Ideas for Business: 10 Fastest Growing Industries in America

Here is a list of the 10 Fastest Growing Industries which, given some thought, could help you focus on an aspect of one of these areas to focus on for a new business idea. Each of these industries is expected to experience growth within the next 5 years. Certainly, it seems that many of these businesses are also doing well in other parts of the world including South Africa:

• 3D Printer Manufacturing
• Hot Sauce Production
• Generic Pharmaceutical Manufacturing
• Pilates & Yoga Studios
• For-Profit Universities
• Self-Tanning Product Manufacturing
• Online Eyeglasses & Contact Lens Sales
• Green and Sustainable Building Construction
• Solar Panel Manufacturing
• Social Network Game Development

Source: IBIS World

Twitter Tips to Promote Your Startup Business

Before the Radio 702 Money Show Challenge on 1 October 2012, although I had a personal Twitter account, like so many others: I never used it. So I had to become an expert on Twitter (and many other things) in a hurry since starting Beautiful Bracelets! I have a few tips for those who, like me, are fairly new to Twitter. I could probably do some of these things a bit better myself, I’m still learning! I am including some things that put me off Twitter so I hope I am not offending anyone by mentioning it here. Feel free to leave a comment or a tip, I am quite happy to consider other points of view or ideas. I’m still growing, learning and changing to become better at this each day:

• Don’t spam your Followers by sending out too much info in a rapid succession of Tweets. Rather use something like Hootsuite or Tweetdeck and schedule the information in say, 5 short Tweets over the period of a week or so.
• It is better not to have your Facebook/Twitter accounts linked, I noticed very quickly that people don’t like it. It feels too much like Spam.
• No graphic details. Don’t tell me what you ate for breakfast, lunch or supper unless you’re a restaurant. Maybe I’m squeamish.
• Reach out to your Audience in a friendly way and tell them things that may be of interest to them. The kind of things that others “retweet” will give you an idea of what people like to hear about. Tailor this to yourself and your tweeting.
• Be Retweetable! Add Tweet buttons to your website and Blog. Make it easier for others to retweet you. Keep your Tweets to under 120 characters or less if you want to allow commentary.
• Tweet to Inspire or Inform: Some of my best viewed content was as a result of the following Tweets: “Anything is Possible”, “How to GetYour Products into Retail Stores”, “Have a Vision for Your Business”. In each case, I quoted the link to the related Blog Post on the “1000 Beautiful Bracelets” Blog.
• Track your success. Google Analytics is a great tool for this. What is the point of using Social Media or Blogs if you don’t track everything and keep yourself up to date with what’s of interest to your audience? 
• Be relationship-focused and keep the human-interest angle top of mind.

Finally, please Retweet this Post!

Twitter Tips to Promote Your Startup Business1000beautifulbracelets.blogspot.com/2012/11/twitte…
— Beautiful Bracelets (@1000bracelets) November 26, 2012

Brilliant Business Blogs

I believe it is important to gain inspiration and wisdom by continuing personal education through reading books, blogs, websites, and keeping oneself updated in whatever your chosen field by continuing to attend seminars, conferences and possibly continued further studies.

One of the people I am inspired by is Peter J Daniels, a billionaire Australian who made most of his money before 1990 in property. At that time he owned more property and employed more people in Australia than any other individual. He is now a philanthropist. I heard he never borrows money, he LENDS money to banks! He has written a number of books, the one I enjoy the most is "How to be Happy though Rich".

Here are a few Brilliant Blogs written by women entrepreneurs that are inspirational and have great tips for small business:

The Suitcase Entrepreneur Natalie leads an inspiring business, generously gives practical tips and travels the world, while continuing to be a motivated ambassador for women around the world

She Takes On the World An award winning blog written, named by Forbes.com as one of the Twenty Best Marketing and Social Media Blogs by Women. This blog is written by a team of women who do an amazing job of supporting and inspiring women entrepreneurs. It features interviews with fabulous women entrepreneurs, business resources, and a free directory for women-owned businesses.

Women on Business Reading Women On Business is a like having your own personal mentor. It is written by powerhouse entrepreneur and author, Susan Gunelius, along with other guest contributors.

The Boss of You Co-written by successful entrepreneur duo, Lauren Bacon and Emira Mears, The Boss of You is all about learning to run a business doing what you love.

Successful Blog Liz Strauss delves into one of the most important parts of building a business –building a base of loyal customers. This woman has heart and reaches out to people in amazing ways.

Market Like A Chick Coree Silvera, tells it like it is and examines marketing from a female perspective. Great tips on social media marketing although the last post was in 2010 and the info may be a little out of date (things change so rapidly in the social media spectrum!) She focuses on internet marketing but also writes about business and interviews top women in the marketing industry.

The Barefoot Executive's Blog Carrie Wilkerson has built several successful businesses and now coaches others to do the same. Her blog is a must read for work-from-home women.

I am inspired by these writers and I hope some of them help you too! Although it isn't easy to find time in a busy schedule to read, if you can, they could be a source of great advice, humour, learning, help you grow your business and may provide you with a wonderful network of entrepreneurs.

How to get an Idea for a New Business

The first thing when starting a new business is to have a great idea. But how do you get to that? There are two ways (of many, I’m sure). One way, is to find your passion. What are you passionate about and love doing? Very often if you pursue your passion, the money will follow. A school friend of mine loved running (in fact, won the Comrades Marathon at least twice and started a Running Franchise). Secondly, find a problem to solve. The bigger the problem, the greater the reward.

Another friend of mine found himself a number of years ago in a place where quite a few of his friends were unemployed. So a group of  5 or 6 of them decided to lock themselves away in a room for 4 days and the objective was to brainstorm and get an idea for an online business, have set up a website with credit card facilities, and sold ONE item off that website within the 4 days. But they had no idea yet what business it was going to be. By the end of the 4 days, they’d achieved their objective, and sold 1 product online, off the website. That website was www.bugzapper.co.za 

This experience made them realize that it works, and very soon they opened another website. In the first year they only sold 1 item off the website. But things have grown exponentially since then, that company has become quite well-known in South Africa (and is selling internationally too), they now source their products from all over the world and were one of the sponsors for MasterChef South Africa which aired recently. Yes, it’s www.yuppiechef.co.za a company that is experiencing exponential growth!

There are so many ideas out there. I believe that in the next 5 years there are businesses that will start with technologies that we haven't even heard of yet.