CEO of Fit Body Boot Camp Bedros Keuilian Offers Tips to Become a Successful Fitness Franchisee

Bedros Keuilian is the founder and CEO of the world's fastest growing indoor fitness boot camp franchise:    Fit Body Boot Camp.

1. #1 reason why the fitness industry is tailor-made for franchises

One word: scale.

The market for fitness and weight loss solutions is enormous, and odds are it will be for quite some time. There are so many people out there who are suffering because they’re in poor health or they don’t like the way they look, and they’re willing to pay quite a lot for anyone who can offer them a real solution.

In a perfect dream world, each and every one of these people would get an expert personal trainer to keep them accountable and give them the most efficient workout and nutrition plans. But here in the real world, that kind of scale just doesn’t exist.

Unless…you open a fitness franchise.

Franchises, and fitness boot camps in particular, are the best possible way for the industry to take the trainers we have and allow them to scale up to meet the market’s demand. With a truly powerful formula like what we use in Fit Body Boot Camp, you can effectively give the equivalent of one-on-one training to 20 people at a time.

Plus, with the naturally larger client base, a boot camp franchise can offer prices much lower than one-on-one training and still keep a healthy profit margin.

2. The importance of keeping a low startup fee for successful franchisees

To me, this ties into another important issue for franchising fees: royalties. At Fit Body Boot Camp, we work to keep both our startup fees and royalties low so that our owners will have the incentive to always keep growing their business. They more clients they bring in, the more people they help, the more they go out and show off our brand – more profit for them.

In theory, I could start hiking up our fees to drive more of that money back to the HQ, but honestly I think that’s a terrible idea. That would put the long-term health of this franchise and this brand at risk, since it would basically encourage high-performing owners to NOT grow their businesses and maybe start looking at other franchise options.

Also, one thing to keep in mind in the fitness industry is that a lot of franchisees come from careers as personal trainers, usually working in box gyms. As any current or former personal trainer can tell you (including myself) those gigs don’t really pay that well. So, that’s another reason for us to keep our startup fee low.

3. 3 tips on how to start a successful franchise business

Tip #1 – Make sure your selling point is unique.

The fastest way for a startup to reach massive success in any industry is to solve a problem nobody else has solved. Small, specific, and practical is good. Specialize now so you can build the steady capital you’ll need if you want to broaden your offering later on. Don’t try to be everything to everyone, especially not when you’re starting out. You’ll just end up offering mediocre versions of other peoples’ businesses, and your prospects will ditch you for the experts.

Tip #2 – Find your niche.

This the other fast way for a startup to get big, and you can and should combine it with the previous tip. Do your research and find the market in your industry that is currently most under-served. The fitness industry, for example, has a long history of offering little or nothing to the aging adult market (although that is starting to change now).

Once you’ve found your market, take a good look at your personal story and find the points where you can relate closely to your market. Study them closely, learn to speak their language, and figure out their biggest pain points. Once you have all that, you can build your marketing strategy around them and you’ll have your niche – an intensely loyal market that will give you big rewards.

Tip #3 – Embrace the future of marketing.

Social proof. Social proof. Social proof. Forget about traditional advertising – those spaces are way too crowded and your ROI is going to be very low. As soon as you possibly can, identify the people in your market who are most likely to become your super-fans. Then, love those people up with special gifts, extra free trials and offers, and your personal hands-on guide to whatever results they want to achieve.

Ask those people for testimonials, then distribute the testimonials over Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, blogs, email newsletters, and any other social platform where people will form a genuine attachment to your content and want to share it.

4. The business of fitness – growing the franchise business

It’s interesting – I was just having this conversation with someone the other day where I was explaining that the way to grow your client base and the way to grow your franchisee base are really just two halves of the same process.

If I can piggyback slightly on my previous answer, it all comes down to social proof. We bring new clients into our business by first establishing Fit Body Boot Camp as a trusted fitness authority through content rich blogs, social media, and email newsletters, all of which have real, glowing testimonials peppered in. Then, we send our prospects irresistible offers for special trial runs of our boot camp at a low price. Finally, our franchisees close them on long term training plans, deliver amazing weight loss results, generate new referrals and testimonials, and the cycle repeats.

The process for bringing in new franchise owners is a little different, but operates on the same principle. We have several different marketing funnels that target potential franchisees through social channels and show them glowing testimonials from our current owners who are making great money and helping a lot of people. Then we direct them to an Expression of Interest form that sends off to our Franchise Development Team, who have this whole process to qualify them and make sure they’ll be a good fit for the brand.

The post CEO of Fit Body Boot Camp Bedros Keuilian Offers Tips to Become a Successful Fitness Franchisee appeared first on Home Business Magazine.

CEO of Fit Body Boot Camp Offers Tips to Become a Successful Fitness Franchisee

Bedros Keuilian is the founder and CEO of the world's fastest growing indoor fitness boot camp franchise:    Fit Body Boot Camp.

1. #1 reason why the fitness industry is tailor-made for franchises

One word: scale.

The market for fitness and weight loss solutions is enormous, and odds are it will be for quite some time. There are so many people out there who are suffering because they’re in poor health or they don’t like the way they look, and they’re willing to pay quite a lot for anyone who can offer them a real solution.

In a perfect dream world, each and every one of these people would get an expert personal trainer to keep them accountable and give them the most efficient workout and nutrition plans. But here in the real world, that kind of scale just doesn’t exist.

