ohiobeekeepers | Small Business Ideas

Archive for November, 2011

This week I hired a publicist. This may not seem like all that uncommon of a thing to do, but for me it was profound. The truth is that my book, “Testimony,” is not doing as well as it could be. I have been told that I need more “Star Power.” Sure, I have a loyal following of people, like yourself, who read my articles, subscribe to my newsletter, or follow me on Facebook. Nevertheless, today that is not enough. Today, you have to have star power or celebrity status to really get your voice heard. Our culture tells us that it does not matter what you say, what really matters is who you are when you say it.

Don’t get me wrong: I am not bitter about this, really I’m not (truly). I am, however, in all honesty, frightened by it. We will form our opinions and take advice from anyone as long as they are celebrity. Reality TV stars become experts in social science, movie stars become equivalent to PhD’s in the field of environmental science, and cable newscasters and entertainers get to tell us what our political and economic beliefs should be. Meanwhile, there is a real voice of reason, expertise, and experience sitting on the sidelines saying “If only I were famous enough, my ideas could change the world.” Instead, we learn our history from Pawn Stars, our science from Myth Busters, business management from The Apprentice, and world news and politics from The Daily Show.

There are a lot of people out there smarter and even more educated than I am, but I believe in my message. I know that my writings come from a sincere heart and a love for truth and honesty. For this reason, I am willing to do whatever it takes to help my message be heard. I don’t claim to have all the answers; however, I also don’t claim to write or speak about anything that I don’t understand. I am the first to admit when I don’t know something and I am always eager to learn. But this is really not about me (I know that’s not the best thing to say for one trying to gain a little more star power). This is about a realization that I was hit with this week, a realization that truth is being ignored or replaced by…I don’t know what. I am frightened by the fact that sincerity and honesty is outweighed by celebrity egos who can’t admit where their expertise ends or begins. I am frightened by the fact that star power commentary holds more weight than real knowledge and understanding. Mostly, I am frightened for a future in which a world looks to entertainment for facts while questioning or ignoring real insight.

People used to buy books based on the content in them and even well-known authors could enjoy a life of anonymity, focused solely on providing well-thought-out, meaningful content that could empower and impassion their readers. This allowed authors the freedom to continually learn and grow and, in turn, their books helped others do the same. Today, authors are not allowed this freedom. Their time is spent gaining star power instead of knowledge. More books are being sold than ever before. Information is everywhere, but what of the content of the books? People choose known faces over expertise, passion, and even truth.

Just in case you did not catch it, the point is that we need to reevaluate how we ascertain quality, truth, and information. Mass media has transformed the way that people learn, grow, and experience life. This is an amazing thing, but we must learn to recognize the difference between entertainment and knowledge. This is not to say that gaining new insights can’t be entertaining, but there is a huge difference between knowledge presented in an entertaining way versus entertainment presented as knowledge. We must learn to recognize the difference and challenge ourselves to look deeper than the celebrity status or star power of those tasked with shaping our minds, thoughts, and opinions.

Small businesses are these days preferred by many individuals rather than jobs. They need to work for about 6 to 8 hours per day and get limited salaries. They can plan their own time and work towards gaining substantial profits if they start their own business. You can start a business even if you just have any small business idea but you don’t have any ready capital. It is so because many banks offer you loans to start your businesses.

You can take a personal loan or a business loan or a mortgage loan too. The banks review your business and idea and do their own research and evaluate the feasibility of the idea. If they think your business proposal can work, they provide you a business loan on the basis of certain terms and conditions. Therefore, you can put your small business ideas to use very easily. Given below are some small business ideas.

1. Business planner:

It is one of the most exciting jobs that one ever can do. You have to actually plan out the business strategies for your client and help him or her gain maximum profits. To start this business though, you need some expert knowledge about start up businesses. You should know all about the financial transactions and other important aspects.

2. Event organizer:

If you have the skill to organize things, you can definitely go for event organizing as your business. People need event organizers to organize marriages, receptions, meetings, trips and all other things that need planning. You can act as the planner and plan out the things foe them considering their financial capacity. This can be the most exciting job that one can ever get. Along with the knack of organizing things, one needs to be creative in mind to organize events in the most elegant way.

3. Public relations:

If you are good at pursuing people, you can start your own business as a public relations official. In this job you need to organize press releases or press conferences. You need to be the link between the media and the public on one side and the events on the other side. As a public relations official you act as a perfect link between the company and its customers. A public relations career is extremely respected everywhere and there is a lot of money in this business.

4. Computer repair:

You can start computer repairing business if you have taken a hardware course. You can also hire experienced computer repairmen and build a team of them. Computer repairing is as easy as any household repairing work. But you should definitely see to it that you have a degree that goes with your business or you can get caught into scandals even if you are perfect at your work.

Thus, one can easily start a small business instead of doing a job. It is not necessary that one should follow ideas already used by people but, one can also innovate and develop new ideas to start a small business.