business analyst

Are you interested in starting your own business, but you have a very small budget to start with? The idea of starting a business has long been viewed as a very expensive venture and is only a common practice among a small group of people. Thankfully, the technology era has leveled the playing field for starting a business. It is now possible to get started with very little cash. And by gaining the right knowledge and skills, you can own a very lucrative business. In this article, I have compiled a list of 4 profitable online business ideas that you can start, with just a laptop and internet access.

1. Become A Website Developer.

Website development has created many business opportunities over the past couple of decades. Now that there are open source platforms like WordPress, it is quite possible for anyone with a computer/laptop and an internet connection can become a website developer, even if you have basic technical skills. If you are uncertain of whether or not you are able to start a business, creating websites for clients, then a short, informal online course in WordPress can fill in the blanks and give you the confidence to offer your service to potential clients.

In addition to, website development, you can offer hosting services to your clients. And no, you don’t have to own a server. You can get hosting services for very little money. You can then offer the service as part of your package for website development. This price is usually set a bit higher than what you pay for the hosting.

Online business ideas like website development, don’t require that you have a business space, so if you are strapped for cash and don’t want to incur the monthly cost of an internet bill, then this is the kind of business for you. You can take your laptop to your favorite cafe shop, and make use of their free internet service. Make sure you buy something from the shop, as this will keep you and the business owner happy.

2. Start An Online Store.

This is one of the most lucrative online business ideas I know of. You can start a business online, selling your own products, or selling other people’s products. The clear advantage of this business model is that you are not restricted by creativity, or location. If you do not have a product, and don’t have the slightest idea how to come up with one, then you can earn huge commissions from selling other people’s product. This is one of the few online business ideas that you can start with no money.

If you don’t have an online store, it would cost very little for you to set one up for yourself, or have someone set one up for you. As mentioned before, open source platforms like WordPress and Joomla makes it possible for anyone to create a website. WordPress has great support along with free plugins that can make it very easy for you to create an online store with a shopping cart and an automated checkout system.

However, if the monthly cost of hosting is still above your budget, then you can make use of free e-Commerce platforms like eBay, Etsy and Amazon. There is no monthly fee to sell your products, and you only pay a small fee for listing your product.

3. Become a Social Media Manager.

New social media platforms are springing up all over the internet. These social media platforms have huge audiences at any given time of the day. This makes it important for businesses to create and maintain a social presence on these social media platforms if they want to be visible to potential customers.

This need for a social media presence has created a new and unique business opportunity. It is very tedious to spend time creating content to add to the social media platforms. And with so many platforms to have to keep track of, it can be a full-time job.

Many companies are in need of a social media manager, and you can help. This is one of the online business ideas that will not become saturated. New companies are emerging every day and need to maintain a social media presence. So you will never run short of a potential client list.

It is very easy to create content and maintain a several social media accounts. You can use platforms like Hootsuite to manage several social media accounts simultaneously.

You can schedule posts and content for several weeks in advance. You can then charge clients a monthly fee for managing these accounts, which will be a lot less than having to hire an employee to provide this service full-time.

4. Become a Mobile App Developer.

Before you decide that mobile app development is only for those individuals who have spent years or more pursuing a formal education in coding, you might want to read this.

It is possible for non-techs to create mobile apps for clients with no coding skills. You can use mobile content management platforms like MAPS – Mobile Apps Productions Software.

These platforms allow you to create mobile apps and publish them to the Google Play and Apple app stores. In addition to publishing the apps on the app stores, the content management platforms allow you to provide back-end access to clients so that they can manage and update their mobile apps. You can also maintain the apps on the client’s behalf and charge an additional monthly fee for management and hosting of the mobile app.

More than 91% of the world’s population have a cell phone or mobile device. And as consumers become more attached to their mobile devices and more demanding of what it can provide and provide quickly, the demand for mobile apps will be even greater. More than 95% of businesses do not have a mobile app for their business. You can create a mobile app for these businesses at a price that they can afford. This is one of the online business ideas that has very little competition and huge earning potentials.

Looking for More Online Business Ideas?

While you may find lots of online business ideas on the internet, it is important to note that being successful in any business requires that you acquire the skills and knowledge of creating the business or service.

Whether you are attracted to an internet business because you hate your current job, want to improve your circumstances, or would like a more flexible lifestyle, the internet offers all these opportunities.

Why An Internet Business?

