Micro-Entrepreneurship For Dummies

The media has named the growing trend toward micro-entrepreneurship "the Rise of the Creative Class," "the Gig Life," or "the freelance economy." All of those refer to the nearly 4 million workers who were self-employed this past year, and millions of others who currently supplement their income with freelance work. While the trend has been spotted before, there's one stark difference between micro-entrepreneurs today and the "Free Agent Nation" citizens of the late '90s: technology. Micro-Entrepreneurship For Dummies shows you how to navigate this confusing technological landscape in order to make a contributable profit.

Micro-Entrepreneurship For Dummies aids you in making the best use of micro-entrepreneurial platforms, with helpful advice that includes information on signing up for and selling products on websites such as Airbnb, Craigslist, Taskrabbit, Uber, and Etsy.

• Micro-enterprise, using online platforms to sell products or services,??is a proven way to earn extra money and supplement household income
• In today's struggling economy, the importance of self-run businesses and small enterprise is growing as more people take lower-paying jobs and need a little extra spending money
• Shows you how to sign up for and sell products online

Micro-Entrepreneurship For Dummies appeals to anyone looking to earn or supplement their income from home.

Introduction 1

About This Book 1

Conventions Used in This Book 2

What You’re Not to Read 2

Foolish Assumptions 3

How This Book is Organized 3

Part I: Getting Started with Micro-Entrepreneurship 3

Part II: Finding Great Micro-Entrepreneurship Ideas 4

Part III: Marketing and Selling Your Micro-Business 4

Part IV: Considering Taxes and Legal Issues 4

Part V: The Part of Tens 5

Icons Used in This Book 5

Where to Go from Here 5

Part I: Getting Started with Micro-Entrepreneurship 7

Chapter 1: Micro-Entrepreneurship 101: Just the Basics, Please 9

Understanding What Being a Micro-Entrepreneur Means 10

Following your path to be a micro-entrepreneur 10

Figuring out whether you have what it takes to be a micro-entrepreneur 11

Recognizing potential opportunities 11

Deciding What Type of Business Works for You 12

Making Your Micro-Business Noticeable 13

Advertising your services or products 14

Identifying your market 14

Communicating with your clients 14

Marketing your business 14

Being Aware of Taxes and Other Issues 15

Getting others to help you in your business 15

Growing your business 16

Tackling taxes (but fortunately no death) 16

Chapter 2: Knowing Your Path as a Micro-Entrepreneur 17

Recognizing Whether You Need a Formal Business Plan 17

Eyeing What Your Business Plan Addresses 18

Naming the Type of Business Plan You Have 20

Looking Closer at a Business Plan and What It Constitutes 21

Updating Your Business Plan 24

Creating Your Business Plan: Helpful Resources to Review 25

Making Other Stops on Your Path 26

Making Your Business Path Easier: Tools for the Road 27

Going online for some education 28

Teleconferencing or videoconferencing 28

Using open-source software 29

Organizing and being more productive 29

Relying on colleagues 29

Chapter 3: Understanding Yourself: What Makes You Tick 31

Tapping Into the Process of Starting Your Business 31

Doing your 10-10 list to find your passion 32

Focusing on where enjoyment meets competence 34

Figuring out your personality and the type of entrepreneur you are 35

Remembering your great moments 36

Recognizing the Qualities You Need to Be a Micro-Entrepreneur 36

Having initiative 36

Being able to prioritize 37

Managing your time 38

Staying focused 38

Striving for excellence 39

Being persistent 39

Showing creativity 40

Beginning Your Business Life 40

Recognizing why starting at home makes sense 41

Setting up your environment 42

Chapter 4: Setting Up Your Internet Presence 45

Having a Web Presence: Something You Need as a Micro-Entrepreneur 45

Creating Your Website 46

Doing some pre-planning 46

Recognizing the four basic elements 47

Tackling marketing considerations after your website is up 52

Setting up Your Blog 53

