Duh Idiot’s Guide to Starting a Home Business

Why does everyone want to work from home?? I’ll tell you why, because working 9 to 5 SUCKS!! Starting a home business is daunting, but don't fret 'cuz "Duh Idiot" is here to help you get your home business set-up in 5-simple, but not-so-easy, steps. Oh yeah baby!

Keywords:

starting a home business, work at home

Article Body:

“Starting a Home Business”…”Work from Home”…“Be a Work at Home Mom”…”Make Millions Working From Home” I CAN’T TAKE IT ANY MORE!!!!!

So why does everyone want to work from home?? I’ll tell you why, because working 9 to 5 SUCKS!!

Hey don’t listen to me, here are the stats: According to The MicroEnterprise Journal “In the last 25 years, self-employment has grown by almost 300%, fueled by waning employee loyalty and growing worker dissatisfaction.” And the US Census Bureau reports that “90% percent of all U.S. businesses employ between ZERO and FOUR workers, making this the fastest growing segment of the business community.” See I told you!

Everywhere you look on the Internet we’re bombarded with sites peddling “work at home” opportunities. The stats prove it, we’re all looking to get out of the 9 to 5 rat race. The biggest problem is that MOST of the so called “work-at-home” related websites are so bogged down with clutter, fluff and double talk that you’d have to be a friggin robot to find and process the information you need in order to understand what the heck to do.

So where can an Idiot like me get the information I need contained in a simple, concise format that’s easy to understand and follow? Well nowhere really. That’s why I wrote this article and condensed the whole process down into 5 Summarized Steps, so that maybe other Idiot’s like me will have a fighting chance in hell to get out of the “Rat Race”.

Idiot Step 1:

SELECTING a business – simple enough right…wrong. Questions to ask yourself: What do I like to do? What will make money? What is available? Can I make Money?

These are tough questions. These days, most people are scouring ways to make money on the Internet. If considering a TV or Internet program, do as much independent research as possible on the program you’re interested in and find something that fits your personality so that you will excel no matter what.

Whatever you do use common sense and don't allow desperation to influence your decisions.

Start-Up Nation - www.startupnation.com offers SOUND advice and has tons of RELIABLE resources for selecting a home business.

Idiot Step 2:

PLANNING your business. You will have to have some “form” of a business plan before you get started with a home business. Even if you are the only one that will ever read it, you should definitely put a plan together on paper.

An informal business plan should contain a start-up budget (money you need to get to the point of doing business) and an operating budget (money you need on a weekly basis just to keep doing business).

Be certain to include all overhead expenses and be sure to include a budget for advertising. Also you should note any significant milestones you hope to achieve and list your financial goals in a time-line fashion.


Idiot Step 3:

FUNDING your home business. Every business has start-up costs and your new home-based business will be no different. As the old saying goes “You need money to make money”. So where do you get the money you need to start?

The simplest way for home business owners to get the money they need is from the principal owner’s own pockets…that means YOU! Like myself, many work at home entrepreneurs simply use their own savings to fund their businesses, using money from personal resources such as…

· Savings
· Personal Investments
· Credit Card Advance
· Sale of Assets
· Second Mortgage Loan

…are all ways to finance a small business start-up using your own funds.

The alternative to funding it yourself is to apply for a small business loan. The biggest issue there is that unless you have sufficient collateral, or any related experience in your field of business, you may not qualify for this type of loan.

The Small Business Administration - www.sba.gov has a TON of information and resources for start-up businesses. It contains valuable info on locating financing and it contains several links to other business resources, planning tools and calculators.

Idiot Step 4:

STARTING your home business. Once you’ve chosen your great new home business, and have got your starting cash in reserve, it’s time to get you up and running. But before you do, you will have to do some preliminary work just to get to the point where you can actually start operating.

Two-thirds of all small business are solo operations. Therefore, when you’re a “one-man band”, you must wear different hats and assume several roles as the “head” of various departments.

You’re the CEO, sales manager, director of marketing, director of finance, the shipping clerk, receptionist, the janitor…you get the drift Fonzi?

Because of your heavy load, you need quality office equipment, supplies, software and business services to keep you, I mean your “departments”, running smoothly and at peak efficiency.

Choose the right office equipment and machines that will keep you operating at peek efficiency.

Idiot Step 5:

MARKETING your home business. Now that you’ve got your business funded and operational you will need to implement a marketing and advertising campaign so that you can start attracting customers and finally start making some money.

This isn’t “Field of Dreams”. If you build it, that doesn’t mean they will come.

In order to draw customers to your business, you MUST do some form of repeated advertising, and you should definitely have a plan in place so that you can budget it into your overall Business Plan when you first start.

