How to Choose the Right Business Model

If you’re not crystal clear about your business model, then it’s likely going to cost you a lot of money.

In fact, not choosing the right business model can cost you as much as 400%.

Choosing the right business model is part of your overall business strategy (along with your marketing channels, USP, product type, niche selection, pricing, customer support, etc.) So it’s important to spend some time picking the right business model early.

A lot of entrepreneurs make the mistake of choosing the wrong business model. They may be too eager to launch their business and don’t give it much thought which may end up costing them.

But don’t fret.

I’ve made this mistake many times and I’ve already had to pay for it so you don’t have to.

The good news is that I’m going to show you how you can avoid choosing the WRONG business model for your business.

I’m also going to show you find the perfect business model for your creative business endeavor.

What’s a Business Model?

You may have heard of the term, and have some thoughts about what it means.

You may think it’s strategy, marketing, or sales.

But a business model is simply, the vehicle through which you will deliver your product or services.

It answers the question: how do I plan to make money?

For example, if you’re a blogger, then you need to know how you plan to monetize it. Is it with ads, affiliate products, products, 1-on-1 consulting, or all of the above?

It’s important to know the answer to this question before you get too far along.

It’s also important to choose a business model which best suits your preferences, lifestyle, personality, skills and ability — not necessarily because it has the potential of making the most money. Of course, if it meets both criteria, then of course it would be ideal.

How to Choose the Right Business Model

The right business model can be the difference between success and failure for the same product and technology

First determine whether you want to deliver a product or a service.

Membership Site
Software
Done-For-You Service
Email Series
Newsletters
Group Coaching Calls
Teleseminars
Webinars
Coaching/Consulting
Service
Affiliate Marketing
Ads
Subscription/Membership
Software/App/Tools/Templates
Speaking
E-commerce
Physical Products
Books
Mastermind Programs

Marketing Channels (How you will market your content via online channels)

Content	Channel
Article Marketing	Guest Blogging, Blogging (own site), Social Directories (tumblr, wordpress, blogger, etc.)
Podcast (Interviews, Q&A’s, Tips/Advice)	Itunes
Advertising (PPC & Display)	Adwords, Bing Ads, Facebook Ads, Display Network (relevant sites)
Email	Aweber.com, Mailchimp.com, Constant Contact
PR/media/news	Prweb.com, PR Newswire, PR Leap
Social Media (News/Updates, Pictures, Contests/Giveaways, Insights, Success Stories, Tips/Advice, Quotes, Content Curation)	Twitter, Pinterest, Google+, Facebook, Linkedin
RSS	Feedburner
eBooks	Kindle, Kobo, iTunes, NOOK
Audiobooks	Audible.com, iTunes
eNewsletters	Email
Case Studies	Blog, Slideshare, Website
Videos	Youtube, Vimeo, Brighttalk, Brightcove, Google+ Hangouts
Teleseminars	Instantteleseminars
Webinars/Webcasts	Gotomeeting
Online Presentations	Slideshare
Mobile Apps	Iphone, Android
Infographics	Visual.ly, Dailyinfographic, Cool Infographics, Infographics Archive, Infographic Journal, Infographics Showcase, Visual Loop
Research/White Papers/Reports	Docstoc, Scribd, Visual.ly
Digital Magazines	Zinio, Issuu, edocr
Online Retail	Market Relevant Sites
SEO (directories + all channels combined)	Directories: BOTW, Yahoo, DMOZ, etc.
Reviews (Local)	Yelp, Google+, Canpages, Homestars, etc.
Films/Documentaries	Itunes, GaiamTV, Amazon, Netflix
Affiliates	CJ, Linkshare, Clickbank, Shareasale, Google Affiliate Network
Joint Venture
Interviews
Online Portfolios	Behance.net, Dribbble.com, Carbonmade.com, Dunked.com, Coroflot.com, Cargocollective.com
Images	Flickr, Smugmug, Instagram, Pinterest, Photobucket, Google Images, Picasa, Shutterfly
Forums	Niche Relevant Forums
Classified Ads	Craigslist, Kijiji
Social Bookmarking	Stumbleupon, Reddit, Delicious
Discussions/Comments	Niche Relevant Blogs