Top Five Reasons for Starting A Home Based Business

1. No more commuting!

   Wouldn’t you rather spend the 2 hours or more that you usually spend in traffic, on subways or trains going to and from the office five days a week with your family, on your hobby, or working toward your future? If you start up an online business you can spend those 10+ hours per week any whay you like.

2. Choose your own hours!

   Work as hard as you want to in your home based business or spend the day running errands or keeping personal appointments. The point is that you have flexibility in a home based business.

Read the rest…

I just read that according to the Small Business Administration’s research in 2003, nearly twenty percent of American households are running some sort of home based business - at least on a part time basis. The SBA also forecasted at that time that the number of home based business owners will continue to rise every year.

Let me ask you, are you ready to take the plunge and start your own work at home enterprise? Even just something small that you can start on the side of your regular job with the hopes of expansion? If you are, you’re not alone. Nearly every hard working person with a pulse has dreamt of quitting the 9 to 5 grind and striking out on his own.

Here’s a few simple steps to stay happy in your home based business…

If you can, print this page to help keep you on track in your business goals and plan. Sometimes it gets very hard to stay focused on the goal when you’re working from home, all alone. This really helps.

Working from home, alone, is not for everyone. It can be difficult to stick to a schedule without anyone looking over your shoulder, and with almost no rewards in the beginning - just the hope that maybe…maybe…this will be the great business idea that gets you away from the grind.

Here’s a few start up tips to ensure you stay inspired.

1. Select An Industry You Enjoy. Select a business you are sure you can do well in and that people are actually willing to pay you money for.
2. Over Plan for The Future. What will you charge? Who will be your customers? How will you reach your target market? How will you market and advertise your business? Why will people want to do business with you? Where will you set up your office?
3. Check out the Legalities Before You Launch. Check local zoning laws and bylaws. Get a business license and register your new business name. Meet withyour local Chamber of Commerce and find out if you need special type of licensing for your business.
4. Get Finances in Order. Set up a bookkeeping system right from the beginning. Open a business account at your bank. Map out your expenses.
5. Set Up Your Home Office.
6. Get Advertising and Marketing. Order business cards and letterhead. Print flyers announcing the new business and opening date. Register a domain name for your business and put up one new webpage a day about your market, your business and your ideas.
7. Get Busy! Determine a work schedule and stick to it.

The Brainstorming/Research Stage

One serious advantage of running an online business is that you can start from scratch without investing thousands of dollars. This makes the opportunity irresistible to many.

I’ve got a few online businesses on the go right now so I thought I’d write out and share with you the first six steps I follow to launch an online business.

1. List your favorite top 5 hobbies, current interests or specialties. Online competition can be fierce - it’s not like the old days - if you want to start a new business, you’d better be knowledgeable about that topic, so choose one that you like and have experience with.
2. Start building a list of key phrases related to those hobbies and interests. This is the start of your search engine related research. You’re going to see if a sizeable market exists for your business idea before you invest time, money and energy into the business. Here’s an example - if you are going to sell small airplane collectibles or an info product or resource on the same, some possible keywords could be: airplanes, aeronautics, war airplanes, and so forth.
3. Research those keywords with the free software tool Good Keywords to locate problem statements that have high search results and low competition. Good Keywords is a nice piece of software that allows you do perform research to find out how many times your keywords are searched online and how popular your keywords on search engines are. Those keywords may represent problem statements. Take notes. You’re looking for popular statements with low competition in the search engine results.
4. Research those problem statements further to determine if you can develop a product to solve the common problem you defined. You may use search engines to see how many people are offering products that can help to solve those problems. If you find a popular problem and there are not many people offering solutions online, you’ve found a great and viable market - or business idea!
5. Find or create a product based on the research and information collected above. If the product is an e-book, you might like to write it yourself or you could always hire someone else to do it. If your product idea is a physical product, you might like to research further to find companies online that can manufacture the products for you.
6. Write a long copy sales letter for your new product or business! Many top internet marketing specialists will admit that long sales letters out-perform short sales letters. So get writing! Even if you don’t have your product yet or if your ebook is merely a draft, your enthusiasm for your new project, product or business will transfer into your sales letter.

If you’re really serious about starting up an online home based business I highly recommend a free resource (selling elsewhere at $497) on starting up an online business. It has already helped over 10,000 readers get their home business off the ground and into profits.

We all have to work to make ends meet.

Gone are the days when one parent could stay home and build morals and relationships with our children or look after the affairs of the home. But more and more of us are realizing that we can both earn an income and stay at home. It takes some juggling, some learning, some frustrations and a lot of sweat equity in some cases, but it can be done.If you’re good, and you chose the right home based business and target market, your work-at-home enterprise should be earning a tidy profit within a year’s time.

One of the key benefits to working at home is that your expenses plummet.

No more daycare, half the travel expense, home cooked meals (way cheaper than ready made store bought or take out), clothing allowances cut down, and a number of tax advantages for your regular home expenses.

Easy and profitable start up home based business for the un-trained are:

• mail order,
• multi-level marketing,
• and in-home party sales.

These are low cost to venture into and will give you a taste of running your own business before you find your own profitable niche or salable expertise.

If you have a passion to work, knowledge of business practice, but not a lot of funds, and you can type or author articles or ebooks, you might consider selling your home-based service as a typist or researcher.

Not your thing? Okay, if you have a truck or a truck and trailer, you could operate a clean-up or hauling service. And, on the same train of thought, you could run a home, office, or apartment cleaning service.

Turn a craft hobby into a home based enterprise and sell your ‘work’ on ebay or at local craft shows. Or, take that same hobby and run a night class on the subject, teaching others for a fee. (Clicking the link above takes you to a fabulous and affordable ebook series on how to make money at home by crafting.)

In reality, there’s no end to the ways you can earn money!

Absolutely anyone and everyone (unless they have a mental disability) are able to run a profitable work at home business with minimal investment. No end to the ways, and no excuses. Just do it!

Online Customers for Your Business

Your customers - past and present - will make or break your business.

For that reason, you’ll want to treat them with respect and dignity and do your best to ensure that you operate from the perspective that the customer is always right.

Of course some customers are more trouble than they’re worth. These are the clients that you should do your best to serve, but don’t over-serve, and hope that they won’t be back for repeat business, but that they also won’t bad-mouth you either.

This takes some class and fancy footwork, but eventually you can ‘lose’ the troublesome clients and only work for the best that the internet has to offer, or that wander into your offline establishment. Basically, you are in the business to build relationships with people - don’t waste your time on less than perfect clients.

If a problem arises between client and company the trouble is usually around, and can be righted with, correct communication. At times over-communication is necessary, even though it feels as though you’re talking and listening more than serving, knowing your client and expressing the ways you can serve your client will help to bridge gaps of mis-understandings between you.

Here’s eight start up and operational tips to help you make a success of your home based business.

1. Have a separate telephone line for your business.

2. Have an answering machine answering all calls when you’re unavailable.

3. Make sure you have a fax machine for quick paper communication between yourself and your clients.

4. Get a photocopier. You’ll be surprised how often you use it and how much more effient it makes you.

5. Appearances sake - your office, your stationary, your attire should always be top notch.

6. Know it all. Read, study and research to stay abreast of current issues related to your industry.

7. Make your business name stick. Choose a name that is catchy, but descriptive.

8. Write a plan and follow it. Short term and long term goals and how you will achieve each.