When you are the owner of a home business, you will find
hundreds of distractions that vie for your time, energy and
focus.
Common distractions include: children, family, friends,
neighbors, pets, phone calls, mail, household chores, video
games, television, neighborhood children, visitors, and so many
more.
As an owner of a home based business, you must always remember
your purpose in bringing your profession home. What was your
reason for wanting to own a home business? Was your goal to work
from home so that you can share in the lives of your children?
Was your goal to be out from under the rule of a tyrannical
boss? Was your goal to have the freedom to work when it is
convenient for you? Was your goal to make tons of money working
for yourself?
Here's a few good tips that will help you stay focused on your
home business:
TIP #1:
Whatever your reason for going out on your own, you must keep
your reason in the forefront of your mind. If you forget your
reason for starting your own home business, you will not be
working for yourself for long. It is far too easy to let
circumstance drive your activities --- and when circumstance is
in the driver's seat, you are more likely to crash and burn.
TIP #2:
Remember --- your own business is a lot like a real job. Some
people go to work to play, some go to socialize, and others ---
most often those who are paid in a commission or tip environment
--- go to work to work and to make money. When you work for
yourself, your salary is directly proportional to your
productivity. Therefore, wouldn't it make sense to stay focused
on getting as much done in as short of a period as possible?
Go to work to work and to make money. Leave playtime and
recreation for when your workday has ended.
TIP #3:
When you are dealing with family in the course of your workday,
it is important to schedule your activities as much as possible.
With small children, you must take time when you must, but you
should also work hard to make sure you dedicate a specific
number of hours to your workday.
With older children, it is much easier to tell them that you
will be working between the hours of x and y. Your children and
your friends must understand that certain hours of your day are
devoted to the activities of your business.
TIP #4:
Don't permit your friends and extended family to run over you.
Many people get the blind idea that if one works from home then
they are not actually working.
Well-meaning people may try to fill your doorway to bring advice
about getting a real job. Others may simply believe that if you
are at home, then you are fair game for chitchat and
socialization.
You must stand firm. You must make certain your friends and
family understands that when you are working, then you ARE
working! If they wish to socialize with you, then they need to
do it during the hours that are not dedicated to your home
business.
You are the only one who can stand up for you. Your friends and
family will seldom be able to appreciate your dedication to your
home business, unless you make the effort to make sure that they
have the same respect for your business that you do.
TIP #5:
You should allot a certain portion of your day to email and to
regular mail. For example, allot one hour in the morning and one
hour in the afternoon to handling your written communications.
Unless you dedicate certain times to the handling of these
communications, you will soon find yourself on the downward
slope of decreased productivity.
TIP #6:
When you find yourself spending too much time doing
non-productive activities, then you should seriously consider
finding a third-party service provider who will assist you in
those non-profitable business activities.
As an example, you might be in the mail-order business. You
might believe that your time is best spent writing ad copy and
setting up your advertising, but you find yourself spending far
too much time taking care of your books to take care of your
advertising in the manner that you should. In this event, it
might make more sense to hire a bookkeeper to handle your
financial records for you.
CONCLUSION:
In the end, the success of your home business is entirely and
completely reliant upon you and the decisions that you make.
You had your reasons for deciding to start your own home based
business. You must always keep your reasons in the forefront of
your mind. You must always be able to rely upon your own self
and your dedication to the success of your business.
Your friends and family might be annoyed that they cannot come
visit upon their own whim, but when success comes to you and
your business, they will better appreciate you for putting your
foot down when necessary.
Success is within your reach, if only you can stay focused on
your goals. You must decide to reach for your goals, and then,
you must have the discipline necessary to reach them.
Wednesday, August 02, 2006
Monday, July 31, 2006
Do not Forget Yourself: Surviving the Financial Strain
When you start a home business, it's all too easy to get carried away by all your new obligations: keeping your customers happy, earning enough money to live, and so on. Being in such an uncertain financial situation is stressful, but many home business owners simply ignore this stress, instead of dealing with it. When you're worrying about money, you tend to be worrying about everyone else and what will happen when you let them down.
What I'm saying is this: don't forget yourself.
The End of Stability... or the Beginning?
Many people get very upset a few months after they quit their job and start their own business, feeling like they threw away the financial stability they had in their job, to chase a dream. Think of this way, though: just how stable were you in your job to begin with? Did you constantly have to avoid saying or doing the wrong thing, for fear of getting fired? Did it always feel like you were one bad project away from the end?
Well, you are in almost all 'real' jobs, when hiring and firing is at the whim of your manager. At least now you work for yourself you can't lose your whole job -- only individual clients. I know many people, especially medical professionals, who feel far more stable working at home than they ever did in their job. They know that there will always be at least enough people coming to them for them to survive.
Living With It.
You knew this was going to be hard on you financially when you started -- it's no excuse to give up. Talk to any home business owner and they'll tell you how much stress they're under. It's part of the way of life. Big companies are designed to take financial strain away from individual employees, since everything is decided by committee and it's the investors who are going to be losing out anyway. You don't have this luxury.
The only advice to give here is that you shouldn't take any more financial risk than you're comfortable with -- decide in advance just how much you're willing to lose before you throw in the towel. You should agree this point with your family before you start, though, and don't let them pressure you into giving in before you've reached it.
Keep Clear Records.
The absolute worst and most stressful thing is not to know exactly what your financial situation is from day to day. While you might think you don't want to know, things are never really as bad as they seem when you've got the numbers in front of you. It's when you leave it to your imagination that things really start to seem bad.
The simplest way to keep records for yourself is to use a simple accounting program, or even just a spreadsheet. Enter what you started with, and then record everything you spend and everything you earn. Remember: it's never that bad.
Don't Start Taking Sick Days.
It can be all too easy to take 'sick days' when the only person you answer to is yourself -- when you feel stressed, the natural reaction is to hide away and ignore whatever it is that's making you stressed. You'll only make your financial situation worse if you do this, so it's important that you only stop working when there's something actually wrong with you, not just when you feel low.
What's the Worst That Can Happen?
Think of it this way: what's the absolute worst case scenario, the thing that you're most afraid of financially? There are very few situations that couldn't be solved by selling a few of the things that have accumulated in your house over the years (you probably don't even use them), or by selling your car and getting a smaller one. Do you really need all those things you subscribe to monthly? Newspapers, cable TV, and the rest could all go in an emergency, right?
Basically, when you run a home business, you might have to make a few short-term sacrifices to get yourself out of trouble. I guarantee you, though, that you will find it very difficult indeed to completely crash and burn.
What I'm saying is this: don't forget yourself.
The End of Stability... or the Beginning?
Many people get very upset a few months after they quit their job and start their own business, feeling like they threw away the financial stability they had in their job, to chase a dream. Think of this way, though: just how stable were you in your job to begin with? Did you constantly have to avoid saying or doing the wrong thing, for fear of getting fired? Did it always feel like you were one bad project away from the end?
Well, you are in almost all 'real' jobs, when hiring and firing is at the whim of your manager. At least now you work for yourself you can't lose your whole job -- only individual clients. I know many people, especially medical professionals, who feel far more stable working at home than they ever did in their job. They know that there will always be at least enough people coming to them for them to survive.
Living With It.
You knew this was going to be hard on you financially when you started -- it's no excuse to give up. Talk to any home business owner and they'll tell you how much stress they're under. It's part of the way of life. Big companies are designed to take financial strain away from individual employees, since everything is decided by committee and it's the investors who are going to be losing out anyway. You don't have this luxury.
The only advice to give here is that you shouldn't take any more financial risk than you're comfortable with -- decide in advance just how much you're willing to lose before you throw in the towel. You should agree this point with your family before you start, though, and don't let them pressure you into giving in before you've reached it.
Keep Clear Records.
The absolute worst and most stressful thing is not to know exactly what your financial situation is from day to day. While you might think you don't want to know, things are never really as bad as they seem when you've got the numbers in front of you. It's when you leave it to your imagination that things really start to seem bad.
The simplest way to keep records for yourself is to use a simple accounting program, or even just a spreadsheet. Enter what you started with, and then record everything you spend and everything you earn. Remember: it's never that bad.
Don't Start Taking Sick Days.
It can be all too easy to take 'sick days' when the only person you answer to is yourself -- when you feel stressed, the natural reaction is to hide away and ignore whatever it is that's making you stressed. You'll only make your financial situation worse if you do this, so it's important that you only stop working when there's something actually wrong with you, not just when you feel low.
What's the Worst That Can Happen?
Think of it this way: what's the absolute worst case scenario, the thing that you're most afraid of financially? There are very few situations that couldn't be solved by selling a few of the things that have accumulated in your house over the years (you probably don't even use them), or by selling your car and getting a smaller one. Do you really need all those things you subscribe to monthly? Newspapers, cable TV, and the rest could all go in an emergency, right?
Basically, when you run a home business, you might have to make a few short-term sacrifices to get yourself out of trouble. I guarantee you, though, that you will find it very difficult indeed to completely crash and burn.
Wednesday, July 26, 2006
3 Pointers for Choosing a Business to Start
Q: I love kids and would like to start a service-oriented business. My head hurts from trying to decide what to do...children's day care, after-school care, exercise gym, summer camp. Could you give me some advice?
A: You've made a great start by identifying the types of businesses you'd like to own. Here are three steps you can take to narrow down your choices.
1. Find your niche.
Like many entrepreneurs in major cities, you must decide which economic level and geographic community you'll serve. For example, you may choose to provide after-school care for low income children in one part of the community, or open a high-tech fitness facility for youngsters in a more affluent area. Look for an underserved niche--one in which there's not a long list of entrenched competition--and then do some research to determine if it represents a viable market for you. If you encounter large numbers of competitors in every market area, it will be your job to position your business against them and create your own unique niche with an innovative business concept and list of services.
2. Follow your heart.
Consider the role you plan to play in your new business. Do you enjoy being hands-on or is administration more to your liking? Think about the structure of each type of business you might start. Running a summer camp and overseeing counselors and student activities, for instance, might cast you in more of an administrative role than would a small homebased daycare center.
3. Build a financial model.
Each of the businesses you're thinking about starting will have different capital investment requirements, sales potential and profit margins. How much do you plan to invest in your new business? Can you qualify for a business loan or other financial assistance? And what are your personal financial goals? Build hypothetical financial models for several of your business concepts and compare them. Take into consideration the difference in start-up costs between founding an exercise gym and providing after-school care, for example. Then look at the sales and net profit potential for each after expenses for the facilities, staff and equipment are factored in.
By following your heart and your head in this way, you'll find that sweet spot where what you truly want and the world of possibilities meet.
A: You've made a great start by identifying the types of businesses you'd like to own. Here are three steps you can take to narrow down your choices.
1. Find your niche.
Like many entrepreneurs in major cities, you must decide which economic level and geographic community you'll serve. For example, you may choose to provide after-school care for low income children in one part of the community, or open a high-tech fitness facility for youngsters in a more affluent area. Look for an underserved niche--one in which there's not a long list of entrenched competition--and then do some research to determine if it represents a viable market for you. If you encounter large numbers of competitors in every market area, it will be your job to position your business against them and create your own unique niche with an innovative business concept and list of services.
2. Follow your heart.
Consider the role you plan to play in your new business. Do you enjoy being hands-on or is administration more to your liking? Think about the structure of each type of business you might start. Running a summer camp and overseeing counselors and student activities, for instance, might cast you in more of an administrative role than would a small homebased daycare center.
3. Build a financial model.
Each of the businesses you're thinking about starting will have different capital investment requirements, sales potential and profit margins. How much do you plan to invest in your new business? Can you qualify for a business loan or other financial assistance? And what are your personal financial goals? Build hypothetical financial models for several of your business concepts and compare them. Take into consideration the difference in start-up costs between founding an exercise gym and providing after-school care, for example. Then look at the sales and net profit potential for each after expenses for the facilities, staff and equipment are factored in.
By following your heart and your head in this way, you'll find that sweet spot where what you truly want and the world of possibilities meet.
Sunday, July 23, 2006
Managing Risk: the Disaster Plan
A very important factor in any business is how you manage risk – yet it is a factor that is often ignored by home businesses.
You have to realise that any time you start a business, you are taking the risk that the business might fail. What experienced people do is shield themselves from risk at every opportunity, to make sure that they can keep a business going for months on the brink of disaster, and wind it down gracefully if it really has to go under.
You need to have a plan for what you’re going to do if your business looks like it’s going bankrupt. Are you going to borrow more money, if you can? Sell your car? Raise prices? Get rid of staff? Done right, you should have a good package of ‘rescue measures’ that really do have a chance of rescuing the business.
Borrowing.
If you need to borrow more to keep your business afloat, take great pains to avoid looking desperate. Act like your business is moderately successful but needs more investment, and you’re far more likely to succeed in getting more funding.
Bye-Bye Staff.
This is a bad idea, but not always a terrible one. In a home business, you presumably only take on staff because you have enough business to cover it, don’t you? So it makes perfect sense to get rid of the staff when things start to go wrong and go back to doing it all yourself.
Price Hike.
When your business is in trouble, there are few things guaranteed to destroy it faster than a price rise. Just don’t do it, however tempting it might be – cut costs instead. If you absolutely must raise prices, do it by scaling back what you get for your money in each of your price ranges, without actually raising the prices.
I know of a struggling bus company that kept its fares the same for years but gradually started to run fewer buses and send them all over town, making journeys take longer. People reacted a little badly to the longer journeys, but it was nowhere near the scandal that there would have been if prices had risen.
Keep Staff Pay Aside.
Whatever you do, make sure to keep staff pay separate from the other business finances, and pay it out immediately if the business looks to be heading for trouble with its creditors. It is far better to be paying your staff on the last day than to be giving all that money to the creditors. Leaving staff unpaid will destroy your reputation, not to mention hurting a lot of innocent people.
The ‘Closing Down’ Sale.
If you plan it well, your last day in business might not be so bad. Just make sure everyone knows that you’re closing down for real, but still price everything ever-so-slightly above cost. In this way, you can avoid the drastic loss-making ‘Everything Must Go!’ mentality, and come out of your business the same way as you would if you’d decided to shut it down that day for some other reason.
Selling Your Business On.
If you’re shrewd about it, you might be able to keep your business going long enough to sell it to someone who could turn it around. There’s nothing dishonest about this route – it’s the one most big companies take if things start to go wrong. You might even find that one of your competitors is willing to buy, even if only for your established customer base.
It’s Up to You.
Disaster plans are very personal, and they depend a lot on how much risk you’re willing to put on yourself. If you do things the sensible way, then you’ll go as far as you can to avoid selling or borrowing against any of your own assets just to keep a business afloat. On the other hand, if you’re really determined and a bit of a risk-taker, putting some things of your own at stake might buy you enough time to recover from whatever hit your business.
It’s a little like playing poker: are you going to be the guy who walks away and leaves his money on the table, or are you going to throw your car or house keys onto the table and raise the stakes? That’s risk management for you.
About the author:
Petter Rogstad i a home business entrepreneur.. He left his job and started working from home when his wife - after 10 year at home with 5 children - wanted to pick up her carrier. He believes working from home is a wonderful opportunity to grow as a person and spend more time with your children
You have to realise that any time you start a business, you are taking the risk that the business might fail. What experienced people do is shield themselves from risk at every opportunity, to make sure that they can keep a business going for months on the brink of disaster, and wind it down gracefully if it really has to go under.
