Operating your own home-based business is one of the most satisfying ways to work. That is, provided that you do your research ahead of time and lay the proper foundation. Most people think that starting a home-based business is convenient and easy. They’re right in that it is usually convenient. But as for easy? It couldn’t be farther from the truth. Starting up a home business takes a lot of work, but if you do your homework you can navigate around many of the common pitfalls of beginning a home business of your own.
The 1st part of having a good home business is finding a product that people need, so that you will be able to sell this product to your target market. If the customer won’t pay a decent price for your widget, you won’t move any product. You will probably get bored and most of all you won’t be making any profit. So you must have a product that will sell well if you expect to have a thriving business.
Next, where are you going to base your business? Is it going to be the family room? Then what are you going to do with the family? Think carefully about how much space you will need and where you can locate your business to make it accessible for clients and out of the way of the family. Do your homework - call an expert on tax laws and find out how much space in your home you can legally deduct for business use. Call you zoning board and find out what types of permits you must have to do business from your home.
After you’ve been awarded the necessary permits and know what type of business you’re going to run, figure out what you need to charge in order to make a profit. A lot of home businesses fail because the owners sell their product too cheaply since they figure they won’t have a lot of overhead costs. But remember that even a home-based business costs more than you’d think. Costs to consider are mortgage, taxes, costs of cleaning the office, utilities, office furnishings, office supplies, and even the cost of maintaining the driveway if you expect clients to park there. You’ll actually be spending more than you think to run your home business.
OK, now you are set for business, what are your hours going to be? You may think working at home means you can work any hours, but in fact it’s not true. How can you work late at night if your average customer does business from 9 to 5? You can’t. Your business hours must be convenient for your customers and, if you really want to be successful, your hours should be the same every week. Your customers want to feel confident that they can reach you when they need to. It’s okay to switch on the answering machine while you are out to lunch (OK, Not out, but in the kitchen), it’s probably not going to increase business if you switch on the answering machine while you go work in the yard because business is slow.
Since you’re working from home, you have another consideration and that is your family. You have to set clear boundaries and let them know that even though you’re at home, it doesn’t mean you’re available. Working in your home office is just like working in an office building downtown. You can’t take a break whenever you feel like it, and your family needs to understand and respect that. Some people create a separated entrance to their home office to separate the rest of the house from the home office. Whatever method you use, make sure that you and your family are on the same page.
You will need to establish a backup plan in case your business grows out of your office and you need an assistant to do the busy work. So think about your choice of office area when you are making the decision at the start, only if you plan on expanding though. Just make sure that you can deal with outgrowing your home office. Set up a plan to transition into a larger office space once your business grows to another level.
