Perhaps you've always wanted to run your own home based business or, in this difficult economy, maybe you find yourself unemployed, or underemployed, or in a job that you don't like, or you have an income that's not quite what you'd hoped it would be. Whatever financial situation or condition you find yourself in, a home based business could be just what you're looking for.
However, before you invest any time or money into your new venture, you need to answer a few questions about yourself and your motivations.
Among other things, you have to ask yourself if you have the time, the money, the facilities, the help, the technical skills, the right product and, of course, the inclination to start and build a home based business.
Mind you, I'm going to be playing the "devil's advocate" with you. I'm going to point out a lot of the negatives about starting and building a home based business. I'm certainly not trying to discourage you from starting a business--I have one myself. My aim is to make you realize that what you are thinking about undertaking is not going to be a "walk in the park". It will, at times, be difficult, time consuming, frustrating, and, depending upon the business, money-draining,
Starting a business is the easy part. Growing it, sustaining it, and making money from it can be very difficult and, as many people before you have found out, even impossible.
Let's discuss some of these requirements in more depth. Even if have you a lot of time on your hands due to an unfortunate employment event, you may be surprised by how much time a "part-time", home based business can take up, especially initially. I can guarantee you that, if you are putting only a few hours a week into your business, you will not get anywhere. You need to be prepared to put in an average of a few hours per day, no matter what else you are doing.
No matter how low your start-up costs may be, they are only the beginning. You will eventually have to expend money for such things as marketing, a website, or inventory. Speaking of inventory, do you have enough money to purchase inventory, if required to do so? Do you have the space to store inventory?
Do you have the financial means to hire help? Unless you have free help from a spouse or child, you probably want to look for a business which you can totally run on your own. If you do go into business with a partner, make sure that your talents and skills complement each other much as possible. It also probably wouldn't hurt to have a legal partnership document drawn up--another expense.
Many of today's home based businesses are internet based. Do you have sufficient computer/internet skills? Do you have online marketing skills? The great thing about going into business today, whether online or off, is that everything you could possibly need to go into business can be found on, or through, the internet, often for free!
What product/service are you going to market? Is there a (great) demand for it. Can you fill a niche. It might be more profitable for you to compete with a lot of people to sell a very popular product as opposed to trying to build a market for a product that might have questionable value or use. I guess you could try to sell almost any product or service, but the question is: can you make money doing it?
In my blog, http://www.homebasedbusiness-opportunity.com/, I list twelve things that you should look for in a home based business. One of the most important to me is residual income. Can you find a product or service for which more and more people will pay you month after month? Could you eventually walk away from your business and still get paid month after month?
Thousands of customers are currently saving millions of dollars. The market for this business is huge--estimated at 145 million people by 2015. Act now to take advantage of this great opportunity.
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