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How Do I Choose A Home Based Business

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Did you know that “home based business” and “work from home” are among the most frequently requested phrases on the search engines? I just entered the term “work from home” at Google, and I got back 4,730,000,000 results. What does that tell you? It tells you that there are plenty of websites around trying to keep up with the demand for information related to working from home. It also tells you that there are plenty of people promoting business opportunities. Network marketing, multi level marketing (MLM), and direct sales organizations and their representatives are trying to get your attention.

OK. So you have this plethora of information, you narrow it down to a few choices by sending emails or making a few phone calls, and you decide to join Company A. But wait! Wasn’t this company on TV recently for being involved in some type of fraud? So you do a little more online research, and find out that yes, your business opportunity is on the verge of a meltdown, and you breathe a sigh of relief for not being drawn in before its demise.

That’s just the best case scenario. The fact is that a large number of opportunities for the home based entrepreneur will fail, and drag down a number of poor innocents with it. Case in point: Brixdale.com. If you go to this website, what will you see? Nothing! This company was served a Cease and Desist order from the State of NY order last year, and closed up shop immediately, and the income stream that the distributors were enjoying stopped immediately. And there are many, many other stories like this.

WELL WHAT SHOULD I LOOK FOR IN A HOME BASED BUSINESS?

You may know a number of people that are very successful home based entrepreneurs, so you know that working from home is possible. Now we need to narrow it down to a business that fits your personality. So what should you look for first when evaluating a network marketing or direct sales organization? Very simply, longevity. Yes, I know there are so many more variables to consider, but longevity is a big one. And you know why? Well, if a company has been in business for over 1 year, then you know they’ve overcome a number of hurdles. If you talk to individual distributors and see that they are actually getting commissions on time and that support is very responsive, then you know you have a seasoned opportunity. We know that the first year in any long term endeavor is often turbulent, but getting through that first year means something good may come the next year.

Now if you are a belt and suspenders type of person (like me), one that puts in a little more effort to make sure everything stays in place, you would naturally want to take this reasoning a step further and reason, ‘Well… if a one year old company is good, then a three or five year old company would be even better.’ That is absolutely true.

The more time a company has to deliver products, respond to feedback, and upgrade services, the better they get at it. Take your average fast food franchise for example. How often do they upgrade their dining area? How often do they change the menu? Progressive organizations know that keeping in tune to customer satisfaction is the key to their success. Any business opportunity that you consider as a potential money maker for you should follow the exact same pattern.

There are so many variables to look at when you’re considering a home based business. Evaluating the longevity of a company first will eliminate a substantial amount of research on your part.

How To Start A Home Based Business The Right Way

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If you are thinking about starting your own home based business you have a whole list of items to consider before making any financial or time investment. As with any business, home based businesses have to follow a certain protocol to become successful, but, it mainly falls on the shoulders of the business owner to make the right decisions at the right time.

The first question you should be asking yourself is: “Am I the type of person that can manage a home based business?” The reason you need to ask this question is because, although the idea of being your own boss sounds lucrative, not everyone has an owner mentality. An owner mentality would be someone who possesses the following traits: self-starter, self-motivated, organized, detailed, aggressive, and disciplined. Let’s add one more for good measure: committed.

You absolutely must be committed to starting your own business. Someone who is committed is going to take action and not procrastinate about things that need to get done. This is so important to the success of your business. There is a big difference between someone who is interested vs. someone who is committed. The interested person may or may not follow through on key initiatives, while the committed person will absolutely complete the task required.

OK, so now you perceive yourself as committed to managing your own home based business. Now what? You’ll have to make the decision to register yourself with your state as Sole Proprietorship or perhaps start a Limited Liability Company (LLC). A ‘Sole Proprietor’ is someone who owns an unincorporated business by himself/herself. The owner receives all profits and is responsible for all losses and debts. An ‘LLC’ is a business structure allowed by state statute. LLCs are very popular because, similar to a corporation, owners have limited personal liability for the debts and actions of the LLC. There is also the benefit of pass-through taxation.