Unless…you open a fitness franchise.

Franchises, and fitness boot camps in particular, are the best possible way for the industry to take the trainers we have and allow them to scale up to meet the market’s demand. With a truly powerful formula like what we use in Fit Body Boot Camp, you can effectively give the equivalent of one-on-one training to 20 people at a time.

Plus, with the naturally larger client base, a boot camp franchise can offer prices much lower than one-on-one training and still keep a healthy profit margin.

2. The importance of keeping a low startup fee for successful franchisees

To me, this ties into another important issue for franchising fees: royalties. At Fit Body Boot Camp, we work to keep both our startup fees and royalties low so that our owners will have the incentive to always keep growing their business. They more clients they bring in, the more people they help, the more they go out and show off our brand – more profit for them.

In theory, I could start hiking up our fees to drive more of that money back to the HQ, but honestly I think that’s a terrible idea. That would put the long-term health of this franchise and this brand at risk, since it would basically encourage high-performing owners to NOT grow their businesses and maybe start looking at other franchise options.

Also, one thing to keep in mind in the fitness industry is that a lot of franchisees come from careers as personal trainers, usually working in box gyms. As any current or former personal trainer can tell you (including myself) those gigs don’t really pay that well. So, that’s another reason for us to keep our startup fee low.

3. 3 tips on how to start a successful franchise business

Tip #1 – Make sure your selling point is unique.

The fastest way for a startup to reach massive success in any industry is to solve a problem nobody else has solved. Small, specific, and practical is good. Specialize now so you can build the steady capital you’ll need if you want to broaden your offering later on. Don’t try to be everything to everyone, especially not when you’re starting out. You’ll just end up offering mediocre versions of other peoples’ businesses, and your prospects will ditch you for the experts.

Tip #2 – Find your niche.

This the other fast way for a startup to get big, and you can and should combine it with the previous tip. Do your research and find the market in your industry that is currently most under-served. The fitness industry, for example, has a long history of offering little or nothing to the aging adult market (although that is starting to change now).

Once you’ve found your market, take a good look at your personal story and find the points where you can relate closely to your market. Study them closely, learn to speak their language, and figure out their biggest pain points. Once you have all that, you can build your marketing strategy around them and you’ll have your niche – an intensely loyal market that will give you big rewards.

Tip #3 – Embrace the future of marketing.

Social proof. Social proof. Social proof. Forget about traditional advertising – those spaces are way too crowded and your ROI is going to be very low. As soon as you possibly can, identify the people in your market who are most likely to become your super-fans. Then, love those people up with special gifts, extra free trials and offers, and your personal hands-on guide to whatever results they want to achieve.

Ask those people for testimonials, then distribute the testimonials over Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, blogs, email newsletters, and any other social platform where people will form a genuine attachment to your content and want to share it.

4. The business of fitness – growing the franchise business

It’s interesting – I was just having this conversation with someone the other day where I was explaining that the way to grow your client base and the way to grow your franchisee base are really just two halves of the same process.

If I can piggyback slightly on my previous answer, it all comes down to social proof. We bring new clients into our business by first establishing Fit Body Boot Camp as a trusted fitness authority through content rich blogs, social media, and email newsletters, all of which have real, glowing testimonials peppered in. Then, we send our prospects irresistible offers for special trial runs of our boot camp at a low price. Finally, our franchisees close them on long term training plans, deliver amazing weight loss results, generate new referrals and testimonials, and the cycle repeats.

The process for bringing in new franchise owners is a little different, but operates on the same principle. We have several different marketing funnels that target potential franchisees through social channels and show them glowing testimonials from our current owners who are making great money and helping a lot of people. Then we direct them to an Expression of Interest form that sends off to our Franchise Development Team, who have this whole process to qualify them and make sure they’ll be a good fit for the brand.

The post CEO of Fit Body Boot Camp Offers Tips to Become a Successful Fitness Franchisee appeared first on Home Business Magazine.

Compelling Secrets to Growing Your Online Business Through Outsourcing

If you’re like a lot of people where I’m from, entrepreneurism is in your blood. There’s nothing better than being your own boss, setting your own hours, and forgetting that you’d ever heard that dreaded term “time clock.” And with the rapid growth of e-commerce over the past few years, it’s no wonder that Utah is a hotspot for internet businesses. With an online business, there’s no stressful rush-hour commute, no annoying co-workers, and it’s particularly ideal if you have a family.

I’ve been living in Utah for 10 years, and for many of those years I’ve been running an online business from home. As a husband and father, I’ve really enjoyed being able to work from home while having plenty of time to spend with my family. But although my business had been going pretty well for some time, my world was suddenly turned upside down a few years ago. My wife, then 7 months pregnant with our third child, was diagnosed with preeclampsia. The doctor told us she was at risk of dying if she did not get several weeks of bed rest.

I had just released a new software product, which meant even more than normal demands on my time, and now I needed to take care of my wife, children, and household in addition to running my business. If there was ever a time I needed to “clone” myself, this was it…but how?