Deciding on your blog’s purpose 53

Figuring out the blog’s set-up in advance 54

Understanding a blog’s features 55

Tapping into blogging resources 56

Marketing your blog 57

Considering Other Alternatives to Give You a Web Presence 58

Facebook 58

LinkedIn 58

Chapter 5: Honing In on Opportunities 59

Identifying Customers; Differentiating between Their Wants and Needs 60

Knowing the lifetime value of a customer 60

Recognizing the type of market: Horizontal or vertical 61

Eyeing the Basic Categories of Successful Home Businesses 61

Category one: The problem solver 62

Category two: Anticipating a megatrend 62

Category three: A combination 64

Getting the Lowdown on Niches: What to Focus Your Business On 64

Choosing the right niche for you 64

Recognizing recession-proof niches 65

Seasonal niches 67

Good times niches 68

Special interest niches 69

Searching for Success: Finding the Information You Need 69

Researching niches 69

Viewing educational tutorials 70

Searching news sites for information 71

Perusing article directories 71

Testing opportunities 72

Relying on Your Background for Opportunities 72

Avoiding Fraud 73

Steering Clear of Liability Problems and Other Legal Issues 74

Part II: Finding Great Micro-Entrepreneurship Ideas 77

Chapter 6: Creating Your Arts and Crafts Micro-Business from Scratch 79

From Nothing to Something Good: Entering the World of Arts and Crafts 79

Making your art and craft and a profit at the same time 80

Finding the raw materials 83

Buying wholesale 84

Touring the World of Crafts 84

Adding Beauty and Profit 85

Selling Your Creations: Focus on Etsy 86

Setting up on Etsy 86

Selling on Etsy 87

Identifying Other Online Selling Venues 87

Eyeing Offline Selling Opportunities 89

Focusing on the Four Rs 89

Chapter 7: Selling Other Stuff: The Golden Rules of Success 91

Identifying Your Selling Options 92

Understanding What You’ll Sell: Specialize and Understand Value 94

Finding Items to Sell: Buy Low 95

Buying from individuals 95

Buying from businesses 96

Buying from the government 97

Making a Profit: Sell Higher 98

Going the eBay Route 99

Listing on eBay 100

Managing ongoing auctions 103

When your auction expires 104

Chapter 8: Selling Your Services 105

Knowing Who Your Prospective Clients are 106

Focusing on consumers 106

Capitalizing on companies 107

Selling to government agencies 108

Meeting and Finding Prospective Clients 108

Horizontal venues 109

Vertical venues 109

Directly via search engines and directories 110

Hooking Up with Elance and Other Horizontal Sites 110

Identifying the client 111

Signing up and understanding the set-up process 112

Grasping how the bidding process works 113

Gaining the assignment: Now what? 114

Maximizing your Elance success 114

Becoming a Virtual Assistant 116

Recognizing what a virtual assistant does 116

Marketing yourself and finding work 117

Micro-Tasking for Small Bucks 118

Using Fiverr 118

Investigating more about micro-tasking 119

Chapter 9: Writing for Money 121

Discovering the Writer inside You 121

Cultivating important writing skills 121

Grasping some important business skills 123

Identifying your equipment needs 124

Avoiding pitfalls in freelance writing 124

Choose Your Writing Specialty 125

Blogging in the blogosphere 126

Providing website content 126

Locating Places That Pay for Writing 129

Finding websites for cold, hard cash 129

Perusing freelance writing resources 130

Accessing other freelance resources 131

Getting Paid Multiple Times 132

Chapter 10: Getting Into Self-Publishing 133

Tapping into Written Self-Publishing 134

Getting started 134

Naming your self-publishing tools 135

Considering your delivery option: Digital and physical together 136

Identifying the different types of written self-publishing 137

Using resources for written self-publishing 140

Trying the Audio Publishing Route 140

Recognizing the formats you can use 141

Creating your audio product 142

Seeing what equipment you need 144

Considering Video Publishing 144

Spelling out the ins and outs to video 145

Creating your own video 146

Knowing what equipment you need 147

