Starting Your Own Home-Based Business1 min read

by | Accounting, Business Tax Planning

The five questions you should consider before taking the plunge

It’s been your dream for as long as you can remember.  Maybe your entrepreneurial juices started to flow when you were a youngster and you opened a lemonade stand or you had a paper route.  Perhaps the idea of directing your own fate stems from the desire to set your own schedule and pursue other aspirations.  Many home-based business owners chose to break out on their own because they found themselves either dissatisfied working for someone else, in an unhappy work environment, or from the loss of a traditional job.

Regardless, the fact is, having your own business, home-based or not, requires discipline, determination and the ability to think critically.  Pulling the trigger on a home-based business may not be brain-surgery, but it does require careful consideration, so think through the following five questions before taking that leap.

1. How will you market your home-based service or product?
Once you have determined that your business will not be of the brick and mortar variety, you will need to focus on how you will connect with your target customer.  Look at every option – digital, direct mail, etc.

2. Do you have the burning desire to make your business a success?
Just like it says above, you will have to be completely devoted and dedicated to make your business successful.  When you are the CEO and head bottlewasher, you may find yourself working 60 to 80 hours a week, not leaving a great deal of time for those extracurricular activities.

That is why that burning desire is so important.  People who are the most successful love what they do, so most of the time it doesn’t even seem like work.  It is who they are and what they want to be doing.  That is the key – passion.

3. Does your business idea fit who you are?
Well, what does that mean?  It means, if you like to interact with a variety of people on a day-to-day basis, face-to-face, odds are you are not going to be happy sitting alone in your dining room, spare bedroom or basement on a computer all day.  Just be honest with yourself about who you are and how much social interaction you need.

4. Do you have the discipline to be accountable only to yourself?
It’s kind of like the story about an author who sits down to write a great epic novel but gets distracted by the smallest thing – a noise or a movement outside the window — and can’t even write the first word.  You need to be able to hold yourself to self-imposed deadlines and goals.

5. Now, the biggie. How will you finance your startup?
The simple fact is you need to have a financial plan in place to cover your operating expenses for at least 6 months, and, if you do not have other income, that is in addition to your living expenses.

So, if after pondering these five questions are you ready to follow your dream and experience the satisfaction of having your own business?

By Simons Bitzer



View bio | Read more articles

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