiter WashWith No Hard Work?

o Which Of These Car Buying Mistakes Will You Make?

o The Top 13 Mistakes Self Publishing Authors Make

o To The Woman Who Will Settle For Nothing Less Than The Presidency Of Her Firm

o How To Prevent Online Identity Theft

o All Skydiving Instructors Are Not Created Equal

o If Indiana Jones Were An Economist, He’d Be Steven D. Levitt

o The Hidden Fortune In Your Worthless Tech Stocks

Headline Formulas

1. What Do _(your product or service)__ And __(unexpected comparison)__ Have In Common?

2. Who Ever Heard Of __(unexpected something)_ From A __(your product or service)_?

3. The Truth (“solve a problem” or “get a result”).

4. What Every __(your audience)__ Should Know About __(your product or service)_.

5. How To Skyrocket Your __(benefit)__.

6. Which Of These _(area of concern)_ Mistakes Will You Make?

7. The Top __(X #)_ Mistakes _(your audience)_ Make.

8. To The _(your audience)_ Who Will Settle For Nothing Less Than The __(benefit)__.

9. How To Prevent __(pain)__.

10. All __(subject of article) Are Not Created Equal

11. If _______, then _______.

12. The Hidden Fortune In Your __(unusual place)__.

There you have it. A down and dirty synopsis of:

o What a headline should do

o What words will have the greatest impact in your headlines

o What a great headline looks like, and

o Easy formulas for creating your own profit producing headlines

And the best news is these guidelines and suggestions apply whether you’re a business to business marketer, business to consumer marketer, a copywriter-for-hire, operating a home business or practicing any other form of professional marketing.

The myth that nine out of ten small businesses close in their first year may or may not be completely true. According to more recent Dun and Bradstreet data, 76 percent of new companies were still in business after two years. But since these statistics are based solely on the number of business license applications forfeited, they may not be entirely accurate. Many business owners don’t immediately contact their licensing office; some never do.

Studies show businesses that do survive longer had more cash up front to invest. Other survival factors include the owner‘s age, higher education, and previous experience in their field. The number one cause of small business failure is “lack of planning,” and the most common mistake in planning falls with making poor financial choices right from the start.

Most people believe that to have a successful business you need to start with a large sum of money and acquire those start-up funds by taking risky business loans or mortgaging your home. That’s simply not true. In fact, 25 percent of business owners needed no dollar amount to start up.

Reports show that only 27 percent of business owners have borrowed the money they needed to start their business and 36 percent of owners used their savings for their business start-up. It is always better to save the money you need up front if you are able. A total of 69 percent of new businesses were started or acquired without any need to borrow money.

So if it’s that easy, why do so many businesses fail? It may be that new business owners spend more time planning a vacation than they do their new business venture. Many don’t calculate into the equation how their personal financial responsibilities will be met while their new business is growing legs. They will still have rent or mortgage, electric bills, phone bills, and other household expenses. A new business just can’t support home life for an estimated need of 1-2 years. This is where we fail to plan.

Starting a small business should be looked at as just that, a “small” business. The founder of Dell Computers was a college dropout. Starting small out of his garage, he managed to excel above all of the world’s top computer manufacturers. One in three computers sold today is a Dell.

Just over 32 percent of new business owners needed less than $5,000 to start or acquire their business. Businesses opening without a huge financial debt show a much greater chance for success. If you have a business idea, you need to keep it in proportion to the amount of money you have to pursue it. Instead of building a $400,000 franchise store, you might need to look at buying a $15,000 coffee cart that you can drive around to local events. There’s always a way to work out your idea without exceeding your means.

Successful businesses are started with proper planning. Spend the time needed to plan your business idea and do the research needed to ensure you have all your ducks in a row before you open up the pond for customers.

Copyright (c) 2008 Jen Quigley

Maybe it takes until mid-life to form an awakening that questions whether or not today’s income generating system is one huge con.

Why are we encouraged to make money in the way society dictates? Why should we have to forfeit our one asset that is the same as everybody else’s irrespective of credentials – our time? The faster time flies, the harder we work. Welcome to the rat-race.

Why do we exchange our time for money, just because the income generation system we are controlled by determines we have to? Society also dictates that this is the only system that is ‘acceptable’.

