SMALL BUS HOME
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Home based Business |
The first step in deciding whether
to start a business is to ask yourself this important question: "Do I have
what it takes to be an entrepreneur?"
Studying the characteristics of successful business owners will help you to tell
whether your personality traits, experiences, and values are similar to those
who have succeeded. And assessing your experience, skills, and life goals will
also help you decide if you want to invest the energy, time, and resources that
successful entrepreneurship requires.
Are
You Ready, Willing, and Able?
Now that you have studied the characteristics of others who have succeeded,
survey your reasons for wanting a home-based business. Are you dissatisfied with
your current job? What are your skills? What is your business experience,
especially in the business you want to start? What are your life goals? What
resources do you have that might help?
Answering these questions will provide reality testing for ideas that can sound
incredibly glamorous when chatting with friends or seductively attractive when
you are irritated or bored by your present job.
Answer the questions and discuss your reactions with friends and family. Have
you underestimated your abilities? Overestimated them? Sometimes an evaluation
by a friend is more useful than a self-evaluation.
How does your family react to the idea of a home business? Will you expect them
to help out? What changes would your business use of the house mean for them?
Will you have to remodel to create a usable business space?
What resources are available to you? Will you start by keeping your job and
"moonlighting" for a while? Do you have a small nest egg, inheritance,
or retirement income to live on until you get the business going? Do you already
own tools or machines that will help (for instance, a computer and programs for
a secretarial business or professional cameras and a darkroom for a commercial
photography business)? Are you able to go back to school for training if
necessary? Have you built up a network of contacts and possible customers
through your previous lines of work or will you be starting from scratch?
Answering these questions honestly and completely will help you assess not only
your chances for success but also which type of home-based business to choose.
For instance, if your past professional life and contacts are all in the
educational, teaching, child-oriented school area, then you should have powerful
reasons for leaving that and opening a mail-order seed business. Possibly a
tutoring business or a tot exercise franchise would use more of your resources
and networks. On the other hand, if your assessment of your life goals and
preferences helps you realize that you are burned out from working with kids,
then perhaps a business planning birthday parties could later be built into a
general party planning and catering business. You would be using your old
contacts to build a long-range business plan that focuses on a service business
for adults.
The Advantages of Home-Based Business
Why have people chosen to work and live in the same place? Why are
cottage industries sprouting faster than we can count them? Some home-based
businesses start by accident rather than by conscious design. Secretarial
services, day-care centres, craft ventures, and the like may start out as
weekend activities in the recreation room. After a while their owners are
surprised to see how profitable or enjoyable the venture has become. The glimpse
of a healthy market lures them into a full-time venture. This low-risk,
low-overhead, gradual kind of start-up is very attractive to new business
people.
Many home-based business people cite decreased commuting time and other lessened
business expenses as advantages for working at home. If your place of work is
just 30 minutes away, that's five hours a week in commuting time, many dollars
in gasoline and car maintenance or transit fares, and untold stress fighting
traffic. Getting out of the high-fashion rat race is a plus for many who dislike
having to dress up and continually buy new clothes to feel comfortable in
settings outside the home.
Homemakers--mostly women but also an increasing number of men--are choosing a
home-based business in order to have a more flexible lifestyle and to be closer
to family. A parent who has a home office can eat lunch with the children or
more easily attend special school or sports events. The home-based business
person has more control over work hours than someone with a 9 to 5 job. Night
owls who like to work until 3 a.m. can then sleep late (remembering, of course,
to turn on the answering machine and let customers know the business hours). On
the other hand, early birds can work without the usual disturbance from the
telephones.
The tax, and regulatory issues associated with operating a business from home are numerous,
and professional advise should be sort. Wise business owners keep careful records and work with
accountants, attorneys, and financial planners to make sure they are filing for
the legal maximum write-offs and benefits.
The Disadvantages of a Home-Based Business
If you were hard at work in an office downtown, it is unlikely that three
children would come storming in to ask for snacks or that you would end up using
the ironing board for a bookshelf or have to think twice about hiring others
because they might resent working at your kitchen table. Don't forget that
children have school holidays, and this needs to be planned for. These are just a few of
the problems that make the glamour of working at home fade fast. Some
disadvantages of working at home can be minimized by self-discipline, by setting
clear limits with family and friends, and by projecting a professional image.
Other disadvantages "come with the turf" and just have to be lived
with. If a delivery man comes to the door, you will probably be the one to
interrupt your work and sign for the package.
It takes time and discipline to establish steady, at-home work patterns. Often
it seems easier to water the plants or do the laundry than to call a client, design a new brochure, or prepare bills for customers whose work you've
completed. Without the deadlines imposed by supervisors or peers, it can be hard
to do the least appealing jobs on your list. To make matters worse, others may
not take you seriously. Neighbours may stop by to chat or friends may call your
business number knowing you will answer. Without supervisors or managers, you
are the one who must set limits and plan your time. There also is the problem of
isolation. While you are now your own boss, you won't have the chats, the
parties, the companionship of fellow workers. Losing such social contact
requires adjustments.
As the business grows and changes, the home entrepreneur has to put up with
cramped or inappropriate space. No more simply putting in a request for a bigger
file cabinet or a new copy machine; now you must visit showrooms or garage
sales, evaluate features, compare prices, and probably pick the item up
yourself.
Your teenager may resent having to keep the stereo low because you're meeting
with a client in the next room. Your spouse may be irritated by having to fry
that freshly caught trout on the backyard grill so your office won't smell of fish. Your son may not want to give up the recreation room
pool table so you can cut out 100 doll patterns this weekend. Neighbours may
comment on the extra traffic your customers create on their quiet street. Family
privacy and lifestyle patterns may be disturbed. And you will probably find
yourself wrestling with laws and regulations you never dreamed could exist
before you went into business.
Your
Next Steps
Now that you have reflected on the characteristics of successful
entrepreneurship and assessed your skills, experience, and life goals, it's time
to plan your next steps. Ask yourself: Given the disadvantages of working out of my home, do I still want to? Now that I know more about what's
involved in starting a business, is it still for me? Do I need further training
or experience? Should I begin part-time in order to test the waters, check out
market potential, or refine my product or service? Do I need more time to
research possible products or services? Have I decided on a particular business?
Others Have Succeeded--Why Not You?
A former teacher tells how she started her own tutoring business:
I taught languages in high school for seven years. Whenever I needed a little
extra money, or during summer vacations, I tutored individual students. As my
reputation grew, people began to ask me if I could recommend tutors in other
subjects.
As my enthusiasm for teaching in public schools waned, I began to research the
possibility of a tutoring business. I started one summer by turning my second
bedroom into an office and having stationery printed. Summer is a peak time
because parents hire tutors to help their kids catch up on subjects. By the end
of that summer I was managing 48 tutors in 23 different subjects or grade levels all over the metropolitan area. I hired a
part-time assistant who worked at the kitchen table. We added other services, such as classes to help high-school students prepare for national
exams. Operating from home was perfect for me since I needed to keep my overhead
low and keep a good cash flow to be able to pay my tutors.
A computer programmer tells his story:
I longed to get enough work doing computer programming so that I could avoid the
long commute to work and be closer to my two young boys as they grew up. I
started working in an office I built in the basement doing small jobs and
working for friends in the business who were up against tight deadlines. When I
got my first big contract, I took the leap and gave notice. Now, two years later
I've established a good track record with clients and have hired two others who
work at terminals in my recreation room. I like being able to work late at night after the family is asleep.
And I enjoy being around when the kids get home from school. I don't need a
fancy downtown office. If I meet with a client. I make sure it's at his office,
not mine.