1- Flexibility

Many people come to find themselves with an internet business through necessity rather than deliberate creation. For me, I needed a flexible job which I could work around contract work. It didn’t come in often but when the phone rang, I needed to take the work. This presented all kinds of problems. Normal work didn’t pay as well and employers didn’t want me taking large chunks of time off when the other work came in!

I tried juggling several jobs over a number of years but nothing seemed to fit. At around the same time I was attempting to use e-bay to buy and sell for a bit of extra money. It wasn’t until later that I discovered affiliate marketing. Affiliate marketing, for those who don’t know is a kind of referral selling. You point links from your website to other people’s goods and services. The link is tracked so that when you make a sale you are rewarded for it with a commission.

Once you know how to do this you can set up links from your online content to other people’s products and services. You can also use paid advertising to find people all over the world to sell to. This was perfect for my work because I could take my laptop anywhere with me and as long as I had an internet connection I could work. It didn’t interfere with the work when it came up, I had no boss to answer to so it was the perfect solution.

2 – Automation

There’s also a number of other reasons why I chose an internet business – and why you should too! The flexibility of the business was my primary concern. I wanted to be able to choose my own hours so I could take work when it came without any complications. But the other reason I chose this particular model was the ability to use technology to ‘leverage’ my time and income.

Once I had a website and content up and running, it kept going and I was able to make sales and deliver products without being physically present. This is the ‘magic’ of an online business. The automation involved with an online business means that you can do the work once and let that work keep running in the background. You can make sales and deliver products over and over through the same piece of content or advert, which can run an virtual autopilot 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and 365 days a year.

Each piece of content you create can send people to a landing page and sell a product. By creating many pieces of content and sharing them online you can build multiple sources of income which can all run continually, working as your own ‘automated sales team’.

3 – Ability To Scale

Along with this amazing automation is the ability to scale your business. Because there is no human intervention in the ‘sales loop’, multiple sales can happen instantaneously through the same platforms. Your content and advertising can be grown over time and scaled instantly (in the case of paid advertising). As your content gets more shares and more people flow through your website and content, your sales grow as a result. If you use paid advertising you can also scale a profitable campaign up easily by increasing your daily budget.

The automation of an online business makes it very easy to scale. In the case of a physical business this often means more staff, sales tools, larger office space and a whole lot more expense and hassle. With an online business everything is already in place. You simply need to send more customers through the automated sales systems with content and/or paid advertising methods.

4 – Low Startup Costs

When I started an online business I did it from my own pocket. I didn’t need a massive loan and I worked at a level which suited my budget. An internet business is very cost effective and you can start from scratch from pretty much any budget. If you have more to invest you can grow it faster with paid advertising. But, if you are on a budget like I was when I got started, you can get started easily and cheaply.

With a regular ‘bricks and mortar’ business there are many overheads to consider. Your costs include a business premises, staff, hardware and stock. Then there’s advertising and delivery costs. With an online business you just need a laptop and an internet connection – two things many people already have. Your main cost is getting the right education and learning the best strategy to build on.

5 – Simplicity

Technology has made it much easier than was previously possible to set up your own website and learn how to use simple online platforms to connect people to products and services. Advertising and content creation is now available for anyone to use. Websites can be set up with a few clicks and anyone with an email can learn to use the tools and strategies of online marketers.

Whereas previously website building was the domain of the tech savvy programmer, now anyone can use simple user friendly platforms and programs. An online business sounds like something for a technical person, but anyone can now learn the skills needed to build their own online business.

6 – Control

An internet business gives you control over your life. Of course it takes time to build up to a stage where it can replace your current income. But the flexibility of an internet business means you can work it around your existing employment until you can make this happen.
Once your income is beyond that of your employment, you are in a very good position to take charge of your life. You don’t have to do the daily commute, or put up with an uncomfortable working situation. If you don’t like your job you can quit. Don’t like your boss? Fire him/her!
One of the very best things about an internet based business is the control it gives you over your life. You can also build your work around your lifestyle, rather than the other way round. Most people are forced to put work first in everything they do. Family time, holidays and hobbies all tend to depend and evolve around work. An internet business allows you to prioritize the things in your life which mean the most. It can put you back in the driving seat of your life, both in terms of what you earn and how you spend your time.