You need to have a plan for what you’re going to do if your business looks like it’s going bankrupt. Are you going to borrow more money, if you can? Sell your car? Raise prices? Get rid of staff? Done right, you should have a good package of ‘rescue measures’ that really do have a chance of rescuing the business.
Borrowing.
If you need to borrow more to keep your business afloat, take great pains to avoid looking desperate. Act like your business is moderately successful but needs more investment, and you’re far more likely to succeed in getting more funding.
Bye-Bye Staff.
This is a bad idea, but not always a terrible one. In a home business, you presumably only take on staff because you have enough business to cover it, don’t you? So it makes perfect sense to get rid of the staff when things start to go wrong and go back to doing it all yourself.
Price Hike.
When your business is in trouble, there are few things guaranteed to destroy it faster than a price rise. Just don’t do it, however tempting it might be – cut costs instead. If you absolutely must raise prices, do it by scaling back what you get for your money in each of your price ranges, without actually raising the prices.
I know of a struggling bus company that kept its fares the same for years but gradually started to run fewer buses and send them all over town, making journeys take longer. People reacted a little badly to the longer journeys, but it was nowhere near the scandal that there would have been if prices had risen.
Keep Staff Pay Aside.
Whatever you do, make sure to keep staff pay separate from the other business finances, and pay it out immediately if the business looks to be heading for trouble with its creditors. It is far better to be paying your staff on the last day than to be giving all that money to the creditors. Leaving staff unpaid will destroy your reputation, not to mention hurting a lot of innocent people.
The ‘Closing Down’ Sale.
If you plan it well, your last day in business might not be so bad. Just make sure everyone knows that you’re closing down for real, but still price everything ever-so-slightly above cost. In this way, you can avoid the drastic loss-making ‘Everything Must Go!’ mentality, and come out of your business the same way as you would if you’d decided to shut it down that day for some other reason.
Selling Your Business On.
If you’re shrewd about it, you might be able to keep your business going long enough to sell it to someone who could turn it around. There’s nothing dishonest about this route – it’s the one most big companies take if things start to go wrong. You might even find that one of your competitors is willing to buy, even if only for your established customer base.
It’s Up to You.
Disaster plans are very personal, and they depend a lot on how much risk you’re willing to put on yourself. If you do things the sensible way, then you’ll go as far as you can to avoid selling or borrowing against any of your own assets just to keep a business afloat. On the other hand, if you’re really determined and a bit of a risk-taker, putting some things of your own at stake might buy you enough time to recover from whatever hit your business.
It’s a little like playing poker: are you going to be the guy who walks away and leaves his money on the table, or are you going to throw your car or house keys onto the table and raise the stakes? That’s risk management for you.
About the author:
Petter Rogstad i a home business entrepreneur.. He left his job and started working from home when his wife - after 10 year at home with 5 children - wanted to pick up her carrier. He believes working from home is a wonderful opportunity to grow as a person and spend more time with your children
Saturday, July 22, 2006
Seeking Out Your Competitors
The best way to seek out your competitors is to try and buy whatever product or service it is you’re planning to sell. Enter the market as a customer, and find out what options you would have.
Where to Look.
It might be tempting to just use a search engine and go by the results that turns up, but you have to remember that plenty of business still takes place outside the Internet. You should also make sure that you pay attention to more traditional methods of advertising, such as the yellow pages, or your local newspaper. It’s worth cutting out and keeping any ads you find, as they can be good to refer to when it’s time to start your own marketing.
Do What They Do, But Differently.
Notice that I said ‘differently’, not necessarily ‘better’. Don’t assume that you’ll be able to improve on established businesses if you’re doing the exact same thing as they are – they have years of experience, after all. What you’re trying to do is distinguish yourself in the marketplace, so that people who are looking for something specific in your chosen industry will come to you.
There are a number of tried-and-true ways of altering existing products to make them succeed in the market.
The Price-Quality Line.
You may find other businesses that only offer a very high-quality service, and accordingly charge a premium price – or you might find ones that only offer heavily-discounted rubbish. Consider taking their products to the opposite end of the market. If you can offer a product of only slightly worse quality at half the price, then people will jump at it – and, likewise, there are always people willing to pay the most to get the best.
Provide a Service.
It is perfectly possible to sell products of the exact same physical quality while providing a better service – to the customer, quality and service are almost the same thing. There are companies out there who can sell computer software that their customers could get almost for free, simply because the customers like to have the support services that they get with their purchase.
Likewise, if service is all you do, then it should be pretty simple to provide a more attentive and personal service than your competitors. ‘One-on-one business’ gives you a great opportunity to become friendly with your customers, and that’s often worth its weight in gold to them.
Make it Simpler.
Many businesses offer great products, but they’re pitching them to very technical customers. If you’re an expert in your field, you will very often find that you can build a great business simply by selling the same thing as your competitors, but going to some trouble to explain and market it to a wider section of the public. Anytime you start using some new technology, the chances are that someone along the way had to work out how to make it simpler. Few new technologies or inventions come pre-packaged for consumer use.
Change the Design. Make it smaller, or change the colour, or make it easier to open and fix. There are all sorts of ways to subtly redesign a product and give it all sorts of bells and whistles that customers will really appreciate. You might even be able to buy products, modify them, and then sell them on.
Build Alliances.
Despite what the word might lead you to think, you don’t always have to be competitive with your competitors. You might find that they have extra work sometimes that they wouldn’t mind sending over to you, or you might find that they’re willing to give you advice on starting up (if not for free, then perhaps for nothing more than the cost of a few drinks!). Of course, you shouldn’t go giving away all your secrets or giving them any other advantage, but that doesn’t mean that you should keep away. Pay special attention to any problems that they say they’ve had, or anything they do that seems to sell especially well.
Believe it or not, your competitors can be your best allies in this home business game, especially if they’re home businesses themselves – over time, your competitors might even become your friends.
About the author:
Petter Rogstad i a home business entrepreneur.. He left his job and started working from home when his wife - after 10 year at home with 5 children - wanted to pick up her carrier. He believes working from home is a wonderful opportunity to grow as a person and spend more time with your children
Where to Look.
It might be tempting to just use a search engine and go by the results that turns up, but you have to remember that plenty of business still takes place outside the Internet. You should also make sure that you pay attention to more traditional methods of advertising, such as the yellow pages, or your local newspaper. It’s worth cutting out and keeping any ads you find, as they can be good to refer to when it’s time to start your own marketing.
Do What They Do, But Differently.
Notice that I said ‘differently’, not necessarily ‘better’. Don’t assume that you’ll be able to improve on established businesses if you’re doing the exact same thing as they are – they have years of experience, after all. What you’re trying to do is distinguish yourself in the marketplace, so that people who are looking for something specific in your chosen industry will come to you.
There are a number of tried-and-true ways of altering existing products to make them succeed in the market.
The Price-Quality Line.
You may find other businesses that only offer a very high-quality service, and accordingly charge a premium price – or you might find ones that only offer heavily-discounted rubbish. Consider taking their products to the opposite end of the market. If you can offer a product of only slightly worse quality at half the price, then people will jump at it – and, likewise, there are always people willing to pay the most to get the best.
Provide a Service.
It is perfectly possible to sell products of the exact same physical quality while providing a better service – to the customer, quality and service are almost the same thing. There are companies out there who can sell computer software that their customers could get almost for free, simply because the customers like to have the support services that they get with their purchase.
Likewise, if service is all you do, then it should be pretty simple to provide a more attentive and personal service than your competitors. ‘One-on-one business’ gives you a great opportunity to become friendly with your customers, and that’s often worth its weight in gold to them.
Make it Simpler.
Many businesses offer great products, but they’re pitching them to very technical customers. If you’re an expert in your field, you will very often find that you can build a great business simply by selling the same thing as your competitors, but going to some trouble to explain and market it to a wider section of the public. Anytime you start using some new technology, the chances are that someone along the way had to work out how to make it simpler. Few new technologies or inventions come pre-packaged for consumer use.
Change the Design. Make it smaller, or change the colour, or make it easier to open and fix. There are all sorts of ways to subtly redesign a product and give it all sorts of bells and whistles that customers will really appreciate. You might even be able to buy products, modify them, and then sell them on.
Build Alliances.
Despite what the word might lead you to think, you don’t always have to be competitive with your competitors. You might find that they have extra work sometimes that they wouldn’t mind sending over to you, or you might find that they’re willing to give you advice on starting up (if not for free, then perhaps for nothing more than the cost of a few drinks!). Of course, you shouldn’t go giving away all your secrets or giving them any other advantage, but that doesn’t mean that you should keep away. Pay special attention to any problems that they say they’ve had, or anything they do that seems to sell especially well.
Believe it or not, your competitors can be your best allies in this home business game, especially if they’re home businesses themselves – over time, your competitors might even become your friends.
About the author:
Petter Rogstad i a home business entrepreneur.. He left his job and started working from home when his wife - after 10 year at home with 5 children - wanted to pick up her carrier. He believes working from home is a wonderful opportunity to grow as a person and spend more time with your children
Monday, July 17, 2006
Getting Help and Advice on Starting a Home Business
When you want to start a home business, it can be easy to feel alone, confused, and scared. The chances are that you don’t know anyone else who’s ever started a business, and you don’t even know who to ask if you get stuck. Here are a few things you ought to be looking at.
The Internet.
The Internet is a great resource for people who are thinking of setting up a home business – as well as all the articles you can find with practical advice, there are also many forums, where you can read about others’ experiences, and ask questions.
The Government.
Scary as it might seem to be getting advice on anything from the government, most governments go really out of their way to produce all sorts of easy-to-understand material on starting your own business. Encouraging you in business is a great way for them to both strengthen the economy and increase tax revenues.
Depending on your area, you might find that local government agencies are also keen to give you help and advice, and might even have some kind of ‘small business centre’ that you can visit.
Mentors.
Mentors are usually volunteers who think it would be nice to offer local businesses help and advice. They often have years of business experience, and can be really useful – if you find one, hang on to them.
Librarians.
Always willing to help and sadly neglected in our ‘wired’ age, you really should talk to a librarian. Libraries generally contain all sorts of business books and resources that they’ll be able to point you towards, and they’ll be more than happy to do research into obscure areas for you.
Lawyers.
Pricey as they might be, lawyers know all about starting businesses – they’ve almost certainly done it thousands of times over. It can be well worth paying for an hour of a lawyer’s time and just asking them every question you can think of.
Accountants.
A less expensive alternative to lawyers, accountants also know their stuff, especially (obviously) on the financial side. If you want your business to be profitable, you should take on board what your accountant tells you – and if you don’t have one, you should get one. By the time they’ve helped you navigate through all the tax mazes, they’ll almost certainly have made their fee back for you anyway.
Incubators and Investors.
If you think your business would be an attractive proposal to people who back businesses for a living, then you can try going to a ‘business incubator’ or some other kind of investor with your idea. If they like it, they’ll often have a quick process set up to get your company up and running as soon as possible.
Universities.
Here’s an interesting one: universities are full of business students. They’ve all spent ages learning about nothing but business, and many of them would just love to help get a real one off the ground – it’d look great on their CV, after all. Business students can be a great source of free help and advice, and they’ll probably even be thankful to you for letting them help out!
Teachers.
If you do a course to get a formal qualification in what you want to do before starting the business, you’ll probably find that your teacher is also a good resource on the business side of things. They’ll have had plenty of students starting businesses who’ve asked them similar questions, and they might even have prepared some material to give to anyone who asks for it.
Your Bank.
Traditionally, your bank would have been the first place you went if you were thinking of starting a business, but many people seem to ignore them nowadays. While they’re no replacement for accountants, most banks will offer you a ‘business advisor’ when you open a business account, and they can be especially helpful with the technical and financial elements of starting up.
Associations, Societies and Unions.
Whatever industry you’re thinking of entering probably has some kind of trade association, society or union. You should join as soon as you can, and take advantage of all the resources that they will almost certainly offer to people wanting to get started in their industry. After all, the more people who are in their industry, the more members they can get.
So you see, there’s no shortage of advice out there if you look for it.
About the author:
Petter Rogstad i a home business entrepreneur.. He left his job and started working from home when his wife - after 10 year at home with 5 children - wanted to pick up her carrier. He believes working from home is a wonderful opportunity to grow as a person and spend more time with your children
The Internet.
The Internet is a great resource for people who are thinking of setting up a home business – as well as all the articles you can find with practical advice, there are also many forums, where you can read about others’ experiences, and ask questions.
The Government.
Scary as it might seem to be getting advice on anything from the government, most governments go really out of their way to produce all sorts of easy-to-understand material on starting your own business. Encouraging you in business is a great way for them to both strengthen the economy and increase tax revenues.
Depending on your area, you might find that local government agencies are also keen to give you help and advice, and might even have some kind of ‘small business centre’ that you can visit.
Mentors.
Mentors are usually volunteers who think it would be nice to offer local businesses help and advice. They often have years of business experience, and can be really useful – if you find one, hang on to them.
Librarians.
Always willing to help and sadly neglected in our ‘wired’ age, you really should talk to a librarian. Libraries generally contain all sorts of business books and resources that they’ll be able to point you towards, and they’ll be more than happy to do research into obscure areas for you.
Lawyers.
Pricey as they might be, lawyers know all about starting businesses – they’ve almost certainly done it thousands of times over. It can be well worth paying for an hour of a lawyer’s time and just asking them every question you can think of.
Accountants.
A less expensive alternative to lawyers, accountants also know their stuff, especially (obviously) on the financial side. If you want your business to be profitable, you should take on board what your accountant tells you – and if you don’t have one, you should get one. By the time they’ve helped you navigate through all the tax mazes, they’ll almost certainly have made their fee back for you anyway.
Incubators and Investors.
If you think your business would be an attractive proposal to people who back businesses for a living, then you can try going to a ‘business incubator’ or some other kind of investor with your idea. If they like it, they’ll often have a quick process set up to get your company up and running as soon as possible.
Universities.
Here’s an interesting one: universities are full of business students. They’ve all spent ages learning about nothing but business, and many of them would just love to help get a real one off the ground – it’d look great on their CV, after all. Business students can be a great source of free help and advice, and they’ll probably even be thankful to you for letting them help out!
Teachers.
If you do a course to get a formal qualification in what you want to do before starting the business, you’ll probably find that your teacher is also a good resource on the business side of things. They’ll have had plenty of students starting businesses who’ve asked them similar questions, and they might even have prepared some material to give to anyone who asks for it.
Your Bank.
Traditionally, your bank would have been the first place you went if you were thinking of starting a business, but many people seem to ignore them nowadays. While they’re no replacement for accountants, most banks will offer you a ‘business advisor’ when you open a business account, and they can be especially helpful with the technical and financial elements of starting up.
Associations, Societies and Unions.
Whatever industry you’re thinking of entering probably has some kind of trade association, society or union. You should join as soon as you can, and take advantage of all the resources that they will almost certainly offer to people wanting to get started in their industry. After all, the more people who are in their industry, the more members they can get.
So you see, there’s no shortage of advice out there if you look for it.
About the author:
Petter Rogstad i a home business entrepreneur.. He left his job and started working from home when his wife - after 10 year at home with 5 children - wanted to pick up her carrier. He believes working from home is a wonderful opportunity to grow as a person and spend more time with your children
Saturday, July 15, 2006
25 Part-Time Business Ideas
Antiques
Make new money from old treasures and have fun doing it! Scout garage sales, estate auctions and flea markets for great buys on antique furniture, toys, clothing and other treasures from the past. Rent space at antique cooperatives, or set up booths at weekend fairs to sell your antiques.
