Making Preparations With Your Home Based Business
August 21st, 2008 by Stewart Woyo
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A home based business can be one of the most rewarding ways to make a living- if you do your homework, and set the business up to succeed. The average person thinks a business at home would be easy and convenient. Well, convenient it can be, easy it is usually not. You can however avoid the common mistakes of most home based business ventures by doing your homework before you start the business.
The first step is to decide what type of business you’re going to do. What product or service are you going to sell? You need to make sure you’ve got an idea that your target audience will feel is indispensable–because if they think they can do without your gadget, they probably aren’t going to buy it. You need a marketable, in-demand product or service to sell, or your business will probably not get off the ground.
Secondly, from where in your home do you expect to run your business? It will take space to operate a business, so using the living room as your home office means that you’re essentially kicking your family out of it. Try to estimate the amount of space you’ll need, and make sure you settle your business in a location that’s good for you, your family, and your clients. This is probably an area where you’ll need to consult a legal expert to fill you in on tax laws. How much space can you deduct for business use? Your local zoning board will have information on the permits you need to make such deductions.
Once you get your permits you will be ready to buy your product to sell it and make some money. Make sure whatever you sell, gives you enough profit margin so that you can continue to sell it. Most home business owners think their overhead is basically nothing, so they commit the error of pricing the product too low. You want to set a good enough price for your product so that you’ll be in profit. Make a list of everything you have to buy during the month for your business such as office supplies, extra utilities being used due to business, and all the other little small things that will be involved with paying for your new office. Then once you have a monthly price you should price accordingly so you can make the profit you want to attain.
Now that you have decided on your prices, you need to decide what hours of the day you’re going to work; even though you work at home you can’t be calling people whenever you want. So your home business operation hours must be convenient for the customers, preferably the same every week so you can be consistent and people don’t have to wonder if you will be open at a certain time. Try not to let the answering machine pick it up always because if you never answer your phone they can easily go get your service elsewhere. One of the main parts of working at home is being an excellent customer service person and if you can’t provide that you will most likely fail.
Now, tell me how your family is going to respect your business hours and not bother you while you work. Good Luck. I know it can be done, but you will have to communicate well with your family about what is acceptable and what is not. Some home business owners have a suite with a separate entrance that is not connected to the inside of the house. This works well, the family has to go outside and knock on the door to speak with the business owner during work hours. However you achieve it, the understanding must be clear that when you are working, you are working.
Last, you need to look into the future and plan for the time when your expanding business grows larger than your current home office. Will you hire an assistant to help you do administrative work? How do you plan to accommodate growth? Where is a good location to move to when you need more space and how will you handle the transition? Keep those thoughts in the back of your mind, because eventually they will become a reality. It’s okay if that part of your plan is a little fuzzy right now - you can work out all the details when the day arrives.
