iHaveNet.com
Entrepreneur - Starting a Business: Focus on Profits Not Popularity | Business Entrepreneur
  • HOME
  • WORLD
    • Africa
    • Asia Pacific
    • Balkans
    • Caucasas
    • Central Asia
    • Eastern Europe
    • Europe
    • Indian Subcontinent
    • Latin America
    • Middle East
    • North Africa
    • Scandinavia
    • Southeast Asia
    • United Kingdom
    • United States
    • Argentina
    • Australia
    • Austria
    • Benelux
    • Brazil
    • Canada
    • China
    • France
    • Germany
    • Greece
    • Hungary
    • India
    • Indonesia
    • Ireland
    • Israel
    • Italy
    • Japan
    • Korea
    • Mexico
    • New Zealand
    • Pakistan
    • Philippines
    • Poland
    • Russia
    • South Africa
    • Spain
    • Taiwan
    • Turkey
    • United States
  • USA
    • ECONOMICS
    • EDUCATION
    • ENVIRONMENT
    • FOREIGN POLICY
    • POLITICS
    • OPINION
    • TRADE
    • Atlanta
    • Baltimore
    • Bay Area
    • Boston
    • Chicago
    • Cleveland
    • DC Area
    • Dallas
    • Denver
    • Detroit
    • Houston
    • Los Angeles
    • Miami
    • New York
    • Philadelphia
    • Phoenix
    • Pittsburgh
    • Portland
    • San Diego
    • Seattle
    • Silicon Valley
    • Saint Louis
    • Tampa
    • Twin Cities
  • BUSINESS
    • FEATURES
    • eBUSINESS
    • HUMAN RESOURCES
    • MANAGEMENT
    • MARKETING
    • ENTREPRENEUR
    • SMALL BUSINESS
    • STOCK MARKETS
    • Agriculture
    • Airline
    • Auto
    • Beverage
    • Biotech
    • Book
    • Broadcast
    • Cable
    • Chemical
    • Clothing
    • Construction
    • Defense
    • Durable
    • Engineering
    • Electronics
    • Firearms
    • Food
    • Gaming
    • Healthcare
    • Hospitality
    • Leisure
    • Logistics
    • Metals
    • Mining
    • Movie
    • Music
    • Newspaper
    • Nondurable
    • Oil & Gas
    • Packaging
    • Pharmaceutic
    • Plastics
    • Real Estate
    • Retail
    • Shipping
    • Sports
    • Steelmaking
    • Textiles
    • Tobacco
    • Transportation
    • Travel
    • Utilities
  • WEALTH
    • CAREERS
    • INVESTING
    • PERSONAL FINANCE
    • REAL ESTATE
    • MARKETS
    • BUSINESS
  • STOCKS
    • ECONOMY
    • EMERGING MARKETS
    • STOCKS
    • FED WATCH
    • TECH STOCKS
    • BIOTECHS
    • COMMODITIES
    • MUTUAL FUNDS / ETFs
    • MERGERS / ACQUISITIONS
    • IPOs
    • 3M (MMM)
    • AT&T (T)
    • AIG (AIG)
    • Alcoa (AA)
    • Altria (MO)
    • American Express (AXP)
    • Apple (AAPL)
    • Bank of America (BAC)
    • Boeing (BA)
    • Caterpillar (CAT)
    • Chevron (CVX)
    • Cisco (CSCO)
    • Citigroup (C)
    • Coca Cola (KO)
    • Dell (DELL)
    • DuPont (DD)
    • Eastman Kodak (EK)
    • ExxonMobil (XOM)
    • FedEx (FDX)
    • General Electric (GE)
    • General Motors (GM)
    • Google (GOOG)
    • Hewlett-Packard (HPQ)
    • Home Depot (HD)
    • Honeywell (HON)
    • IBM (IBM)
    • Intel (INTC)
    • Int'l Paper (IP)
    • JP Morgan Chase (JPM)
    • J & J (JNJ)
    • McDonalds (MCD)
    • Merck (MRK)
    • Microsoft (MSFT)
    • P & G (PG)
    • United Tech (UTX)
    • Wal-Mart (WMT)
    • Walt Disney (DIS)
  • TECH
    • ADVANCED
    • FEATURES
    • INTERNET
    • INTERNET FEATURES
    • CYBERCULTURE
    • eCOMMERCE
    • mp3
    • SECURITY
    • GAMES
    • HANDHELD
    • SOFTWARE
    • PERSONAL
    • WIRELESS
  • HEALTH
    • AGING
    • ALTERNATIVE
    • AILMENTS
    • DRUGS
    • FITNESS
    • GENETICS
    • CHILDREN'S
    • MEN'S
    • WOMEN'S
  • LIFESTYLE
    • AUTOS
    • HOBBIES
    • EDUCATION
    • FAMILY
    • FASHION
    • FOOD
    • HOME DECOR
    • RELATIONSHIPS
    • PARENTING
    • PETS
    • TRAVEL
    • WOMEN
  • ENTERTAINMENT
    • BOOKS
    • TELEVISION
    • MUSIC
    • THE ARTS
    • MOVIES
    • CULTURE
  • SPORTS
    • BASEBALL
    • BASKETBALL
    • COLLEGES
    • FOOTBALL
    • GOLF
    • HOCKEY
    • OLYMPICS
    • SOCCER
    • TENNIS
  • Subscribe to RSS Feeds EMAIL ALERT Subscriptions from iHaveNet.com RSS
    • RSS | Politics
    • RSS | Recipes
    • RSS | NFL Football
    • RSS | Movie Reviews

Starting a Business: Focus on Profits Not Popularity
Robert Pagliarini

HOME > BUSINESS

 

Last week, I gave a presentation to a group of a few thousand people on how to create a richer life -- one that is filled with more time, money and meaning. Afterwards, several people approached me to discuss their ideas for starting a business. What I heard was both exciting and disturbing.