Using YouTube 148

Handling Legal and Management Stuff 149

Getting an ISBN 149

Respecting copyright 149

Stating your disclaimer 150

Setting up your ecommerce for digital content 150

Chapter 11: Being a Successful Affiliate 153

The Lowdown on Affiliate Programs 153

Eyeing the pros and cons of being an affiliate 154

Knowing the types of affiliate programs 155

Viewing additional resources for more info 156

Starting As a Beginning Affiliate 157

Step 1: Discover your interest 157

Step 2: Identify your competence 158

Step 3: Investigate before deciding 158

Step 4: Select your marketing approach 159

Step 5: Focus and be persistent 160

Spotlighting the Top Affiliate Sites 161

Clickbank 161

Commission Junction 165

Amazon 166

Chapter 12: Cashing In on Advertising 169

Generating Cash from Advertising: Spotlight on AdSense 170

Content is king 170

Keywords are queen 171

Ad placement is the third consideration 172

Tracking and changing your approach 174

Identifying other advertising sources that pay you 175

Getting Customers and Sales with Pay-Per-Click: AdWords or AdCenter 176

The lowdown on PPC and how it works 177

Creating your first PPC ad 180

Keywords 101: Just the basics 184

Part III: Marketing and Selling Your Micro-Business 187

Chapter 13: Understanding Your Marketing Approach 189

Identifying Your Target Market 189

Understanding the importance of having a target market 190

Choosing your target market: The how-to 190

Researching and focusing on your target market 192

Knowing where your target market is 193

Identifying Your Competitors 194

Positioning yourself versus your competitors 195

Staying updated on your customers’ actions with competitive analysis 195

Turning competitors into partners 196

Doing Your Marketing Plan 197

Uncovering your marketing strategy 197

Remembering your mission statement 197

Knowing your target market 198

Analyzing your competition 198

Identifying what makes you unique 198

Developing a pricing strategy 199

Promoting your marketing activities 199

Tracking with a marketing worksheet 201

Tracking your marketing costs 202

Creating an action plan 203

Ensuring you offer a quality product or service 203

Chapter 14: Communicating with Prospective Customers 205

Recognizing Your Role: You’re Already a Salesperson 205

Letting you in on the big secret to salesmanship: Be convincing 206

Breaking the ice — the cold call 207

Tackling the cold call: Helpful tips to make it successful 209

Getting additional help 211

Getting referrals 212

Focusing on Your Sales Message — Your Cold Call in Print 213

Communicating benefits versus features 213

Knowing the AIDA formula 214

Communicating effectively via email 216

Turning to additional resources for help in writing sales copy 218

Cold Calling with a Video: Use YouTube to Your Advantage 219

Chapter 15: Utilizing Search Engine Strategies to Market Your Business 223

Grasping How Search Engines Work and Where You Can Search 223

Getting the Lowdown on Search Engine Optimization (SEO) 225

Before you start your own SEO research 227

Beginning your research: Google can help 227

Using other SEO tools 231

Making Yourself Findable 232

Using keywords 232

Increasing links to your site or blog 233

Getting your business listed on search engines and directories 234

Chapter 16: Using Blogs and Ezines in Your Marketing Plan 237

Choosing Whether You Want a Blog, Ezine, or Both 237

Using Your Blog to Make Money 238

Making money directly 239

Making money indirectly 239

Doing both 240

Promoting Your Blog 240

Getting listed in search engines and blog databases 241

Doing a micro-tasking blast 241

Using multiple blogs 242

Guest blogging 242

Doing some video blogging 243

Doing an Ezine 244

Knowing what to write about in your ezine 245

Building a list 246

Using bulk email service providers 252

Advertising with your ezine 253

Chapter 17: Marketing through Social Media 255

Succeeding on Social Media: Follow Some Golden Rules 257

Maximizing Your Time on Facebook 258

Getting started on Facebook 258

Using Facebook to build your business 259

Creating a Facebook fan page 260

