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Work-At-Home Success Business Basics 

By Leslie Truex

Each year, more and more people join the work-at-home revolution. A desire for greater flexibility and financial stability have lead people to pursue their dreams of being their own boss. The growth of the Internet and other communication technology has made starting and succeeding in a business easier than ever. Nevertheless, starting a business takes a great deal of work and dedication. Here are the very basics to determining the best business for you, how to get started, and how to make your business a success.

What Business Should You Start?

Over 40 million Americans currently work at home. Their "work" is as varied as the individuals themselves. Some telecommute, others have their own businesses, others are contract workers. Some created their work-at-home situation from scratch, others took advantage of flexible work options on the job or bought into an existing business such as a franchise or MLM.

For many beginning to examine work-at-home options, deciding to work at home is the easy part. Its the deciding what to do that is difficult. According to Paul and Sarah Edwards in their book Finding Your Perfect Work, successful self-employed workers who created their work used one or more of the following paths to get there:

Harvesting a gift. Some people choose to use their special gifts or talents to create their "perfect work".

Pursuing a passion. Others choose to follow their hearts, doing something they love and believe in passionately.

Follow a mission. Some people have a mission, a sense of destiny, that leads them to pursue their special work.

Capitalizing on assets. For many, doing what comes naturally, capitalizing on their assets and current circumstances is how they achieve their work-at-home goal.

Of course choosing a path, and what to do specifically once the path is chosen, is a challenge as well. Often, opportunity exists without realizing it. Jerry from Ginger’s K-9 Originals recognized an opportunity that showed itself when people began to ask him about his homemade sun visor for his dog. For others, the opportunity needs to be created. Below are some steps to help you find ideas to meet your work-at-home goal:

Using the list above, brainstorm your gifts, talents, passions, missions, and current assets or situations. Write them all down without thinking about whether or not it could be turned into a business. This is important! After all, who would have thought a talent for baking cookies would make Mrs. Fields a well-known name?

Using your brainstorm from number 1, think of business ideas (wacky or not) that could result from your gifts, etc. To help, use the books that list a zillion ways to make money from home. While these books aren’t so helpful on specifics, they are full of many different ideas you might not think of on your own. Some interesting ideas I have seen are: bartering club, holiday decorator (for homes and businesses), consultants (of anything), brokers (of anything), education consultant, doll house making (not assembly work), genealogy researcher, sales lead generator, referral service (from child care to bed & breakfasts), and so on.

Pick a few ideas and begin to research the feasibility of creating a business. For example, if you want to work completely from home, a business that required you to leave the home to meet clients may not work. Also, begin to do market research to determine if there are people who will pay for what you want to offer.
Whatever you choose, be sure it is something you want to commit to spending time working on. If you are sick of bookkeeping, you probably shouldn’t start a bookkeeping business.

Still need ideas? Visit the Business Ideas (http://www.workathomesuccess.com/bizideas.htm) or Business Opportunities (http://www.workathomesuccess.com/wahops.htm) areas of Work-At-Home Success. 

The Business Plan

Having a business plan is crucial to your business’s success. While it can be used to secure funding for your venture, it can also provide you with direction and focus in guiding your business to success. Business plans vary in complexity depending on whether or not it will be used to ask for funding or solely as a course of action. Below is the information most experts agree should be in a business plan.

Executive Summary: Outline your business idea.

Mission Statement: What is your ultimate goal or purpose?

Company Information: Provide information about when your company was founded, what it does, its legal structure, where its located, etc.

Product or Service: Describe what you offer, how is it created, how is it unique? Refer to brochures and literature if asking for money.

Market: Who are your customers? Where are they located? How will you reach them? What is your marketing plan (advertising, promotion, etc.)?

Competition: Who else out there offers what you do? How does your business differ from theirs?

Risk/Opportunity: What risks are you facing and how will you overcome them (i.e. financing)? What opportunities are there that you can take advantage of?

Management Team: Who is involved in your business and what is their experience? Be sure to include yourself.

Capitol Requirements: Even if you aren’t asking for money to fund your venture, you should have information regarding start-up expenses. Often starting a business cost more than anticipated because there are more fees and small expenses than expected.

Financial Plan: This includes income statements, cash flow and breakeven analysis, balance sheet summary and sales summary.

Appendices: Use literature, brochures, charts and the like to illustrate points in your plan.

Even if you aren’t planning to ask for funding, it is important to put in writing information about your business, how you plan to market it, fund it, and your vision for it! INC. in cooperation with SCORE and sponsored by Apple, has a booklet on business start-up planning. Contact your local SCORE and Small Business Administration offices for this and other business information and assistance. You can visit the Better Business Bureau online to locate an office near you.

Financing Your New Home-based Business

You have a great idea for a business but, like many things in life, starting a business requires money. While start-up costs vary, many successful entrepreneurs started with just a few hundred dollars. Your start-up costs will depend much on the business you are starting and what materials or supplies you will need. When starting a business, it is important to calculate your living expenses as well as business expenses. A new business can take several months to years before seeing a lifestyle sustaining profit. Anticipate this "lean" period in your budgeting for business start-up.

The following provides various ways to help fund your venture while still supporting yourself.

Moonlight: Start your business venture part-time during off-hours of your regular job. This lets you ease into all the tasks required to run a business with out the financial pressure. It does take away from your free time but, the sacrifice may be worth it in the long run when in 6 months to a year you have more time to spend with them than before.

Part-time: Consider working part-time and spend the other part building your business. This is a little riskier financially, but it allows you extra regular-day hours to work your business. Be sure to calculate all lost income as well as changes in benefits that often occur with part-time work.

Turn your employer into a client: By becoming an independent contractor, you are working for yourself, you have a client before you even start, and you have a ready made reference. There are many monetary benefits for your company to do this. Just be sure not to compete for your employer’s clients. That could work against you.