That’s when I had a light-bulb moment that really changed my life. Not only that, it totally changed how I thought about business. I had already been outsourcing some work regularly to three individuals in the Philippines. So I sent them an email letting them know that I was not going to be able to work for the next few weeks. I needed them to do all of my work for me—basically to completely run my business. I needed them to do everything from managing my AdWords account, filtering my emails, managing my blog, fixing any website problems…the whole nine yards! And they did just that. In fact, they did it so well that I was able to work no more than 1 hour per week for nearly three months while my online business continued to do very well.

I had essentially replaced myself in my business. Prior to this, I’d been spending about 40 hours a week running my business. Now I was down to only one hour! I remember thinking to myself, “This is the missing piece!” I now have more than a dozen Filipinos working for me full time. By outsourcing the bulk of my work, I am able to maintain a highly profitable internet business while I work only about 17 hours a week. I could work much less, but found that I needed to work more to keep my brain stimulated.

It wasn’t long before others wanted to know how to do what I was doing. So, I began teaching people. I put together a website, ReplaceMyself.com, where I show people how to do exactly what I do. I reveal in my free online training just how incredibly inexpensive it is to hire someone in the Philippines to work for you full time. In fact, the average cost for a full-time employee is only around $200 to $450 a month, which is a solid middle-class income for someone residing in the Philippines. So, while that amount of pay may sound like peanuts to those of us in the U.S., it is actually a very nice income for a Filipino. It’s truly a win-win situation.

This method is working very well in Utah with entrepreneurs who have started using it. I was at a networking meeting with 18 other people awhile back. Out of that group, 10 had already put my recommendations to use and hired someone in the Philippines! They reported having success using Filipino workers, and are continuing to do so today.

I recognize that there are many misperceptions about outsourcing. When many people think of “outsourcing,” they fret that “They’re sending our jobs overseas!” The reality is that most small entrepreneurs wouldn’t have U.S.-based employees because it’s just too expensive, especially in a down economy. It would be extremely difficult for most budding Internet entrepreneurs to be profitable if they had to use U.S. employees.

One of the key things I’ve learned is that hiring Filipino workers is absolutely the way to go for all your outsourcing needs. I have nothing but praise for the ones I’ve hired. They are extremely loyal, very honest, and super-hard workers. In fact, working for an American elevates the social status of a Filipino. Once they start working for you, they’ll never quit. From a business perspective, this is ideal because you only have to train them once.

In addition, Filipinos are highly educated, speak excellent English, and are very Westernized. Also, because Filipinos typically are not entrepreneurial, you don’t have to worry about hiring someone only to have him leave you and start his own online business once you’ve trained him. My employees can do any task associated with running my online business. For example, they can do everything from affiliate marketing, SEO, link building, social bookmarking, social media (Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, etc.) — anything I need done.

I firmly believe that if you have your own online business, you need to be the CEO—a knowledge worker. If you’re the implementing all the minute details, you’re wasting your educated brain. Don’t do the menial jobs; you can outsource those and focus on what you enjoy the most. I have found that this is one of the main reasons so many entrepreneurs fail altogether or fall far short of their income goals. By outsourcing the bulk of the work for a very low cost, you can get your business up and running much more quickly. In a very short time, it’s not only making enough money to cover your outsourcing costs, but it can be making a very nice profit for you.

I’ve been fortunate to have already taught thousands of people how to do exactly what I do, via my website, ReplaceMyself.com.  One of the most rewarding things is when a student lets me know how my outsourcing techniques have literally changed his or her life. There are many small-business entrepreneurs in Utah I’ve helped successfully improve their online businesses through outsourcing. Since Utah has such a high bankruptcy rate, learning how to have a successful online business by outsourcing can make a huge difference for someone struggling just to make ends meet.

If you are interested in learning more about how to use outsourcing in order to have a successful online business, I invite you to visit my website, ReplaceMyself.com, and also my blog, JonasBlog.com. I provide a lot of free training on my site because I truly desire to see others finally have success in their online business.

The post Compelling Secrets to Growing Your Online Business Through Outsourcing appeared first on Home Business Magazine.

Businesses Gift Fabulous Baby Products to Kim Kardashian West and Kanye West

Hollywood Swag Bag and Hollywood Baskets Gift New Celebrity Moms and Dads with Baby Swag

Heard of Celebrity Swag Guru Lisa Gal? The buzz around the Hollywood circuit about her companies heightens during the awards season. Founder of Hollywood Swag Bag, Lisa discovered a way to connect businesses with high-profile stars—by combining a bunch of snazzy products into one stylish bag.

The boutique-style gifting company recently gifted Golden Globes nominees at the Four Seasons hotel in Beverly Hills, and is scheduled to gift this year’s SAG Awards and Oscar nominees as well!

HSB not only takes action during the awards season. When a celebrity gives birth to a precious newborn, it’s a time to celebrate! HSB (through their subsidiary Hollywood Baskets) participates in individual targeted gifting and sends out a basket full of American brands and a basket full of Australian brands for new celebrity mothers.

Kim Kardashian West and Kanye West welcomed son Saint on December 5, and the six-week old received two of the gift baskets. The baskets contain products such as toys, lotions, cookbooks, baby travelers, baby food and more to introduce the A-listers to amazing and helpful baby products.

Many celebs have posted shout-outs about the products in the Swag Bag via various social media platforms. If a celebrity acknowledges the gifts, HSB will pay it forward to the local shelter LA Housing in North Hollywood, California, and will donate a basket full of necessities to a mother in need.

