To really succeed you need to strive to exceed expectations. If you can make client say, "Wow," then you will have a client for life.

Remember to always be honest. Never make false claims or stretch truth. It will always come back to haunt you.

As things get busier remember to delegate work or get outside help. Need a part time secretary? Use a secretarial service. Are your promotional mailings getting to be too much for you? Outsource them to a fulfillment house or get family and friends to help. My girlfriend helps me attach address labels and stamps when I have a mailing going out. It never hurts to have others do these things so you can concentrate on running your business and finding new clients. Just be sure you can afford to do this so you don't go broke. You may be able to get free help by becoming a mentor for a local college. They send out students who work for free or very little in exchange for work experience. I also know a man who hires ex-convicts because he gets a tax break for doing this. Check with your tax preparer.

Every business needs to promote itself. You can do this with a lot of flash, or with simplicity. The secret is to try several promotional plans to see what works best. You could have themed parties, support a local little league team or charity, offer your services free to some local organizations or simply pass out pens with your company's name and phone number on them. If you do pass out pens or other types of products, be sure they are of excellent quality. A client will love your pen if it works, and hate it if it skips and clogs. Be creative and have fun with your promotions.

When I was a freelance photographer, I made monthly desktop calendars on my computer. It was printed on a piece of paper with a 3x5-inch photograph attached to one side. This was then mailed out to clients monthly with a promotional cover letter. The client would fold calendar so they could see photograph and month, then on backside was a promotional statement about my company, so that anyone sitting across from my client would see an ad for my business.

Several years ago, I came across a wonderful promotional piece. While walking in a mall, I spotted a folded $50 bill lying on ground. I couldn't believe my good fortune. I picked up bill but when I unfolded it I found myself looking at a business card. It was a simple fold over card, but a section of a $50 bill had been printed on back. I'm assuming that business owner simply dropped a few on ground wherever he went. Did he get any business from this? I have no idea, but I'll wager that people scrambled to pick up his cards.

There are a million things you need to know to run a business, I just hope this article will save you some of wasted time, money and frustration that I've encountered over years.

Copyright 2003 Jeff Colburn

Time after time, those who have made it big will tell you that if they were starting again now they'd avoid market like a plague.

Too much competition they say.

The industry is saturated they tell you. Competition is enormous, and many of these entrepreneurs are search engine experts to boot.

So you'd have to be mad to try and enter this industry from a standing start, right?

In December 2002 a brand new Internet marketing book was launched - entitled "Under Oath - The Whole Truth". I personally own a copy and can attest to what an excellent book it is.

What is so interesting is that it's full of brand new information. It stands out from crowd because it is so free from constantly rehashed themes so common in these circles.

It's so good infact that according to his press releases and newsletter, previously unknown author, Shephen Pierce, sold 1,500 copies within first two weeks of launching it.

His website, http://www.the-whole-truth.com, went from nowhere to within most popular 2000 sites on Internet as ranked by Alexa.

And all because his book is new, exciting and more original than most of his competitor's.

So I'll ask you again.

Is there ever too much competition?

------------------------------------------------------------------- Richard Adams, a former zoologist, spends most of his time rating and reviewing online payment processors for his website at http://www.MerchantAccountForum.com. He also runs a monthly newsletter called "The Ecommerce Journals" - subscribe free at mailto:subscribe@merchantaccountforum.com -------------------------------------------------------------------

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