What Business Should I Start?. Rhonda Abrams

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СКАЧАТЬ “service” category. But there is a wide range of the kind of services you can provide if this E-Type fits you.

      You can work with people—organizing their schedules, closets, weddings, etc. Or you can work with businesses—taking care of their accounts, their database or mailing list, their order fulfillment. You can easily work with numbers—bookkeeping is one of the growing areas for this E-Type. Or you can work with details and dates—making certain everything’s completely arranged for a party or all the brochures get mailed in time for the Spring sale.

      Another positive aspect of the business opportunities available for this E-Type is that many of them can be based from home. You may only have to go to your client’s home or place of business occasionally, if at all. You may also have relatively flexible hours—perhaps working late at night (doing bookkeeping, for instance). So if you’re an Organizer/Administrator E-Type and you want to own your own business but still stay close to home, you’ll find lots of opportunities appropriate for you.

       Options for this E-Type

      Business services: There’s been explosive growth in the number of small businesses in the last decade. Which means good news for this E-Type. Why? Because a large portion of these small companies are too small to hire full-time staff to handle certain critical business functions.

      That means there’s a huge need for “outsourced” providers of such business services, which include tasks like bookkeeping, payroll, list management, order fulfillment, hiring, etc. Even some larger businesses prefer to have certain functions provided by an outside party so that the information—such as their financial accounts and payroll—is kept private, away from their own employees.

      Much of this kind of work bores other E-Types to tears—which is why there is so much opportunity here for Organizer/Administrators. There’s plenty of competition in these areas, to be sure. But once you establish yourself, you may find that you are soon running a profitable, stable business. The key here is to be consistent and reliable—always.

      Personal services: There’s also been a huge increase in the need for personal services that can be classified as “administrative” or “organizing.”

      People are so busy, they often do not have time to handle their own affairs—whether paying their bills, arranging their closets, or planning a party. Hiring someone else to do it for them can be a relief. Breaking into the personal services market can be harder than the business services market, and the work will probably be less stable.

      Some personal service opportunities for Organizer/Administrator E-Types appeal to those who like to be with many other people and handle many different tasks at once (such as party planner). While other personal service opportunities allow you to be more private, focused on one task at a time (such as errand runner, bill-payer).

      Again, the key to success here is to perform your job for your clients consistently and reliably. Most people will want to hire you, and then not worry that you’re doing the work well. This is what you want also!

       You may be this E-Type if . . .

      1.You pay attention to details. You’re not bored by taking care of the little things; you know they’re important.

      2.You’re able to meet deadlines. You keep an eye on the calendar and on the clock.

      3.You are organized; you can see how to make order out of chaos. You’re good with charts, tables, lists—whatever is required to turn complex projects into step-by-step processes.

      4.You enjoy seeing things come out exactly right, whether it’s a line of figures adding up in an accounting program or seeing tables set immaculately for a party.

      5.You like having a sense of completion. You prefer to be involved with projects or tasks that have an “end.” Even if you prepare the payroll every week, balance the books every month, or plan the company party every year, you don’t view your job as repetitive. Instead, you feel proud that you’re able to finish something completely.

      6.You do not like being in the limelight. You may be shy or awkward with people or you may be outgoing, but you don’t want to—or need to—be the center of attention.

       This E-Type’s secrets & strategies

      

Providing services to businesses, rather than to individual consumers, may provide more stable and predictable income. A wedding planner must continually find new clients; your client this year isn’t likely to be having another wedding next year (although that’s not unheard of). On the other hand, a corporate event planner may plan a company’s holiday party every year. And an outsourced bookkeeper may keep a client for decades.

      

Become a whiz at the accounting progam QuickBooks. Approximately 85% of small companies use QuickBooks to maintain their accounts. But many of them don’t have the staff or time to input all the data they have and make certain the accounts balance every week or month. You don’t have to be an accountant to provide bookkeeping services, and with QuickBooks, it’s relatively easy to learn how to maintain a company’s books.

      

Look into providing order fulfillment. As more companies want to sell their merchandise over the Internet, they have to find a timely, reliable way to get those orders filled. Often, they don’t have the resources to do so in-house. Look for opportunities to be able to handle responses to customers’ orders through packing, shipping, billing, etc., on an outsourced basis.

      

Become indispensable. Although it’s not as glamorous as other jobs, providing ongoing payroll services, bookeeping, administrative support, or other seemingly mundane tasks can be the lifeblood of an organization. Once you get hired to handle any of these tasks, if you perform them well, it’s unlikely that you’ll be replaced or let go. In fact, you’ll become critical to your clients’ ongoing success. Yes, party planning may be more fun—but when the party’s finished, so are you—at least until next year.

       Obvious (and Not-So-Obvious) Business Choices for This E-Type

      

Bookkeeper

      

Corporate event planner

      

Database and list management

      

Order or other fulfillment (contests, refunds, etc.)

      

Closet organizer

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