Computer Tutor
Whether you're an expert at Windows or Linux, desktop publishing or Web research, HTML or word processing, you can help anyone enhance their computer skills. Start promoting your computer-training services by teaching classes through organizations in your community which offer adult education courses.
Custom Jewelry and Accessories
Put your creative talents to work designing custom jewelry and accessories. Whether you work with sterling silver or recycled metals, clay or papier-mâché, there's a market for your custom earrings, pins, bracelets, necklaces and belt buckles at art shows, crafts fairs and holiday boutiques.
Espresso Cart
Brew up profits day after day! Specialty coffee drinks generate gross profits of 55.1 to 61.5 percent per cup, says the Specialty Coffee Association of America. So brush up on your coffee drinks, buy or rent an espresso cart, and head for sporting events, concerts and farmers' markets in your community.
Garage and Attic Cleaning/Hauling Service
Nobody likes to spend a weekend cleaning out the garage, attic or garden shed--it's dirty and time-consuming, and when it's done, there's still the task of hauling off all that discarded junk. But if you don't mind putting in the physical labor, a cleaning and hauling service can be a lot of fun. You can usually find a few treasures among the trash which most people are delighted to give away, and you can add to your income by recycling bottles, newspapers and metal castoffs. You'll need a pick-up truck or other vehicle capable of carrying everything from cast-iron sinks to old timbers.
Handyman
If it's broke, you can fix it. Your phone will ring off the hook with calls from homeowners, senior citizens and others who don't want to fix it themselves. Advertise in shopper publications and on bulletin boards, and drop off fliers at real estate offices. Then start repairing everything from leaky faucets to broken windows.
Home Inspection
Buyers need not beware when they hire a home inspector to conduct a complete physical checkup on their dream home. You'll inspect the house for structural problems and refer your clients to the contractors or handymen who can make the repairs. Knowledge of construction and your local building codes will get your business off the ground.
Medical Transcription
Work as an important member of a medical team without leaving your homebased office. There's big demand by hospitals, doctors, dentists, chiropractors and veterinarians who need outside help transcribing patient medical records. Training in medical terminology and linguistic skills will keep your business healthy.
Mobile Home-Entertainment Service
When it's dirty, disconnected or in need of repair, you'll save the day for homeowners who want their stereo, compact-disc player or videocassette recorder in working order. Brush up on your electrical and wiring know-how. Door-to-door fliers and calls to retail-store managers about your services will get your business off to a great start.
Mobile Window Tint
With some training and basic equipment, you'll be seeing plenty of green with your mobile window-tinting business. For best results, have a pager and van ready to help car, van and truck owners prevent heat damage to their vehicles' interiors. Other hot markets: homes, high-rise condominiums and office buildings.
Office and Home Organizer
Attention all neatniks: Help packrats, overworked executives, and other organizationally challenged individuals clean out messy closets, straighten files, and throw out the excess clutter. Putting your knack for neatness to part-time business use is bound to arrange some tidy profits for you.
Personal Chef
What's for dinner, honey? Great home-cooked meals for working parents and busy professionals who hire you as a personal chef. There's plenty of demand for this specialized service. So plan your menu, make out your shopping list, and go to work to satisfy your hungry clientele.
Personal Trainer
Pumping iron; pumping profits. Americans of all ages, sizes and shapes want to keep fit, trim and healthy, and they're willing to hire their own personal coach to exercise correctly. Spread the word about your physical-fitness expertise at health spas, running, swimming and biking clubs, and other athletic outlets.
Picture Framer
Get in the frame with a picture framing service. You can work with gallery owners, artists, portrait photographers and individuals who've purchased a print, painting or fine photo. If you aren't already a framing expert, read up, take classes at a local college or community center, then assemble your tools--including clamps, saws, miter boxes, glue, and a pneumatic or hand stapler. Establish relationships with local artists' groups, galleries, photographers and print shops that can give you their business or refer their customers to you.
Plant Leasing And Maintenance
Got a green thumb and a delivery van? You're all set to service corporations, home builders, health clubs and other businesses who want fresh greenery. Develop a steady clientele with a regular watering, pruning and fertilizing program and a full replacement guarantee.
Records Search
Using specialized databases, you'll search public records on your computer to help your clients find lost loves, check out questionable suitors, track down debtors, verify a contractor's track record, or dig up facts on a business opportunity. Clients include attorneys, businessowners and individuals.
Restaurant Delivery
Whether it's macaroni and cheese or a five-course gourmet meal, at-home meal replacement is fast becoming the newest way to dine. When customers want their restaurant orders "to go," you'll be "on the go" with your restaurant delivery service. A great way to make your late afternoons and weekends extra-profitable!
T-Shirt Design
If you're an artist in search of a medium, why not make T-shirts your canvas? Paint, draw, bead or appliqué your designs on plain T-shirts, and spend your weekends showcasing your art-to-wear at farmers' markets and crafts fairs.
Wallpaper Hanging
Help residential and commercial clients turn drab walls into works of art with your wallpaper-hanging skills. Build a growing business with great referrals and repeat customers. Drop off fliers at paint and wallpaper stores; also, advertise in shopper publications, in homeowner-association newsletters, and on bulletin boards at local supermarkets and malls.
Yoga and Tai Chi Instructor
In today's hectic, fast-paced world, parents, business owners and students alike can benefit from the deep-breathing, relaxation and centering techniques you can teach them. Get started by offering classes at health clubs, through your city's recreation and parks department, or on your own.
Make new money from old treasures and have fun doing it! Scout garage sales, estate auctions and flea markets for great buys on antique furniture, toys, clothing and other treasures from the past. Rent space at antique cooperatives, or set up booths at weekend fairs to sell your antiques.
Computer Tutor
Whether you're an expert at Windows or Linux, desktop publishing or Web research, HTML or word processing, you can help anyone enhance their computer skills. Start promoting your computer-training services by teaching classes through organizations in your community which offer adult education courses.
Custom Jewelry and Accessories
Put your creative talents to work designing custom jewelry and accessories. Whether you work with sterling silver or recycled metals, clay or papier-mâché, there's a market for your custom earrings, pins, bracelets, necklaces and belt buckles at art shows, crafts fairs and holiday boutiques.
Espresso Cart
Brew up profits day after day! Specialty coffee drinks generate gross profits of 55.1 to 61.5 percent per cup, says the Specialty Coffee Association of America. So brush up on your coffee drinks, buy or rent an espresso cart, and head for sporting events, concerts and farmers' markets in your community.
Garage and Attic Cleaning/Hauling Service
Nobody likes to spend a weekend cleaning out the garage, attic or garden shed--it's dirty and time-consuming, and when it's done, there's still the task of hauling off all that discarded junk. But if you don't mind putting in the physical labor, a cleaning and hauling service can be a lot of fun. You can usually find a few treasures among the trash which most people are delighted to give away, and you can add to your income by recycling bottles, newspapers and metal castoffs. You'll need a pick-up truck or other vehicle capable of carrying everything from cast-iron sinks to old timbers.
Handyman
If it's broke, you can fix it. Your phone will ring off the hook with calls from homeowners, senior citizens and others who don't want to fix it themselves. Advertise in shopper publications and on bulletin boards, and drop off fliers at real estate offices. Then start repairing everything from leaky faucets to broken windows.
Home Inspection
Buyers need not beware when they hire a home inspector to conduct a complete physical checkup on their dream home. You'll inspect the house for structural problems and refer your clients to the contractors or handymen who can make the repairs. Knowledge of construction and your local building codes will get your business off the ground.
Medical Transcription
Work as an important member of a medical team without leaving your homebased office. There's big demand by hospitals, doctors, dentists, chiropractors and veterinarians who need outside help transcribing patient medical records. Training in medical terminology and linguistic skills will keep your business healthy.
Mobile Home-Entertainment Service
When it's dirty, disconnected or in need of repair, you'll save the day for homeowners who want their stereo, compact-disc player or videocassette recorder in working order. Brush up on your electrical and wiring know-how. Door-to-door fliers and calls to retail-store managers about your services will get your business off to a great start.
Mobile Window Tint
With some training and basic equipment, you'll be seeing plenty of green with your mobile window-tinting business. For best results, have a pager and van ready to help car, van and truck owners prevent heat damage to their vehicles' interiors. Other hot markets: homes, high-rise condominiums and office buildings.
Office and Home Organizer
Attention all neatniks: Help packrats, overworked executives, and other organizationally challenged individuals clean out messy closets, straighten files, and throw out the excess clutter. Putting your knack for neatness to part-time business use is bound to arrange some tidy profits for you.
Personal Chef
What's for dinner, honey? Great home-cooked meals for working parents and busy professionals who hire you as a personal chef. There's plenty of demand for this specialized service. So plan your menu, make out your shopping list, and go to work to satisfy your hungry clientele.
Personal Trainer
Pumping iron; pumping profits. Americans of all ages, sizes and shapes want to keep fit, trim and healthy, and they're willing to hire their own personal coach to exercise correctly. Spread the word about your physical-fitness expertise at health spas, running, swimming and biking clubs, and other athletic outlets.
Picture Framer
Get in the frame with a picture framing service. You can work with gallery owners, artists, portrait photographers and individuals who've purchased a print, painting or fine photo. If you aren't already a framing expert, read up, take classes at a local college or community center, then assemble your tools--including clamps, saws, miter boxes, glue, and a pneumatic or hand stapler. Establish relationships with local artists' groups, galleries, photographers and print shops that can give you their business or refer their customers to you.
Plant Leasing And Maintenance
Got a green thumb and a delivery van? You're all set to service corporations, home builders, health clubs and other businesses who want fresh greenery. Develop a steady clientele with a regular watering, pruning and fertilizing program and a full replacement guarantee.
Records Search
Using specialized databases, you'll search public records on your computer to help your clients find lost loves, check out questionable suitors, track down debtors, verify a contractor's track record, or dig up facts on a business opportunity. Clients include attorneys, businessowners and individuals.
Restaurant Delivery
Whether it's macaroni and cheese or a five-course gourmet meal, at-home meal replacement is fast becoming the newest way to dine. When customers want their restaurant orders "to go," you'll be "on the go" with your restaurant delivery service. A great way to make your late afternoons and weekends extra-profitable!
T-Shirt Design
If you're an artist in search of a medium, why not make T-shirts your canvas? Paint, draw, bead or appliqué your designs on plain T-shirts, and spend your weekends showcasing your art-to-wear at farmers' markets and crafts fairs.
Wallpaper Hanging
Help residential and commercial clients turn drab walls into works of art with your wallpaper-hanging skills. Build a growing business with great referrals and repeat customers. Drop off fliers at paint and wallpaper stores; also, advertise in shopper publications, in homeowner-association newsletters, and on bulletin boards at local supermarkets and malls.
Yoga and Tai Chi Instructor
In today's hectic, fast-paced world, parents, business owners and students alike can benefit from the deep-breathing, relaxation and centering techniques you can teach them. Get started by offering classes at health clubs, through your city's recreation and parks department, or on your own.
Monday, July 10, 2006
Guerrilla Marketing: a Cheaper Alternative
So you've spent an enormous amount on advertising in the media and got very little response -- or maybe you were scared enough by the prices that you never put the ads there to begin with. You're annoyed at how expensive it is to get even the simplest and smallest ad in front of anyone, and how useless the whole thing seems to be.
That's because media advertising, in the main, isn't designed to cater to home businesses. No, if you want to get ahead as a home business, you're going to have to do the advertising yourself.
What is Guerrilla Marketing?
Guerrilla marketing is a way of advertising when you have an almost non-existent budget. Instead of thinking of your business as a smaller version of a big one, you have to realise the situation you're in, and behave accordingly to maximise your profits while minimising your marketing costs. Essentially, you're going to try to do anything to get publicity.
Telemarketing.
Don't worry, I'm not talking about telemarketing of the nasty call centre variety here. It's B2B (business-to-business) telemarketing you want to be doing -- basically, phoning up local businesses and making yourself known. You'll be surprised at just how effective this can be, since businesses tend to appreciate the effort you've made to contact them and offer your services far more than a customer does if a business phones them at home.
Direct Mail.
It shouldn't be too difficult to get hold of a mailing list that covers your whole area -- ask your local post office if you're unsure, as they'll often be able to help with bulk mail campaigns. Alternatively, if you don't even want to pay for delivery, you could hire a few local teenagers to go round putting your letters in people's mailboxes. This will work best if you keep your message to one small page or even just a business card, so that people will keep it if they're interested and call you in their own time.
Outdoor Leafleting.
Another effective guerrilla marketing technique, at least for some kinds of business, is to hang around outside giving out leaflets to passers-by. This gives you an opportunity to 'meet and greet' people, and lets you do some free targeted advertising by choosing your location carefully. If you do odd jobs in people's houses, for example, you could stand outside the DIY store, handing out leaflets that say 'Why Do It Yourself? I'll assemble and install everything you buy today for only $50!' If you custom build and sell your own computers, you could stand outside a big-box computer store with this leaflet: 'Get your computer tailor-made, for half the price of [big store]'. You get the idea.
Free Gifts.
You'd be surprised just how effective it can be to stand around handing out free gifts. If you do something that relates to children, then hand out balloons to them in the mall. You'll make some kids' days, and your name and perhaps website address will be written there on the balloon for all to see. Free pens are a very effective thing to give away if you provide a more serious business service -- people are always short of pens, so they'll keep your pen in their bag and be reminded of your business each time they use it. Even better, the cost of getting thousands of balloons or pens printed with whatever you want is almost nil.
Attack the Competitor.
Nasty as it might sound, hardcore guerrilla marketers regard their competitor as their sworn enemy, and will do anything to bring them down so that they can replace them in the marketplace. A little disturbingly, this can be quite simple to do -- fake a few letters complaining about a business to a local newspaper, and you might find that they follow through and do a feature on it without even checking the story out.
In the end, with guerrilla marketing, there are endless ideas -- it's all about being inventive, and having the guts (and the patience) to try them out. When you get your first customer without buying a single media ad, it'll all be worth it.
About the author:
Petter Rogstad i a home business entrepreneur.. He left his job and started working from home when his wife - after 10 year at home with 5 children - wanted to pick up her carrier. He believes working from home is a wonderful opportunity to grow as a person and spend more time with your children
That's because media advertising, in the main, isn't designed to cater to home businesses. No, if you want to get ahead as a home business, you're going to have to do the advertising yourself.
What is Guerrilla Marketing?
Guerrilla marketing is a way of advertising when you have an almost non-existent budget. Instead of thinking of your business as a smaller version of a big one, you have to realise the situation you're in, and behave accordingly to maximise your profits while minimising your marketing costs. Essentially, you're going to try to do anything to get publicity.
Telemarketing.
Don't worry, I'm not talking about telemarketing of the nasty call centre variety here. It's B2B (business-to-business) telemarketing you want to be doing -- basically, phoning up local businesses and making yourself known. You'll be surprised at just how effective this can be, since businesses tend to appreciate the effort you've made to contact them and offer your services far more than a customer does if a business phones them at home.
Direct Mail.
It shouldn't be too difficult to get hold of a mailing list that covers your whole area -- ask your local post office if you're unsure, as they'll often be able to help with bulk mail campaigns. Alternatively, if you don't even want to pay for delivery, you could hire a few local teenagers to go round putting your letters in people's mailboxes. This will work best if you keep your message to one small page or even just a business card, so that people will keep it if they're interested and call you in their own time.
