Starting an At-Home Big Money Business Starting at home has many advantages When you start a business, like any venture in life, you want it to have the best chance for success. Starting one from your home has unique advantages. You won't be paying rent on a store or office. And probably you won't immediately need a separate phone with the charges for installation and monthly service. And you are already heating and lighting your home. Therefore, you avoid the burden of these additional monthly overhead costs. You'll be using many things you already own so you can save money by not buying a desk, lighting fixtures, a water cooler, or the other furnishings people generally buy to set up a separate business location. If you need help with the actual work that's involved, try to get members of your family to help you (more on this later). And you can start your business part-time while keeping your present job. Later as it grows you can make it your full-time occupation, and if you wish, move it out of your home into larger quarters...better suited to a business, which may be growing by leaps and bounds. Presiding over your own domain A man's home is his castle--and it can also be his "gold mine." There are many people who make a very good living right from their home. It's comfortable, it's conveniently located (you can walk to work in about 15 seconds) and you can dress the way you like. You can arrange the furniture to make a workspace that suits your exact needs and tastes. You can choose the hours you wish to work and, if you have the energy, initiative and ambition, you can even be in more than one kind of business! Working in your home has other advantages; you have no transportation expenses and you don't waste time or energy in crowds or rush hour traffic. You don't have to worry about getting along with a large group of co-workers or finding a decent place to eat lunch. And you don't have to go out in all weathers, sleet and snow or broiling sun. But there are some drawbacks to working at home and the largest of these is self-discipline. You must learn to discipline yourself. Everyone who is his own boss has the problem of utilizing his time and energy most effectively and not wasting time on pet projects that are not essential to the business. Self-discipline is easier to attain if one goes each day to a separate place of business because most business premises do not have the comforts, conveniences and distractions that one has in one's own home. The danger in working at home is that the advantage of comfort and convenience can turn into a great disadvantage. Set up a definite work area Later on we'll tell you some tips on how to conduct business in general. But let's first find a part of your house that you can use as your business or work area. It should be a spot that is comfortable but away from distractions. Your children deserve attention but not during your working hours (more on that later). So set yourself up far from where the kids usually play.
Too close to the kitchen isn't wise because you are too close to the "food or drink" temptation. A quiet spare bedroom can be ideal as can a finished basement or garage if they aren't too hot or cold. You may need an extension phone put there and, indeed, after your business gets rolling you may want a separate line just for business. If you have a spare desk or table that's fine, but a card table can do for a starter. Adequate lighting is necessary and a filing cabinet also is a good thing to have on hand. You can add whatever other business devices and equipment you discover you'll need as time goes by. You and your Family It will be necessary to explain to your children that even though you are at home, you are, in a sense "not at home," that you are working. This does not apply to an emergency, of course, but for nearly all-ordinary moments it means they are not allowed to disturb you. You may even have to lock the door that leads to your work area. On the other side, there is the situation regarding other adults in the household, from whom you might want some help from in running the business. This has been called the "honey-do" problem: honey, do this; honey, do that. It's best to come to some understanding with your spouse (and any other adult in your home) about just how you are going to handle this problem. It's quite sensible to desire the help of those other capable adults because they can take some of the burdens of the business off your shoulders. However, from both a business viewpoint and from the human relations viewpoint, it's best to have a clear understanding with each of them as to what kind of things they will and should do (answer the phone, open mail, pack and ship merchandise, etc.) and what they definitely are not to do (make payments to people without your authorization, make agreements, deals or contracts without asking you). Such advance agreements can avoid a lot of aggravation and make everything go much more smoothly. "Hello, this is Daddy's business" You must realize that there will be some (charming) complications to running a business from home and one of those complications is when a fairly small child answers the phone for a business call. "No, this isn't the Smith Company, this is my house" may throw a business associate calling your "office" for a loop, temporarily. Most people react quite graciously to this, but it does point up the advantage of having a business number that rings only in your work area. Getting temporary help There may be more work at times than you and your family can do yourselves. Your volume of business may be greater on certain days of the week, certain times of the month, certain seasons of the year. At those times you may need extra help to handle the work. Or you might need a bookkeeper or secretary or clerk one week a month to help you keep up-to-date on your record keeping and paperwork. When you need such help, the most convenient way to get it is to hire someone through an agency that provides temporary workers. Manpower and Kelly Girl, for example, are two of
the best-known agencies in this field. Hiring through such an agency has these advantages: they will send a person who has the skills you require which means you won't waste time training the person. The worker they send understands that the job is temporary and won't make you uncomfortable by asking to be kept on permanently. And, because the worker is employed by the agency (not by you) the agency takes care of the worker's payroll records, tax deductions, insurance coverage, fringe benefits, and so on. You are free from those responsibilities. The right business for you When selecting a home business you should consider these factors: * Is the service or product you intend to provide already easily available in your area? If it is not available and if there appears to be a need for it, these factors are in your favor. Consider all the things you own that might be used in some way as equipment for your business: a car or truck, a typewriter, a mimeograph machine, and so on. If you can use them, it will greatly lower your starting costs. * Is it a business that suits your personality and tastes? One that you feel good about, that fires your imagination? It should be. Enthusiasm can be a priceless ingredient in the formula for success!