7 – Work From Anywhere

Not only does an internet business offer great flexibility in terms of working hours but it also offers you the choice to work from anywhere globally. This appeals to many people who would otherwise be more trapped by conventional work in a localized workplace.
For me, it was the flexibility of being able to choose my own hours and not have a boss. But for many the ability to travel anywhere globally is the most important factor to owning their own online business.
Take your laptop anywhere with an internet connection and work while abroad and travelling.

8 – Learn Life Skills

The skills I have learned from building my own internet business also make me much more employable. I also worked for an internet based company with the skills I learned from my laptop while sitting at home!

Being able to reach people globally and target specific types of people is a great skill and very desirable in business too. I was also able to use the knowledge I learned online to build one of my other physical businesses much more quickly by using both my website building skills and paid advertising.

The internet is a fantastic opportunity for anyone to be able to improve themselves, learn new skills and build another source of income. Skills learned are yours for life, whether or not you continue down the path of building an online business.

9 – Independence

We might believe ourselves to be independent but many of us are very dependent on our work for income. As such, our employers tell us how much we can earn, how much holiday we can take and what we will be doing while at work. Financial independence is the ultimate freedom.

When we are financially independent we can take a holiday whenever we please and work in our own time and on our own agenda. An online business gives you the automation and independence to live life on your terms, without the agenda of an employer running your life.

10 – Sovereignty

Being an owner gives you sovereignty. The ability to call the shots in your business is what many entrepreneurs aspire to. As a business owner your actions determine whether you make a success of your business or not.

Having a successful online business gives you the kind of freedom which most people will never see in their lifetime. The ability to create your own life on your terms is the reward of having worked hard on your business and on yourself.

Not having a boss, choosing your own working hours and choosing who you spend time with are all luxuries which are earned from working hard on your own business.

A Business Analyst is a person who assists clients and stockholders by analyzing business practices, identifying potential problems and providing solutions to these problems. They may go by other titles including budget analysts, financial analysts, or management analysts if they specialize in a particular field. Analysts sometimes referred to as a “BA” are also responsible for analyzing the business needs of their clients to help identify business problems and propose solutions. Within the systems development life cycle domain, a business analyst typically performs a liaison function between the business side of an enterprise and the providers of services to the enterprise.

They are responsible for analyzing the business needs of their clients to help identify business problems and propose solutions. A business rules analyst, however, can be thought of as a business analyst with a focus on business rules. Professional business analysts understand business systems and the overall business processes in the enterprise. They have the qualities to savvy users of the major business systems within a company and are deeply aware of trends and significant changes in business data needs across the company.

To be a good business analyst, you should be skilled at working with end-users to determine what their needs are. So, good analysts should have technical experience which is useful in determining if a user’s requests are feasible and should be essentially objective observers of a particular business or a specific department. Their job is to review the processes, personnel, and investments made within a company and determine the exact functioning, and possibly potential functioning, for the area under analysis.

You should know that when you are an analyst you are accountable for solutions that meet defined needs. You must also have the ability to assess projects after implementation. Business analysts are given the tools and trained in the skills necessary to accomplish this task. However, successful business analysts have attributes that cannot be taught.

Business analysts are expected to analyze and understand business problems and present solution recommendations to the business stakeholders. Business process modeling adds value to projects by ensuring the technology solution will meet the business needs. They are usually educated to degree level and many have relevant work experience and vocational skills, perhaps as part of a sandwich course.

Project Leaders in Business Analysts

Project leaders are usually interested in the costs of the various options that may be available, and call upon business analysts to provide cost estimates. From these estimates, they can choose the “best” solution. Project teams must be reconfigured to make the best use of this new role. Business analysts are much more valuable to the team when they have learned how to gather, analyze, organize, and document data requirements.

Finally, professional business analysts play a critical role throughout the business solution development life cycle. BA’s are the static link between the business and IT departments and they must be able to speak both languages. Business analysts pursue nonlinear, heuristic, and sometimes wholly intuitive avenues of analysis and discovery, using tools designed to support these interrogations. So make sure to try and have all the qualities and requirements to be a successful analyst.

Business analyst acts as a liaison between the information technology (IT) division of the company and management. He is responsible for analysing the company’s business systems and identifying different options for augmenting the working of business systems. It is the job of an analyst to clearly understand the problems of a company and create viable solutions for the woes confronting the business. While creating these systems, it is his job to provide technological solutions to different business problems.