Outdoor Leafleting.
Another effective guerrilla marketing technique, at least for some kinds of business, is to hang around outside giving out leaflets to passers-by. This gives you an opportunity to 'meet and greet' people, and lets you do some free targeted advertising by choosing your location carefully. If you do odd jobs in people's houses, for example, you could stand outside the DIY store, handing out leaflets that say 'Why Do It Yourself? I'll assemble and install everything you buy today for only $50!' If you custom build and sell your own computers, you could stand outside a big-box computer store with this leaflet: 'Get your computer tailor-made, for half the price of [big store]'. You get the idea.
Free Gifts.
You'd be surprised just how effective it can be to stand around handing out free gifts. If you do something that relates to children, then hand out balloons to them in the mall. You'll make some kids' days, and your name and perhaps website address will be written there on the balloon for all to see. Free pens are a very effective thing to give away if you provide a more serious business service -- people are always short of pens, so they'll keep your pen in their bag and be reminded of your business each time they use it. Even better, the cost of getting thousands of balloons or pens printed with whatever you want is almost nil.
Attack the Competitor.
Nasty as it might sound, hardcore guerrilla marketers regard their competitor as their sworn enemy, and will do anything to bring them down so that they can replace them in the marketplace. A little disturbingly, this can be quite simple to do -- fake a few letters complaining about a business to a local newspaper, and you might find that they follow through and do a feature on it without even checking the story out.
In the end, with guerrilla marketing, there are endless ideas -- it's all about being inventive, and having the guts (and the patience) to try them out. When you get your first customer without buying a single media ad, it'll all be worth it.
About the author:
Petter Rogstad i a home business entrepreneur.. He left his job and started working from home when his wife - after 10 year at home with 5 children - wanted to pick up her carrier. He believes working from home is a wonderful opportunity to grow as a person and spend more time with your children
Tuesday, July 04, 2006
The Next Step: Writing A Marketing Plan
Many people include their marketing plan as a section in their business plan. Really, though, writing a marketing plan is important enough that it deserves a plan of its own, separate from the technical details of the business. Here’s what your marketing plan should include.
Your Marketing Strategy.
It might sound silly, but it’s good to get the core of your marketing plan written down, just so people can see what the rest of your plan is aiming at. Keeping your strategy in mind can also be good when you receive offers to place ads here, there and everywhere – you can ask yourself whether it really fits in with your overall strategy.
Your Competitors.
You should have a list of everyone in your area who could be considered to be a competitor, followed by how you plan to differentiate yourself from them.
Advertising.
Your marketing plan should contain a comprehensive list of all the advertising you plan to undertake. This includes a website, advertising in newspapers, leaflets, and so on. For each method of advertising you should list an estimated cost, and the number of customers you expect the advertising to bring in. This allows you to work out your ‘cost of acquisition’, which is how much you need to spend on advertising to bring in a customer. The market works out so that this will be more for higher-end customers, and less for lower-end ones.
Pricing.
Your marketing plan should also list all of the pricing policies you plan to have, as well as any special offers that you think will be good. That doesn’t mean that you can’t make up new offers later, but it’s still good to have some on the plan for the long-term.
An Example.
The Catering & Cake Co.: Marketing Plan.
Strategy: Our marketing strategy will be to advertise sufficiently that we will be the first company coming to mind when catering is needed in the Anytown/Othertown area. Marketing will be especially targeted towards people arranging weddings and people planning corporate events, so we will always be looking out for new ways to reach these customers. We will not repeat any marketing effort where the COA proves to be more than 20% of the profit those customers provide.
Competitors: In the Anytown area, the established catering companies are Cathy’s Catering and Funfoods. Cathy’s Catering mainly cater for low-end corporate events, while Funfoods specialise in food for children’s parties. Our position in the middle-market means that we would be unlikely to provide children’s birthday cakes, and could provide a higher-quality alternative to Cathy’s Catering for corporate customers.
The company that we believe would be our main competitor is Luxury Food and Cakes, based in the Othertown area. They serve the same kinds of food we plan to, and to similar events. However, we differentiate ourselves from them by offering our food at far lower prices. While they use more expensive ingredients, our taste tests have shown that most consumers are unable to tell in blind taste tests which food cost more. Offering mostly indistinguishable quality at a lower price gives us a powerful way to move in on Luxury’s customers.
Advertising (in order of decreasing cost-effectiveness):
Leafleting. $0.01 printing per leaflet, 10,000 leaflets, plus delivery at $100 = $200. Projected 50 customers. COA $4.
Local newspaper. $500 per half page, run once monthly. Projected 100 customers, COA $5.
Corporate mailshots. $0.10 printing per mail, 100 mails, plus delivery at $20 = $30. Projected 3 customers, COA $10 (however, customers are high-value).
‘Weddings’ magazine. $200 quarter page, quarterly. Projected 20 customers, COA $10.
Pricing:
Basic catering: cost + 50%.
Deluxe catering: cost + 70%.
Cake: cost + 100%.
Large cake: cost + 80%.
Personalised cake (large only): cost + 120%.
Special Offers: Business is slower in winter than in summer, so there are special winter deals. For example, we plan to offer ‘every third person free’ on basic catering to give extra value for corporate functions in the winter months (November, December, January, February). There will also be a ‘free champagne’ offer with the deluxe catering in these months.
About the author:
Petter Rogstad i a home business entrepreneur.. He left his job and started working from home when his wife - after 10 year at home with 5 children - wanted to pick up her carrier. He believes working from home is a wonderful opportunity to grow as a person and spend more time with your children
Your Marketing Strategy.
It might sound silly, but it’s good to get the core of your marketing plan written down, just so people can see what the rest of your plan is aiming at. Keeping your strategy in mind can also be good when you receive offers to place ads here, there and everywhere – you can ask yourself whether it really fits in with your overall strategy.
Your Competitors.
You should have a list of everyone in your area who could be considered to be a competitor, followed by how you plan to differentiate yourself from them.
Advertising.
Your marketing plan should contain a comprehensive list of all the advertising you plan to undertake. This includes a website, advertising in newspapers, leaflets, and so on. For each method of advertising you should list an estimated cost, and the number of customers you expect the advertising to bring in. This allows you to work out your ‘cost of acquisition’, which is how much you need to spend on advertising to bring in a customer. The market works out so that this will be more for higher-end customers, and less for lower-end ones.
Pricing.
Your marketing plan should also list all of the pricing policies you plan to have, as well as any special offers that you think will be good. That doesn’t mean that you can’t make up new offers later, but it’s still good to have some on the plan for the long-term.
An Example.
The Catering & Cake Co.: Marketing Plan.
Strategy: Our marketing strategy will be to advertise sufficiently that we will be the first company coming to mind when catering is needed in the Anytown/Othertown area. Marketing will be especially targeted towards people arranging weddings and people planning corporate events, so we will always be looking out for new ways to reach these customers. We will not repeat any marketing effort where the COA proves to be more than 20% of the profit those customers provide.
Competitors: In the Anytown area, the established catering companies are Cathy’s Catering and Funfoods. Cathy’s Catering mainly cater for low-end corporate events, while Funfoods specialise in food for children’s parties. Our position in the middle-market means that we would be unlikely to provide children’s birthday cakes, and could provide a higher-quality alternative to Cathy’s Catering for corporate customers.
The company that we believe would be our main competitor is Luxury Food and Cakes, based in the Othertown area. They serve the same kinds of food we plan to, and to similar events. However, we differentiate ourselves from them by offering our food at far lower prices. While they use more expensive ingredients, our taste tests have shown that most consumers are unable to tell in blind taste tests which food cost more. Offering mostly indistinguishable quality at a lower price gives us a powerful way to move in on Luxury’s customers.
Advertising (in order of decreasing cost-effectiveness):
Leafleting. $0.01 printing per leaflet, 10,000 leaflets, plus delivery at $100 = $200. Projected 50 customers. COA $4.
Local newspaper. $500 per half page, run once monthly. Projected 100 customers, COA $5.
Corporate mailshots. $0.10 printing per mail, 100 mails, plus delivery at $20 = $30. Projected 3 customers, COA $10 (however, customers are high-value).
‘Weddings’ magazine. $200 quarter page, quarterly. Projected 20 customers, COA $10.
Pricing:
Basic catering: cost + 50%.
Deluxe catering: cost + 70%.
Cake: cost + 100%.
Large cake: cost + 80%.
Personalised cake (large only): cost + 120%.
Special Offers: Business is slower in winter than in summer, so there are special winter deals. For example, we plan to offer ‘every third person free’ on basic catering to give extra value for corporate functions in the winter months (November, December, January, February). There will also be a ‘free champagne’ offer with the deluxe catering in these months.
About the author:
Petter Rogstad i a home business entrepreneur.. He left his job and started working from home when his wife - after 10 year at home with 5 children - wanted to pick up her carrier. He believes working from home is a wonderful opportunity to grow as a person and spend more time with your children
Preparing Yourself Mentally for Business
People say that starting your own business is difficult. Guess what? They’re not kidding. Starting a business, in many ways, is a lot like having a child – and would you just have a child without thinking it through first? Before you get started, there are lots of things you need to think about and discuss with anyone you can.
Can You Afford to Fail?
You might have heard the old saying ‘only gamble what you can afford to lose’. Well, however you approach it, starting your own business is still gambling. A massive percentage of businesses fail in their first year. If your financial situation is such that you agonise over every small amount you spend, starting a business is probably a bad idea.
Put it this way: do not expect to succeed. Expect that you will fail, and always try your hardest not to. You’ll be pleasantly surprised if things go your way. Note that this doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t believe in yourself and your business – simply that you have to realise the kind of odds you’re up against, and stay realistic.
Will You Stick at It?
You can’t get halfway through all this and have a sudden change of heart, or feel like you’re doomed to fail. All successful business spend plenty of time doing badly before they start to pick up. You need to prepare yourself for a steady stream of failure being slowly replaced by success. Don’t expect the world all at once.
Could You Take the Stress?
Starting a business is one of the most stressful things you can do. It will affect you mentally, physically and emotionally. You need to be strong to deal with this kind of stress, and you need to have someone to turn to for support.
Are You a Survivor?
There are some people who always seem to make it in the end, regardless of what life throws at them. You need to be the kind of person whose response to things going wrong is to work harder and get it fixed, not someone who cries and goes into hiding.
Many entrepreneurs say that this, more than anything, is the secret of success. You need to be a ‘never say die’ kind of person. You need to be always ready to try again, no matter what gets thrown at you. Remember that it’s not when things start to go wrong that you fail – you haven’t failed until you’ve given up.
Be Prepared to Work Hard.
If you’ve been doing a standard nine-to-five job, you’re probably used to a world where it’s someone else’s responsibility if the work doesn’t get done – you work as fast as you can for the hours you’re told to, and if it’s not done on time then it’s the manager’s fault for not hiring enough people. When you work on your own, though, there’s no-one to blame – the buck stops where it starts, with you.
You Need to Satisfy Every Customer.
When you run a home business, you can’t afford to lose any customers. You need to always be nice to them, trying to meet their needs. You have to remember that you’re the most senior person they can talk to in this organisation, and you have to act like it – when there’s no-one other than you to handle complaints, you have to either give in to customers at every opportunity or watch them take their business elsewhere.
Do You Really Love What You Do?
If you don’t love what you do, then sooner or later you’re going to want to stop doing it – and when you run a home business, that’s difficult. Besides, you can’t run a home business if you’re always sitting and thinking about how great it’ll be when it’s the weekend. No, the only way to succeed in home business is to be absolutely sure that you really love what you’re doing. If you can think of another job you’d rather have, then you’re in trouble.
Think of it this way: could you run up to someone on the street with a leaflet about your business, and tell them all about it in a way that would really leave an impression? It doesn’t matter whether you actually could or not – if you think everyone will be interested, then, believe me, they will be.
About the author:
Petter Rogstad i a home business entrepreneur.. He left his job and started working from home when his wife - after 10 year at home with 5 children - wanted to pick up her carrier. He believes working from home is a wonderful opportunity to grow as a person and spend more time with your children
Can You Afford to Fail?
You might have heard the old saying ‘only gamble what you can afford to lose’. Well, however you approach it, starting your own business is still gambling. A massive percentage of businesses fail in their first year. If your financial situation is such that you agonise over every small amount you spend, starting a business is probably a bad idea.
Put it this way: do not expect to succeed. Expect that you will fail, and always try your hardest not to. You’ll be pleasantly surprised if things go your way. Note that this doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t believe in yourself and your business – simply that you have to realise the kind of odds you’re up against, and stay realistic.
Will You Stick at It?
You can’t get halfway through all this and have a sudden change of heart, or feel like you’re doomed to fail. All successful business spend plenty of time doing badly before they start to pick up. You need to prepare yourself for a steady stream of failure being slowly replaced by success. Don’t expect the world all at once.
Could You Take the Stress?
Starting a business is one of the most stressful things you can do. It will affect you mentally, physically and emotionally. You need to be strong to deal with this kind of stress, and you need to have someone to turn to for support.
Are You a Survivor?
There are some people who always seem to make it in the end, regardless of what life throws at them. You need to be the kind of person whose response to things going wrong is to work harder and get it fixed, not someone who cries and goes into hiding.
Many entrepreneurs say that this, more than anything, is the secret of success. You need to be a ‘never say die’ kind of person. You need to be always ready to try again, no matter what gets thrown at you. Remember that it’s not when things start to go wrong that you fail – you haven’t failed until you’ve given up.
Be Prepared to Work Hard.
If you’ve been doing a standard nine-to-five job, you’re probably used to a world where it’s someone else’s responsibility if the work doesn’t get done – you work as fast as you can for the hours you’re told to, and if it’s not done on time then it’s the manager’s fault for not hiring enough people. When you work on your own, though, there’s no-one to blame – the buck stops where it starts, with you.
You Need to Satisfy Every Customer.
When you run a home business, you can’t afford to lose any customers. You need to always be nice to them, trying to meet their needs. You have to remember that you’re the most senior person they can talk to in this organisation, and you have to act like it – when there’s no-one other than you to handle complaints, you have to either give in to customers at every opportunity or watch them take their business elsewhere.
Do You Really Love What You Do?
If you don’t love what you do, then sooner or later you’re going to want to stop doing it – and when you run a home business, that’s difficult. Besides, you can’t run a home business if you’re always sitting and thinking about how great it’ll be when it’s the weekend. No, the only way to succeed in home business is to be absolutely sure that you really love what you’re doing. If you can think of another job you’d rather have, then you’re in trouble.
Think of it this way: could you run up to someone on the street with a leaflet about your business, and tell them all about it in a way that would really leave an impression? It doesn’t matter whether you actually could or not – if you think everyone will be interested, then, believe me, they will be.
About the author:
Petter Rogstad i a home business entrepreneur.. He left his job and started working from home when his wife - after 10 year at home with 5 children - wanted to pick up her carrier. He believes working from home is a wonderful opportunity to grow as a person and spend more time with your children
Wednesday, June 28, 2006
Starting Your Home Based Business On A Shoestring Budget
Whether seeking a supplemental income or a full-time income, many folks have undertaken the task to discover a viable home based business solution to meet their personal needs.
For most folks who contemplate a home business, a low-cost or no-cost solution is not only nice, but also very necessary. Many also seek to find a home business that will permit them to maintain their regular day job in order to protect their base income.
