Great Way to Start a Start-Up Business

If you are considering starting an online business, you want to make sure you find the right product or service. What is it that you should consider selling? What is your passion? What subject or topic do you have a lot of knowledge about? What are you an EXPERT in? 

Once you have narrowed down your niche, ask yourself: Can you provide a customer with not only an excellent service but a product that is so unique that only you offer it, and customers would literally flock to your business from miles around to receive it? That is the type of business that you need to offer to achieve success.

However, most internet marketers suggest that there are three reasons why a customer will want to buy your product or service: 1) your product has solved a problem for a customer; 2) your product has made life easier or more comfortable for a customer; 3) you are very passionate about your product or service and it shows in everything you do.

Your next step is to get to know your competition, so begin researching how many competitors you have. Peruse through online groups and discussion boards, and visit websites that would be similar to one that you would like to develop. You can learn about the target market customer base that would be similar to yours while also gauging your competitors’ traffic rankings, related links, and how many visitors they have each day.  It’s okay to look at what they are doing and how they are doing. This is part of your learning process.

When researching your niche, you may want to use www.Amazon.com and find the current top sellers related to your product or service. Find out what people are reading and what they are saying about authors who write about your area of expertise.

Then you can begin researching keywords. Keywords are used for search engine optimization (SEO). The best keyword tool to use is Google Ad Words. You need to discover which keywords are being searched frequently, then use these keywords when you are ready to create your website. 

These beginning steps are critical to building a solid foundation to an online business that will continue to blossom and grow with time, effort, and continued social media and marketing efforts.

New Partnerships for Dr. Cris

Hello All,


You can now enjoy even more career tips and career advice from Dr. Cris through her new partnerships with the Examiner.com as their Charlotte Career Coach and also with The Careereffect.com as their Career Author.

Take a moment to check me out and ‘like’ my page.


Thank you all for your support.

Entering the Promise Land: Tips for Women Executives on Breaking through the Glass Ceiling - Tip #3 Courage Under Fire

Hello All,

This week’s tip suggests the importance of remaining cool and collected under all circumstances. 

Tip # 3 - Courage under Fire: We have all been in a position where the stresses of a work environment and the enormity of the predicament might seem as though they are too much to handle. There may even be times when you feel powerless and want to give up. Even when those situations occur, you never want to place yourself in a situation where your colleagues or any executive can see you sweat, or worse yet, cry.

  A common response that you may receive from some of your coworkers is sympathy. Your colleagues may have experienced a similar situation and understand your frustration. For other coworkers, their response will be to pity you. You have placed yourself in a situation where others are now privy to the fact that you cannot control your emotions. Neither scenario is ideal for a woman entering the promise land. You always need to demonstrate strength and composure. You need to allow others to see that you are emotionally equipped to handle any situation.

 Although we are considered the fairer sex, there is no leniency in the workplace.  If you need a few moments to pull yourself together, then excuse yourself from the situation and do what you have to do to compose yourself. But remember this; once others have seen you expose your emotions, that picture of you will stick with them indefinitely.   

Entering the Promise Land: Tips for Women Executives on Breaking through the Glass Ceiling - Tip # 2 Take Risks

Hello All,

Sometimes it may not be in your best interests to take the safe route. When it comes to your career and getting ahead, we all must do what we have to do to ensure success. 

So if it means we should consider taking a risk or two every now and then we should consider it.  As women who are trying to break through the glass ceiling and enter the promise land we have to remember how important getting ahead and staying ahead can assist us in the workplace. That is what these tips are all about. 

I hope you enjoy this new tip on taking risk.

Dr. Cris 

Tip #2 - Take Risks: You will never get ahead in life or your career if you are not willing to take a risk. Risk takers, realize one thing, that the key to success lies in the fact that even though you have weighed the pros and cons, once you have made the decision to go forward it is usually because you realize that the risk you are about to take is an intelligent risk and would more than likely produce a favorable result when executed.

However, it is important to do your homework, so that you know for sure that your risk is calculated and that you come out on top. Take incremental steps in planning your success. If necessary, request the assistance of a trusted colleague(s). But by all means don’t buckle under the pressure; complete what you have started, and know that any risk is worth taking as long as you are prepared to handle any and all results. 

Entering the Promise Land: Tips for Women Executives on Breaking through the Glass Ceiling - Tip # 1 Go Over and Above

Hello All,

Let me take a moment to clarify that although these tips are directed toward women, everyone can benefit from them. 