A good place to start is by reading Jay Conrad Levinson’s series of Guerilla Marketing books. This is standard reading for any small business entrepreneur. You can learn some very useful and basic techniques that will help you form a great and inexpensive plan.

Everything contained here was condensed to fit into a short article format. Obviously there’s a bit more to it. But if this Idiot' can do it, so can you.

Just don't be intimidated. Start off really, really small, maybe just part-time to start. Take one step at a time. But whatever you do, just get off your keister and get started!

“U can do it…just dive into it”


Duh Idiot’s Home Biz Start-Up Guide™
© 2005 A Covert Operations, Ltd
www.starting-a-home-business.org

Duh Idiot’s Guide to Working from Home - Tips to Balancing Work and Home Life

Balancing your work and home life with a regular 9 to 5 is hard enough, doing it when you work from home is FAR more challenging. You will find that operating a home business will bring to light many new challenges. So what's the deal?

Keywords:

work life balance, starting a home business, work at home

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Balancing work and life, or as its popularly referred to as The Work Life Balance.

Balancing your work and home life with a regular 9 to 5 is hard enough, doing it when you work from home is FAR more challenging. You will find that operating a home business will bring to light many new challenges. Some of the best advice I can offer is contained right here.

I love it when I see "work-at-home" programs on TV and on the Internet displaying images of wealth and retirement associated with their programs. They always show someone sailing on a yacht sipping on champagne or swinging their "5-iron" on the back nine, or relaxing in a hammock on some beach in the Caribbean.

They all talk about "taking back your life" and how much time you can now have for family and the "important things" in life. Working from home will FINALLY allow you all the time you need to do personal and fun things. They make it look as though with a minimal time investment you'll be relaxing and "living large" in no time.

Well that's a "Big Brown Load" Lorraine. Let me break it down...

Running your own home business certainly has its benefits, but it also has its drawbacks. You're no idiot, surely you realize there's good and bad in everything in life. Believe me it's FAR better to be in control of your life and your own destiny, but don't be fooled by those images of instant wealth and retirement. These people are selling something. Remember that Reggie!

You're smart enough to know there is a trade off with everything in life. Nothing is perfect and I feel that if you're going to succeed with your home business, you should be well aware of what really awaits you as a work at home entrepreneur.

The big myth in running your own home-based business is that it will allow you to spend more time with your family. Now this is technically true - simply due to the fact that you will be working from home means that you'll be around your family most of the time out of default. But that doesn't necessarily mean that time is "quality" nor "recreational".

You must understand your HOME is now also your place of BUSINESS. You make your own schedule, true, but this doesn't mean you will have any more "free" time than you had if you worked a regular 9 to 5.

Working from home presents time management challenges. At home you have the opportunity for far more distractions than in a traditional work place, i.e. the kids, spouse, relatives, the bed, the dog, chores, TV, the doorbell, the bed, phone, the couch, the refrigerator, the co-ed next door, the bed, the gardening, the newspaper, the bed, the next installment of "Harry Potter"...

Did I mention the bed...GET THE IDEA?

Homes, by nature, are a MINE-FIELD of distraction. These distractions will limit the amount of actual free time you have to spend with your family on true recreation. Now distractions are unavoidable, falling prey to them is avoidable. In order to keep focused on work you must create a work schedule and stick to it. When it's time to work you must get to work.

So what can you do? You should keep a calendar, schedule and to-do list. Utilizing Microsoft's Outlook program is the BEST way to accomplish this. Outlook quite literally acts as your personal assistant.

Just not as pretty...or handsome...depending on which way your door swings.

Get up every morning and act as though you're going out to work. Keep regular work hours and don't stray from them. All these things combined, will help to minimize falling prey to distraction.

Distraction will either take away from your leisure time or your work time. Leisure time means less quality and work time means less money, you can't afford either. If you adhere to this you'll have plenty of time for both business and leisure in your life.

I also suggest setting up your "office" someplace in your home where you can have some privacy. Avoid setting it up in your bedroom or other common area of the home. Find a location where you will have ample room. Any place where you can lock the door, and not be disturbed by household activity is optimal.

Running a successful business requires a serious time commitment. If you don't spend time on business activities, how can it possibly become profitable and flourish? I've never met a wealthy business owner that didn't invest regular hours into their business. Sure they play hard and take long vacations, but it's all relative, because they put in 16-hour work days when they're at work.

Do you think if Bill Gates only spent 20 hours a week developing Windows he'd be the richest man in the world today? Maybe tomorrow, but not today.

The bottom line is if you don't approach your home business with realistic expectations you will certainly set your self up for failure. Don't pay attention to the "Get Rich Easy" scams. Nothing worth doing is ever easy.

Be patient, stay focused, work smart, be flexible and again BE PATIENT!

© Copyright A Covert Operations, Ltd. 2005
All rights reserved.
www.starting-a-home-business.org