How To Accommodate A Home-based Business Almost everyone needs or wants more money than they currently have, and with this desire most of these people would like to start some sort of extra income producing project. The trouble is, not many of these people seem able to fit "a second job" into their time schedules. It's true that people are very busy, but extra time for some sort of home-based extra income producing project can almost always be found. It may mean giving up or changing a few of your favorite past-times, such as having a couple of beers with the guys or watching TV - but if you score big with your extra income project, you will have all the time you've ever wanted for doing whatever you want to do. The first thing to do is to sit down with pencil and paper, and list your daily schedule. What time do you wake up - then step-by-step, list everything you do each day. Most people will find that they have about 3-hours each day that can be utilized in a more constructive or efficient manner. As we've already noted, you may have to give up the time you waste in your local pub or a few of the television programs you watch, but it should be worth it in the long run. Efficient time management boils down to planning what you're going to do, and then doing it without backtracking. Start by making a list of the things you want to do tomorrow, each evening before you jump into bed. Schedule your trips to the store or wherever to coincide with other things you have to do, and with your trips to or from work. Organize your trips to take care of as many things as possible while you're out of the house. Take stock of the time you spend standing around shooting the breeze - especially the time you spend on the telephone - and eliminate all that isn't necessary.
Whatever chores you have to do at home, set aside a specific time to do them, and a specific amount of time to devote to them. For instance, just one hour a day on yard work would probably make your property the envy of all your neighbors. Don't try to do a week's work in one big flurry. Whether it's painting your house, fixing leaky faucets, or mowing your lawn and trimming your shrubs, do a little bit or one particular job each day and you'll be amazed at your progress. Take care of all your mail the day you receive it. Don't let those bills and letters pile up on you. If you're unable to pay a bill immediately, file it in a special place that's visible and note on the envelope the date you intend to pay it. Answer your letters the same day you get them. The important thing is to think of your time as your most valuable asset - it is - so organize what you have to do, and what you want to do. From there, it's just a matter of arranging your priorities. Once you start listing and planning what you want to do, and them carry out your plans, you'll find plenty of "extra time" for handling virtually any kind of home-based income-producing project. People in general may not like routines or schedules, but without some sort of plan relative to what is supposed to be done, the world would be lost in mass confusion. Laws, ordinances, and regulations are for the purpose of guiding people - we live according to an accepted plan or way of life, and the better we can organize ourselves - what we have to do, want to do, and end up doing - the more productive and happy we become. The secret of all financially successful people is simply that they are organized and do not waste time. Think about it - review your own activities - and them see if you can't find a couple of extra hours in each day for more constructive accomplishments. When you begin planning, and then when you actually become involved in an extra-incomeproducing endeavor, you should work it exactly as you've organized your regular day-to-day activities - on a time-efficient basis. Do what has to be done immediately - don't try to get done in an hour something that's going to take a week. Plan it out on paper what you have to do, what you want to do, and when you're going to do it - then get right on each project without procrastination. Finally, and above all else, when you're organizing your time and your business, be sure to set aside time for relaxation. Be sure to schedule time when you and your spouse can be together. You must not involve yourself in anything to the extent that you exclude other people particularly your loved one - from your life. Taking stock of the time you waste each day, and then reorganizing your activities is what it's all about. It's a matter of becoming time-efficient in everything you do.