“We thank Whole Foods, The Honest Company, Earth's Best and Ella's Kitchen for providing most of the necessities to these families in need,” Lisa says.

The celebrity baby gift baskets allow maximum exposure to top a-list celebrities in Hollywood in a non-evasive way. Hollywood Baskets gifts directly to all new celebrity Mom’s and Dad’s and are delivered conveniently to the celebrity’s home! This offers a fantastic opportunity for your brand to be received, during the course of a one year period that is on-going.

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Earn CEO level income as a world class gourmet beverage online rep. $350 minimum investment to start. www.coffeecashmachine.net/dlb/1

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These opportunities not only showcase the brands and products within the Hollywood Swag Bag domestically, but through social outlets can market your home-based businesses internationally, creating brand awareness and an increase in sales of your baby product!

Check out Hollywood Swag Bag and Australian Hollywood Swag Bag’s amazing gifting brands sent to Kim and Kanye.

HSB American brands:

Earth's Best 

Ella's Kitchen

Camilia USA

Seasnax

Tali Alexander Love in Rewind Book

Earth, Mama, Angel Baby

Judith Raye Children's Art

Peanuts Clothing

Pura d'or Shampoo & Conditioner 

Lush Lips

Apothederm Stretch Mark Cream * Ponilox Hair Accessory

RX Clinical Cosmeceuticals * Author Danielle R. Linder for Betsie Bee

USA Poli Sippy Cup * Author Delores Hamilton-Butler My Comfort Tree

Coffee from Coffee Break Cafe in Boston

Music by:

Deborah Poppink * Vered Ronen

Joanie Leeds and the Nightlights * Flying Wish Paper

Author Jennifer Ormond Baby's Binky Box

HSB Australian Brands:

Plum Collections Sleep Bags and Clothing Australia

Designer Nappy Bags

Organic Baby Care Aromababy

Babyweights Bond with Your Baby Through Exercise

So Pretty Showercaps

Baby Bee Hummingbirds Keepsake Jewelry 

Moccs for Tots

Arthur Avenue Baby Boutique Clothing

MAYAR Twist ‘n Pin Hair Accessories

Bambella Designs Pram Liners * Jack n' Jill Kids Natural Tooth Paste and Accessories

Madhunt Designs Silicone Jewelry * Style Rocks Fine Custom Jewelry

Conni Kids (Bed Wetting Products) * Ola Baby

Red Parka Designs * Hide n Feed Breast Feeding Clothing 

Affirmations for Mothers * Babycare: Caring for Your Baby by Nicole Pierotti

Playtime For Kids Hand Knits for Babies and Toddlers

Escargot Kids (Baby Swimwear) * Red Sparrow Kids Children's Gifts

Scott Mathias Raw Food Chef and Gut Whisperer

Participate in celebrity branding with Hollywood Baskets to grow your business and gain new high-profile consumers like Kim and Kanye! Get your baby products in the hands of celebrities and key players in the entertainment, music and fashion industries, through gift bags, celebrity lounges, premiers, and other targeted programs. HBM

Hollywood Swag Bag

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How To Make a Six Figure Income Solving Other People’s Problems

Real Estate Investing Tips

Here are a couple of real estate investing tips for beginners that will get you started in the right direction. You can do a no money down deal with no cash, no credit, no income, no nothing, except some general knowledge backed with a desire to succeed by going out there and taking ACTION!

The key to finding a lot of deals in this game is to look for the motivated sellers. Forget about looking for houses; that's a waste of time and requires way too much work. Narrow it down to dealing only with motivated sellers and make fewer offers that result in getting more offers accepted.

What is a motivated seller?

Motivated sellers are those that have been trying to sell, but haven't been able to for one reason or another.

• They may be facing foreclosure.
• They may be in a divorce situation.
• They may have been transferred with their job and need to move.
• They may have lost their job and can't afford the payments.
• They may have purchased another home and are now stuck with two mortgage payments.
• They just need to get out from under their mortgage payments.

What is a motivated buyer?

Motivated buyers just need someone who will sell to them. They can't get a bank loan, or some just "think" they can't get a bank loan. Motivated buyers only care about two things: How much down and how much per month?

If they can afford the payments and have enough to put down in order to allow them an opportunity of owning a home, price doesn't matter to them as much. They just want to be able to buy a home.

The way most people make money in this game is by using creative techniques to solve problems while being able to structure the deal to make a profit.

Be a problem solver

Your job is to find the solutions to fix someone else's problems. Sit down with these people and find out what their problem is. Once you figure out what their real problem is, you now know what they need.

They all WANT an all cash sale, and they WANT full price. But your job is to find out what they really NEED. Once you determine what they really NEED, your job is to come up with the SOLUTION, get them what they NEED, and SOLVE their PROBLEM! That's how good deals come together.

Get the motivated sellers to call you

The best way to find the motivated sellers is to get them to find YOU. Get the word out that you buy property: any property, any condition, any price, any time. It doesn't matter. Just present the property to you, and you will figure out a solution to solve the sellers' problems to get them what they need.

Get a bunch of business cards printed up. Put them out everywhere you go. Hand them out to everyone you meet. Get flyers made up. Post them everywhere you can. Put them in Laundromats, bowling alleys, advertising boards in supermarkets, car washes, etc.

Then get some poster signs made up. Post them anywhere and everywhere you can, like telephone poles. Nail them to a stake and post them in the ground on every intersection in town. Let the world know that you buy houses for CASH. Just give you a call!

