Freightquote.com® gives you instant comparisons from lots of great carriers. Our user-friendly tools automate everything - pricing, pickups, documents, and tracking. Customers trust us with over 500,000 shipments every year - click below to learn what we can do for you
Lenexa-based Freightquote.com has become a $200 million, 500-employee company in less than a decade.
The firm emerged on the e-commerce scene in 1998 to specifically service small and midsize firms that didn’t have the resources and purchasing power to fulfill their shipping needs.
“On the one end of the tail, you have the very large enterprise, which we pretty much steer clear of,” said Tim Barton, chairman and chief executive of Freightquote.com. “Then you hit that long tail where there are thousands of freight users who are generally less sophisticated and harder to reach. That’s where we focus and deploy our various marketing efforts.”
E-marketing makes it possible to capture demand in the long tail because of lower costs and competition. By transferring as many marketing activities, such as promotion campaigns and customer support, to the Web, companies increase opportunities for customer input without increasing costs.
More at:https://www.freightquote.com/Default.aspx
Saturday, May 12, 2007
Start A Virtual Assistance Business
If you're wondering how to start a business as a virtual assistant, Elite Office Support founder Susan Totman offers these tips:
1. Decide just what type of services you want to offer, and analyze your background to ensure you have adequate experience.
2. Determine your business niche-consider specializing in just two to three services.
3. Determine how much time and energy you have to commit to your venture. Do you want to work part or full time?
4. Conduct thorough industry research to determine a need for your services in your local area.
5. Outline who your clients are, where they are and how to access them.
6. Do a market analysis. Find out the needs for your niche and focus on how you'll apply that to your business.
7. Know your budgetary constraints-projected expenses, expected income and how long you can "float" until your business is running successfully.
8. Prepare a business plan and review it often to manage growth and change.
9. Examine your equipment, software and work space to ensure they meet client needs.
10. Wrap up all legal and financial aspects of startup before securing your first client.
11. Market your services 24/7. Just because you've built a Web site or placed an ad in the Yellow Pages doesn't mean clients will come knocking on your door.
You might want to consider joining a professional organization or networking group. This will give you the opportunity to network, build camaraderie and have access to a knowledge bank for solving technical problems.
Progressive Leadership's Carole Nicolaides, a Columbus, Ohio-based business coach, has helped a number of virtual assistants match their talents with sound business planning.
More at:http://www.virtualassistanceu.com/.
2.http://www.psweassist.com/
3.http://www.eliteofficesupport.com/
1. Decide just what type of services you want to offer, and analyze your background to ensure you have adequate experience.
2. Determine your business niche-consider specializing in just two to three services.
3. Determine how much time and energy you have to commit to your venture. Do you want to work part or full time?
4. Conduct thorough industry research to determine a need for your services in your local area.
5. Outline who your clients are, where they are and how to access them.
6. Do a market analysis. Find out the needs for your niche and focus on how you'll apply that to your business.
7. Know your budgetary constraints-projected expenses, expected income and how long you can "float" until your business is running successfully.
8. Prepare a business plan and review it often to manage growth and change.
9. Examine your equipment, software and work space to ensure they meet client needs.
10. Wrap up all legal and financial aspects of startup before securing your first client.
11. Market your services 24/7. Just because you've built a Web site or placed an ad in the Yellow Pages doesn't mean clients will come knocking on your door.
You might want to consider joining a professional organization or networking group. This will give you the opportunity to network, build camaraderie and have access to a knowledge bank for solving technical problems.
Progressive Leadership's Carole Nicolaides, a Columbus, Ohio-based business coach, has helped a number of virtual assistants match their talents with sound business planning.
More at:http://www.virtualassistanceu.com/.
2.http://www.psweassist.com/
3.http://www.eliteofficesupport.com/
Sites Which Could Help Your Business
Sitekreator
www.sitekreator.com
SiteKreator provides DIY services to build, publish and host Web 2.0-ready websites for $95 a year. Easy-to-implement features include blogs, web forums, image galleries and mailing lists. Websites are based on templates and are customizable. The business edition starts with storage capacity of 200MB and can be upgraded to 1GB. SiteKreator allows for unlimited pages and enables you to add your logo, slogan and custom text, giving your website the look and feel you want.
Bizfilings.com
www.bizfilings.com
This site is a one-stop shop for small businesses looking to incorporate or form an LLC. The site is full of information, including a helpful comparison of LLCs and corporations. Products and services are also available, such as corporate supplies and amendment filings as well as a free guide to incorporation. More than 150,000 companies have found help at Bizfilings.com, which accommodates businesses in all 50 states. Prices vary from state to state.