Taking the cautious approach to a home based business and keeping one's job during the start-up period is often a very good decision. By maintaining one's job, one can maintain the health of their personal finances while permitting their home business grow healthy and strong.
Fortunately, most home based businesses can be started with little or no cash, can be maintained on a shoestring budget, and can be operated successfully with only a part-time investment.
One day, the business will be strong enough to support itself and its owner. When that time comes, it will make good sense for the business owner to leave his or her outside job to dedicate more time to growing and maintaining their new thriving home based business. You will know when that time has finally arrived.
The nature of a home based business makes it easy and very realistic for most folks to take the plunge into home business ownership.
Yet, many folks put off starting their own home based business, because they have the misconception that they will have to risk thousands of their own hard-earned dollars at start-up. Then later, if their business fails, they fear they may be forced to take out a second mortgage on their house just to stay out of bankruptcy.
Are you one of these folks? Do you let your fears of failure keep you from reaching for your dreams?
If so, then allow me to introduce you to a few home business ideas that you can start for less than $100 and can be started and operated very profitably as a part-time business.
THE LIFEBLOOD OF ALL SUCCESSFUL BUSINESSES
First of all, let me advise you to search out a business model that will deliver steady and repeat business. It is the one thing --- above all others --- that will assure that your company can survive the test of time.
HOME-BASED MAIL ORDER:
Home-based mail order is a good example of how one can quickly grow a home business income. Mail order is a low cost start-up business that can be launched for around $100 USD.
With proper planning, your home-based mail order business will not require up-front inventory purchases. In the mail order business, it is not uncommon to rely upon drop-shippers for product fulfillment services.
By utilizing drop-shippers, we can sell the products, collect the money and then purchase the products from the wholesale outlet. The wholesale outlet will then put a return address for your company on the product packaging and deliver the product directly to your customer.
Your primary expense in the mail-order business is advertising. Classified advertising tends to be a relatively inexpensive form of advertising with thousands of outlets available to the small business owner.
WHOLESALE BUSINESS:
Buy low --- sell high. You can acquire high quality, top-of-the-line merchandise for a fraction of the retail cost.
AUCTIONS:
Auctions can be an excellent source for buying cheap and selling high. Both government auctions and Internet auctions can lead to some excellent profit opportunities. Auctions are an excellent tool for both acquiring and selling merchandise.
MAKE AND SELL YOUR CRAFTS:
Crafts are a hot seller at country fairs, swap meets or anyplace where people gather. Make your own crafts and sell them for a tidy profit!
SELLING INFORMATION:
Selling information by mail is another good example of an inexpensive home based business start-up. One can gain the resale rights to information for usually about $50 USD. Other costs will include printer cartridges, paper and postage. There are plenty of free classifieds sites on the Internet, in which to successfully advertise your information.
WRITE INFORMATIONAL BOOKLETS:
Write and publish your own informational booklets; sell them at a high price! All you need is a little know-how, a printer, paper and stamps. This is a GREAT home business idea! You can also sell the resale rights to others, for extra profits. In this age of the Internet, you may also take advantage of the fact that selling information is one of the most profitable endeavors one can pursue online.
OFFICE SERVICES:
Offer office services for hire in your local paper. You'll be surprised at the amount of regular office business that can be gleaned from one little classified ad. Word processing, typing, accounting, data entry, proofreading, transcription, promotional letters and newsletters. All these tasks can be accomplished right from your own home office.
AVON REPRESENTATIVE:
Yes, Avon's been around for eternity, hasn't it? Then it's not such a bad prospect as a home based business, is it? I once knew a woman who did so much business as an Avon rep. that she had people calling her and knocking at her door wanting to order products at all hours of the day and night! Once you are an established Avon representative, you, too, will turn a good profit.
CONCLUSION:
On your search for the ideal home based business, try not to get caught up in any scams that will run off with your money. There are thousands of scam artists out there just waiting for the next sucker to come along. Remember, if it sounds too good to be true, then it probably is. Just use your good judgement and invest wisely in proven methods of earning extra income.
Copyright © Stone Evans, The Home Biz Guy
For most folks who contemplate a home business, a low-cost or no-cost solution is not only nice, but also very necessary. Many also seek to find a home business that will permit them to maintain their regular day job in order to protect their base income.
Taking the cautious approach to a home based business and keeping one's job during the start-up period is often a very good decision. By maintaining one's job, one can maintain the health of their personal finances while permitting their home business grow healthy and strong.
Fortunately, most home based businesses can be started with little or no cash, can be maintained on a shoestring budget, and can be operated successfully with only a part-time investment.
One day, the business will be strong enough to support itself and its owner. When that time comes, it will make good sense for the business owner to leave his or her outside job to dedicate more time to growing and maintaining their new thriving home based business. You will know when that time has finally arrived.
The nature of a home based business makes it easy and very realistic for most folks to take the plunge into home business ownership.
Yet, many folks put off starting their own home based business, because they have the misconception that they will have to risk thousands of their own hard-earned dollars at start-up. Then later, if their business fails, they fear they may be forced to take out a second mortgage on their house just to stay out of bankruptcy.
Are you one of these folks? Do you let your fears of failure keep you from reaching for your dreams?
If so, then allow me to introduce you to a few home business ideas that you can start for less than $100 and can be started and operated very profitably as a part-time business.
THE LIFEBLOOD OF ALL SUCCESSFUL BUSINESSES
First of all, let me advise you to search out a business model that will deliver steady and repeat business. It is the one thing --- above all others --- that will assure that your company can survive the test of time.
HOME-BASED MAIL ORDER:
Home-based mail order is a good example of how one can quickly grow a home business income. Mail order is a low cost start-up business that can be launched for around $100 USD.
With proper planning, your home-based mail order business will not require up-front inventory purchases. In the mail order business, it is not uncommon to rely upon drop-shippers for product fulfillment services.
By utilizing drop-shippers, we can sell the products, collect the money and then purchase the products from the wholesale outlet. The wholesale outlet will then put a return address for your company on the product packaging and deliver the product directly to your customer.
Your primary expense in the mail-order business is advertising. Classified advertising tends to be a relatively inexpensive form of advertising with thousands of outlets available to the small business owner.
WHOLESALE BUSINESS:
Buy low --- sell high. You can acquire high quality, top-of-the-line merchandise for a fraction of the retail cost.
AUCTIONS:
Auctions can be an excellent source for buying cheap and selling high. Both government auctions and Internet auctions can lead to some excellent profit opportunities. Auctions are an excellent tool for both acquiring and selling merchandise.
MAKE AND SELL YOUR CRAFTS:
Crafts are a hot seller at country fairs, swap meets or anyplace where people gather. Make your own crafts and sell them for a tidy profit!
SELLING INFORMATION:
Selling information by mail is another good example of an inexpensive home based business start-up. One can gain the resale rights to information for usually about $50 USD. Other costs will include printer cartridges, paper and postage. There are plenty of free classifieds sites on the Internet, in which to successfully advertise your information.
WRITE INFORMATIONAL BOOKLETS:
Write and publish your own informational booklets; sell them at a high price! All you need is a little know-how, a printer, paper and stamps. This is a GREAT home business idea! You can also sell the resale rights to others, for extra profits. In this age of the Internet, you may also take advantage of the fact that selling information is one of the most profitable endeavors one can pursue online.
OFFICE SERVICES:
Offer office services for hire in your local paper. You'll be surprised at the amount of regular office business that can be gleaned from one little classified ad. Word processing, typing, accounting, data entry, proofreading, transcription, promotional letters and newsletters. All these tasks can be accomplished right from your own home office.
AVON REPRESENTATIVE:
Yes, Avon's been around for eternity, hasn't it? Then it's not such a bad prospect as a home based business, is it? I once knew a woman who did so much business as an Avon rep. that she had people calling her and knocking at her door wanting to order products at all hours of the day and night! Once you are an established Avon representative, you, too, will turn a good profit.
CONCLUSION:
On your search for the ideal home based business, try not to get caught up in any scams that will run off with your money. There are thousands of scam artists out there just waiting for the next sucker to come along. Remember, if it sounds too good to be true, then it probably is. Just use your good judgement and invest wisely in proven methods of earning extra income.
Copyright © Stone Evans, The Home Biz Guy
Children In The Home Business Environtment
Operating a home business is seldom easy and interruptions come in all shapes, sizes and forms.
Between the family, friends and neighbors who call or come by, and the telemarketers who insist on ringing your number off the hook, getting through the workday can be a real challenge.
When you introduce children into the home office environment, your productivity and patience can be seriously tested.
For example, right now my three-year old daughter is pulling on my shirt and begging me to read her a story. Clearly, Im in the middle of something important here, but how can I say no to those eyes? Ill be right back...
Ok, that wasnt so bad was it? Shes happy, Im happy (having bonded with my daughter) and now Im back to continue my conversation with you :-) Whats the lesson here? Flexibility is a major key to balancing your home business priorities with your familys needs.
I can tell you from first-hand experience that maintaining a deep level of concentration on work in a home business for long periods of time is next to impossible. Naptime does offer some reprieve, but any break from the kids is usually short lived.
Even with older children, summertime introduces new challenges with kids running in and out of the house all throughout the day.
I would like to share with you some of the tips I have discovered to help manage your home office with children in your midst. Since children of different ages pose different challenges, I will present my tips in terms of age groups.
OLDER CHILDREN AND TEENS
We will look at older children first since they pose the least challenge to our work productivity.
Children, who are old enough to understand the idea of schedules and chores, are old enough to understand the needs of your home business. Explain to your children that you do your work at home so that you can be near them when they need you. But also be sure they understand that you must do your work so that you will have the money necessary to keep your house, feed the family and to provide them with money for entertainment.
Once your children understand the necessity of your work, then outline a work schedule and explain it to them. Do make sure they understand that emergencies are definitely an acceptable reason to interrupt your work. Then make sure they understand that between hours x and y, you will be doing work --- and then hold them to respecting your schedule.
INFANTS
Infants will never understand your needs for work. But fortunately, babies do well under a schedule or routine. Instead of expecting your child to work around your schedule, schedule your work around the needs of your baby.
It is simple. Babies eat, sleep and poop. Sometimes they play. Fortunately, babies sleep more than they do anything else.
Naptime offers the best advantage for getting your work done. Get your baby into a routine of eat, sleep and play, and you will experience unexpected levels of productivity.
TODDLERS
If you have a toddler running around the house while you are operating your home business, then you may find that your hair turning gray or disappearing altogether. But, gray hair is a sign of character, right. ;-)
I am venturing to guess that the person who devised the door lock for the inside of the house did so because he had toddlers in his own home. Inside door locks should only be utilized when you are making that important phone call and your toddler is screaming for your attention. At all other times, your door should remain unlocked with your door open.
Develop a routine with your children for meal times, naptimes, and play times. Work these times into your work schedule and adhere to them. If you fail to keep appointments with your children, your children will have less respect for your work and do more to prevent you from the completion of your work.
Don't be afraid to let your children sit in your lap while youare working. It helps them to feel wanted and it helps them to be a part of your daily life. There are times when it is okay for them to be sitting in your lap while you work, and at other times you need them out of your lap. Don't be afraid to tell them to get down and go play or read a book so that you can resume your work.
Permit your children to have their toys in your office. Often they will sit contently and play while you work. Just knowing you are near is enough to keep them happy.
Be prepared to take an hourly break to deal with your toddler. Try to do potty breaks at your hourly break and to do drink refills. This can help your child grow into a routine that will work well with your home business. At each break, spend a few minutes with your child giving hugs and kisses and talking with your child about what he or she wants to talk about.
Toddlers don't always do well with the routine, so be prepared to take a few minutes when needed to give the attention that your child so desperately needs in the moment.
IN CONCLUSION
I hope these tips serve to help you in the challenge of operating a successful home business.
My home business permits me to fulfill my financial obligations *AND* see my children grow up. I would never contemplate trading my home business for another kind of business. Even with the added challenges of dealing with toddlers in my home office, the upsides far outweigh the downsides.
Growing my own home business with children around has definitely given me a new respect for all people who successfully run a home business with kids in the work environment. I tip my hat to you... You deserve it!
Copyright © Stone Evans, The Home Biz Guy
Between the family, friends and neighbors who call or come by, and the telemarketers who insist on ringing your number off the hook, getting through the workday can be a real challenge.
When you introduce children into the home office environment, your productivity and patience can be seriously tested.
For example, right now my three-year old daughter is pulling on my shirt and begging me to read her a story. Clearly, Im in the middle of something important here, but how can I say no to those eyes? Ill be right back...
Ok, that wasnt so bad was it? Shes happy, Im happy (having bonded with my daughter) and now Im back to continue my conversation with you :-) Whats the lesson here? Flexibility is a major key to balancing your home business priorities with your familys needs.
I can tell you from first-hand experience that maintaining a deep level of concentration on work in a home business for long periods of time is next to impossible. Naptime does offer some reprieve, but any break from the kids is usually short lived.
Even with older children, summertime introduces new challenges with kids running in and out of the house all throughout the day.
I would like to share with you some of the tips I have discovered to help manage your home office with children in your midst. Since children of different ages pose different challenges, I will present my tips in terms of age groups.
OLDER CHILDREN AND TEENS
We will look at older children first since they pose the least challenge to our work productivity.
Children, who are old enough to understand the idea of schedules and chores, are old enough to understand the needs of your home business. Explain to your children that you do your work at home so that you can be near them when they need you. But also be sure they understand that you must do your work so that you will have the money necessary to keep your house, feed the family and to provide them with money for entertainment.
Once your children understand the necessity of your work, then outline a work schedule and explain it to them. Do make sure they understand that emergencies are definitely an acceptable reason to interrupt your work. Then make sure they understand that between hours x and y, you will be doing work --- and then hold them to respecting your schedule.
INFANTS
Infants will never understand your needs for work. But fortunately, babies do well under a schedule or routine. Instead of expecting your child to work around your schedule, schedule your work around the needs of your baby.
It is simple. Babies eat, sleep and poop. Sometimes they play. Fortunately, babies sleep more than they do anything else.
Naptime offers the best advantage for getting your work done. Get your baby into a routine of eat, sleep and play, and you will experience unexpected levels of productivity.
TODDLERS
If you have a toddler running around the house while you are operating your home business, then you may find that your hair turning gray or disappearing altogether. But, gray hair is a sign of character, right. ;-)
I am venturing to guess that the person who devised the door lock for the inside of the house did so because he had toddlers in his own home. Inside door locks should only be utilized when you are making that important phone call and your toddler is screaming for your attention. At all other times, your door should remain unlocked with your door open.
Develop a routine with your children for meal times, naptimes, and play times. Work these times into your work schedule and adhere to them. If you fail to keep appointments with your children, your children will have less respect for your work and do more to prevent you from the completion of your work.
Don't be afraid to let your children sit in your lap while youare working. It helps them to feel wanted and it helps them to be a part of your daily life. There are times when it is okay for them to be sitting in your lap while you work, and at other times you need them out of your lap. Don't be afraid to tell them to get down and go play or read a book so that you can resume your work.
Permit your children to have their toys in your office. Often they will sit contently and play while you work. Just knowing you are near is enough to keep them happy.
Be prepared to take an hourly break to deal with your toddler. Try to do potty breaks at your hourly break and to do drink refills. This can help your child grow into a routine that will work well with your home business. At each break, spend a few minutes with your child giving hugs and kisses and talking with your child about what he or she wants to talk about.
