SEBELUM MEMUTUSKAN UNTUK MEMBUKA USAHA, LIHAT PASARANNYA!

Suatu ketika saya membaca koran “Solopos”, salah satu koran terkemuka di Kota Solo. Koran tersebut saya temukan seingat saya di tumpukan-tumpukan pakaian yang baru diambil dari jemuran. Mungkin itu koran yang dibawa oleh kakak saya dari kantor Solopos mengingat beliau bekerja sebagai penyiar acara “Embun Pagi” di gelombang 103 FM ini. Yang jelas, saya menemukan suatu artikel yang menceritakan tentang seseorang yang berhasil dalam merintis usaha pada rubrik bisnis.

Adalah seorang wanita, sebut saja si fulanah, dia berhasil mencukupi kebutuhannya dengan memproduksi souvenir. Ada yang berupa gantungan kunci, manik-manik penghias meja, lilin, dan sebagainya. Sekilas menurut hemat saya sangat sederhana sekali. Namun, “Asal pasarnya jelas, dagangan pasti laku..!” Ujarnya.

Akhirnya saya berkesimpulan bahwa segala jenis usaha yang akan kita rintis itu insya Allah akan LAKU KERAS!. Dengan syarat kita melihat bahwa pangsa pasarnya jelas. Jadi kita memang harus menentukan dengan matang betul siapa yang akan membeli produk kita, type pembeli yang seperti apa yang menyukai produk kita, berapa harga yang cocok untuk mereka, dan sebagainya.

Saya ingat betul ucapan bude saya yang sekarang sudah meninggal. Ketika itu saya membantu ibu yang sedang membungkusi “karak” untuk dititipkan ke warung-warung. Saat itu bude bertanya, “Kamu ambil untung berapa mak'e Diah [sebutan ibu saya]?” Ibu saya menjawab “Seribu perikat” Spontan bude saya bilang, “Ya Allah mak'e Diah, kalo saya mah gak sudi jual dagangan cuma untung seribu doang. Capek-capek kerja cuma dapet seribu!” Ibu saya cuma mesam-mesem dengan respon beliau. Dan ternyata keuntungan yang didapat dari menjual sebuah penganan yang bernama “karak” tersebut tidak pernah saya duga sebelum-sebelumnya.

Ibu saya kulak karak sejumlah 1.000 biji dengan modal Rp 30.000,-. Dari satu ikat karak (satu ikat berisi 50 biji), ibu saya mengambil untuk seribu rupiah. Jadi dari 1.000 biji karak itu bisa menghasilkan 20 ikat karak. Dan keuntungan yang didapat dari karak tersebut 20x1000=20.000. Lumayan kan!? Apalagi kalau ibu saya mau menambah warung yang akan dititipi karak. Bisa double untungnya. Tapi karena ibu saya meniatkan jual karak ini untuk sampingan, ya segitu aja keuntungannya.

Hebat. Katakan karak habis dalam dua-tiga hari. Jadi keuntungan dalam sebulan adalah Rp 20.000 dikali 10 hari (karena titipnya dua-tiga hari sekali) = Rp 200.000,-. Itu penghasilan sampingan ibu. Cukup untuk bayar SPP bulanan sekolah.

Sekali lagi, karena ibu saya tahu bahwa masyarakat itu demen sama yang namanya karak, jadi deh. So, sebelum memulai usaha, amati pasarannya.

Selamat memulai.

INCREASE YOUR TARGET MARKETS

Today's feature article is: Increase Your Target Markets. Read it below!

Are your products or services geared towards only one target market? You can increase sales and profits by increasing your target markets. Below are some creative ways to increase your target markets by using your existing products and services you're selling right now.

REDESIGN

You can increase your target markets by redesigning your products and services. For example: you're selling a book called "Internet Marketing Tips For Accountants" You could rewrite part of your book and call it "Internet Marketing Tips For Lawyers". You've now increased your target markets by redesigning your book.