Eventually people will start calling you. Most won't be motivated, but some will. When they call you, that's when you screen them over the phone first and determine their motivation. Then you go visit them and get face to face with them and build a relationship with them.

You want them to get comfortable talking to you. They may want to talk about their dog for all you care. Let them! Get comfortable with them. Let them build some trust in talking with you. Whenever they talk, you SHUT UP and just LISTEN!

Listen, listen, listen

Listen to everything they say. The more they talk, the more information they let out. The more information they let out, the more you learn about their problem. The more you learn about their problem, the more you will be able to find out what they really need.

Once you got that information you can now figure out a solution that will solve their problem by being able to give them what they need. Your solution to their problem gets them what they need, and you make a profit for your problem solving skills. You're a problem solver. You are the doctor of solutions, Dr. Buyer, the master of problem solving!

Example

Let me give you an example on buying a house for full market value, with no money out of your pocket, picking up a quick $5k up front, some positive cash flow every month, and a nice payday on the back end. Plus, we're talking about dealing in NICE homes. No junk properties!

Mr. Seller has a newer home he purchased about two years ago. When he purchased the home, he put about 5% down and was able to qualify for 95% financing. After closing cost he had hardly any equity left.

Mr. Seller ended up buying a new home a couple years later. He's been trying to sell this home before he has to close on his new home. He can't even afford to list the home with a Realtor because he doesn't have enough equity in the property to even cover the 6-7% commission he would have to pay a real estate agent.

Now the seller's new home is finished, ready to be moved into, and he needs to close on it. He closes and figures he'll sell the old home soon, but soon enough doesn't seem to be coming.

Now the seller is starting to have some financial problems because he has to start paying two mortgage payments until someone buys the old home. The seller has a problem now because he can't afford to make two mortgage payments.

If something doesn't give pretty quickly, he's going to fall behind on the payments on the old home. He's going to pay the new homes mortgage first. But he doesn't want to be late or get behind on the payments of the old home either. The seller is worried about damaging his credit if he misses any payments.

I come along to solve his problem

I can put a stop to the seller's worry and stop the bleeding today. All the seller needs to do is agree to my TERMS and I'll even pay him what he owes on the property, which is pretty close to full market value.

The seller knows he wasn't going to get any money out of it after paying off his mortgage and closing costs, so all the seller wants, and all he needs, is to get out from under his mortgage payment.

I agree to take over the seller's mortgage "subject to," which means I assume the seller's loan without even qualifying through the lender that holds the seller's mortgage.

The seller will deed the property over to me. I now own the home. The seller is still on the loan that has the lien against the property. The seller remains responsible to the lender for that loan until I pay it off, usually within a few years when my tenant/buyer ends up exercising the option that I will give to them under a lease option agreement.

I won't be liable to the lender for the loan on the property. The seller's bank can't come after me if something where to go wrong. The loan is in the seller's name, not mine. However, I will be liable to the seller to perform on our contract agreement to make his payments and pay off that loan eventually, but my liability is to seller, not his bank.

The seller deeds the property over to me. The house is worth $150,000. The seller's loan balance is about $145,000. I agree to start making the payments in 30-60 days from today! Now I have 30-60 days to market the property before my payments start. The payments are $1,400 PITI.

Selling the property

What is the FASTEST way to sell a property? Sell on terms. So I run an ad in the paper.

NO BANK QUALIFYING!!!
RENT TO OWN
NICE! 4bd/2ba House
Call xxx-xxxx

The phone starts ringing off the hook!

I find a potential buyer who has $5,000 to put down and says he can afford to pay $1,700 per month. I agree to give them an option to buy the home for $165,000 in one or two years.

Similar homes in the area would rent for $1,200-$1,400 per month, so getting $1,700 a month on a $1,400 rental when offering an option to buy is premium rent. People will gladly pay it because no one else will even finance them for one reason or another. You get a premium on the sale price because you're offering TERMS.

What's in it for me?

I collect the $5,000 up front as "Non-Refundable Option Consideration" and if they exercise the option, the $5,000 will be deducted from the purchase price of $165,000, leaving my tenant/buyer with a balance owed of $160,000. If they don't exercise the option, the option money paid is non-refundable and is lost.

I get the $5,000 up front, plus first month's rent of $1700. Since I was lucky and found this tenant/buyer in the first week, I get to keep 100% of the first two months rent since my payments won't start for 60 days.

So I collect $5,000 + $1,700 first month rent up front, for a total of $6,700. The following month I collect the full $1,700 for rent, and the 10 months after that I collect $300 per month positive cash flow.

At the end of the year, IF the tenant/buyer exercises their option, they will pay $160,000. After paying off the underlying mortgage of $145,000 remaining on the seller's mortgage, I'll collect another $15,000 at closing.

So lets see, that's….

$5,000 option money up front
$1,700 first months rent
$1,700 second months rent
$300 x 10 months rent = $3,000
$15,000 at closing ($160,000 – $145,000 = $15,000)

That's $26,400.00 over 12 months total PROFIT!

My tenant/buyer won't exercise the option?

WONDERFUL! Now I get to start all over again. I get to collect another option fee, raise the rent after a year for inflation, and get a higher selling price for the option the next time around. I just keep repeating the process over and over again until someone eventually exercises the option.