Using Facebook advertising 260

Relying on other Facebook marketing resources 261

Focusing Your Attention on LinkedIn 261

Setting up your profile 261

Making connections 262

Joining LinkedIn groups 262

Marketing with Twitter 263

Implementing strategies 263

Relying on other Twitter resources 264

Considering Other Social Media Sites 265

Squidoo 265

Pinterest 265

Using other sites 266

Chapter 18: Implementing Other Marketing Strategies 267

Writing Articles to Market Your Business 267

Grasping how article writing works 268

Knowing where to send your article 268

Pointing to profits 270

Using Publicity and Press Releases 271

Knowing what newsworthy means 271

Drafting a press release 274

Knowing where to send your press release 276

Doing a radio or TV interview 277

Focusing on Forum Marketing 279

Eyeing the benefits of a forum 280

Using forum etiquette 281

Selling on forums: The how-to 282

Part IV: Considering Taxes and Legal Issues 285

Chapter 19: Outsourcing: Getting Others to Help You 287

Defining Outsourcing and How You Can Use It in Your Business 288

Identifying the Pros and Cons of Hiring an Outsourced Worker 289

Seeing the upsides of using outsourced workers 289

Naming the downside of using outsourced workers 290

Hiring an Outsourced Worker: The How-To 292

Establish clear goals, milestones, and requirements 292

Focus on qualified workers versus cheap workers 293

Review portfolios and samples 293

Have an agreed payment plan before you hire 294

Use an agency 294

Consider other potential issues 294

Finding Outsourced Workers 295

Using general outsourcing websites 295

Trying virtual assistant resources 297

Tapping into micro-task sites 298

Chapter 20: From Micro to Macro: Growing and Selling Your Business 301

Hiring Permanent Employees 301

Identifying payroll taxes 302

Recognizing other employee-related costs 302

Getting Your Hands on Money to Finance Your Business 303

Eyeing the debt financing route 304

Trying equity financing 305

Considering joint ventures 305

Going public 306

Looking At Franchising and Dealerships 307

Franchising 308

Independent dealership and service marks 308

Selling Your Business 309

Figuring out what makes a business sell 309

Sticking to the steps to sell your biz 310

Looking for additional help for selling your business 312

Chapter 21: Uncle Sam Comes Calling: Tax Issues for the Micro-Entrepreneur 315

Understanding Net Loss and Profit 316

Keeping Good Records 316

Being Aware of Certain Tax Obligations 318

Dishing out federal income taxes 318

Handing over state and local taxes 319

Submitting sales tax on products sold 319

Identifying General Tax Benefits for Micro-Entrepreneurs 320

Recognizing the most common tax-deductible business expenses 321

Deducting home-office expenses 322

Focusing on depreciation of assets 324

Dealing with inventory and goods for resale 325

Eating and entertaining on the job 325

Putting money into a pension plan 327

Setting Up Your Business 327

The simplest business structure you! 327

The second-simplest business structure: Sole proprietorship (the DBA) 328

LLCs, corporations, and partnerships 329

Reporting Your Business Activities 330

Part V: The Part of Tens 333

Chapter 22: Ten Beginning Micro-Entrepreneur Pitfalls (and How to Avoid ’em) 335

Failing to Understand Yourself 335

Listening to the Marketplace 336

Checking What Others Do 336

Acting without Planning 336

Getting Educated 337

Spending Too Much Money 338

Sticking to One Specialty 338

Failing to Rinse and Repeat 339

Paying Attention to What Your Customers Tell You 339

Anticipating Legal Issues 340

Chapter 23: Ten (Plus One) Ways to Make Money Quickly 341

eBay 342

Elance 342

Clickbank 342

Fiverr 343

Etsy 344

About.com 344

Amazon 344

Gazelle 345

Items Wanted Classifieds 345

Cash in on the Real You 346

Gigwalk 346

Index 347

Paul Mladjenovic is a certified financial planner, micro-entrepreneur, and home business educator with more than 25 years' experience writing and teaching about financial and business start-up topics. He owns RavingCapitalist.com and is also the author of Stock Investing For Dummies.