ADD-ON

You can increase your target markets by adding on other product or service with your main one. For example: if you're selling a football magazine you could add a free football when someone buys a subscription. You're now targeting people who want the football magazine and those that want to play football out in the yard. Sometimes they buy stuff just to get the freebies.

TEAM-UP

You can increase your target markets by doing a cross promotion with a similar non-competeing businesses. For example: your business sells tennis rackets and you find another business to cross promote with that sells tennis balls. You could combine your racket and their balls in one package. You are now targeting people that need tennis rackets and balls.

Quote of the Day: "Look at people; recognize them, accept them as they are, without wanting to change them." -- Helen Beginton

http://www.MyBusinessConnectionSite.com

MULTIPLY YOUR LINKS

Today's feature article is: Multiply Your Links. Read it below!

I feel the most effective way to get people to link to your web site is by offering web masters the option of giving away your free stuff. In exchange, they link to your web site. Why would other web masters want to do this? They may want give away a freebie to draw traffic to their web site. They also may not have the time, knowledge or skills to give away certain types of electronic freebies from their web site.

Your links will just keep multiplying. When a web master offers your freebie to his or her visitors. Those visitors may decide to also give away your freebie. And so on and so on... The more people that link to your web site the more traffic you'll get. Below are four of the most popular types of freebies given away on the internet to increase traffic.

Free Software
Offer free software from your web site. The software could be freeware, shareware or demos.

Free Online Services

Offer a free online service from your web site. The online service could be an e-mail account, search engine submission or e-mail consulting, etc.

Free Information

Offer valuable free information from your web site. The information could be a report, article, e-book, online audio recording or e-mail course, etc.

Free Affiliate Program

Offer a free affiliate program from your web site. The affiliate program could be pay per sale, click through, two tiered, etc.

Now, I know, there are many other ways to get links like trading or exchanging links with other web sites or joining a banner exchange. You can also do joint ventures or cross promoting. I feel these are not as effective as multiplying your links. I hope this article can help you increase traffic to your web site.

Quote of the Day: "Love is not some complex, mystical abstraction. It is something accessible and human that we learn through our everyday experience, as often at times of failure as in moments of ecstasy." -- Leo Buscaglia

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SURVEY SAYS...

Today's feature article is: Survey Says. Read it below!

Do you have a list of e-mail addresses of your customers or prospects? Do you have a list of e-zine subscribers? If you have their permission, send them an e-mail survey to conduct market research. See if customers are satisfied with your products or services, or see if they enjoyed their visit at your web site.

You can learn things you didn't know about your business by surveying. Maybe your customers buy your main product just to get the free gifts. Your visitors may think it's to hard to navigate through your web site. You may find out that most of your customers make over $100,000 a year. By knowing this type of important information you can improve your web site, products/services, advertising, and marketing.

3 Popular Types Online Business Surveys:

Customer Satisfaction Surveys - what did you like or dislike about our product or service, what can we improve or add, how satisfied are you with our customer service, etc.

Web Site Feedback Surveys - did you find it to easy navigate through our site, did you find the information you wanted, what did you like or dislike about the site, how did you find our site, etc.

Demographic Surveys - what's your gender, age, income, occupation, marital status, etc.

Sometimes people don't want to take the time to fill out a survey. To encourage them to fill out the survey offer them a freebie if they fill it out. Some ideas are free ebooks, free advertising, free reports, free internet services or a free e-zine. Hold a free online contest or sweepstakes and ask visitors to fill out a survey before they enter.

If you don't yet have an e-mail address list you could post your survey on appropriate newsgroups, forums and e-mail discussion lists. You could also upload survey software to your web site or use a free survey service on the internet. To find such services just type in the keyword "survey" in your search engine of choice.

Quote of the Day: "We must have infinite faith in each other." -- Henry David Thoreau

Vivian Spage

http://www.MyBusinessConnectionSite.com