Worried to Start Your Own Home Business?
Are you worried?Are you worried to start your own home business? Are you looking for an opportunity that you can walk away from the 70+ hour work week? Are you looking to spend more time with your children as they grow up, and more time with your spouse? Are you worried that you may spend too much time on your time business and be in the same boat you are in now? While these are all valid questions, with the right opportunity you can have all these worries put to rest.It can be doneToday we live in a digital age that you can start your own home business with little or no money at all, you just have got to know what type of investment you want to make and what type of return you want. There are many home businesses that with the right mindset, persistence, training and guidance you can be successful. I hear so many new people ask how to start your own home business and if they can make a living while doing it. While making a “living” is very subjective to many people, I answer them with something like the following: It is really not the question of if you will become successful in a home business but more like when. There are so many variables in everyone’s life that no one can say when something will happen; I think they call that “being able to see the future”.But how would you knowI have had a few people ask me recently “how would you know if it’s legit?” this is a very good question that many dance around. The first variable of anyone’s life is the actual individual, what they believe to be the truth, this is called mindset. Your mindset controls your actions, your actions control your success and your success controls your mindset, it is actually quite that simple. Even with the best mindset you will find very unethical home business opportunities, which most of these you can weed out in the following ways:Better Business BureauAttorney General ComplaintsFederal Trade CommissionWord of MouthInvestigationTake for example Avon, they have been in business for many years, many people use this opportunity to supplement their income and consider it their home business. If you compare what an Avon representative does, it is very familiar to the network marketing idea. They network with people, make friends and build a client base, they provide solutions to a person’s opportunity, many times it is a bottle of makeup but it is still a business.It doesn’t take a rocket scientistJust like the Avon opportunity, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to start your own home business. Just like Avon you have to learn the product or service, be willing to learn from others that have been successful. You will need to have an open mind and be willing to continue to learn, have consistent and persistent actions that move you closer to your goal. You probably have come across an Avon representative and noticed that they know their product, have their tools available and they always have the support of the company. As with any business it all falls on the actions of the individual to make the decision to act, you have to make the decision to act.What will you have to do?While starting a new home business is quite exciting it can be overwhelming in the very beginning. If you have not thought about the following topics, now is the perfect time so take a few minutes and really think about the list below:Education – what type of home business would you like to get into? Do you have the education on how to market the product or service you will be providing? If you lack the knowledge where will you obtain this knowledge? Are there books available for you to borrow or buy? Are there videos or webinars you can watch? Know this information before jumping into a home business, you start a home business to succeed, prepare yourself to.Business Plan – make your plan to fit your business; for example if you were starting a foster home for injured dogs until a permanent home is found you may have a plan like this.The Loving House is a foster home for injured dogs that has been family arranged in Robert Strong’s home. When vets are overcrowded with dogs they contact my family on whether we can foster a couple dogs until a home is found. In our household we have three children, my wife and I and we are all vivid dogs’ lovers. Each dog we care for gets his or her own bed, is walked 2-3 times a day along with being able to run freely in our fenced in back yard that is about an acre. The Loving House is a place that recovering dogs can prosper with people, a few other dogs and the great outdoors. We only provide a strict diet prescribed by the vet and the dogs get regular checkups provided by the vet on a bi monthly basis. Our children range in between the age of 9 and 13 which the love playing outside with the dogs and giving them tons of attention. For a short time the dog becomes a member of the household until a permanent home is found. We are able to show this much attention and love to each dog since we can only house four dogs at a time, which this allows the dog to feel not only physically but also mentally.The Loving House will be the first one of its kind in North Kansas City, and to date we have been approached by three vet clinics. Once word spreads, we are expecting many more vets will be contacting us, we are expected to be at full capacity within 6 months, by the 18 month we are expecting to grossing roughly 15,00.00.As you can see the business plan above has very specific, measurable, actionable, realistic and timely plans throughout. While you may not need this type of plan this is just an example, while the Loving House is fictitious to me, my home business and you wanting to start your own home business are not.Unfortunately this Happens to 97 percent of peopleMany people do not build a plan, set time aside to learn their business and don’t treat it like a business. Many people want to get away from their 70+ hour workweek, long commutes and corporate politics; they come home tired and cranky and just eat and head to bed. Many times they spend one or two hours a week on a Saturday on their business and then wonder why the results are not higher. While you may come across many advertisements, ones that I call “fairy tales”, you have got to be careful, the old saying “if it is too good to be true, it normally is”.I can speak from experience when I referenced the 70+ hour work weeks since I had been in retail management, I had driven 45 minutes to get to work before, and was pulling my hair out with the daily company changes and politics. I can also speak from experience of starting my own home business and some of the things it takes to be successful. There are days that I spend 10-12 hours a day on my business, there are others that I spend 4 or 5, depends on me and what I want to do. There are day that I am learning a new trick or how to master a trade in the marketing industry. I do something for my business every day; I never take a day off unless the wife confiscates all my electronics including my blackberry, but then my mind is still churning ideas. While many people may think this is crazy, I love it and I enjoy my life, and if need be I can drop what I am doing and my business keeps going. If my wife wants to go here or there, we go; if my buddies want to play some golf, or go have a couple beers we can go.What I am trying to tell you; don’t be worried to start your own home business, but make sure you prepare yourself. Prepare yourself with knowledge, a plan, determination and a persistence to succeed. As my friend Aaron says “if your why is big enough, the how takes care of itself”.