Live on one salary: If you can afford it, live on one salary for a set period of time. Because of the strain it can cause financially and emotionally, you want to have set goal in terms of a time frame to make a business profit.

Use savings: If you don’t have one, create one by putting away part of your job earnings in an account. If you have one, consider using it to start your venture. If you are successful, it will have been a great investment!

Free money: Use money you receive unexpectedly (inheritance, lottery, gift, stocks, etc) to invest in your business.

Borrow from family or friends: This can be tough because not all family and friends are as encouraging or supportive as you will need to get your business rolling. On the other hand, they may be eager to help you reach your goal.

Credit: While the message of every financial planner is to cut up credit cards, it may be a way to help finance your business start-up. Remember, interest rates are high so, use them wisely.

Loan: There are business start-up loans but, they can be tedious to get. Get information on the variety of small business loans from the Small Business Administration. Consider taking out a home equity loan if you own your home instead.

Investors: If you have a great business idea, other business people may be willing to invest in your business in exchange for partial ownership (usually stock). Seek professional assistance before recruiting venture capitalists.

Before spending any money on your new business, be sure you are clear on all the details of your business. Create a business plan that includes details on starting and running your business and the costs associated with it.

Getting the Word Out!

You have researched and chosen your home business idea. You have obtained all necessary permits and licenses. Now you need customers. Many new business owners are disappointed to discover how long it can take to generate regular clientele particularly when using only print advertising and the yellow pages. Nevertheless there are many low cost, effective ways to get the word out about your business. Below is a list of some of those methods:

Make a plan: Promotion, publicity, marketing, advertising...whatever you want to call it, it works best if you have thought ahead and developed a plan. Haphazard marketing will only get you haphazard responses. The following ideas should be put together with any other marketing ideas you have into a marketing plan that also includes a budget and method for evaluating how each marketing method is working.

Business Cards: Every business book recommends business cards. But it takes more than just having them, they need to be distributed. Hand them out to anyone and everyone that will take it. Include them in your bill payments and other correspondence. Post on community bulletin boards.

Send Announcements: Send all in your target market an announcement regarding your service. You may even want to include a grand opening special.

Press Releases: The great thing about a press release is that it looks like news written by someone else thereby giving your business credibility. In Do It Yourself Publicity David Ramacitti suggests having a press release campaign in which press releases are sent monthly. Press releases should not be advertisements but instead give some sort of information or news. Some ideas for press releases include a grand opening, a business anniversary, a major milestone is reached such as the 1000th customer, personnel changes, winning an award, and to introduce a new product or service. In Ramacitti’s book he gives 50 excuses for writing a press release, how to write it and how to make the best use of it.

Network: Join the chamber of commerce and other organizations in which other business people can exchange information and referrals.

Community Service: People always feel better about working with people who give something to the community. Not only will they choose your service over a competitors but, they will refer you to others. Plus, your volunteer or community activities can make a great press release.

Write an article: Just like a press release gives you creditability, so does a published article. Many home business successes have taken this idea further and written successful books.

Seminars: Offering a course related to your business can help you look like an expert in your field. Teach them enough to get something of value but not so much that they don’t need your service.

Go On-line: More and more home based business owners are tapping into this great advertising source. Websites, e-mail, and discussion groups are a great way to get information about your products and services out beyond your community to the world! Further, the costs to promote your business online can be very inexpensive. Click here for specific information about marketing on the internet.

Great customer service: Be sure to meet, better yet exceed your clients’ expectations. You want to offer great service but don’t offer more than you can deliver. Use feedback surveys to help keep you informed about how your customers feel about your service and to get ideas on how your service can be improved. 

Generate Consistent Referrals: There is a saying in business that it is cheaper to keep a customer than generating a new one. The next cheapest would have to be obtaining a referral from an existing customer. Word-of-mouth marketing is the most powerful kind of marketing but, many new businesses fail to capitalize on it. Think about all the referrals you make....sharing a good movie, giving the name of the dentist that is best with children etc. Your goal should be to have your clients recommend your goods and services in the same manner. But, you can't just hope that your customers will talk up your business. Here are some ideas to boost your referrals!

Before customers will refer business to you, they need to have the best possible experience with your business. Just as positive words can grow your business, negative comments can destroy it. A happy customer will tell approximately 3 people about a positive experience and 7 people about a bad one. Therefore, try to exceed your clients' expectations. If there are problems, fix them, fast!

Let your clients know you would like referrals. You don't need to beg or pressure. Just let your customers know that you rely heavily on referrals and their recommendation would be important to you.

Listen for referral flags. When a client says "I have a friend who tried..." or something similar, it is a good opportunity to offer your assistance.

Give incentives for referrals. Gift certificates, discounts and specials are all good ways to generate referrals.

Use letters of reference and endorsements on your marketing materials. Be sure to ask for such endorsements and request permission to print it.

Send a thank you to any one who provides you with a referral. (Be sure to ask new clients where they heard of you.)

While other marketing methods are important in getting new business, nothing can beat a steady source of reliable referrals. Don't ignore this powerful source of generating new clients.

You have just had an overview of what it takes to start a business. To have success in a business you must develop an action plan and then work it until you achieve your goal. A business doesn’t grow overnight. Persistence and dedication are required. Find books and people to help you stay motivated and confident in yourself and your new venture.

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Leslie Truex is the author of Jobs At Home: A Complete Guide to Finding or Creating a Work-At-Home Job (http://www.jobsathomesuccess.com ). She created and still maintains the Work-At-Home Success web site (http://www.workathomesuccess) which offers extensive information and resources including work-at-home job listings all for FREE.

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This article may be reproduced and redistributed providing it is published in it's entirety, including the author's bio and web site information.