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

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

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.