Assuming all the tenants exercised their options in the first year, how many deals like this would you have to do each year to make $100,000? Just FOUR deals like this one and you're making $105,600 per year!

How many hours would that work out to be to find and structure a deal like this and get a tenant/buyer in the property? Not very many! How many hours per week would you have to put into working at your job to make $105,600 per year?

The post How To Make a Six Figure Income Solving Other People's Problems appeared first on Home Business Magazine.

Owner of Three Successful Businesses Shares Insight in Exclusive Interview

HBM Speaks with Simon Slade, CEO of Doubledot Media Limited

Simon Slade’s three businesses — SaleHoo, Affilorama and their parent company, Doubledot Media Limited — were born out of a desire to help other entrepreneurs beat the 9-5 grind. From the meager beginnings of just $1000, several IOU’s and a lot of confidence, Doubledot Media Limited is now helping over 500,000 customers improve their online businesses with 7 training and software applications.

Tell us about the origins of your companies.

While employed full-time at Hewlett-Packard, I was selling online at Trade Me. A lot of people were asking me where I found my suppliers. I saw the opportunity to help others jumpstart their online sales and came up with the idea for SaleHoo, an online wholesale directory of verified suppliers.

After quitting HP and finding a business partner and co-founder in my old friend Mark Ling, we created SaleHoo. The beginning was far from easy — we begged, borrowed and even paid our developer on an IOU basis. We only had $1,000 for startup costs. I served as both CEO and the sole customer support representative for the first year. It was exhausting but essential, and within eight months SaleHoo had reached 10,000 members. We then launched Affilorama and built the parent company, Doubledot Media, and have been improving all three ever since.

How does SaleHoo help people work from home?

Online sales is one of the most convenient ways to make a passive income, and it allows people to work from home. Finding suppliers for myself as an online seller was very challenging: it required hours of research, digging through pages and pages of potential suppliers. SaleHoo is meant to simplify that part of the online selling process by providing a directory where each supplier has been rigorously screened and verified as legitimate. Members can search the 1.5 million products by name, brand or category, sparing them all those hours of research I dealt with as a new seller.

SaleHoo also makes online sales easier to achieve from a home business perspective, because it helps people to understand and use dropshipping. When people think of selling online, they often think of listing whatever they have lying around in their basements and garages that they don't want anymore. It's a task that involves a lot of extra space and labor: taking photos, creating a listing, and packaging and shipping the item. Dropshipping is a much easier alternative in which you list the item online but the supplier ships the product directly from the warehouse, eliminating the hassle of maintaining an inventory, packaging the item and shipping it yourself.

What types of people benefit from your products?

Anyone looking to be their own boss. Doubledot Media is all about helping people achieve occupational freedom by building successful online businesses, including retail and marketing websites. There’s something for everyone, whether you’re just starting out and want to make some passive income from the comfort of your own home, or you’re looking to take your online business to the next level.

What strategies do you use to make your business stand out?

We knew we weren't the only supplier directory when SaleHoo started, but we also knew we could differentiate ourselves from the competition by building our customers’ trust and providing the most effective educational resources. SaleHoo’s success was a result of the goal to stand out in these ways. Almost all businesses are introduced within an existing market; it’s rare to start off with zero competition. But by improving customer service, providing a superior product and continually innovating, your business will surpass your competitors.

What has been the most integral factor in your success?

Mindset is a major factor in determining your business success. As an entrepreneur, you must truly believe that your product is worthwhile and that it will be successful.  This success mindset also includes a readiness to make sacrifices of your time and money — especially in the early days of your venture — and take risks. Now, with a family and staff depending on me, my ability to take risks is a little more limited, but in the early days of a business, it is vital to be prepared to take several leaps of faith, not just the initial one of quitting your full-time job to become an entrepreneur.

What is one of the biggest challenges facing home businesses and how can it be overcome?

Hiring staff for a home business is a big challenge because filling the expanding team with great talent is a constant necessity, but online home businesses have an advantage: they are able to look all over the country, and indeed, all over the world, for new employees, providing a far greater pool of talent from which to choose. When your office is your home, hiring remotely is not only practical, but a necessity. At Doubledot Media, 24 of our 29 employees telecommute. Initially, most of our outsourcing was done on Upwork, but more recently, we've turned to LinkedIn Recruiter, which has been far more effective in finding quality freelancers.

What is your advice to someone looking to start a home business?

My best advice is to create an great product and continue its growth. Pick a single, straightforward metric, such as sales units or revenue, and aim to beat yesterday's total every day. This growth strategy is both sustainable and manageable. Metrics are one of the most underrated business tools and it’s never too early to start measuring them.

What do you love about your job?

Being your own boss is one of the greatest pleasures of my work. As CEO, there are fewer obstacles to overcome when I have an idea I want to see realized. In technology, the industry evolves fast, so new ideas are needed all the time, and it's exciting to see them come to reality. But the most rewarding part of my work is that my businesses are empowering people to love what they do and have more control over their lives.

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Entrepreneur & Author Talks Top Trend to Dominate 2016 Retail Marketing

In the past, malls across the U.S. captured customers and retailers. Then, in the mid to late 90s, the paradigm started to shift toward e-commerce options.