So what’s the alternative? Something that is making a lot of “cents” for me is a concept that’s been around for a while and was initially explained by a successful multi-millionaire investor, business owner and author in one of his best-sellers. It is the four quadrants concept consisting of employee, self-employed, business owner and investor. To gradually become less of an employee and more of a business owner and subsequent investor is positively the best way to go for accruing wealth for less time and less effort.

When transitioning away from being an employee, one could move in one of three directions, from employee to self-employed, employee to business owner, or employee to investor. But the easiest transition at the beginning is to move from being an employee to being a business owner, particularly when you have the whole world at your fingertips as your marketplace and you can buy your own business at a budget that’s right for you.

You can buy in at the lower end to see if your business will really work, whether or not you enjoy it, and if so, you can then upgrade once you begin to achieve results. It can be simply a wonderful hobby, past time or spare time interest that rewards the user if they are fortunate to become involved with a reputable and ethical system. For others, it is a way of earning unlimited income in a way they would never achieve in their JOB as an employee.

At this point I am not suggesting that those reading this article should quit their job and sack their boss. Well, at least not yet. I am suggesting however, that it would be better to work less in your job and more on your business. Once you become successful in your own business, you can choose whether or not it is time to sack your boss and begin to purchase investments that work for you in terms of accruing equity and generating wealth.

Are you Just Over Broke with your JOB? If so, find out how to turn that around by taking a tour of the business opportunity explained via the link below.

With the current economy going down all around the world, learning how to earn a fulltime living online is a solution to you. Well friend! To learn how to do this, you will need to keep me company and read on my little secret. There exists many opportunities and formulas for success online, some work while others never at all, they all seem complicated to most new persons.My blog has great articles that will help you in this undertaking.

By searching on any of the major search engines for online money making opportunities, an array of possible results come where you can easily choose one. They may or not be able to earn you a fulltime living online but will give you an idea on how it works. Searching for “Home business ideas” or “work from home” gives thousand of results. However great the ideas seem, you will always be a replica or and may not hit as the original idea. With such a possibility, getting your own product to sell online is the surest way to earn huge cash.

Earning a fulltime living online is easy by marketing your own product. Now, getting a unique product is not simple, it involves a lot of thinking before you select which is best. Getting a high demand product and getting the masses to buy is where the problem is. With good basic information on web marketing, you can make it a huge hit over the web. My blog site has tips and formulas to help you earn a living from online business. Other resources can also be searched over the search engines and incorporate them in marketing your high demand product.

This article is about the best way to start an MLM business. I’m not writing about the best way to start an MLM hobby… I mean a real true to life business. Something that can net you $500 to $50,000 or more each month.

Over the years multi level promoting has achieved a rather dubious status. Companies like Amway, Shaklee, Agel and just about any alleged profit generating program available on the internet today has driven the average joe to believe that there is no way possible to achieve any kind of success in a multi level markting plan unless you are the one who developed it or are in the comprehensive first wave of a new program.

Multi level marketing has been compared to the Ponzi schemes that have brought dishonor to a large amount of professional and prescribed investors who trusted names like Bernie Madoff and the billionaire from Texas.

In the right context making profits from the web with multi level promoting through a home business can be a brilliant way to make additional revenue. Never look at a program like this as a way to give up your job.

Your first source of revenue should be your paycheck and anything else should be treated as additional income. Be careful of those corporations that lure you in with a low fee to use the program as a way to eliminate the tire kickers and then hammer you with giant material and program costs to keep on.

If their program truly works, then you’ll generate additional income for them by making the recommendation the program to friends and relatives. The best home based business I have seen online are mixes of the most successful market segments combined into one super robust program.

That mixture can be described as common business sense. If you’re going to market something, you must make sure there are large amounts of buyers prepared to buy what you’re selling. If you can mix huge groups of future clients into one marketing strategy, then you really have something special.

It is how runaway success stories like Dean Rittenhouse came to be. He had infused internet marketing secrets together with the internet promotion industry to give higher perceived value to what he’s teaching. Dean had the benefit of being a marketing and sales professinal for decades before becoming absolutely entrenched in the network marketing idustry. This exprience can provide benefits to you by learning what he knows.

