Dec 17 2008
Keep Your Mind Open for New Opportunities
When I began Arden Services and created my own Web site I had become affiliated with a Web-site hosting service. Demand for editorial services was rather slow and I searched for ways to expand my business. It dawned on me that I had the resources to create a new service. I could now host and design Web sites, and my Board of Realtors® and previous banking experiences combined to give me the idea of creating an online real estate guide.
I solicited area real estate agencies, and on November 1, 1998, I launched Area Real Estate for Sale at www.AreaRE.com. During the initial years, eight agencies participated in this service. As the Internet became more important agencies realized the desirability of having their own Web sites. Some had me create Web sites, others had locally available services create sites for them. Today, in December 2008, two of the original participants in AreaRE.com continue to list their properties even though I have created and maintain Web sites for them. Over the years 1,300 properties have been displayed on AreaRE.com.
TIP: If your business slows, do not sit and fret about it. Search for and consider related activities that can be added to increase your sales. If possible, try to expand with relevant services or products, but if you have the opportunity to add an unrelated activity do it! Over the Internet, you can present two different businesses, and they can appear to be separate businesses. Just make sure any new business you add does not take too much time to operate your existing business.
Because of my retail operations I do not limit my business to writing, designing, hosting and maintaining Web sites, but I also have an online “general store” offering the sale of the variety of merchandise left over from those retail businesses. Once the store was created, there has been little time spent in keeping it current and shipping the merchandise that sells. In other words, the “store” does not detract from my primary business of Web-site services.
