The Starting Point Checklist for a Home Business
A Home Business Article Contributed by Marsha Maung
The Starting Point Checklist for a Home Business
One of the best advice I got is this: "Never jump into your home business without looking". To start your home business, you need a checklist and you need it like you need air. It's difficult as it is to come up with great business ideas, but to summon up the courage to actually start the home business is even harder. But that's only scraping the tip of the iceberg, many home business owners can tell you. You're not even looking at the whole problem in the face yet.
Anyone can start their own home business. It's just a matter of sitting down and ironing some things out and getting it all geared for success.
The Home Business Legal Red Tape
One of the first few things you would to deal with about your home business is to get the legal stuff out of the way. Get it cleared, done and then get on with the other stuff. Don't leave it for the last because if you have problems sorting out the legal stuff about your home business, you'll find it hard to concentrate on the other things concerning your home business.
The legal issues would be things like your company's name, registration, trademarks, copyrights and taxes. Get it all ironed out before you go on to the next stage of planning.
The Business Plan
Yes, your home is your business station but this doesn't mean you don't need a plan for it. You could be a one man show and yet you still need a plan to get you started. If you don't have a plan, it's like going jungle trekking without a map - sooner or later, you'll get lost.
You'll need to evaluate your target market (as in who they are), your competition, a solid plan on how you're going to market your product/services, and the financial plan (like investors, suppliers, employees, inventory, marketing and promotions...etc).
Marketing Your Home Business.
Even if you don't have much of a budget to even call it a budget, you'll need a marketing plan. You'll need to, at least, know how you're going to get the word out. If you plan to market and promote your products/services for free, you'll have to know from the onset how you're going to do it. Write it down thoroughly and in complete detail so that your investors (and yourself) can look at it and remind yourself how solid and wonderful your marketing plan is. You can also use the marketing plan to track the effectiveness of your marketing campaigns (regardless of the size of the campaign).
Money, Money, Money for the Home Business
Don't forget the accounting part of your home business. Write down how you're going to source for money for inventory, your overhead costs, salary (if any), marketing and promotions, estate equity, and also do a quick calculation on your own expenses and savings - how it would actually tie-up with your new home business. If you need to get a loan, evaluate the properties and the value of it so that you can use it as a collateral for a loan.
And one other important thing that most of us home business owners miss out on - keep your business and yourself separate. That means, your business should pay you a salary.
Once the checklist above is done, you're well on your way!