When beginning an MLM business it is always good to get daily recommendation from a seasomed MLM professional. Lots of folks charge for this service, but if you search hard enough you can find a professional to take you under their wing without any up front butler.

to conclude, look for an organization that is diversified into several makets and secure great coaching from an experienced leader. Standing on the shoulders of giants certainly is a lot easier than attempting to figure everything out for yourself. These are your shortcuts for success.
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How about believing in making money online? Can you start with will and effort and continue with making some real progress? Do you know how? Are you fed up with everything till now? Searching, working, even  finding decant job online is very, very hard. How about something real? This is something that can really motivate you      and offers you real product and off course, knowledge. This is what online marketing actually is lack of – real products?

He has started about year ago, but getting smarter in the way, he made some “humble” income. Getting his first $250 per day, after the first months, developing his business to $15,000 per month, he is now working from home like a full time Internet Marketer and Product Developer.

Chris Farrell Membership requires paying a monthly membership fee, but Chris surely will be worth the money.

For starters – if you will get only his Free Unlimited Web Hosting, you have proved your money. But, that is not the only thing that you are getting. You are getting – how to make keywords, wordpress, autoresponders, marketing, how to make traffic on your web, than you will get “Shattering The Myth” – one of Chris Farrell’s eBooks, Over 570 How-To Videos, Fully Downloadable Library, -By-Step Blueprint of a $250/day plan, 24 hour Video-On-Demand , Ask Chris – and get a personalized video answer within 24 hours, over  570 How-To Videos, Exclusive rights to send a copy of SUCCESS GRENADE to your list every week, Free Techie Help ( Value $50/hour), Full Master Resale Rights to the first product that made Chris $250/day (sold before), get to use personally written email messages created by Chris Farrell to help build relationships with your customers and much more.

Affiliate Marketing: Staying Away From Scams

Many of us are upset and frustrated with our current jobs. The low pay and sense of being undervalued drive many of us to dream of our own businesses. However, the costs combines with the risk factors stops most of us in our tracks. Affiliate marketing is a way for people to work for themselves with no risk. There is no cost to you and you’re paid on performance. However, today one has to be careful. There are plenty of scammers and con artists out there that are more than happy to take you money and hard work off of you. Unfortunately, affiliate marketing is not immune to these scammers. Daily, people are taken in by promises of big money with relatively little effort. In this article we will teach you some of the signs to look for and tell you how to spot a scam.

When you join an affiliate marketing scheme, you either going to sell a product or a service. With products, you usually have a choice and range to sell. How you decide to do this is largely up to you. You could also sell a service. Web page designs as well as increasing sales and internet traffic are all examples of services offered by affiliate marketing programs.

How many times have you seen as ad on the internet promising huge earnings? Things like “Earn 1000$ a day” or Join our program now and become a millionaire. If your look closely at these ads they are not actually selling anything. Any company that is just selling the opportunity to make money is likely a scam. True, some affiliate marketing companies will have attention grabbing headlines like the ones mentioned above. However, if you go on to read the ad and information, there will likely be a detailed description of what they company sells. They will also have a disclaimer and terms and conditions listed.

These companies that offer, the opportunity to make money are likely pyramid schemes. The only people paying money in are the ones actually joining. There is no income being created, just money being passed from person to person. Not only are these scams and you’ll loose what you invested, they are also illegal and you can face prosecution.

Another thing to watch out for is no free participation. If you have to pay to join then you may have stumbled upon a scam or what is known as a multilevel marketing program. Multi-level marketing programs are completely legal and some people make good livings out of them. However, if you’re not successful you may end up purchasing a bunch of products that you cannot sell.

True affiliate programs are free. That is part of their attraction. There are no costs to you and they should also be risk free. Any Affiliate marketing programs that demands your money is not an affiliate program. You should ask yourself why they are misrepresenting themselves this way if they are legitimate.

Many of us dream of being our own bosses. We would love to be able to take control of our lives and careers. The attraction of answering only to you combined with setting your own working hours and committing what your choose bring loads of people into the affiliate marketing schemes. Affilaite marketing can be an excellent way for a highly motivated, creative person to make an excellent living. There are some wonderful programs out there just waiting to be joined. However, for every great program there is likely one that is fraudulent. Con artists operate in many areas and unfortunate affiliate marketing is not immune.

Before joining, check to see what the company is selling. If they are not selling goods or services then they are likely an illegal pyramid scheme. If they require your own money to get started then they are what are known as a multi level marketing program. Affiliate marketing can be a great opportunity but you need to do your homework.