PR Mentor System
www.pr-mentor.com
PR Mentor offers a PR toolkit to help entrepreneurs get their messages heard. The toolkit enables businesses to use the same PR process as large agencies and includes templates, samples, work sheets and more. The $299 PR Mentor System includes the toolkit and offers access to a members-only online forum where you can get PR questions answered and even have your press releases reviewed. The toolkit a la carte is $129.
www.sitekreator.com
SiteKreator provides DIY services to build, publish and host Web 2.0-ready websites for $95 a year. Easy-to-implement features include blogs, web forums, image galleries and mailing lists. Websites are based on templates and are customizable. The business edition starts with storage capacity of 200MB and can be upgraded to 1GB. SiteKreator allows for unlimited pages and enables you to add your logo, slogan and custom text, giving your website the look and feel you want.
Bizfilings.com
www.bizfilings.com
This site is a one-stop shop for small businesses looking to incorporate or form an LLC. The site is full of information, including a helpful comparison of LLCs and corporations. Products and services are also available, such as corporate supplies and amendment filings as well as a free guide to incorporation. More than 150,000 companies have found help at Bizfilings.com, which accommodates businesses in all 50 states. Prices vary from state to state.
PR Mentor System
www.pr-mentor.com
PR Mentor offers a PR toolkit to help entrepreneurs get their messages heard. The toolkit enables businesses to use the same PR process as large agencies and includes templates, samples, work sheets and more. The $299 PR Mentor System includes the toolkit and offers access to a members-only online forum where you can get PR questions answered and even have your press releases reviewed. The toolkit a la carte is $129.
Bid For Dating
A NEW DATING SITE, IMINLIKEWITHYOU.COM, allows users to use points to "bid" for access to people they like.
Users can earn those points in one of three ways: by answering random, site-generated questions, by inviting others to join, or by creating a game for other users to spend their points in.
Users will only be allowed to join the network (now in closed beta) if another member invites them.
More at:http://iminlikewithyou.com/protected
Users can earn those points in one of three ways: by answering random, site-generated questions, by inviting others to join, or by creating a game for other users to spend their points in.
Users will only be allowed to join the network (now in closed beta) if another member invites them.
More at:http://iminlikewithyou.com/protected
DiscRevolt,For Selling Digital Media
DiscRevolt provides a tangible solution for selling digital media. Artists upload songs to DiscRevolt's website and design their own artwork for a plastic download card. The cards are then printed by DiscRevolt with a unique redemption code on the back. Artists sell the cards to fans at live shows, and the fans can then download songs or albums from the artist's online page.
Many independent artists make most of their revenue at merchandise tables after they play a live show. Audiences connect with a band or song, and are most likely to pay for music during the post-gig buzz. As bands are moving from CDs to digital downloads, they need something to hook potential customers when they can, instead of asking them to download later. Which is a challenge DiscRevolt aims to solve. The start-up describes its download cards as a cross between a gift card, a backstage pass and a baseball trading card. They're designed to be collectible items, attachable to lanyards or backpacks or rear-view mirrors. The fact that artists design their own artwork, and often make cards in limited runs, adds to the appeal.
DiscRevolt is currently in beta, and is offering artists 100 free cards if they sign up before May 15th. The website currently only supports MP3 audio files (at any bitrate), but future releases will also support other media files such as video and PDF files of liner notes, lyrics and artwork. Something to set up locally? And although musical artists are the main target group for this type of service, how about BookRevolt? At lectures or other events, both published and unpublished authors could sell cards for downloads of audio-books or e-books, or supplements to printed work, or use the cards as a promotional tool, giving away digital copies of sample chapters without having to worry about hosting downloads.
Website: www.discrevolt.com
Many independent artists make most of their revenue at merchandise tables after they play a live show. Audiences connect with a band or song, and are most likely to pay for music during the post-gig buzz. As bands are moving from CDs to digital downloads, they need something to hook potential customers when they can, instead of asking them to download later. Which is a challenge DiscRevolt aims to solve. The start-up describes its download cards as a cross between a gift card, a backstage pass and a baseball trading card. They're designed to be collectible items, attachable to lanyards or backpacks or rear-view mirrors. The fact that artists design their own artwork, and often make cards in limited runs, adds to the appeal.
DiscRevolt is currently in beta, and is offering artists 100 free cards if they sign up before May 15th. The website currently only supports MP3 audio files (at any bitrate), but future releases will also support other media files such as video and PDF files of liner notes, lyrics and artwork. Something to set up locally? And although musical artists are the main target group for this type of service, how about BookRevolt? At lectures or other events, both published and unpublished authors could sell cards for downloads of audio-books or e-books, or supplements to printed work, or use the cards as a promotional tool, giving away digital copies of sample chapters without having to worry about hosting downloads.
Website: www.discrevolt.com
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