According to a recent report from Green Street Advisors (a real estate and REIT firm), about 15% of U.S. malls will fail or be converted to non-retail space in the next 10 years, while e-commerce is expected to increase to approximately $370 billion in 2017. Yet for e-commerce retailers, simply marketing your brand online is not enough to differentiate it from the competition.

Enter Melissa Gonzalez: prominent retail strategist, “Pop Up Shop” pioneer, founder of the Lion’esque Group, and now author of the new book, The Pop Up Paradigm: How Brands Build Human Connections in a Digital Age.

“As e-commerce has grown, it has also evolved,” says Gonzalez. “In order to have a truly distinctive brand, a simple website is not longer enough. You’ll have to invest in photography, copywriters, editors and a team who understands how to leverage SEO. And pop-up marketing is one prong to that ‘omni-channel’ marketing approach.”

Opening up a pop-up shop for your ecommerce business can be highly beneficial for building your brand. Melissa Gonzalez shares her insights with HBM on ways your brand can benefit from pop-up shops, a key marketing strategy, and more.

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Q: Why is being “online only” no longer enough for brands? How do you bridge the gap between online and offline interactions?

A: The experience a retailer or brand can deliver online has limitations. For example for apparel brands, customers still want to feel confident in fit, fabric, etc. In an offline experience a retailer or brand can deliver an immersive experience and bridge that touch-feel gap, giving customers confidence to continue the relationship online.

Q: Why do retailers need an omni-channel retail strategy in order to compete?

A: Customers don’t differentiate channels. They see a brand and expect a cohesive experience regardless of the touchpoint. Retailers need to be mindful of creating this frictionless experience.

Q: What are the seven most important ways your brand can benefit from a pop-up?

 A: Your brand can benefit from a pop-up through the sales aspect, brand awareness, increase customer engagement, customer education, testing and learning more about the customer, testing a new partnership, and through immersion.

Q: What are five integral parts of every successful pop-up sale?

 

A: Five things to keep in mind would be to have a clear understanding of the goal of the pop-up. Create a strong story with a stark clear point-of-view. Have well-trained staff, curated merchandising, and a precise marketing strategy.

Q: Why is educating and empowering your customer often the best type of marketing?

A: Education takes a customer deeper into understanding and buying into the value proposition of your brand and product offering. Utilizing a pop-up store to educate also gets the customer over the “touch feel gap” and forges a relationship that allows them to feel more confident shopping online afterwards.

Q: What are five biggest mistakes pop-up retailers make?

A: I would say there are five major mistakes that can cause a pop-up retailer to fail.

Location. Location is one of the most important factors for your pop-up shop. Just because “it’s free” doesn’t mean it doesn’t have opportunity cost.

Staffing. In-store staff is an extension of your brand. Brands often don’t invest enough time in training and don’t allocate enough budget for qualified candidates.

In-store event planning. It’s critical to keep the buzz going. Events also provide for powerful cross-marketing opportunities.

Collaborating with the right partners. Brands often collaborate based on economics alone, however alignment is critical. Brands should partner with companies with a complimentary offering that does not compete for wallet share.

Marketing strategy. Many brands tend to overlook the importance of planning out a comprehensive marketing strategy for their pop up (including proper lead times for media outreach, a social media editorial calendar, newsletter, etc).

Q: Can you touch on the relationship between pop-up stores and social media? What is the importance of tracking what is shared and highlighted to make retail decisions?

A: In a social sharing society, brands have the opportunity to learn so much about their customers and potential customers. A pop-up shop can essentially be a massive test group that is open to openly sharing what they have discovered, what they like and what they don’t. Brands can track and utilize this information to make merchandising and marketing decisions in the quarters to follow. HBM

For more information, visit www.lionesquegroup.com. 

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Working Your Way through Retirement

A Part-Time Job Could Be the Answer in Your Golden Years

Many people who waited eagerly for the day they could stop working and enjoy a leisurely retirement find that the reality doesn’t match their dreams. “Some people are not prepared financially or mentally to retire,” says Michael Bivona, a retired CPA and author of the book Retiring? Beware!! Don’t Run Out of Money and Don’t Become Bored. He suggests a part-time job provides a possible solution for both deficiencies — giving a boost to your bank account and a mission to your daily living that another round of golf just isn’t supplying.

“I don’t think many people realize that they may live 30 to 40 years after leaving the workforce,” Bivona says. “The amount of money required to sustain  a comfortable lifestyle is staggering.”

Meanwhile, boredom becomes an insidious enemy, even for retirees with a beloved pastime they hoped to make the centerpiece of their existence. Playing tennis or lying on the beach is relaxing and pleasurable when done once a week or a couple of times a month. “The novelty wears off quickly when it becomes a person’s primary occupation,” Bivona says.

He suggests a few part-time job possibilities that could work out nicely for retirees, whether their needs are financial or they just want a place to go every day to mingle with co-workers:

• Cruise ship employment. This is an ideal way to combine a part-time job with pleasure, Bivona says. The ships provide room and board and the use of their facilities when the workers are not plying their trade. Possible jobs onboard cruise ships include golf instructors, scuba diving/water sports instructors, bridge instructors, arts and crafts instructors, caricature artists, dance instructors and photographers.

“The opportunities on cruise ships are endless,” Bivona says. “Where else can retirees spend time teaching what they enjoy while traveling around the world, eating wonderful food and earning extra pocket money? I have a friend who has been a dance host on ships for six years, and plans on continuing for as long as his legs hold out.”

