Starting a Home Business

This could be one of the most challenging and lucrative ways to make money from home. Starting a home business is a big step that must be approached carefully, with a lot of research and patience. But for many people, it is the most rewarding and enjoyable way of earning a living.

To start off, you need to consider impact upon your day-to-day life. Do you have a place of living secured that you can afford to live in until your business starts making enough of a profit to survive on? Do you have a family to think about caring for? Is there a significant other who could be bringing in enough money for the two of you while you invest your time and energy into your entrepreneurial venture? Do you have savings to support your living expenses?

Take the time to answer these questions carefully before you get all gung-ho about quitting your day job.

If you're satisfied your lifestyle is suitable to starting a business, you now need to face reality. First of all, an at-home business is not going to take any less time out of your life than your normal job does. If you're looking to make a career of it, chances are it's going to take closer to twice as much time as your normal job. And probably three times the effort, at least for the first few years. This is why you need to make sure it's something you love doing, something you can really put your passion into.

Now you need to do a funds check. Do you know where your capital is going to come from? Chances are, if you have good credit, a loan from the bank is a good possibility for you. In order to get this, however, you're going to need to draw up a business plan. You can get more information on business plans at http://www.sba.gov/ If your credit is not good, then you need to take your business plan elsewhere. You need investors. These can be anything from a couple of family member, to a big-time investment capital group. Again, check out http://www.sba.gov/ for more information. Also look into your local chamber of commerce, they can often have information on good investors in the area.

Once you've got the funds secured and the business plan written, it's time to see your attorney, your accontant, and your insurance agent. These may seem like intimidating individuals, but you need to remember that they're a neccesary part of business, and you should think of them as part of your "team." The attorney is to assist you in legalities of your business, including registering your name and avoiding zoning law infringements. The attorney is to help set up your bookkeeping, and will also be a godsend come tax time. The insurance agent is there for twofold reasons, and both involve covering your butt. One is because you most likely lost health benefits when you quit your job(or you will when you do). You still need these, so you need someone to help you get them. Two is to make sure your butt is covered in case someone wants to sue you for negligence or something like that. The insurance agent and the attorney sort of work together in this respect, so use their skills wisely.

If you're not sure where to get these talented individuals, you can look in the yellow pages, or even better, ask local small business owners for recommendations. Make sure you can talk to your professionals of choice to make sure they'd fit into your "team" before you hire them. Remember they're in this together with you, and you need someone who won't make you pull your hair out after ten minutes of jargon.

Now you need to decide on your mode of business. Setting up a brick and mortar location requires a lot of funds and time, perhaps more than you're willing to invest. If you're unsure, and want to start small, look to selling your wares on the internet. Paypal offers merchant services for starting businesses, extremely easy to integrate and at a decent price. Once your business grows a bit you'll probably want to invest in an actual "Shopping Cart" program for yourself, as well as a dedicated payment processor. Should your business go well(as we all hope), you may later have the option to move into an "incubator." These buildings are sponsored by corporate groups and provide affordable officespace to house fledgling businesses not ready to take the leap to a dedicated building yet.

Now we have only scratched the surface here. For much more detailed information, as well as more links and resources, we recommend you check out the following sites:

http://www.sba.gov/
http://www.irs.gov/

Until next time!

Team Ben