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Help For The Home-Based Business
Author : Lisa Holloway
Whether it’s Back-to-Basics and more time with the family, or simply a desire to captain your own ship as much as possible, home office equipment and internet have made the home-based business eminently accessible.
Many different occupations readily lend themselves to this approach: from mail-order products to copywriting to mechanical repairs. Still, you have to be careful! It’s do-able, but it takes planning and savvy to make it work well...and there are an abundance of pitfalls for the would-be home entrepreneur.
Here are a few tips to keep in mind:
1. If an on-line business opportunity sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Poke around on the internet to find out other people’s experiences with the company and/or pull them up on the Better Business Bureau’s site. (Even if the company is not a member, there is still usually a report on them, especially if complaints have been filed.)
2. Unless you plan on outsourcing these requirements, you’ll need to be prepared to handle any necessary licensing and tax withholding/reporting yourself—quite a task, in and of itself if you’re not intimately familiar with tax law (and how many of us are?).
3. No matter what type of business you’re in, you’ll need to market yourself. This aspect of business can be so easy to forget amidst actually doing the job or organizing for start-up, but is absolutely critical: You can’t do business unless you have customers! Web sites, ads, flyers, business cards, networking through friends and family, online social networking, and a regular schedule of outgoing direct-mail correspondence to potential clients are all ways to do this. Aside from people you know, assume that less than 5% of those you approach will say “yes” to your offer, so don’t let that discourage you! Just be prepared to have to work at it.
4. Make yourself customer-friendly and responsive. This would seem to be obvious, and yet service I’ve received on too many occasions tells me it’s anything but. Sometimes clients will be a pain...but they’re the reason you can make money without sitting in a cubicle all day, driving 78 minutes each way, and paying $5 for a cup of coffee. Be interested and creative in solving their problems—for products or services—and they’ll keep coming back. Interested listeners are rare; interested listeners who’ll help you solve your problems in practical terms are golden.
Of course, there’s a lot more to running a home-based business, but this general advice is a good start for anyone hanging out there own shingle. My best wishes to you all as you move into a new future!
Other good resources to help you on your journey include the Small Business Administration and the IRS ' s section for small businesses and the self-employed.
Author's Resource Box
Lisa Holloway is a Christian and family writer, personal historian, and proofreader. She has served with the U.S. Navy and USAID/OFDA, and has conducted anthropological research in northwestern India. She is currently writing for the compilation Can My Marriage Be Saved? Visitors are welcomed at www.NewHorizonWriting.com.
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