How Anyone Can Start a Home Business
Choosing to start a business from home has its advantages and disadvantage, but before you make the choice to work from home there are many things that need to be considered. It does not matter if you work part-time for someone else or run a practice, anyone can start a business from home successfully and efficiently.
As a stay at home mom, I have met this challenge of working at home and working around the children constantly. I have to admit it wasn’t easy at first. If you have small children this will take some time to develop a real working schedule. Don’t expect your first month to run as smoothly as you would expect it, however if you manage your time, you can accomplish your goals.
Realistically, you may find you only have four hours to devote to your business daily. Any more time needed will be met with obstacles and frustration. For some people, working at night can be the most beneficial, while others may find working while the children are in school sufficient as well. Whatever time you choose, you must be able to block out that time for your business on a consistent basis.
One of the things you’ll definitely need will be a separate telephone line. There is nothing more embarrassing them having a business telephone number and your child answers. This is neither professional, nor effective. I know in my home, I ran into missed calls, and inadequate messages taken by the kids, and lost business. People get the impression you are disorganized and may not take you seriously.
With all the money, time and effort it takes to run a business from home, the last thing you need is to lose business. Once you established your telephone number, know that you are on your way to having a successful business. Secondly if your business requires a lot of paperwork in order to keep it running, then I suggest you purchase a good computer and maybe good business software that allow you to do your own graphics and business forms, and create your own forms. You will definitely need business cards, letterhead, envelops and perhaps a flyer or brochure selling your business idea.
If your business is selling a product, then your information needs to have every aspect of that product listed, including an address where to purchase it. Most people nowadays, are wary about sending money to postal boxes. If you feel you do not want to use your address, then I suggest you purchase an address through an answering service. This looks the most professional, and the cost is not that bad considering.
If your product is a service, your information needs to include business hours, and how the service can be paid for. If you avoid taking credit cards the better for the time being. However, if you choose to accept them, know that you give up a percentage to the bank for processing fees.
There are many online credit card companies that rip off the small business, so from experience, I assure you accepting money orders, and personal checks is still the best way to go. Remember you do not release, or sell anything without it being at least 50% paid for.
This will cut down on fraudulent purchases, and you can cut down on your losses too. The next thing to do is to register your business with your town’s County clerk’s office. They will ask you to search your title, just to make sure there isn’t another business operating in your state with the same name. If they find your name is a duplicate they will ask you to change your businesses name. Know that once you register your business, you will be expected to pay taxes on this business in the next three months.
However, the best way to run a small business from home is to keep your business listed under your name. In doing that, you must make sure all aspects of your business is legal, and that you don’t put yourself in any situation that could cause you to be sued. If you are ever sued, you can run the risk of losing everything, so keep in mind your name is your treasure.
The final thing you need you to do is make sure you are able to devote time to this business, and you have all the tools you need in order to operate. You don’t need to purchase fancy equipment, or a truckload of office supplies. You must learn how to re-invest in your business every rime you make a sale. This doesn’t mean go out and spend the money on a great pair of shoes, but to use that money purchase more items, raw materials, and advertisements.
The most difficult issue for small businesses to overcome is they lack capital advertisement. To not make this an obstacles for you learn how to utilize your business card and brochure or flyer and especially Internet advertisements and your personal website which you can create by yourself. Just look up free web site s and you find there is a number of them offering free services. All you will have to pay is for he hosting of the website and this can run from $10- 200 plus dollars.
There are many sophisticated ways to advertise your business, and this is effective if you have the capital to rent mailing list and do market testing. But the people I know don’t have all of that kind of money starting out, but they are doing quite well in their businesses working hard and covering all basis.
One of the main issues you need to ask yourself, who would want your product or service and why? If you’re selling cleaning products for examples, then look for schools, churches, or small centers. You must be creative and not look for the obvious. If you are looking to sell a service, think about how to make your service more desirable so that your future client feels your service is a necessity. Then deliver. Make sure you are able to deliver and make good on all you promise, if not, the word will get around fast and out of business you go.