Toddlers don't always do well with the routine, so be prepared to take a few minutes when needed to give the attention that your child so desperately needs in the moment.
IN CONCLUSION
I hope these tips serve to help you in the challenge of operating a successful home business.
My home business permits me to fulfill my financial obligations *AND* see my children grow up. I would never contemplate trading my home business for another kind of business. Even with the added challenges of dealing with toddlers in my home office, the upsides far outweigh the downsides.
Growing my own home business with children around has definitely given me a new respect for all people who successfully run a home business with kids in the work environment. I tip my hat to you... You deserve it!
Copyright © Stone Evans, The Home Biz Guy
Advertising Your Home Business On A Budget
When you are starting out in a new home business and no one knows who you are, one of the greatest challenges you will face is how to drum up new business.
If there were not people in your community or marketplace that you knew who needed your products or services, you probably would not have started your business to begin with. But, once you have talked to those who you personally knew who needed your what you offer, then your next task is to find others who will help keep your doors open.
Many people know that they must turn to advertising at some point in the future, but they hope that day will be long down the road. For some, this utopian concept will come to fruition. But for the rest of us in the real world, we must come up with creative solutions for meeting our home business advertising needs while working within our budget.
Most people have a misconception about having to spend lots of money in order to advertise their home business. When you start out, you honestly will not have much money available for advertising, and if you do, you should still spend it wisely.
Before you jump headfirst into the world of advertising, let me share some of the lessons I have learned concerning this most important topic.
LESSON #1
It does not have to cost an arm and a leg to advertise your home business, unless you fail to plan and fail to test.
As much as is possible, you should always test your advertising. If you jump in and start dumping tons of money in to advertising without first testing your advertising, you might find yourself broke and without sales at the end of the road. Most people who commit this error write off their failure on the home business they chose or the economy or any of a hundred other excuses. But, if they are unwilling to take responsibility for their mistake, they will never learn from their mistake. Don't let this be you.
LESSON #2
All testing should be done in blocks. If you begin to advertise simultaneously in newspapers, radio and television, how will you know which advertising is bringing people to your cash register? You won't. All you will know that something might be working, but you will not know what is actually doing the trick.
Even if you tell people in your advertising to tell you how they found you, my experience shows that fewer than 10% of the people ever will tell you anything --- and those people who do may not even get the facts straight! You cannot rely on your customers to tell you what advertising is working for your home business. You must put in the extra effort to know for yourself.
LESSON #3
Only when you have a proven and solid advertising portfolio should you venture to drop big bucks in an advertising campaign. Even then, you should be careful to keep further measurements to determine how much the maximum advantage of an ad would be. Sometimes you might be able to reach ten times as many people, but depending on the kind of media and other factors, the additional exposure will only generate twice as many sales. Keep your eye attuned to situations like this to get the most from your advertising dollars.
LESSON #4
As Lesson #3 illustrates, sometimes your best advertising investment may actually cost you less money. When you are first starting out, whether you are running a home business or a business outside of your home, you need to be able to get people talking and thinking about your business.
If you are busy testing ads in media's such as the newspaper, magazines, radio, and television, you need to learn ways of promoting your business that do not require large cash expenditures. A few examples are:
· Word of Mouth
· Business Cards
· Press Releases
· Non-Primetime Ads on Radio and Television
Here is more information about each type of low-cost advertising:
WORD OF MOUTH
This of course is the cheapest kind of advertising on the planet --- it does not cost you anything. Ask your customers if they know anyone who could also use your products or services. When they are happy with your offerings and service, they will be willing to tell you whom you can contact, and they will pass the word for you.
BUSINESS CARDS
You can usually pick up 500 business cards for about $20. When you do, hand them out. Do not give more than a couple of cards to each person. If they need more cards from you, they will ask.
Some people are known to network with others on a regular basis. Some of these people are also known to be always looking for an extra few bucks. With these people, you can suggest to them that if they write their name on the back of one of your business cards and the card is presented to you, then you will pay a referral fee to them. You do not have to offer much --- sometimes one dollar is enough. Look at your home business and your offerings and decide how much would be a good referral fee.
PRESS RELEASES
Press Releases are a good source for generating news about your home business. The business editor at your local newspaper is always on the lookout for a good business story to fill the business news section of the newspaper.
Of course, the business editor understands the economics of running a paper and is more inclined to run your story if you buy advertising in his/her publication, but will still print stories for special events and openings.
The important thing to remember about Press Releases is that it must be constructed in the form of a news story. Even if you are a sole proprietorship, quotes from you should be written in a third person format: John Doe said, "Your quote here."
A Press Release should pack the most important information at the beginning of the copy, and leave extra details towards the end.
You should always provide the reporter who gets the task a simple and easy way for him/her to contact you directly. Often the reporter will want to contact you to get details that will enhance their take on your story.
NON-PRIMETIME ADS ON RADIO AND TELEVISION
Believe it or not, some of the best rates for radio and television are on the overnight and non-primetime venues. These target times are not a total waste as they can easily keep the infomercial people in business.
These off-hours are just less populated than the primetime hours.
Don't be afraid to check your local radio and television rates for non-primetime hours to see what bargains may exist. With television, primetime is 7pm to 10pm. With radio, primetime is 8am to 5pm. This sure leaves a whole lot of hours available to advertise your home business at discount rates!
IN CONCLUSION
When it comes down to it, there is a lot to understand about advertising, but when you have the basic knowledge down pat, everything will fall into place and bring more dollars to your bank account.
If there were not people in your community or marketplace that you knew who needed your products or services, you probably would not have started your business to begin with. But, once you have talked to those who you personally knew who needed your what you offer, then your next task is to find others who will help keep your doors open.
Many people know that they must turn to advertising at some point in the future, but they hope that day will be long down the road. For some, this utopian concept will come to fruition. But for the rest of us in the real world, we must come up with creative solutions for meeting our home business advertising needs while working within our budget.
Most people have a misconception about having to spend lots of money in order to advertise their home business. When you start out, you honestly will not have much money available for advertising, and if you do, you should still spend it wisely.
Before you jump headfirst into the world of advertising, let me share some of the lessons I have learned concerning this most important topic.
LESSON #1
It does not have to cost an arm and a leg to advertise your home business, unless you fail to plan and fail to test.
As much as is possible, you should always test your advertising. If you jump in and start dumping tons of money in to advertising without first testing your advertising, you might find yourself broke and without sales at the end of the road. Most people who commit this error write off their failure on the home business they chose or the economy or any of a hundred other excuses. But, if they are unwilling to take responsibility for their mistake, they will never learn from their mistake. Don't let this be you.
LESSON #2
All testing should be done in blocks. If you begin to advertise simultaneously in newspapers, radio and television, how will you know which advertising is bringing people to your cash register? You won't. All you will know that something might be working, but you will not know what is actually doing the trick.
Even if you tell people in your advertising to tell you how they found you, my experience shows that fewer than 10% of the people ever will tell you anything --- and those people who do may not even get the facts straight! You cannot rely on your customers to tell you what advertising is working for your home business. You must put in the extra effort to know for yourself.
LESSON #3
Only when you have a proven and solid advertising portfolio should you venture to drop big bucks in an advertising campaign. Even then, you should be careful to keep further measurements to determine how much the maximum advantage of an ad would be. Sometimes you might be able to reach ten times as many people, but depending on the kind of media and other factors, the additional exposure will only generate twice as many sales. Keep your eye attuned to situations like this to get the most from your advertising dollars.
LESSON #4
As Lesson #3 illustrates, sometimes your best advertising investment may actually cost you less money. When you are first starting out, whether you are running a home business or a business outside of your home, you need to be able to get people talking and thinking about your business.
If you are busy testing ads in media's such as the newspaper, magazines, radio, and television, you need to learn ways of promoting your business that do not require large cash expenditures. A few examples are:
· Word of Mouth
· Business Cards
· Press Releases
· Non-Primetime Ads on Radio and Television
Here is more information about each type of low-cost advertising:
WORD OF MOUTH
This of course is the cheapest kind of advertising on the planet --- it does not cost you anything. Ask your customers if they know anyone who could also use your products or services. When they are happy with your offerings and service, they will be willing to tell you whom you can contact, and they will pass the word for you.
BUSINESS CARDS
You can usually pick up 500 business cards for about $20. When you do, hand them out. Do not give more than a couple of cards to each person. If they need more cards from you, they will ask.
Some people are known to network with others on a regular basis. Some of these people are also known to be always looking for an extra few bucks. With these people, you can suggest to them that if they write their name on the back of one of your business cards and the card is presented to you, then you will pay a referral fee to them. You do not have to offer much --- sometimes one dollar is enough. Look at your home business and your offerings and decide how much would be a good referral fee.
PRESS RELEASES
Press Releases are a good source for generating news about your home business. The business editor at your local newspaper is always on the lookout for a good business story to fill the business news section of the newspaper.
Of course, the business editor understands the economics of running a paper and is more inclined to run your story if you buy advertising in his/her publication, but will still print stories for special events and openings.
The important thing to remember about Press Releases is that it must be constructed in the form of a news story. Even if you are a sole proprietorship, quotes from you should be written in a third person format: John Doe said, "Your quote here."
A Press Release should pack the most important information at the beginning of the copy, and leave extra details towards the end.
You should always provide the reporter who gets the task a simple and easy way for him/her to contact you directly. Often the reporter will want to contact you to get details that will enhance their take on your story.
NON-PRIMETIME ADS ON RADIO AND TELEVISION
Believe it or not, some of the best rates for radio and television are on the overnight and non-primetime venues. These target times are not a total waste as they can easily keep the infomercial people in business.
These off-hours are just less populated than the primetime hours.
Don't be afraid to check your local radio and television rates for non-primetime hours to see what bargains may exist. With television, primetime is 7pm to 10pm. With radio, primetime is 8am to 5pm. This sure leaves a whole lot of hours available to advertise your home business at discount rates!
IN CONCLUSION
When it comes down to it, there is a lot to understand about advertising, but when you have the basic knowledge down pat, everything will fall into place and bring more dollars to your bank account.
Tuesday, June 27, 2006
Before You Do Anything: Try Out Your Business Idea
So you know, roughly, what you want your home business to be. Before you go any further and start investing, though, you need to try it out. Here’s how.
Build a Prototype.
If you plan to sell physical things, or you’re going to do something like starting a website or making software, then you should build a prototype to see how your idea will work out. A prototype is a version of your product that is built quickly by you alone, and serves to show that your idea is feasible in the real world. If it would be too expensive to build the whole thing, then just building the new part that differentiates you from your competitors is good enough.
Show your prototype to a few people, to see what they think. Are they excited? Would they use it?
Get a Few Customers.
If your product is relatively low-value, or you’re providing a service, then it shouldn’t be too much trouble to get a few customers and do a few dry runs. Do them a generous discount (you could even do it for free), to make sure that everything runs smoothly and the customers are satisfied at the end of it.
For example, let’s say you plan to be a landscape gardener from home. You could borrow the tools, and volunteer to do a garden for some kind of charity project – this is good, since it means that you’re doing something nice for charity, but they’re not paying for perfection, so it’s not that bad if small things go wrong. You should then go through all the motions as you would once your business is established, and see what comes out at the other end.
Here’s another one. Let’s say you’re an Italian living outside Italy, and you plan to start a home business cooking pasta in your kitchen and delivering it to customers (you’d be surprised how many home businesses there are in the catering industry). You could make a rough draft of a leaflet (with discounted prices) and deliver it to a small number of homes in the area, until you get a little response. You could then see if it really is feasible to make and deliver these things, and whether there would be any profit in it.
The best dry-runs, though, are the ones where you can get one client at full price. This generally happens in the kind of industry where most transactions are business-to-business, and go through a bidding process. If you’re doing something like freelance writing or artwork, this can let you take on one ‘job’ without being committed to any more afterwards. If you find it’s not for you, at least you haven’t lost too much – and if you love it, then you’re getting valuable experience before you try to take it full-time.
When you try your business out, make sure to do some kind of survey – you could hand it to the customer, include it with your delivery, or even phone up and say that you’re just calling to make sure everything is alright. Following up this way isn’t just good for you, it’s also good customer service.
Don’t Rely on Scale.
One of the most common things I hear when I tell people to try out their home business ideas is that a small-scale trial wouldn’t do the idea justice, since they ‘plan to make money on scale’.
Never, ever rely solely on scale. You think that supplies will get magically cheaper if you’re doing ten orders a day instead of one? Guess again. You think you’re going to save time by doing lots of orders at once? You might save some, but not as much as you might think. When you’re trying to see whether your business is viable, you should always err on the conservative side – the thinner your margins are, the easier it is for something unexpected to happen and destroy them altogether.
You’re cheating yourself if you don’t try out your business before you start it – you’ll be throwing yourself in at the deep end, and there won’t be a lifeguard. Trying it out gives you the opportunity to make your beginner mistakes (there will be a few, I guarantee it), and to build confidence in yourself and your business without taking pointlessly large amounts of risk.
About the author:
Petter Rogstad i a home business entrepreneur.. He left his job and started working from home when his wife - after 10 year at home with 5 children - wanted to pick up her carrier. He believes working from home is a wonderful opportunity to grow as a person and spend more time with your children
Build a Prototype.
If you plan to sell physical things, or you’re going to do something like starting a website or making software, then you should build a prototype to see how your idea will work out. A prototype is a version of your product that is built quickly by you alone, and serves to show that your idea is feasible in the real world. If it would be too expensive to build the whole thing, then just building the new part that differentiates you from your competitors is good enough.
Show your prototype to a few people, to see what they think. Are they excited? Would they use it?
Get a Few Customers.
If your product is relatively low-value, or you’re providing a service, then it shouldn’t be too much trouble to get a few customers and do a few dry runs. Do them a generous discount (you could even do it for free), to make sure that everything runs smoothly and the customers are satisfied at the end of it.
For example, let’s say you plan to be a landscape gardener from home. You could borrow the tools, and volunteer to do a garden for some kind of charity project – this is good, since it means that you’re doing something nice for charity, but they’re not paying for perfection, so it’s not that bad if small things go wrong. You should then go through all the motions as you would once your business is established, and see what comes out at the other end.
Here’s another one. Let’s say you’re an Italian living outside Italy, and you plan to start a home business cooking pasta in your kitchen and delivering it to customers (you’d be surprised how many home businesses there are in the catering industry). You could make a rough draft of a leaflet (with discounted prices) and deliver it to a small number of homes in the area, until you get a little response. You could then see if it really is feasible to make and deliver these things, and whether there would be any profit in it.
The best dry-runs, though, are the ones where you can get one client at full price. This generally happens in the kind of industry where most transactions are business-to-business, and go through a bidding process. If you’re doing something like freelance writing or artwork, this can let you take on one ‘job’ without being committed to any more afterwards. If you find it’s not for you, at least you haven’t lost too much – and if you love it, then you’re getting valuable experience before you try to take it full-time.
When you try your business out, make sure to do some kind of survey – you could hand it to the customer, include it with your delivery, or even phone up and say that you’re just calling to make sure everything is alright. Following up this way isn’t just good for you, it’s also good customer service.
Don’t Rely on Scale.
One of the most common things I hear when I tell people to try out their home business ideas is that a small-scale trial wouldn’t do the idea justice, since they ‘plan to make money on scale’.
