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Hiya there, folks!
If you’re subscribed to this blog, then you’re most likely an aspiring entrepreneur.
As aspiring entrepreneurs, one of the questions that’s prevalent in our minds is, “What kind of business should I start?”
Hell, my blog statistics show me that the most popular category in Startup Launchr is the “business ideas” category.
Well, I finished writing my first book, and it’s called the ideaSpark: The Blueprint. It’s an entire manual that’s based on.. you guessed it, how to get your hands on that seemingly elusive business idea so you can go ahead and launch your first business.
I don’t want to talk about it TOO much yet. But I’ll tell you what.
I’m going to give away 10 free copies of the book for Startup Launchr readers. There are two ways to enter the contest:
1.) Subscribe to the blog by email and press Submit. I’ll pick the winners randomly. There will be 10 winners from this category.
2.) If you don’t want to subscribe, there’s another way to enter. Simply send me an email using the Contact page and tell me why you NEED a copy of the book. I don’t car what your reason is — it can be a sob story, it can be something that makes me laugh, whatever. Best stories win. I don’t know how many winners there will be from this category yet.
So what’s the catch? For the winners, I want you to let me know what you think of the book. My end goal is to compile an audio collage of readers praising the book (”OH MY GOD THIS IS THE BEST BOOK EVER!” is ideal, but I doubt that will happen). Don’t know if we can achieve that, but that’s what I’m aiming for.
So, you ready? Then go and enter the contest now!
filed under: Business Ideas | comments (0) | read more...
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Note to 12 or so email subscribers: I’m just about ready to transfer you guys over from Feedburner to Feedblitz. If you don’t know the difference, that’s okay — the only thing that matters is that the emails will look prettier. You’ll be getting an activation email by tomorrow. Aight? Aight.
General note: I’m over in New Jersey/New York for the week. Me and my girlfriend had a HELLISH time getting here from Vancouver yesterday. It’s been a long 24 hours… My only advice? Do NOT ever fly United/Air Canada. And if you do, don’t check any baggage in. Ask me about it in the comments section.
PROBLEM
For newly established blogs (such as Pocketpreneur and Startup Launchr) growing its subscriber base is often the biggest problem they have to face. Networking can be tough and sometimes feel like you’re intruding an existing group of friends. Traditional pay-per-click is expensive and don’t convert well for blogs.
Many readers have also developed ad blindness and simply don’t click on ads, making it difficult for the blogger to monetize his blog.
What options does a new blogger have if he wants to be able to grow his subscriber base easily? And can bloggers earn money for their blogs aside from AdSense, traditional sponsorship and affiliate links?
MARKET
New bloggers; blogs looking to expand their subscriber base; existing blogs looking to monetize their blogs.
Find out how this business idea works »
filed under: Advertising, Business Ideas, Network | comments (1) | read more...
7
Photo by juhansonin
The only thing I can say is: WOW.
Over the past 7 days, Pocketpreneur’s readership has more than doubled.
OK, going from 9 readers to 23 isn’t really much of an accomplishment. It’s certainly dwarfed by other blogs with hundreds, even thousands, of devoted followers. Feedburner keeps changing up the numbers too.
But I don’t care about them. I care about you.
Whether we have 3, or 30, or 300, or 3,000… I want to thank you guys for subscribing to Pocketpreneur!
Aside from the announcement at Startup Launchr, this blog hasn’t been promoted much. A couple links here and there, but that’s about it. You guys found yourselves here either through StumbleUpon, or 43things, or Triiibes and decided there’s something here worth watching out for.
Can I help it if I think that’s just uber-cool?
OK. Moving on, reason I’m writing this post is two-fold. They are, in no specific order:
- I just wanted to let you guys know that the blog is alive and kicking. I have some posts lined up — it’s just a matter of scanning the illustrations, which is a 2-minute process but I’ve been procastinating like mad! Of course, I don’t want to annoy you by posting just for the sake of posting, so I follow a personal rule of post something useful or post nothing at all.
- TO EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS: there isn’t much of you, but I just want to let you know that I’ll be migrating the list from Feedburner to FeedBlitz by next week. You’ll get a notification to confirm that you’ve subscribed through email before. Please don’t mark it as spam. I won’t ever think of spamming you guys :)
- The real reason I haven’t been actively posting is because I’ve been busy writing a book for Pocketpreneur. I don’t want to reveal too much about it at this time, but the basic premise is that it’s a guidebook on how to come up with your own business ideas and how to know if it’s a good idea. I was going to do a test to let the numbers decide for me again, but I have my heart set on a title already. I promise to have it finished, polished up and out to you guys by August 31, 2008 (or the week of).
And that’s it!
Hello my name is,
Carlo
PS. Introduce yourselves in the comments section, will ya? Let’s hear some comments, questions, discussions. I’d hate this to turn out as a one-man show :)
filed under: Pocketpreneur News | comments (5) | read more...
30
PROBLEM
There’s a lot of talk in the news that North America is experiencing a recession, which means jobseekers will have a much harder time getting employment. There are also countries where there is a high demand and low supply for jobs. How can jobseekers have an easier time with their job hunt?
MARKET
People looking to start their careers with a full-time job; job seekers looking to build a new career in a completely different industry than they’ve been in; people who are having a difficult time getting callbacks and interviews.
Find out how this business idea works »
filed under: Agency, Business Ideas, Job board, Jobs | comments (0) | read more...
29
Photo by juhansonin
Pocketpreneur is dedicated to remarkable business ideas, and mapping them out in such a way that the average Joe can understand. And I’d like to take this post to welcome you to the blog :)
If you’re an aspiring entrepreneur who wants to launch your first business but have no idea what to start, Pocketpreneur will hopefully get you inspired and jolt your mind with some creative juice. Each post contains a hand-drawn illustration that I came up with when I thought of the idea (thus, the title of the blog ;p). Sorry if I’m no Rembrandt.
The Goal
The goal is relatively simple and comes in three parts:
- To illustrate that good business ideas are everywhere.
- To show that most (if not all) good business ideas come from solving a problem for a group of people.
- To unleash the inner entrepreneur in everyone.
To kick things off, I published several posts already for you to read:
What Do You Think?
I started this blog alongside Startup Launchr simply because I think the topic of business ideas and planning deserves a platform of its own. Since it’s a new blog, the design might still be a little clunky… Is it too minimalist for your tastes? I’m depending on you readers to let me know what you think. If something needs fixing, I’ll fix it.
With that said, subscribe to the blog today and we’ll be sure to see you around!
filed under: Business Ideas | comments (1) | read more...
28
PROBLEM
The problem with big job sites like Monster.com and HotJobs.com is that the majority of jobs they offer are full-time positions. If you’re trying to supplement your monthly income, where can you go and find part time jobs easily without having to sift through hundreds of job listings you’re not interested in?
MARKET
People who are trying to increase their monthly incomes by taking a second job; businesses who are looking to fill a temporary position quickly
Find out how this business idea works »
filed under: Business Ideas, Job board | comments (0) | read more...
