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Home Based Business Start up How to’s

HOW TO START A

HOME BASED BUSINESS


GET READY…

FINDING YOUR NICHE

KEY QUESTIONS TO ASK YOURSELF

  1. Why do you want a home business?  To do what your love?
    Improve your lifestyle,  family life,  location?  Launch a big business?
    To make ends meet?  To get away from a job you hate?
    The clearer your reasons, the more likely you are to achieve your goals.
  2. Do you intend to work full- or part-time? Starting part-time is usually safer,
    but can the business be done in the hours you have available?
  3. Do you want to stay with work you know, so you’ll experience less of a
    learning curve and have existing contacts?  If there is no market for you in
    your own field or industry, is there another field that needs your skills?
  4. Do you need a change or want to do something more enjoyable?  Motivation
    is the key to persistence, and persistence is the key to success.

FACTORS TO CONSIDER WHEN CHOOSING A BUSINESS

  • How much you like the work
  • Income potential
  • Ease of entry
  • Market demand for what you offer
  • Your existing know-how, contacts and reputation
  • Recession resistance
  • Start-up costs and overhead
  • Long-range security
  • Competition
  • Hours of work/stress level
  • Suitability to your personality

FOUR WAYS TO FIND AN OPPORTUNITY

  • Notice what people complain about
  • Track demographic and social trends
  • Capitalize on new technology
  • Capitalize on new legislation

INDICATIONS TO BUY A BUSINESS
(Franchise, Business Opportunity, Direct Sales)

  1. You prefer guidelines already established to creating something from
    scratch on your own.
  2. You prefer a recipe or blueprint to making up one of your own.
  3. Your primary objective for being in business is to produce and income.
  4. You have no problem following policies developed by others.
  5. You prefer to do something proven rather than start something new.
  6. You prefer turning to others in time of stress instead of keeping things
    to yourself.
  7. You prefer working within a system to being completely independent.
    You prefer to follow trends rather than set them.

99 TOP HOME BUSINESSES
(in alphbetical order)

  • Abstracting Service
  • Advertising Agency
  • Alternative Energy Installer
  • Aromatherapist
  • Association Management Service
  • Astrologer
  • Bed-and-Breakfast Inn
  • Bodywork/Massage Therapy
  • Bookkeeping Service
  • Business Broker
  • Business Network Organizer
  • Business Plan Writer
  • Caterer/Personal Chef
  • Cleaning Service
  • Coach
  • Computer consulting
  • Computer Programmer
  • Computer Repair
  • Computer Tutoring/Training
  • Consulting to Businesses and Organizations
  • Copywriter
  • Credit Counselor/Consultant
  • Desktop Publisher
  • Desktop Videographer
  • Disc Jockey Service
  • Drafter/CAD
  • Editing
  • Elder Companion
  • Elder Relocation Service
  • Errand Services
  • Executive Search
  • Expert Referral Service/Brokerage
  • Export Agent
  • Facialist/Aesthetician
  • Family Child-Care Provider
  • Feng Sui Consultant
  • Financial Educator
  • Financial Planner
  • Fitness Trainer
  • Fund Raiser
  • Gift Basket Business
  • Graphologist/Handwriting Analyst
  • Hauling Service
  • Home Inspector
  • Image Consultant
  • Indexing
  • Indoor Environmental Tester
  • Information Broker
  • In-home Health Care
  • Interior Designer/Decorator
  • Leak-Detection Service
  • Mailing List Service
  • Makeup Artist
  • Manufacturer’s Rep – Independent Sales Representative
  • Mediator
  • Medical Billing
  • Medical Claims Assistance Professional
  • Medical Coding
  • Medical Transcription Service
  • Meeting and Event Planner
  • Microfarming
  • Mystery Shopping
  • New Media/Multimedia Production
  • Newsletter Publishing
  • Personal Historian
  • Pet Sitting and other pet services
  • Photography
  • Plant Caregiver/Landscaper
  • Professional Organizer
  • Professional Practice Consultant
  • Proofreading
  • Proposal and Grant Writer
  • Public-Relations Specialist
  • Real Estate Appraiser
  • Red Tape Expediter
  • Referral Service
  • Relocation Expert
  • Remodeling Contractor
  • Repair Services
  • Restoration Service
  • Resume-Writing Service
  • Reunion Planner
  • Rubber Stamp Business
  • Scholastic Tutoring
  • Secretarial and Office Support Services
  • Security Consulting and Private Investigation
  • Sign Maker
  • Tax Preparation
  • Technical Writer
  • Training Specialist
  • Transcript – Digesting Service
  • Translator/Interpreter
  • Travel Agent/Consultant
  • Tutoring
  • Virtual Assistant
  • Web Designer
  • Web Merchant/Mail Order
  • Webmaster
  • Wedding Consultant/Planner

YOUR POTENTIAL CUSTOMERS
- WHAT PEOPLE WILL PAY FOR

  1. Who needs what you will offer?
  2. Talk with existing and potential customers.  What are people complaing about?  Make a list. From whom, when, what, where do they buy now?  Listen and watch for reactions.
  3. Test your product or service through mailings, seminars, exhibits or prototypes.
  4. Can your current employer become your first customer?  Almost 1 in 2 new business do.
  5. Can customers or clients from your current work or business ethically become yours?

TEN WAYS OF SPECIALIZING

  1. Geographically – area, climate, populations size, or on your customer’s premises
  2. Demographically – age, education, ethnicity, income, marital status, household size and composition
  3. Occupationally – industry, trade or profession
  4. Bahaviorally – attitudes, benefits which appeal, buying patters, product use and frequency (smokers, overeaters, hobbyists)
  5. Psychographically – lifestyles, motivations, personality characteristics
  6. When you work – nights, on short notice, weekends, weddings, holidays, life events
  7. the problem you solve – cash flow, customer retention, drug abuse, employee turnover
  8. How you work – face-to-face, via modem, by phone, in seminars, books, mail order
  9. Size or type of client – small business, schools
  10. Pricing – premium, bargain or value

Note: EXPECT TO SPEND 6 TO 9 MONTHS
DEVELOPING YOUR IDEA,
RESEARCHING, PLANNING AND TESTING.

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