• Librarian. Part-time work at the local library could be a great opportunity for anyone who enjoys being around both books and other people who appreciate them. The duties include answering customers’ questions, shelving books, helping patrons check out books, tracking overdue materials and cataloging and keeping an eye out for lost and damaged items.

• Bookkeeper. If you have the right experience with bookkeeping and computer applications, then this can be a good possibility. Usually, the opportunities are with small businesses and entail a full sweep of financial recordkeeping. Duties may include establishing and maintaining inventory database systems, tracing accounts receivable and accounts payable, maintaining checking and savings accounts, producing financial reports and following up on delinquent accounts.

• Virtual assistant. This is a job you can do from your home. The main purpose of a virtual assistant is to assist busy business executives who do not have in-house staff to attend to various administrative functions. These positions have become available due to small companies trying to keep permanent overhead costs down. Training programs are available at community colleges, many of which offer online certifications. The duties of an assistant include making travel arrangements, sending out letters and providing other support services, which are easily handled remotely via email and telephone.

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Start a Business by Paying Restaurants To Take Your Advertising Placemats

Sounds pretty unusual, doesn’t it? Well, if you run this business right, you can make a great amount of money with advertising placemats.

In a nutshell, you will be giving free paper placemats to restaurants in your area with either a prominent color ad or their menu in the middle, and two-inch by two-inch ads around the edge. These ads will make so much profit for you that if you run up against a stubborn restaurant owner, you can even pay him or her to take your placemats and come out way ahead. They’d be a fool to refuse!

The first step in this business will be to figure out your costs and prices. Contact a good number of printers in your area and find out what kind of blank or ready-made thin paper placemats they can either print or have printed for you. There should be a variety of sizes and styles. Get a quote on at least 5,000, including at least two-color printing. Compare your quotes and find the printer that will do the best job for the best price.  Make sure this is a printer that will work with you on the layout of the placemats, if this is new to you.

Once you have your printing costs, which will be your primary costs, you can figure out how much profit can be made. Your profit will depend, in part, on how many ads you can put around the perimeter of the placemat. For example, if the placemat is 11 x 15, you can put a total of 20 ads around the sheet, leaving a one inch margin around the edge for the printer. Divide the printing cost, together with your other estimated costs (phone, postage, travel) by the number of ads, and you have your cost per ad.

For example, suppose your estimated expenses will be $600. Divide that by 20 ads and you have $30. This is how much each ad contributes to covering the cost of the placemat. Now, figure a target profit margin. In my area, an ad that will be seen by 5,000 people over an extended period of time could go for $90.  This would be a $1,200 profit!

Now, make a list of restaurants that would be likely prospects for this service. The best prospects will be locally-owned family-oriented restaurants that are visited by residents of the area. Don’t try truckstops, or restaurants by toll-road exits, as most of their customers are just passing through, and won’t patronize any of the advertisers. Also, big-name chain restaurants and fast-food places may be a waste of time, as most of them, if they use placemats at all, have their own already. Smaller, particularly family-owned restaurants will be your best bet.

Here’s the approach to take. Tell the restaurant owner that you can provide 5,000 free paper placemats with either a large color ad or a color menu printed in the middle of the placemat. Local advertisers will be featured in small ads around the outside.  When you say the words “5,000 free paper placemats,” you probably won’t even have to go any further! If the owner’s a hard case, offer to pay them to take your placemats! Offer $50 and 5,000 placemats. This breaks down more barriers than you can imagine!

If the restaurant owner has a pre-made ad or menu available, this can be reduced or enlarged by your printer to fit the center area of the placemat. Be sure the restaurant’s section dominates the placemat.

Now, contact businesses that are in the immediate area surrounding the restaurant. Good prospects will be video stores, dry cleaners, grocery stores, book stores, any business that is frequented by families. Tell them that you have an advertising opportunity which will put their name and offer in front of 5,000 people for an extended period of time. Explain the placemat system, and which restaurant the placemat will be at.  Break down the ad price to the person. For example, a $90 ad to 5,000 people will only by 1.8 cents per person. This is very inexpensive.

Again, most businesses will have a two-inch by two-inch ad, or one that can be resized, ready for use. If they do, you’re home free! If they don’t, get information about what they’d like to have the ad say, then ask your printer for layout help. You’ll probably only need to do this for your first placemat, as layout is easy to get the hang of. Encourage advertisers to make their ad into a discount coupon with dotted lines around it. This will increase the response to their ad.

Contact as many possible advertisers as you can. The more you contact, the more ads you’ll sell. If your prices are competitive and you deliver honest facts, you should have an easy time selling the placemat ads.

Now, take the ads to your printer and layout the placemat. Put the restaurant’s ad/menu in the center, and the other ads around the perimeter. Have the printer print the requested quantity, and deliver them to the restaurant. It’s that simple!

This whole process can be done easily in less than a month. But, even if it takes you a month, the example above cleared $1,200 profit (or $1,150, if you actually had to pay the $50). Once you’ve done your first one or two and know what you’re doing, you will find that you can run more than one at a time. If you run four placemats per month, you could clear over $55,000 per year! This is just an example, and you profits could be higher or lower, depending on your area. But, it should be fairly obvious that this can be an easy-to-run, profitable business that you can start part-time and quickly move into a full-time business!

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