The best business ideas were those that were unique, thoroughly researched and focused on making money. While it may sound obvious for a business to focus on making money, I heard more than a few business ideas that seemed to neglect this critical aspect. Instead of dollars, their focus was users and views with no strategy for converting popularity into profit. While companies such as Facebook and Twitter have created billion dollar enterprises without any focus on profits, they are not good role models for you and me.

If you want to start a business in your free time, you must convert your product or service into money. The biggest mistakes I see are the result of well-intentioned people spending a lot of time and money creating things that they aren't able to monetize or market. Watch a few of the videos on YouTube. Many of them are fairly sophisticated productions with clean editing, a good soundtrack and decent lighting. This takes time and energy to pull off, and many videos are part of a series that require an ongoing commitment. Others will spend hours upon hours writing reviews of books, movies, products and services, and they'll research and answer questions for nothing more than a little recognition.

It's not uncommon to see online videos that have been viewed 100,000 or even a million plus times, or blogs with hundreds of thousands of loyal and active readers. But fame alone doesn't buy a new car. Views, members, readers, followers or friends won't pay for a new house. Too many people think the recognition is the objective, but it is only a tool -- just one piece of the puzzle. Recognition may have become the new currency, but it can't pay the bills.

Before you turn on the video camera or dust off the keyboard, think about how you can monetize or market your contribution. Writing a blog that gets read by a hundred thousand people is cool, but how can you capitalize on this? Point them to a website with products? What about using the content to get a job or attract the attention of those who can boost your career?

Craig Benzine created online videos to land himself a better job in a new field. Singer Christina Perri created short videos that attracted the attention of Los Angeles managers and that eventually led to her breakout success. Other artists have also had success creating content for a purpose.

For example, Esmee Denters failed an audition for the Dutch Pop Idol, but, instead of sinking into a hole, she decided to promote herself. She created a video of herself singing a Justin Timberlake song and it became a YouTube hit. It became so popular Justin watched it himself. He was so impressed that he met with her and signed her to his record label. What's the lesson? Was she just lucky?

Absolutely not! Luck is buying a winning lottery ticket. What Craig, Christina, Esmee and others like them did was not luck. They decided they'd take their future into their own hands. They created content and promoted it -- not because they were bored and had nothing better to do, but because they wanted to advance their careers. They created content for a purpose.

If you are starting a business, make sure you have a clear path to profitability or a marketing strategy to boost your career.

Robert Pagliarini is a CBS MoneyWatch columnist and the author of "The Other 8 Hours: Maximize Your Free Time to Create New Wealth & Purpose" and the national best-seller "The Six-Day Financial Makeover: Transform Your Financial Life in Less Than a Week! ."

Available at Amazon.com:

The Other 8 Hours: Maximize Your Free Time to Create New Wealth & Purpose

The Six-Day Financial Makeover: Transform Your Financial Life in Less Than a Week!

The Seven Deadly Sins of Investing: How to Conquer Your Worst Impulses and Save Your Financial Future

Recent Business Articles

  • Widening Divide in American-Chinese Commercial Interests
  • Why Obama Is Proposing Whopping Corporate Tax Cuts, and Why He's Wrong
  • Starting a Business: Focus on Profits Not Popularity
  • A Revolutionary New Way to Learn
  • Give Up the Quick Fix
  • Invest in Me, Inc.
  • The Final Lesson of BP
  • The Secrets to Zappos' Success
  • The Power of Persuasion: Food Marketing Really Does Work
  • When Success Doesn't Come Fast Enough
  • The Right Job at the Right Time
  • Unpopular CEOs Who Still Collect Millions
  • The Great Decoupling of Corporate Profits From Jobs
  • Skimps and Splurges for Starting a Business
  • Unique MBA Programs Build Leadership Skills
  • Business Schools Add New Entrepreneur Programs for MBA Students
  • Why Start-ups Could Make or Break the Job Recovery
  • Launching Your Own Business After Age 50
  • Behind the 'Mompreneur' Myth
  • Creative Ways to Combine Work & Family
  • How Payroll-Tax Holiday Affects Small Businesses
  • Rules to Reduce Risk When Starting a Small Business
  • Banking Laws Leave Small Business Vulnerable to Internet Fraud
  • Small-Business Tax Breaks in 2010
  • Kick-Starting a Small Business of Your Own
  • When to Make a Personal Course Correction
  • Perils of Running a Business From Home
  • The Baucus Healthcare Plan: What Small-Business Owners Need to Know
  • Small Businesses Hold on Despite Economy
  • Entrepreneurship Is the New Retirement: 10 great places to start your own business
  • 10 Great Places for Entrepreneurs to Retire: Jump in Start-ups Led by Baby Boomers
  • Entrepreneur: 6 Tips for Starting a Small Business After Age 50
  • The Failure Myth Revisited
  • It's the Right Time to be an Entrepreneur
  • Midlife Entrepreneurs: How One Entrepreneur Decided to Take the Leap

 

Entrepreneur - Starting a Business: Focus on Profits Not Popularity

(c) 2010 Robert Pagliarini

Search Powered By Google

Google Search   

ADVERTISEMENT

Advertisement

ADVERTISEMENT

Advertisement

  • HOME
  • WORLD
  • USA
  • BUSINESS
  • WEALTH
  • STOCKS
  • TECH
  • HEALTH
  • LIFESTYLE
  • ENTERTAINMENT
  • SPORTS

 

Entrepreneur - Starting a Business: Focus on Profits Not Popularity

  • Services:
  • RSS Feeds
  • Shopping
  • Email Alerts
  • Site Map
  • Privacy