How To Start A Profitable Home-based Business In these days, it's becoming increasingly difficult to make ends meet with just one source of income. Thus, more and more people are investigating the possibilities of starting their own extra-income business. Most of these part-time endeavors are started and operated from the comfort and privacy of the home. Most of these people are making the extra money they need. Some have wisely and carefully
built these extra income efforts into full-time, very profitable businesses. Others are just keeping busy, having fun, and enjoying life as never before. The important thing is that they are doing something other than waiting for the government to give them a handout; they are improving their lot in life, and you can do it, too! The fields of mail order selling, multi-level marketing, and in-home party sales have never been more popular. If any of these kinds of extra income producing ideas appeal to you, then you owe it to yourself to check them out. But these aren't the only fields of endeavor you can start and operate from home, with little or no investment, and learn as you go. If you type, you can start a home-based typing service; if you have a truck or have access to a trailer, you can start a clean-up/hauling service. Simply collecting old newspapers from your neighbors can get you started in the paper recycling business. More than a few enterprising housewives have found success and fortune by starting home and/or apartment cleaning services. If you have a yard full of flowers, you can make good extra money by supplying fresh cut flowers to restaurants and offices in your area on a regular basis. You might turn a ceramics hobby into a lucrative personalized coffee mug business. What I'm saying is that in reality, there's literally no end to the ways you can start and operate a profitable extra income business from your home. The first thing you must do, however, is some basic market research. Find out for yourself, first-hand, just how many people there are in your area who are interested in your proposed product or service, and would be "willing to stand in line and pay money for it." This is known as defining your market and pinpointing your customers. If after checking around, talking about your idea with a whole lot of people over a period of one to three months, you get the idea that these people would be paying customers, your next effort should be directed toward the "detailing" of your business plan. The more precise and detailed your plan covering all the bases relating to how you'll do everything that needs to be done - the easier it's going to be for you to attain success. Such a plan should show your start-up investment needs, your advertising plan, your production costs and procedures, your sales program, and how your time will be allocated. Too often, enthusiastic and ambitious entrepreneurs jump in on an extra income project and suddenly find that the costs are beyond their abilities, and the time requirements more than they can meet. It pays to lay it all out on paper before you get involved, and the clearer you can "see" everything before you start, the better your chances for success. Now, assuming you've got your market targeted, you know who your customers are going to be and how you're going to reach them with your product or service. And you have all your costs as well as time requirements itemized. The next step is to set your plan in motion and start making money. Here is the most important "secret" of all, relating to starting and building a profitable homebased business, so read very carefully. Regardless of what kind of business you start, you must have the capital and the available time to sustain your business through the first six months of operation. Specifically, you must not count on receiving or spending any money coming in from your business on yourself or for your bills during those first six months. All the income from your business during those first six months should be reinvested in your business in order for it to grow and reach our planned first year potential. Once you've passed that first six months milestone, you can set up a small monthly salary for
yourself, and begin enjoying the fruits of your labor. But the first six months or operation for any business are critical, so do not plan to use any of the money your business generates for yourself during that period. If you've got your business plan properly organized, and have implemented the plan, you should at the end of your first year be able to begin thinking about hiring other people to alleviate some of your work-load. Remember this: Starting a successful business is not a means towards either a job for yourself or a way to keep busy. It should be regarded as the beginning of an enterprise that will grow and prosper, with you as the top dog. Eventually, you'll have other people doing all the work for you, even running the entire operation, while you vacation in the Bahamas or Hawaii and collect or receive regular income from your initial efforts.
Secrets Of Getting Free Advertising The opportunities for getting free advertising for your product or services are limited only by your own imagination and energies. There are so many proven ways of promoting your objectives without cost that it literally boggles the mind just to think of listing them. One way is to write an article relative to your particular expertise and submit it to all the publications and media dealing in the dissemination of related information. In other words, become your own publicity and sales promotions writer. Get the word out; establish yourself as an expert in your field, and "tag-along" everything you write with a quick note listing your address for a catalog, dealership opportunity, or more information. Another really good way is by becoming a guest on as many of the radio and television talk shows or interview type programs as possible. Actually, this is much easier to bring about than most people realize. Write a letter to the producer of these programs, then follow up an in-person visit or telephone call. Your initial contact should emphasize that your product or service would be of interest to the listeners or viewers of the program--perhaps even saving them time and money. Other ways of getting free or very inexpensive exposure include the posting of advertising circulars on all free bulletin boards in your area, especially the coin-operated laundries, grocery stores, and beauty and barbershops. Don't discount the idea of handing out circulars to all the shoppers in busy shopping centers and malls, especially on weekend. You can also enlist the aid of the middle school students in your area to hand out circulars door-to-door. Some of the more routine methods include having a promotional ad relative to your product or service printed on the front or back of your envelopes at the time you have them printed with your return address. Be sure to check all the publications that carry the kind of advertising you need. Many mail order publications just getting started offer unusually low rates to first-time advertisers; a freeof-charge insertion of your ad when you pay for an order to run three issues or more; or special seasonal ad space at greatly reduced rates. And there are a number of publications that will give you Per Inquiry (PI) space--arrangement where all orders come in to the publication, they take a commission from each order, and then forward the orders on to you for fulfillment.
Many publications will give you a contract for space. In this arrangement you send them your ad, and they hold it until they have unsold space, and then at a price that's always one third or less the regular price for the space need, insert your ad. Along these lines, be sure to check in with the suburban neighborhood newspapers. If you send out or publish any kind of catalog or ad sheet, get in touch will all the other publishers and inquire about the possibilities of exchange advertising. They run your ad in their publication in exchange for you running an ad for them of comparable size in yours. Finally, there's nothing in the world that beats the low cost and tremendous exposure you get when you advertise a free offer. Simply run an ad offering a free report of interest to most people--- a simple one page report with a "tag-line" inviting the readers to send money for more information, with a full page advertisement for your book or other products on the backside. Ask for a self-addressed stamped envelope, and depending on the appeal for your report and circulation of the publication in which your ad appears, you could easily be inundated with responses! The trick here, of course, is to convert all these responses, or a large percentage of them, into sales. This is done via the "tag-line," which issues an invitation to the reader to send for more information, and the full-page ad on the back of the report, and other offers you include with the complete package you send back to them. As mentioned at the beginning of this report, it's just a matter of unleashing your imagination. Do that, and you have a powerful force working for you that can help you reach your goals.