Is Your Home Business Properly Insured For Business Security?
Do You Run Your Business From A Home Office?There is a growing trend with small enterprises today. Many small business owners choose to run their business out of their homes. There are a lot advantages to using a home office as a base. It can be a very convenient and affordable solution. All sort of business owners, from sales people to business consultants to lawyers, are deciding to skip the commute and extra office rent in favor of working from home.For example, if you spend part of your year selling pottery at crafts fairs, it may make sense to actually set up your office and studio in your garage. If you do book keeping at client offices a few days a week, it makes sense for you to have a home office for offsite work. If you spend a lot of time on airplanes hopping from city to city as a business consultant or sales person, why not spend your other time in the comfort of your own house?Home Business RisksThe practice of working from home has become acceptable for all sorts of different types of businesses. In my opinion, the biggest risk is that business owners may skip some of the important details they would not skip if they worked in an outside office building. This may not seem like a big deal, but it can be very risky.Business Property Insurance Do you rely on your old home owners insurance policy to also cover your business property. A typical home insurance policy does have some home contents protection. However, if you need a lot of equipment or supplies, it may not be enough protection.If your supplies computers, records, or equipment were damaged or stolen, how hard would it be for you to recover? If you think it would put you in a tough situation, you had better make sure you have proper coverage!Business Liability InsuranceAs with your property, you may figure that your home liability coverage will also cover you for your business. A home policy is meant to protect you in case a visitor to your house claims that they were injured or had a property loss in your home. But that was not meant to cover business liability. By ignoring this risk, you may put your business at a huge risk.Commercial Vehicle Insurance It is very common for home business owners to use their personal cars for work. This is sensible a lot of times. But it is not sensible to rely upon a personal car insurance policy to cover all business use. If you transport inventory, supplies, or equipment in your car or truck, you may be taking a big risk if you are counting upon your personal auto insurance policy to cover the risk of loss, theft or damage!Home Business Insurance Solutions You have some simple ways to explore business insurance. Sometimes you can add riders (options) to your personal policies in order to cover business use. This is probably the easiest solution if you can do this. One common small business solution is called a Business Owners Policy (BOP). It is a package of protection that covers many types of small businesses. Otherwise, you may want to find an experienced business insurance agent who can help you find affordable protection so you do not risk your business!
Top 7 Tips to Preparing Your Business For Sale
Meet with your business broker to ascertain the current value of your business and get tips on whether you need to make any changes to the to achieve the maximum price possible. Once presented with your appraisal ask as many questions as you need to as it is vital that you understand the process and the justification behind your business appraisal and what the process entails from start to finish. Understanding how your business is valued will help you to make the necessary changes to enable successful sale.
Ensure you have clean, precise and accurate financials. Ideally a good strong healthy operating profit is great to see; the fewer add backs that we have, the better and cleaner the business will look. When preparing your business for sale, ensure that you have your figures prepared by your accountant prior to meeting with your business broker as these will also be the final figures used in the information memorandum which will be presented to potential purchasers once on the market.
Have your systems and procedures well documented. A purchaser wants to have as much security as possible. In most cases they want to be assured that the business can operate without them being there so if all your systems and procedures are clearly and precisely documented it means that they can be easily passed on to either new or existing employees and also help in the training process. This can also reduce the time that you may be required for the handover once the business has settled.
Ensure that the business premises are clean and tidy; get rid of any old stock and sell any redundant plant & equipment so that the purchaser can see exactly what they are getting. Cluttered premises will make the business look untidy and it may also appear to have reached its capacity with no room left for growth and this may not be the case once all in order. Ensure that if applicable, all safety guidelines are also being met.
Talk to your accountant in relation to the tax implications of selling your business. Ensure that you know the market value of your plant and equipment as this will be documented in the information memorandum. It must be a fair market value as to have it too high could be detrimental to the vendor for capital gains issues and too low gives the purchaser less to depreciate so carries less tax benefits for them. Remember that when a business is sold as “A Going Concern” all the plant and equipment used in the business must be included in the sale.
If possible, keep your stock level at a consistent level that keeps the business running smoothly. An overstocked business puts pressure on cash flow and working capital and it is also a negative when you try to sell. It is important to remember that although you as a current owner may not have any cash flow issues, an incoming purchaser may not have the same access to funds as you so will need to keep costs to a reasonable level for the sake of their cash flow.
Ensure that your customer database is as broad as possible. The more reliable you are on one customer, the lower the value of your business as the risk attached is much higher. Document any supply agreements that you may have. We need to instil confidence into a buyer so the quality and accuracy of the documentation is imperative. It must be precise and the more written and less verbal agreements we have the more security the purchaser will have.