What Skills do you need for your HOME BUSINESS???

Question: What’s the difference between a small business and a home business?

Answer: A small business is a business that makes money. A home business is a hobby that makes beer money.

Too close to the bone? Tough. That’s how it’s perceived and often, that is the truth of the matter. If you talk about small business, people think of one self-employed person running a local business (plumber, electrician, etc), or a small

office with half a dozen employees.

If you talk about home business, people think of someone selling homemade t-shirts out of the boot of their car at a church jumble sale. And, of course, that image is unfair because you are running – or trying to run – a professional business. A business that will pay the bills, put food on the table and leave some money left over for pursuing your hobby as a philatelist (look it up). 

The problem stems from the fact that most people that run small businesses do so straight after finishing education or an apprenticeship. Whereas as an aspiring home business owner is probably trying to make the switch from working for an employer to working for himself. And that’s a big switch. It takes organization; planning and it absolutely cannot be run casually. The good news is that you do not need all the pieces in place to get started. Successful home business owners often learn through their mistakes and pick up the rest as they go along. However, the sooner you learn what is required to make your things run smoothly, the easier things will become and the less likely it is that your business will fail. 

Let’s have a look at some of the basic skills that you will need to master. You don’t need to grasp and organize everything at once, but you should consider each item carefully and take an honest look at how your business measures up. If one or more of these areas are totally absent from your business, then tackle them without delay.

1) Taxes

Wherever you live, it is likely that you are required to pay some kind of taxes on your earnings. Working out what you have to keep back and pay to the government may seem like a burden now, but can destroy your business overnight if you fail to get this right. You may be able to handle the finances yourself. If not, consider hiring an accountant to take on this task. Visit your government website for more information.

WARNING: Do not make the mistake of leaving this task until you start making, what you consider to be, a serious income. In some countries, you are required to keep a strict record of your business earnings, even if you are not earning enough to begin paying taxes.

2) Office Space

Working from home carries many perks. It also contains many, many more distractions than any other office does. To succeed, your business must be productive. To be productive you must be able to work for extended periods without distraction. Consider converting one of your rooms into a dedicated office. If your dwelling is too small, convert a portion of one of your rooms into an office space. Avoid doing this in a room that has a lot of human or

animal activity.

3) Outsourcing

There is too much to do in any business to do everything yourself. As soon as you can afford to do so, begin outsourcing the jobs you enjoy the least. Outsourcing is nearly always cheaper than you imagine and because it frees up some of your time, it should actually increase your profits in the long run.

Outsourcing could be:

·         Hiring a friend or relative for a few hours a week.

·         Using a website service.

·         Hiring someone through elance or a similar website.

Here is a sample list of some things you can fully, or partially, outsource. If you are not outsourcing at the moment, aim to outsource at least three things over the next six months and see what difference it makes to your business over the following six months.

·         Accounts

·         Website Design

·         Graphic Design

·         Article Writing

·         Ebook Writing

·         Marketing

·         Public Relations

·         Search Engine Optimization

·         Office Cleaning

·         Customer Support  

4) Organization

Running a business in an organized way will NOT happen by chance.

Do whatever it takes to get your business running in a smooth, orderly and productive fashion.

This is a broad topic, but includes:

·         scheduling what work needs doing on a daily, weekly and monthly basis.

·         setting financial targets for income and expenditure.

·         keeping your office supplies fully stocked.

·         setting completion dates for projects.

·         contingency planning for problems interfering with work (power

·         outages, sickness, family emergencies, etc)

Make time-tables, draw up schedules, make checklists of essential tasks, buy and learn how to use a personal organizer and, basically, do whatever it takes to keep your business running in an organized manner.

5) Training

This must be an ongoing part of your business. The longer your business is running, the easier it will be to think you can manage without continuing to learn. If you stop training, you will eventually fail to keep up with the latest

developments in your industry and in marketing in general. Stop this from happening by deciding what you need to train in, purchase ebooks, videos or audio files on this subject and then schedule a regular period of training into your working week

6) Networking

Running a home business can be a lonely experience and while emailing and forum chatter can partially fill the gap, it is important to get out there and speak to real people, face to face. Look for events or seminars in your area of business and plan to attend. 

If you are not the gregarious type, you may have to push yourself to get involved in networking, but the amount you can learn and the business contacts you encounter will make it worthwhile. If you are shy by nature, start off by attending exhibitions. This way you can wander around and build up your confidence in being around other people. Most of the stands will be looked after by sales people and they will be used to doing most of the talking. It’s a nice, low pressure way of meeting people without the strain of making too much conversation.  

Alternatively, if you find crowds of people intimidating, look for workshops or smaller gatherings with just a handful of people. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, it’s unlikely that you’re attracted to home business for purely financial reasons. For most people it’s far easier to join a large corporation and work your way through the ranks than it is to make a home business work.

A big part of the attraction is the freedom of choosing your hours, working in a field you’re passionate about and having a commute time of less than 30 seconds. But, if you want to enjoy working from home for many years to come, you must organize your business so that it runs like a business.

Anything less is just a hobby.