 Sixty-nine percent of all U.S. businesses start in the home, and half of them
are still home-based long after they launch, according to the Global
Entrepreneurship Monitor report."The median startup cost was $15,000, but
remember, that's the median — it means plenty of people spend much less
than that," says Renae Christine, a serial entrepreneur who has created dozens
of successful home-based businesses for herself and others. She shares practical
how-to advice in her new book, "Home Business Startup Bible."
"I started out helping other stay-at-home moms who wanted to create
businesses, but there are men and women of all ages who want the freedom and
independence you get from owning your own business and keeping it in the home."
Christine says she learned a lot from early colossal failures and from her
successes, too.
"A lot of people just starting out don't think in terms of, ‘Will this choice
still work in five years if the business is very successful?' You need to
consider that because it's difficult and sometimes bad for business to go back
and change things once you've become established," she says.
If you're thinking about starting a home-based business, she shares some tips
for laying the groundwork.
You need to be able to easily explain your idea (product or service) in
one or two sentences because that's all you'll get to "sell" it to
customers, investors and the media, including bloggers you seek out for
reviews. If you can't explain it well in two sentences, either work on a
simpler way to describe it or come up with a new idea.
Determine whether your idea
has been done before or if it's brand new.
There are generally three possibilities: It has been done but there's
still demand; it has been done and the market is saturated; or it has never
been done. You can be successful in any of these scenarios if you know where
your idea falls and strategize appropriately. Search keyword phrases online
to see if what you have in mind already exists. If you come up empty,
there's either no demand or it's never been done before. If it's been done,
search for competitors and see how many they are, what they're doing and how
you might innovate to provide something even better, whether it's in quality
of product or service.
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 The list might be a series of questions whose answers will
be the basis for your business plan. They might include — but
are by no means are limited to: What are you going to sell and
for how much? Will you make or buy the product? How will you
package and ship it? Will you ship internationally? How will you
communicate with customers? What will your business colors be?
Will you hire a bookkeeper or explore software to do that
yourself? The list may seem daunting, but take time to make each
decision one at a time, and soon you'll see your business taking
shape.
Name your company
after yourself or give it a made-up, easy-to-remember one-word
name.
Naming the company after your product or service seriously
limits future expansion (remember — it's important to think
ahead!). Naming it after yourself or giving it a one-word,
made-up name allows you to expand into other products, services
and even industries. It also provides a common denominator that
ties everything together. If you think you may eventually sell
the company, go with a made-up name (think Zappos, Etsy,
Google.) Double-check the U.S. Patent and Trademark website to
ensure the name — even if it's your own! — is not already
trademarked.
___
Renae Christine is the owner of by Renae Christine, a company
that has launched several successful businesses and has helped
launch dozens more for others. A journalist, she's known for her
popular YouTube videos (search Rich Mom Business channel), which use
humor and pragmatism to advise others who want to launch home-based
businesses. She recently published "Home Business Startup Bible," (www.richmombusiness.com),
a comprehensive how-to guide. She is also the founder of the Rich
Mom Business University and co-hosts the online TV show "Funny Stuff
and Cheese."
[Text from file received from
News and Experts]
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