Ready to run your own show? It's a great time to start a business

Over the past few years, a wealth of resources and funding has grown up to support growing ranks of wannabes. It's become easier for all kinds of people to get a business up and going.


Real estate: Feather upscale nests
The real-estate market has gone through the roof in the past few years and while some pundits nervously point to air leaking out of the bubble, houses aren't bought and sold in a New York minute, like stock. So even if the torrid pace slows, many markets remain hot. More to the point, the top end of the market has been largely immune to economic ups and downs while the how-low-can-you-go mortgage rates motivated thousands of homeowners to leverage their equity and trade up. That translates into opportunities for high-quality services for child care, household help, interior and landscape design or maintenance, and home alarms or security.Carrie Zeier figured it out after moving eight times in six years because of husband Eric Zeier's football career. (Eric Zeier, a University of Georgia star, was a quarterback for several NFL teams.)"When Eric was in the NFL, I always had a hard time finding staff," says Zeier, a mother of two. "I would talk with the other wives and realized they were having the same problem. I didn't know how to find someone I could trust." In 2001, Zeier took over a domestic placement business in Atlanta and launched Estate Domestics. She supplied celebrity and affluent homeowners from Beverly Hills to Europe with housekeepers, nannies, bodyguards and certified nurse assistants. Within four years, Zeier got a great offer and sold her company for a profit.Also, consider that home service companies require support systems, like recruiters, accountants, marketers, product suppliers and private investigators. Estate Domestics, for example, runs a full background check on every applicant.


Pets: Make hay with fur or fins
Nowadays, 63% of U.S. households own a pet, which translates into more than 69 million homes, according to the American Pet Products Manufacturers Association. consider that home service companies require support systems, like recruiters, accountants, marketers, product suppliers and private investigators. Estate Domestics, for example, runs a full background check on every applicant.


Know your customers
An understanding of the needs and goals of your clients is the best way to ensure that your marketing efforts are effective. Statistics and tracking reports will help you gauge the interests of visitors to your website. Website usage statistics will help you understand how people come to your site, and what they do once they have arrived. Are they finding what they want, or do certain pages on your site trigger them to leave? Was the contest you ran successful? This understanding will help you hone your online marketing efforts.

Ask if you're not sure
Many companies may find it understandably difficult to genuinely pinpoint what extraordinary service really entails. So, do some legwork. Conduct focus groups with customers to see what they really value. Ask your complaint department, if you have one, to identify topics that are frequent targets of dissatisfaction. Often, you may find extraordinary translates to a holistic grouping of issues, not just one product or service. "Often, being extraordinary means offering someone a truly exceptional experience," says Dr. Noelle Nelson, author of "The Power of Appreciation in Business." "The quality of something may be good, but it's the overall experience that will really define customer loyalty."

Manage Business Operations
Transforming first-time buyers into repeat customers is the ultimate key to success for any business. Getting to that point means improving customer satisfaction and much more.