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.

Your home based business will need a name sooner or later, even if you are planning on positioning yourself as an expert (therefore your own name will on everyone’s lips), you should still have a registered business name from which to operate.

The trouble most of us have however is choosing the right name.

Your home based business name should be descriptive, and flow well with a tag line.

I’ll try to provide some examples in a future post, but I’m sure you know what I’m getting at…something that flows off the lips and let’s people know exactly what your business is all about.

In past businesses I’ve verbally surveyed friends and potential clients on a few business names before I go to the registration office. And, a few times I’ve been surprised by their reactions and comments. Collaboration lends differing perspectives - invaluable tips that could make a big difference to the success of your company.

There are many business opportunities geared towards those who wish to operate from home, both online, and offline.

A few of the online ventures will promise overnight success, money in three days, and long lasting success. Tread carefully when considering those promises. A few home business opportunities are free while others call for an investment. Check into free affiliate programs, free home-based businesses, and take a look at those which require upfront financial commitments from you.

The truth is that any home business demands effort, marketing, and a network of contacts or partnerships. The amount of work you put into your home-based business is directly related to the amount of income you’ll gain from it.

Outline every step of your business start up as well as the daily operation of your business carefully. Look at your short and long-term goals and forecast, in writing, how you will achieve each goal.

It’s possible to earn a good income from home, however you will have to commit to your business plan and follow it closely.

Joint Ventures to Increase Income

A joint venture is when two or more entrepreneurs or businesses join forces to cross-promote or create a new project for a pre-defined time period. Setting up joint ventures with a number of online entrepreneurs or businesses - there’s strength in numbers - greatly increases your chances of beating your competition, plus:

• save money when businesses share online expenses
• build up mailing lists of people interested in your product or service
• save resources in an online product launch by sharing the workload
• be expanding products and services to offer customers
• gain recognition and likely more business associates, possibly future joint venture deals
• save even more money as advertising and online marketing costs are split
• get free advice and vital information from your joint venture partner

You can find entrepreneurs to joint venture with online easily. Look for marketers or websites who have a similar target audience to your current customers, but who are not direct competition with you.

Here are a few ways to hunt down online joint venture partners:

• subscribe to forums, discussion groups, and membership sites that relate to your target audience
• announce on your website or to your newsletter list that you are seeking joint venture partners
• perform some research online through a search engine using your target keywords plus partner or joint venture in the search box.

If you happen upon an entrepreneur you’d like to do business with, simply send them a proposal of your idea. Be polite and list the benefits to both of you. Don’t talk about yourself too much, instead talk about them. Let them know that you read their material, buy their products, subscribe to their newsletter, and anything else you can think of to show them that you are truly contacting them directly and not sending out a form letter for joint venture partners.

If your preferred partner doesn’t reply to your first email, send another to be sure your message wasn’t eaten by the spam filters, and follow up with a personal phone call.

Creative Advertising for Home Based Businesses on a Shoestring Budget

Setting aside money for advertising isn’t usually a top priority for home based business. But advertising must be done to keep the business growing.

If this is your situation - you need to advertise, but don’t have the budget - I hope this article offers you a few ways to advertise cheaply. Most ideas presented here will cost you less than $30, but will return many more dollars in business income.

Word of Mouth

Tell everyone you know about your business. Let them know exactly what you specialize in, where you received your experience, and past successes. Include interesting stories, that translate into testimonials. Those stories will be passed on from person to person and your home based business will soon be well known in your community as ‘the’ place to do business.

Business Cards

Grab a box of business cards from VistaPrint online for less than $10. Everywhere you go leave a few behind, on the restaurant table, on every bulletin board, in the doctor’s office, etc. Most importantly give them to everyone you meet and tell them a story with the card (from above).

Flyers

You can actually create a decent looking flyer in your Word processing program on your computer in just a few hours and for just the cost of paper. Ensure your contact details are included, hours of business, list of specialties, etc. Paste them everywhere you paste those business cards, or talk to your local post office about distribution (some provide this service quite cheaply).