Decide which one you’d like to be and be aware there will be filing fees involved when you register with your state. You should not make this decision on your own and it’s highly recommended that you consult with your income tax professional.

Next in line is deciding what type of business you want to run. There are many factors to consider before you make your decision. For example, what do you like to do? Do you have any hobbies or special skills you can turn into a business? Can you turn your earlier working knowledge into a business? Your first task is to find out what you really want to do. Something that you will enjoy doing and can see yourself promoting with unrivaled excitement. For our purposes we will focus on non-franchise home based ideas since franchise businesses usually carry a high monetary investment with them.

Here are just a few ideas to get you thinking:
Bookkeeping – keeping a client’s financial records
Collection Agency – you’ll need excellent communication skills for this one
Computer Training – one-on-one or in groups
Computer Tutoring – one-on-one and your client comes to you
Copywriter – create marketing brochures for customers
Desktop Publishing – providing printing services to clients/organizations
Medical Transcription Service – produce typed reports from doctor’s dictations
Online marketing – selling your own or other company’s products
Technical Writing- technology products that need descriptions
Video Production Services – take old videos and make them professional quality
And many, many more… Home based businesses have gained in popularity in recent years. You can say there is a close relationship between the recent economic hardships and a booming interest in working from home. Aside from the above list, you’ll find such things as paid surveys, mystery shopper opportunities, and several others. You can make money filling out online surveys right from a laptop on your kitchen table. There are thousands of companies around the world that invest large quantities of money in trying to figure out consumer trends. These companies are interested in finding out how consumers behave and why they are more apt to purchasing certain products and not others. While this may not be able to pay for the rent or mortgage, a few dollars here and there can’t hurt. With a little luck and plenty of research you can find these companies and sign up to receive their surveys.

Home Based Business Success Or Failure

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Starting Your Home Based Business

In Today’s modern world more and more people are now starting a home based business to supplement their income, some even go on to quit the day job and work full time, but the sad truth is that most are doomed for failure and lose more money than they actually make, but why?

The truth is that when people start searching for a home based business on the internet, they come across so many websites offering an online business stating make money within hours of signing up, most of the time this is just not true.

One of the most important things that most people tend to miss out on is training or mentoring, you need to know how to run a home based business. To be successful with your business you need to find a good sponsor or mentor who can show you the ropes, the do’s and the don’ts’s so to speak.

To be successful with your business the most important task you need to learn is how to market or sell your products, whatever they may be, without customers you have no business. A very good example of this is, say you put up a website offering 10 Bars of gold totally free to the very first person to respond to your to website, if no one knows that your website exists then no one would take you up on such a fantastic offer. This is where a good mentor can put you right.

So how do you find such a person? This is what I Did.

I went to Google did a search for the business or niche that I was interested in, I spent many hours going over many websites trying to get as much information as possible, information such as what was on offer, what would you get if you decided to join up. I then picked out five sites that I thought were right for me.

They were all offering full training on how to get your new home based business off the ground, not one of them were claiming you would make money straight away but with some basic training you should start making money.

I then went back to Google and did a search on the person who was promoting the business opportunity, I wanted to find out who they really were, how long they had been involved in the business, what were people saying about them and so on.

I then narrowed my search down to two people, and the reason was they had a contact number that I could call and talk to them about the business.

Once I made contact, I asked question such as, if I join up to your business how will you help me get started, what sort of training do I need to do, how long will it be before I start to make money, also If I get stuck will you be there to help and advise me.

These are just some of the questions you should ask, my advise is write everything down so you don’t forget, ask as many question as you can, and if they are willing to answer all your questions then you know you should be OK.

You can normally tell just by speaking to someone what they are like, if they are just using a sales pitch, then I personally would back out. If they are not pushy and invite you to think about the opportunity and give them another call when you are ready then I would consider this business. I would then try to find other people who are working with this person, just to get an idea of how they are doing working with this person.

So if you are thinking of starting a home based business don’t just jump into the first opportunity that you find that claims you will be making money within hours of joining, because the sad truth is you probably won’t.

Do your research, don’t rush, take your time and I am sure you will have success with you new home based business.