Duties

1= Defines and records various business functions & processes.
2= Consults with management and personnel to clearly define business needs, procedures, problems and different levels of systems access.
3= Develops new systems and makes enhancements to current systems in order to ensure that it is in close conformity to the needs of the user.
4= Identifies various opportunities for improving business processes through information systems.
5= Provides assistance in training technical staff.

Requisite qualifications

In reality, there are no particular qualifications that you may need for doing analyst jobs. Business analyst job has become synonymous with engineering and IT. As a result, an IT background would be required for certain job profiles. Also, a post-graduate degree in finance is an added benefit. The IIBA (International Institute of Business Analysis) is offering a certified professional certification, which is recognized across the world.

Remuneration

In the last few years, there has been a spurt in the economic growth. Due to this, there are various business analyst jobs which are available in the market. The package of an analyst is quite lucrative and the job comes along with other perks as well. The package depends on factors like company, experience, work profile, location and skills. The IT sector business analysts are drawing good perks. On an average, an analyst can earn around Rs 5-12 lakh/annum.

Sectors generating jobs are

Construction
Oil & gas
Telecommunication
Insurance & finance
Information technology
Hospitality

In India, there is no dearth of jobs for analysts. Some of the top companies offering business analyst jobs are-

Genpact
Infosys
Wipro
Deloitte
IBM
Oracle
TCS

Career progression

Analysts usually start their careers in entry-level job roles. They primarily focus on information, research and interviews. As an analyst gains more experience, they start working on important projects, which demand an impeccable use of complex tools and knowledge. Once a business analyst has gained work experience and skills within different job roles, he/she may also start own consulting business or move into other managerial roles.

Being a Business Analyst entails a lot of responsibilities such as the identification of business needs and the determination of probable solutions to problems that the company encounters. One must be able to come up with comprehensive solutions which has a systematic developmental component, which may include a detailed description of process improvements, change in organizational format, or plans and policies for strategic development.

He should represent and know the target market of the company. He should be able to relay the important information from the consumers to the development team. Moreover, he must be responsible to provide useful modeling techniques for the company which will be considered in this article.

The common modeling techniques for a BA include context, process, usage, data and design models. It should be expected that the analyst is knowledgeable about all of these models. Models are a framework of generating economic method of doing business in which the company can achieve self sustainability. These are often used by an analyst to present a certain plan or system in a more comprehensive way to be able to lay out how will the company can generate revenues.

In process modeling, the business analyst should be able to provide a detailed description of the steps that the company should take. The purpose of this activity is that the enterprise will evaluate the current process and how it may be reanalyzed or improved. This may be accomplished by creating flowcharts and activity diagrams, sequence diagrams, functional decomposition models and a lot more.

The usage model on the other hand, presents information concerning user profiles. He must be able to know the fundamentals of usage models. He must be familiar with user groups and profiles, stories and storyboard and use case modeling and more.

In data modeling the business analyst should be able to exactly establish as well as relate the user data requirements. Then he must be able to obtain necessary information required to make the data model. Next, he must be able to interpret and create logical data models.

After setting the data models the business analyst should be able to come up a design model. In design modeling he must be able to derive or architect a solution or actions that the company must do to counter any problems or improve and develop the company. The BA must have already finalized the business model and have prepared a summarized recommendation on when and how the models can be used.

While industry experts agree that business analysts are essential to IT organizations, few know specifically what they do. Underscoring this, a recent survey by the noted research firm Forrester entitled, The New Business Analyst, said:

Everyone agrees on the importance of the business analyst role, but few know exactly what it is that business analysts do … a new breed of business technology analyst will emerge to play a new role implementing changes to business policies directly within supporting software.

What does this means for today’s business analysts, particularly in this economy? In short, they must proactively define their roles to keep their jobs.

How to Decide What Type of Business Analyst You Are

The survey mentioned above said that there are basically two types of business analysts: those focused on business, and those focused on IT. But, it went on to say that the lines between the two were becoming ever more fuzzy. This presents two options to business analysts – they can broaden their job responsibilities and straddle the fence between two disciplines. Or, they can narrow it, focusing on a specific niche.

Which one should you choose – IT or business? That depends on the organization you work for and/or your long-term career objectives.

Food for Thought: In a depressed economy, one would think that broadening your skill set is the way to go; ie, become a jack-of-all-trades. However, this is not necessarily true. Becoming the go-to professional in a specific niche can be just as valuable in keeping your job and/or landing lucrative consulting assignments.

Clearly defining your short- and long-term career objectives will help you decide.