This week's tip stresses the importance of giving it your all. As I have mentioned more than once, you seldom gain an opportunity to make a great first impression; therefore, if you do all that you can from the start you won't have to question after the fact what efforts could have improved the situation. 

Enjoy, 

Dr. Cris

Tip # 1: Go Over and Above


Because we are the underdogs in the good ole boys’ network, we have to go over and above what others may deem as qualified. Consider your education, your skills, and your experience. What can you bring to the table that the average man cannot? What can you offer an employer that would make the potential new boss stand up and take notice? Who do you know who can enhance your project with their expertise while ensuring that you receive the credit for facilitation?

If there is a training opportunity available for you to gain knowledge and skills that would advance your career, take it. If there are people who you should get to know who can support you as an ally or mentor, make yourself friendly and get to know them better.

We always have to consider that although we may have the skills, we may possess the talent, and we may know some of the right people, it still may not be enough to secure our spot in the workplace. If we really desire to enter the promise land, then we always have to put the icing on the cake. Go over and above what is expected and you will reap the results.

Great Career Tip #5 - Consider Multiple Revenue Streams

Hello All,

After today there's just one more career tip. However, I have received positive feedback regarding the addition of a blog series; therefore, all of you can look forward to an upcoming  new blog series that will focus on how female executives can break through the glass ceiling.

This week's career tip is all about the importance of placing yourself in a position to better prepare your self financially.  I hope this tip is useful. Enjoy!

Dr. Cris   

Great Career Tip #5 - Consider Multiple Revenue Streams

I have often worked more than one job at a time sometimes three, especially while in college, since paying for tuition can be costly. This time management lesson has proven to be a helpful tool when applied to my professional career and has taught me the importance of self preservation. 

Employers are loyal to themselves and their bottom line; therefore, we must be loyal to ourselves by developing other opportunities to earn income. 

Nowadays our money is not stretching as far as it used to; therefore, we need to consider other opportunities to generate more money. One of the best ways to accomplish this goal is to develop multiple means of earning potential, or multiple revenue streams.  I know what you’re thinking who has the time to devote to another job to make more money? My response it that who can afford NOT to consider how an additional means of income could impact their lifestyle?  So again I suggest, time management, so that you can live the life that you are entitled to.

Recently I wrote an ebook titled Need a Pay Raise? 7 Tips on Making More Money, this FREE ebook is still available on my blog at http://thedreamjobdoctor.blogspot.com. It’s a quick read and provides excellent tips on how you can alter your life and increase your earning potential. 

Ultimately we all need to consider the value of additional ways of making money. What happens if you lose your job? So many people today are being laid off due to this recession. If this occurs at least you will have the opportunity to bring in some additional cash through understanding the value of multiple revenue streams. 

Greatest Career Tips I Ever Received

Over the years I have actually worked more jobs than the number of years that I have walked on this earth, primarily by working two or three jobs at the same time. But one aspect that I have learned from working so many jobs is just how important it is to take away valuable lessons as often as you can. Therefore I have compiled some of the most valuable lessons or tips that have served me well over my 30+ years of experience in the professional industry and I hope that these tips are helpful to you. 

Over the next few weeks I will post one of these helpful tips each week and hope that you share them with a friend or colleague that might find the tips valuable.  Thank you for being a faithful supporter of Dr. Cris, the Dream Job Doctor.   

Great Career Tip # 1 - Consider your job skills as transferable

I know that all of you have gained valuable skills over the years. And those skills when necessary can be tapped into in order to secure an employment opportunity when you find yourself between jobs. Any skill that you can consider a specified talent is a gift and an untapped resource that can transition you into a career that perhaps you may have thought you were not qualified for. 

For example, when I left my cushy job as a retail manager and started a position as a residential coordinator for a university, one of the first comments that the assistant director of the housing shared with me was that “my managerial skills were transferable,” meaning that all of my years of retail managing customer relation issues could now be used to assist students who live in the residence halls. Initially I didn’t realize exactly what I was getting myself into, not that college life was foreign to me, but living among hundreds of college students at one time did take a bit of getting used to. 

 
The lesson here is simple: what skills can you offer an employer that perhaps you haven’t considered the true value of? What are the skills that you offer that you may consider as routine? Re-evaluate your talents and consider how you can use them in a career that may give you more fulfillment and job satisfaction.