Never, ever rely solely on scale. You think that supplies will get magically cheaper if you’re doing ten orders a day instead of one? Guess again. You think you’re going to save time by doing lots of orders at once? You might save some, but not as much as you might think. When you’re trying to see whether your business is viable, you should always err on the conservative side – the thinner your margins are, the easier it is for something unexpected to happen and destroy them altogether.
You’re cheating yourself if you don’t try out your business before you start it – you’ll be throwing yourself in at the deep end, and there won’t be a lifeguard. Trying it out gives you the opportunity to make your beginner mistakes (there will be a few, I guarantee it), and to build confidence in yourself and your business without taking pointlessly large amounts of risk.
About the author:
Petter Rogstad i a home business entrepreneur.. He left his job and started working from home when his wife - after 10 year at home with 5 children - wanted to pick up her carrier. He believes working from home is a wonderful opportunity to grow as a person and spend more time with your children
Sunday, June 25, 2006
Networking Your Home Business within Circles of Influence
When you need an auto mechanic or an air conditioning repairman, where do you turn for help? Sure, some people turn to the yellow pages. But most will turn to friends and family and ask if they know of anyone who can do the work.
The best place for your business to be positioned is to be the business on the tips of the tongues of the people asked to make the referral.
THE 300 RULE
Preachers, funeral directors and people in a few other professions have learned "the 300 rule" through their own personal experience.
"The 300 rule" states that the average person knows 300 people on a friendly level. Wedding planners tend to make reservations for 300 guests. Funeral directors tend to need to make room for 300 mourners. You get the idea.
DOODLING WITH CIRCLES OF INFLUENCE
Imagine your circle of friends, family and acquaintances, a.k.a. your circle of influence. Now, draw your circle of influence as a circle on a blank piece of paper.
Next, contemplate the people in your parents' circle of influence. Some people who know your parents also know you. Therefore, you will share some influence with the people your folks know. Now draw your parents' circle of influence on your piece of paper.
Your circle and your parents' circle will intersect in one area, although the larger majority of the two circles will not intersect. If you are like most people, the two circles on your page at this point looks very similar to the MasterCard logo.
Now imagine drawing a page full of intersecting circles, each circle representing the circle of influence of the people who are within your own circle of influence. Imagine trying to encapsulate an accurate rendering of where your circle and the circle of your friends will actually intersect.
Some circles will share a large area of space, while others will barely cover one another.
Actually, you can only imagine at this point what your piece of paper will look like. The actual layout of the circles imagined in this analogy is simply too overwhelming for the mind to comprehend.
THE BIG PICTURE
300 multiplied by 300 equals 90,000. By using the analogy of doodles in the previous section, the average person can actually network with up to 90,000 people! Even factoring in the overlap, one can still probably network with 50,000 people through their own circle of influence!
Simply amazing, isn't it?
HERE IS THE SECRET TO YOUR SUCCESS
There are 300 people on this planet whom you have a reasonable amount of influence. Take advantage of this fact. Make darn sure that every person within your own circle of influence KNOWS that you are in business for yourself, and make sure they understand what your business offers.
When your friend is asked to make a referral, they will recommend you.
PASSIVE VERSUS ACTIVE REFERRAL NETWORKING
When people ask your friends for a referral and your friend mentions your business, that is passive referral networking.
Active referral networking is when you can get your friends go directly to their friends and say "Hey, I have a friend who just started a business. If you are in need of what he offers or you know someone who will need his services, would you please give my friend a call or make the referral to his business?"
If you can get even a portion of the people in your own circle of influence to actively refer your business, then you have built the foundation to build an advertising campaign even more effective than the average local television advertising campaign.
Think about that for a moment.
Most people only dream of reaching 50,000 potential customers with their television advertising dollars. You now have the knowledge to reach 50,000 people without spending a single penny.
To Your Success!
Copyright © Stone Evans, The Home Biz Guy
The best place for your business to be positioned is to be the business on the tips of the tongues of the people asked to make the referral.
THE 300 RULE
Preachers, funeral directors and people in a few other professions have learned "the 300 rule" through their own personal experience.
"The 300 rule" states that the average person knows 300 people on a friendly level. Wedding planners tend to make reservations for 300 guests. Funeral directors tend to need to make room for 300 mourners. You get the idea.
DOODLING WITH CIRCLES OF INFLUENCE
Imagine your circle of friends, family and acquaintances, a.k.a. your circle of influence. Now, draw your circle of influence as a circle on a blank piece of paper.
Next, contemplate the people in your parents' circle of influence. Some people who know your parents also know you. Therefore, you will share some influence with the people your folks know. Now draw your parents' circle of influence on your piece of paper.
Your circle and your parents' circle will intersect in one area, although the larger majority of the two circles will not intersect. If you are like most people, the two circles on your page at this point looks very similar to the MasterCard logo.
Now imagine drawing a page full of intersecting circles, each circle representing the circle of influence of the people who are within your own circle of influence. Imagine trying to encapsulate an accurate rendering of where your circle and the circle of your friends will actually intersect.
Some circles will share a large area of space, while others will barely cover one another.
Actually, you can only imagine at this point what your piece of paper will look like. The actual layout of the circles imagined in this analogy is simply too overwhelming for the mind to comprehend.
THE BIG PICTURE
300 multiplied by 300 equals 90,000. By using the analogy of doodles in the previous section, the average person can actually network with up to 90,000 people! Even factoring in the overlap, one can still probably network with 50,000 people through their own circle of influence!
Simply amazing, isn't it?
HERE IS THE SECRET TO YOUR SUCCESS
There are 300 people on this planet whom you have a reasonable amount of influence. Take advantage of this fact. Make darn sure that every person within your own circle of influence KNOWS that you are in business for yourself, and make sure they understand what your business offers.
When your friend is asked to make a referral, they will recommend you.
PASSIVE VERSUS ACTIVE REFERRAL NETWORKING
When people ask your friends for a referral and your friend mentions your business, that is passive referral networking.
Active referral networking is when you can get your friends go directly to their friends and say "Hey, I have a friend who just started a business. If you are in need of what he offers or you know someone who will need his services, would you please give my friend a call or make the referral to his business?"
If you can get even a portion of the people in your own circle of influence to actively refer your business, then you have built the foundation to build an advertising campaign even more effective than the average local television advertising campaign.
Think about that for a moment.
Most people only dream of reaching 50,000 potential customers with their television advertising dollars. You now have the knowledge to reach 50,000 people without spending a single penny.
To Your Success!
Copyright © Stone Evans, The Home Biz Guy
Saturday, June 24, 2006
Finding Your Home Business Niche
When some folks begin to think about a business of their own, they know in that very moment what kind they are going to start. Then, there are the rest of us...
Knowing that we want to have a business of our own is not enough. Many of us have struggled with the important question of what type of enterprise we would like to start.
Franchises offer a simple pre-packaged money making idea, but the cost of a franchise often makes it a prohibitive option to most folks who contemplate going out on their own.
For those who do not have a million dollars to buy a McDonalds franchise, we must look to other ideas for our own business.
There are literally hundreds of lucrative home business ideas for you to choose from, which will suit every type of personality and all levels of financing. From selling information on the Internet as a infopreneur, to growing delicious gourmet mushrooms for sale to restaurants and catering companies; there is a pile of money to be made by filling a need, for these and a host of other necessary services.
Of course, actually liking what you do, will have a lot to do with the success of your new venture, so be sure to pick a home business that you'll enjoy running and that will keep you motivated.
For example, if you're a math whiz, an accounting or income tax service might be the ideal home business for you to start. Perhaps writing is your forte and you'd like to start your own home based copywriting service or advertising agency. Each of these businesses can be run successfully--and profitably from the comfort of your own home.
Academia might not be your cup of tea, but maybe you are good with your hands --- having a creative genius where crafts are concerned. Craft items are red-hot sellers at swap meets, country fairs and world wide over the Internet, and they can provide you with solid profits. If crafts don't interest you, then why not start a laundry service with pick-up and delivery, or a shopping service for shut-in's--even a companion service or granny sitter or a doctor shuttle service; any of which, could be much in demand, in and around your neighborhood or community.
When brainstorming new ideas for your future home business, keep in mind the soul of any successful endeavor is providing a product or service that others will actually purchase in quantities. Satisfy the needs of your target market, and your target market will keep you and your home based business healthy, happy and profitable.
Below are some suggestions for home business ideas that might help you decide on a suitable venture in which to invest.
Multi-level-marketing (mlm), floral/plant service for offices and hospitals, pooper-scooper service, dog walking service, answering service, vending machine service, gift basket service, homemade soap maker, mobile windshield repair service, mobile tire repair service, income tax specialist, researcher, freelance writer, business card and letterhead designer, courier, shut-in/shuttle service, landscaping service, tree trimming service, wood crafter, carpenter, crafts and crafting supplies, pool cleaning service, plants/nursery starts, growing herbs, growing mushrooms, garage sale and swap meet vendor, proofreader, private investigator, typing service, interior decorator/designer, website design, wedding consultant, hot lunch/snack vendor at local courthouses, pet sitting service, pet grooming service, Internet entrepreneur, paralegal, gourmet catering service, new media production, mobile cosmetic technician, mobile nail technician, mobile hair stylist, aerobics instructor, personal fitness trainer, advertising consultant, companion service, small printing service.
Ideas, ideas; hopefully the above ideas will give you some fresh ideas of your own to mull over. A spring board if you will, on which to dive into your own chosen home business.
When you work from home, any business you start has the potential to explode into a perpetual gold mine! It just depends on how much your home business is in demand around your community or on the Internet. Your home business might start slow and steady, regularly picking up clients as you become more established. On the other hand, your chosen home business may take off like wildfire, quickly becoming too hot for you to handle by yourself (well done!). This is the time to enlist the help of willing family members to help you out in your time of need, which will make your business into a friendly, family concern. This will also help family members better understand your business and get a grasp on the mechanics of profit.
Good luck in all your decisions and have fun with your home business, which ever one you choose, and don't forget to enjoy your newfound freedom!
Copyright © Stone Evans, The Home Biz Guy
Knowing that we want to have a business of our own is not enough. Many of us have struggled with the important question of what type of enterprise we would like to start.
Franchises offer a simple pre-packaged money making idea, but the cost of a franchise often makes it a prohibitive option to most folks who contemplate going out on their own.
For those who do not have a million dollars to buy a McDonalds franchise, we must look to other ideas for our own business.
There are literally hundreds of lucrative home business ideas for you to choose from, which will suit every type of personality and all levels of financing. From selling information on the Internet as a infopreneur, to growing delicious gourmet mushrooms for sale to restaurants and catering companies; there is a pile of money to be made by filling a need, for these and a host of other necessary services.
Of course, actually liking what you do, will have a lot to do with the success of your new venture, so be sure to pick a home business that you'll enjoy running and that will keep you motivated.
For example, if you're a math whiz, an accounting or income tax service might be the ideal home business for you to start. Perhaps writing is your forte and you'd like to start your own home based copywriting service or advertising agency. Each of these businesses can be run successfully--and profitably from the comfort of your own home.
Academia might not be your cup of tea, but maybe you are good with your hands --- having a creative genius where crafts are concerned. Craft items are red-hot sellers at swap meets, country fairs and world wide over the Internet, and they can provide you with solid profits. If crafts don't interest you, then why not start a laundry service with pick-up and delivery, or a shopping service for shut-in's--even a companion service or granny sitter or a doctor shuttle service; any of which, could be much in demand, in and around your neighborhood or community.
When brainstorming new ideas for your future home business, keep in mind the soul of any successful endeavor is providing a product or service that others will actually purchase in quantities. Satisfy the needs of your target market, and your target market will keep you and your home based business healthy, happy and profitable.
Below are some suggestions for home business ideas that might help you decide on a suitable venture in which to invest.
Multi-level-marketing (mlm), floral/plant service for offices and hospitals, pooper-scooper service, dog walking service, answering service, vending machine service, gift basket service, homemade soap maker, mobile windshield repair service, mobile tire repair service, income tax specialist, researcher, freelance writer, business card and letterhead designer, courier, shut-in/shuttle service, landscaping service, tree trimming service, wood crafter, carpenter, crafts and crafting supplies, pool cleaning service, plants/nursery starts, growing herbs, growing mushrooms, garage sale and swap meet vendor, proofreader, private investigator, typing service, interior decorator/designer, website design, wedding consultant, hot lunch/snack vendor at local courthouses, pet sitting service, pet grooming service, Internet entrepreneur, paralegal, gourmet catering service, new media production, mobile cosmetic technician, mobile nail technician, mobile hair stylist, aerobics instructor, personal fitness trainer, advertising consultant, companion service, small printing service.
Ideas, ideas; hopefully the above ideas will give you some fresh ideas of your own to mull over. A spring board if you will, on which to dive into your own chosen home business.
When you work from home, any business you start has the potential to explode into a perpetual gold mine! It just depends on how much your home business is in demand around your community or on the Internet. Your home business might start slow and steady, regularly picking up clients as you become more established. On the other hand, your chosen home business may take off like wildfire, quickly becoming too hot for you to handle by yourself (well done!). This is the time to enlist the help of willing family members to help you out in your time of need, which will make your business into a friendly, family concern. This will also help family members better understand your business and get a grasp on the mechanics of profit.
Good luck in all your decisions and have fun with your home business, which ever one you choose, and don't forget to enjoy your newfound freedom!
Copyright © Stone Evans, The Home Biz Guy
Working and Living: Do not Blur the Lines
When you're at home all the time, people have a way of giving you everything to do, with no regard for your job. It can be very hard indeed to keep your family life separate from your business when you work at home -- in fact, this is one of the most common reasons home businesses fail, and their owners come away all too glad to get back to the corporate grindstone. If you don't want to be driven away from home business, here's what you need to do to keep your family at bay.
Work Time, Home Time.
Make a schedule for when you're going to work and when you're not, and stick to it. This doesn't have to be inflexible -- it's very silly to only work nine to five every day, for example -- but it still really needs to be there. Without a plan, you're inevitably going to go too far one way or the other, and either work far too much or nowhere near enough. You might find it best to a new plan at the start of each month or week, so that you can still respond to changes in circumstances.
Yes, I know it can be difficult to draw clear lines between family time and work time, especially if your family is around for some of the hours that you want to be working. The only thing I can say to you is that it's important to keep on trying, because the moment you give up everything's going to come crashing down. Whatever you do, don't let your family anywhere near your office space.
Fit Errands Around Work.
People will obviously be upset if you absolutely refuse to run their errands -- is it really so much trouble to run down to the bank when you're at home all day? -- but you can't let them take away hours from work. You should make your response automatic. When someone asks you to take an hour out of work to do something during the day, tell them that you'll have to make that hour up at the end of the day, so they shouldn't expect you out of the office until an hour later than usual.
Don't Do Chores.
It can be tempting to do the laundry or the dishes when there's a load of them to do and work seems slow, but don't give it to it during your working day. Chores eat up an amazing amount of time. One thing you can do to help resist the temptation is to wear better clothes than you usually would when you're working -- not a suit, but something business-casual that you wouldn't really be willing to wash dishes in.
Have a Business Phone Line.
You need a phone line that's just for business to let clients leave messages for you when you're not in the office. Say exactly that in the message: 'I'm not in the office right now, but please leave your name and number and I'll get back to you'. Whatever you do, don't be tempted to take business calls after-hours, or give out your personal number to business contacts -- this is a sure-fire way to never stop working. Turn off the ringer on your business phone when you leave the office for the day.
With Children, All Bets are Off.
