Moses, as someone who has been in business for himself for many years, I wanted to reply to this thread.
First, let me start by wishing you good luck. I can tell you that while starting your own business can be exciting, it can also get rough at times. The most important thing you should do is to choose what you want to do, stick to it, and perservere. Dont ever give up!
Now, as to your questions: Rich Dad, Poor Dad is an EXCELLENT book! The company I was the independent sales rep for between fall 2001 and spring 2004 handed that book out as a guide to the reps, and it has some very good information. The author talks of his father, who was his real dad, his "poor dad" who worked his entire life and ended up with little, and then his friend's dad, his "rich dad", who was a millionaire. The author said that he took all his lessons in business from his friend's dad, and learned how to become successful.
What you offer will really depend on what you want to accomplish. First off, you need to ask yourself, what type of thing should you offer, where should you market it, and how do you market it? A service might be good, but you somehow need to build a name and reputation. For instance, if it is a cleaning service, or car wash, you would need to find your customer base, and then advertise your service. Also, some service businesses can be difficult to break into, depending on the competition.
A product would be good. For this avenue, you would need to pick one product, and find how to market it. Many people have told me that having their own website can be difficult, because there are so many websites out there, and customers "hitting" your site can only happen with advertising, and word of mouth.
A good way, depending on the product, might be EBay. They have an unlimited avenue to aid in selling products. In order to do Ebay successfully, one needs to have good feedback. If you dont have an account, and want to start on Ebay, start an account with them, which is free, and buy up very inexpensive items to get say, 10 feedbacks to establish yourself as a good Ebayer. Pay for your items on time, and give positive feedback to others unless someone really screws you and doesnt send an item.
I hope Iam not giving you too much info, but you asked a very general question, and I wanted to give you different avenues to explore. Good Luck, my friend. I wish you much success!
Cheers,
Mitch
