Starting your own home small business
So you have decided that 9 – 5 employment isn’t for you and “working for the man” is no longer your thing and you are sick of being some pawn in some large Sydney recruitment company, why not look at starting your own home small business?
With today’s internet connection and mobile abilities to take calls and send and receive emails it is now easier than ever to start your own business and with everything being so mobile, it is now possible to start a family business on a vary minimal amount of money that could possibly return you a second income.
“it is now easier than ever to start your own home small business…”
Previously, it took thousands of dollars in start up capital to just get a business off the ground and running which was usually soaked up in paper advertisements that cost a small fortune which are now replaced with online adverts and staffing issues that can now be replaced (to an extent) by computer and computer programs.
For example, with as little as $9, one can buy a domain name and an extra few dollars, web hosting, a new business owner can have a website up and running in an hour. Of course there is a lot more that goes into a website, but this is just to explain the “guts” of it.
Of course once things get going, legal advise, lawyers and accountants should be sought as sometimes a lawyers bill can be a lot cheaper than a law suit just as a few dollars spent on an account can potentially retain a lot more of your hard earned money stay in your pockets – not the tax mans!
So, once you have a website up and running, you could be selling your product with literally the WORLD as your potential customer base! Imagine having even a fraction of the world’s population who owns a computer and internet connection look at or buy 1 of your products – thats a lot of potential revenue!
Steps to starting your own home small business
So now that you have decided to start your own business and “go your own” there are some things that have to be considered such as what is your current financial status, are you ready to leave your job, what affect will it have on your family, are you and your family or dependants ready to take the risk of starting your own business and what contingency plan do you have if the business doesn’t go the way you intended?
Once you have considered the above and more and you are still willing to proceed to start your own business, with careful planning, it can be calculated bet.
The first thing you may want to consider is what strength and weaknesses do you have and the people you are looking to get involved with. A diversity of strengths is a favoured combination since where one is lacking the other person is strong.
With that in mind, it is a good time to start thinking about what business you would like to start. If you already have something in mind – great! But, for many, this is one of the hardest steps to take. As mentioned in the “starting a home business” page, a technique to help people decide what direction they may like to take is to decide what they do NOT want to do and then narrow down until the choice becomes clear.
So now you’ve decided what business you want to start, a business plan is most likely the next most important step one should take prior to launching the business as this will test out the business feasibility, clearly show and define what your market will be, roles for perspective employees (if necessary), strengths and weaknesses of the product. Effectively, it will be your step by step plan.
There are many business plan templates which can be downloaded for free in most cases and usually feature an example of a finished business plan.
Most of the templates have a header or topic with a brief description of what should be written under these headings and you only need to write about your chosen field – simple!
“Now that you are armed with the home small business plan…”
Now that you are armed with the home small business plan for success, it is time to get the wheels in motion, but gaining the equipment you need to get the business off the ground.
Most business revolves around product sales or a service and whether it be virtual or physical a website is a great place to start getting your product or service out to the masses.
There are websites for everything imaginable and can vary in price from a few hundred to ten’s of thousands depending on the functionality it will have to have. The amount of SEO (search engine optimisation) can come at a price too, after all, what good is a website that no one can find?
With your bright and shiny new website featuring all of your business goodies, it’s time to get viral! So accompany your website with social media tools like Twitter and Facebook profiles and pages and then get the word out to everyone you already know and then get them to do the same to all of the people they know. You can be amazed at the number of people you have direct and indirect contact with and this can be a great way to spread the word.
At this stage, don’t be afraid to take enquiry calls, even if you do not have your product ready yet – look at it as what to expect once you have your product ready. You can always simply reply with a “we’re still in production” response which most people will understand. However take the opportunity to capture their data (contact details) for when you are ready. Be sure to ask if it ok to call them later when you have samples ready etc.
”it is time to consult some profession assistance by speaking with you accountant and lawyer…”
With the first main steps take, it is time to consult some profession assistance by speaking with you accountant and lawyer to ensure that you are compliant by way of tax and taxation issues and that everything you do from now on is by Australian legal standards (or the country in which you are operating).