If you have children at home during the day (if they haven't started school yet, or it's a school holiday), it can be very difficult to maintain a sensible work pattern. They will come and bother you at every opportunity, because they miss you and want to see you. They'll even cause trouble just to get you to sort it out. They wanted to come and bothered you at your office job too, you know, but they had no way of getting there.
So what can you do when there are children in the house? After all, it's harsh to just ignore them, isn't it? The best answer I've found is to hire a babysitter, who can keep the kids entertained while you work. It could get expensive, but it shouldn't be for long, right?
About the author:
Petter Rogstad i a home business entrepreneur.. He left his job and started working from home when his wife - after 10 year at home with 5 children - wanted to pick up her carrier. He believes working from home is a wonderful opportunity to grow as a person and spend more time with your children
Work Time, Home Time.
Make a schedule for when you're going to work and when you're not, and stick to it. This doesn't have to be inflexible -- it's very silly to only work nine to five every day, for example -- but it still really needs to be there. Without a plan, you're inevitably going to go too far one way or the other, and either work far too much or nowhere near enough. You might find it best to a new plan at the start of each month or week, so that you can still respond to changes in circumstances.
Yes, I know it can be difficult to draw clear lines between family time and work time, especially if your family is around for some of the hours that you want to be working. The only thing I can say to you is that it's important to keep on trying, because the moment you give up everything's going to come crashing down. Whatever you do, don't let your family anywhere near your office space.
Fit Errands Around Work.
People will obviously be upset if you absolutely refuse to run their errands -- is it really so much trouble to run down to the bank when you're at home all day? -- but you can't let them take away hours from work. You should make your response automatic. When someone asks you to take an hour out of work to do something during the day, tell them that you'll have to make that hour up at the end of the day, so they shouldn't expect you out of the office until an hour later than usual.
Don't Do Chores.
It can be tempting to do the laundry or the dishes when there's a load of them to do and work seems slow, but don't give it to it during your working day. Chores eat up an amazing amount of time. One thing you can do to help resist the temptation is to wear better clothes than you usually would when you're working -- not a suit, but something business-casual that you wouldn't really be willing to wash dishes in.
Have a Business Phone Line.
You need a phone line that's just for business to let clients leave messages for you when you're not in the office. Say exactly that in the message: 'I'm not in the office right now, but please leave your name and number and I'll get back to you'. Whatever you do, don't be tempted to take business calls after-hours, or give out your personal number to business contacts -- this is a sure-fire way to never stop working. Turn off the ringer on your business phone when you leave the office for the day.
With Children, All Bets are Off.
If you have children at home during the day (if they haven't started school yet, or it's a school holiday), it can be very difficult to maintain a sensible work pattern. They will come and bother you at every opportunity, because they miss you and want to see you. They'll even cause trouble just to get you to sort it out. They wanted to come and bothered you at your office job too, you know, but they had no way of getting there.
So what can you do when there are children in the house? After all, it's harsh to just ignore them, isn't it? The best answer I've found is to hire a babysitter, who can keep the kids entertained while you work. It could get expensive, but it shouldn't be for long, right?
About the author:
Petter Rogstad i a home business entrepreneur.. He left his job and started working from home when his wife - after 10 year at home with 5 children - wanted to pick up her carrier. He believes working from home is a wonderful opportunity to grow as a person and spend more time with your children
Tuesday, June 20, 2006
Researching and Developing the Home Business Idea
Market Research.
If you think your idea is original, then you might be right – but don’t bank on it. Come up with as many word combinations relating to your idea as you can, and then search for them all. If you have trouble thinking of what to search for, try to think like a customer of your potential business – what would they look for to find you? The chances are that you’ll at least find something similar to what you’re doing. If you don’t, then there are three possibilities: you’re a genius who’s come up with an original business idea, you’re no good at searching, or your idea isn’t practical.
However much you might think that the best ideas are original, it’s far better if you can find other people who are doing what you’re doing successfully. It’s even better if you can take something that’s tried-and-tested in another country and import it to your own. If there’s no-one else operating in your chosen market, then it doesn’t necessarily mean that no-one has ever thought of it or tried – it’s more likely that it just turned out to be impractical.
There is another thing to look out for, though: you might find that your search terms find lots of sites willing to sell you a ‘kit’ to start up that business more easily. These kits are almost always worthless, but the fact that they exist tells you that your idea is a common one, and the market may be saturated. The ideal home business, to my mind, is one where there seems to be an enthusiastic community of other successful home businesses, but not to the point where everyone seems to be doing it, or telling you how to do it.
Once you’ve gone through the preliminary checks, the best way to research your idea isn’t to keep staring over at other businesses – it’s to look to your potential customers. Talk to as many people as you can about your idea, start a little canvassing, do market research surveys in the street. Do anything to try and figure out how many potential customers you’ve got out there.
Time to Get Specific.
When you’re running a home business, you’re not going to be big. You don’t have a big advertising budget, and you’re not going to be able to have lots of customers and make a small profit from each. The kind of market you need is called a ‘niche market’ – a set of customers who want something very specific, and aren’t currently able to get it. It might seem strange, but the best niches can often seem really obscure. You might know what industry you want to be in, but exactly what are you going to be doing, and for who?
Here’s an exercise that you really need to do. Take your home business idea and write it down. You are only allowed to use one side of one sheet of paper for this. The point of this is to make sure that you know the absolute core of your idea. It’s all too easy to get bogged down in details when you start a home business, and you need to make sure you know exactly what your idea is, in its simplest form.
Once you’ve got the basics down, that’s when you can start to develop the idea. The aim here is to take your core idea and turn it into products, suppliers, customers and work. For example, if your idea is to provide web design for small businesses, then this is where you need to sit down and figure out what suppliers you’d need (web hosting, for example), and what services you’d be providing for customers.
Think of it as inputs and outputs. Imagine, for example, that your business is making clothes. It starts with the input you don’t control – what you ‘outsource’, meaning that you pay to order it in from outside suppliers. For clothes, this would be a sewing machine, material, thread, and so on. The next input is what you add yourself. This would probably be the design and manufacture of the clothes. The output is the finished product – the clothes, ready to sell.
About the author:
Petter Rogstad i a home business entrepreneur.. He left his job and started working from home when his wife - after 10 year at home with 5 children - wanted to pick up her carrier. He believes working from home is a wonderful opportunity to grow as a person and spend more time with your children
If you think your idea is original, then you might be right – but don’t bank on it. Come up with as many word combinations relating to your idea as you can, and then search for them all. If you have trouble thinking of what to search for, try to think like a customer of your potential business – what would they look for to find you? The chances are that you’ll at least find something similar to what you’re doing. If you don’t, then there are three possibilities: you’re a genius who’s come up with an original business idea, you’re no good at searching, or your idea isn’t practical.
However much you might think that the best ideas are original, it’s far better if you can find other people who are doing what you’re doing successfully. It’s even better if you can take something that’s tried-and-tested in another country and import it to your own. If there’s no-one else operating in your chosen market, then it doesn’t necessarily mean that no-one has ever thought of it or tried – it’s more likely that it just turned out to be impractical.
There is another thing to look out for, though: you might find that your search terms find lots of sites willing to sell you a ‘kit’ to start up that business more easily. These kits are almost always worthless, but the fact that they exist tells you that your idea is a common one, and the market may be saturated. The ideal home business, to my mind, is one where there seems to be an enthusiastic community of other successful home businesses, but not to the point where everyone seems to be doing it, or telling you how to do it.
Once you’ve gone through the preliminary checks, the best way to research your idea isn’t to keep staring over at other businesses – it’s to look to your potential customers. Talk to as many people as you can about your idea, start a little canvassing, do market research surveys in the street. Do anything to try and figure out how many potential customers you’ve got out there.
Time to Get Specific.
When you’re running a home business, you’re not going to be big. You don’t have a big advertising budget, and you’re not going to be able to have lots of customers and make a small profit from each. The kind of market you need is called a ‘niche market’ – a set of customers who want something very specific, and aren’t currently able to get it. It might seem strange, but the best niches can often seem really obscure. You might know what industry you want to be in, but exactly what are you going to be doing, and for who?
Here’s an exercise that you really need to do. Take your home business idea and write it down. You are only allowed to use one side of one sheet of paper for this. The point of this is to make sure that you know the absolute core of your idea. It’s all too easy to get bogged down in details when you start a home business, and you need to make sure you know exactly what your idea is, in its simplest form.
Once you’ve got the basics down, that’s when you can start to develop the idea. The aim here is to take your core idea and turn it into products, suppliers, customers and work. For example, if your idea is to provide web design for small businesses, then this is where you need to sit down and figure out what suppliers you’d need (web hosting, for example), and what services you’d be providing for customers.
Think of it as inputs and outputs. Imagine, for example, that your business is making clothes. It starts with the input you don’t control – what you ‘outsource’, meaning that you pay to order it in from outside suppliers. For clothes, this would be a sewing machine, material, thread, and so on. The next input is what you add yourself. This would probably be the design and manufacture of the clothes. The output is the finished product – the clothes, ready to sell.
About the author:
Petter Rogstad i a home business entrepreneur.. He left his job and started working from home when his wife - after 10 year at home with 5 children - wanted to pick up her carrier. He believes working from home is a wonderful opportunity to grow as a person and spend more time with your children
Monday, May 22, 2006
Working From Home: the Pros and Cons
If you’re thinking of starting a home business, you’ve got to realise something about life. Life has a certain balance: there is no pleasure without pain, and there are no pros without cons. Here’s a look at the upsides and downsides of home businesses.
Pro: Independence.
You do what you want, when you want. No-one else can screw up your hard work, and you don’t need to depend on anyone but yourself. Your days of being told what to do are over. And there’s no dress code, either! Many people who work from home admit to sitting around in their pyjamas all day, or even working in the nude.
Con: No Security.
With independence, though, comes responsibility. There’s nobody to carry you if you do badly one day – if you don’t make any money for the business, then you don’t get paid. People like certainty in their lives (that’s why they spend big bucks on insurance) – it can be hard to live with this ultimate step into performance-related pay. You might find yourself quickly wishing you had a regular paycheque again.
Pro: Flexible Working.
You decide your hours. If you want to take Wednesday off and work Saturday instead, then no-one’s stopping you. If you’d like to get up early and cram all your work into the mornings so you can have the afternoons off, then hey, you’re the boss. Such flexibility can be a massive relief after years of working nine to five.
Con: Work Never Ends.
When you work from home, it can be tempting to be constantly monitoring things, even when you’ve decided you’re not working. The only person who can handle a crisis is you – and crises have a tendency to happen in the middle of the night, or on your day off.
Pro: Keeping All the Money.
Everything you earn is yours to keep. It can be truly disheartening to work somewhere where cash is being handled, and realising that the takings for the day add up to a hundred times more than you got paid. You know that someone’s getting rich off your back, but it’s not you – working from home makes you the fatcat at the top.
Con: Doing Everything.
Not all that money was profit, you know. It goes on things like marketing, management, stock control, deliveries, and so on. Suddenly you have to manage everything that goes on in your business – you deal with suppliers on one end and customers on the other, you have to do all the budgeting and spending, and you become your own marketing department. You get to deal with all the fun tax issues, too.
Pro: No More Commuting.
Commuting is expensive, painful, and can feel like a complete waste of time – just think of all the time and money most people spend travelling to and from work. When you have a home business, you just get up and you’re right next to your workplace – isn’t that convenient?
Con: One Less Room.
Your house can feel a lot smaller when you’ve had to set one room aside as your ‘home office’. When you’re not working, it just sits there, useless, and meanwhile your kids are getting upset at how small their bedrooms are.
Pro: A Healthier Lifestyle.
When you only have an hour’s lunch break to do everything you need to do, you can end up running yourself into the ground and not eating properly. Working from home lets you do your errands when you want, and eat good food every day.
Con: The Loneliness.
If you’re the only one around in your house during the day, it avoids distractions – but it can also feel very lonely. If you’re the kind of person who likes being around other people, you can start to get quite depressed.
But…
If you talk to anyone who works from home, they’ll probably say to you that, for them, the pros far outweigh the cons. Once you’re doing your own thing and feeling great, it’s hard to go back to a salaried existence – and remember, it’s far easier to work around your problems in a home business than it is to deal with any problems you might have at work.
About the author:
Petter Rogstad i a home business entrepreneur.. He left his job and started working from home when his wife - after 10 year at home with 5 children - wanted to pick up her carrier. He believes working from home is a wonderful opportunity to grow as a person and spend more time with your children
Pro: Independence.
You do what you want, when you want. No-one else can screw up your hard work, and you don’t need to depend on anyone but yourself. Your days of being told what to do are over. And there’s no dress code, either! Many people who work from home admit to sitting around in their pyjamas all day, or even working in the nude.
Con: No Security.
With independence, though, comes responsibility. There’s nobody to carry you if you do badly one day – if you don’t make any money for the business, then you don’t get paid. People like certainty in their lives (that’s why they spend big bucks on insurance) – it can be hard to live with this ultimate step into performance-related pay. You might find yourself quickly wishing you had a regular paycheque again.
Pro: Flexible Working.
You decide your hours. If you want to take Wednesday off and work Saturday instead, then no-one’s stopping you. If you’d like to get up early and cram all your work into the mornings so you can have the afternoons off, then hey, you’re the boss. Such flexibility can be a massive relief after years of working nine to five.
Con: Work Never Ends.
When you work from home, it can be tempting to be constantly monitoring things, even when you’ve decided you’re not working. The only person who can handle a crisis is you – and crises have a tendency to happen in the middle of the night, or on your day off.
Pro: Keeping All the Money.
Everything you earn is yours to keep. It can be truly disheartening to work somewhere where cash is being handled, and realising that the takings for the day add up to a hundred times more than you got paid. You know that someone’s getting rich off your back, but it’s not you – working from home makes you the fatcat at the top.
Con: Doing Everything.
Not all that money was profit, you know. It goes on things like marketing, management, stock control, deliveries, and so on. Suddenly you have to manage everything that goes on in your business – you deal with suppliers on one end and customers on the other, you have to do all the budgeting and spending, and you become your own marketing department. You get to deal with all the fun tax issues, too.
Pro: No More Commuting.
Commuting is expensive, painful, and can feel like a complete waste of time – just think of all the time and money most people spend travelling to and from work. When you have a home business, you just get up and you’re right next to your workplace – isn’t that convenient?
Con: One Less Room.
Your house can feel a lot smaller when you’ve had to set one room aside as your ‘home office’. When you’re not working, it just sits there, useless, and meanwhile your kids are getting upset at how small their bedrooms are.
Pro: A Healthier Lifestyle.
When you only have an hour’s lunch break to do everything you need to do, you can end up running yourself into the ground and not eating properly. Working from home lets you do your errands when you want, and eat good food every day.
Con: The Loneliness.
If you’re the only one around in your house during the day, it avoids distractions – but it can also feel very lonely. If you’re the kind of person who likes being around other people, you can start to get quite depressed.
But…
If you talk to anyone who works from home, they’ll probably say to you that, for them, the pros far outweigh the cons. Once you’re doing your own thing and feeling great, it’s hard to go back to a salaried existence – and remember, it’s far easier to work around your problems in a home business than it is to deal with any problems you might have at work.
About the author:
Petter Rogstad i a home business entrepreneur.. He left his job and started working from home when his wife - after 10 year at home with 5 children - wanted to pick up her carrier. He believes working from home is a wonderful opportunity to grow as a person and spend more time with your children
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