Starting a Home Business

Home Business Basics

Just the facts, please!

• Starting, owning and operating a home business is not about getting rich quick. It's about learning, creating, connecting with people, giving, and working hard. If you locate an opportunity promising riches - run the other way.
• Successfully starting and operating a home business takes a lot of time. If you've got little kids, you can still do it, but you must be realistic about time demands. Different businesses require different amounts of time, but be ready to invest much time learning, making good content, marketing and more.
• If you're married, how does your husband/wife feel about what you're doing? Trust me on this, if your spouse isn't behind you (supporting you) - it's doubtful you'll succeed.
• You shouldn't need to spend very much money to start your home business. The worst thing you can do is go out and run up a credit card with purchases of letterhead, rubber stamps, office equipment, etc. Successfully managing a home business will require you to be frugal, so you might as well practice being frugal from the beginning.
• Research, research, research! Did I say research? Yes, that means learn about what opportunities are out there. It's likely (or maybe not) that you have some idea of what kind of home business you would like to start. Don't let your emotions, dreams and desires get in the way of reality. Yes, certainly have goals and desires, but don't let them run the show. You will need to made decisions based on reality, not wishful thinking.
• Don't allow your family (parents, kids, siblings, cousins, etc.) to spoil your goals. Actually, it's best to not even talk with your them until you've already started your business and are having some success. Remember, we're talking about extended family here. It's critical for your spouse to support your efforts, but often, parents, siblings, kids, etc. will be detrimental to your efforts. This isn't usually intentional, they generally just don't understand.
• Where are your skills, what are you good at, what do you enjoy? A successful home business requires some skills, hard work, most importantly - passion. It's very important that you're passionate about your work - this is what will sustain your efforts during hard times. Remember, you won't have a boss reminding you about the work needing to be done - you're the boss. You generally won't have set hours of operation - only work that must be done. You won't always be in a good mood when the work needs completing. And, I can promise you won't always want to do the work. Your passion and commitment will help guide you forward.
• Be realistic about your income needs. Most home businesses take some time (which varies) before you begin to realize a large enough income to replace a regular "job". If you need money fast, get a job. Then, study about home businesses during your extra time.
• Don't become obsessed with the money you're making, become obsessed with providing a product (or service) so great - people will want to tell each other about your business.
• Join a tribe. Once you've decided on a particular type of business to become involved with, you'll soon learn that other people - much like you - are doing exactly what you're doing. This is a good thing, not a bad thing. You'll find many people out there in forums, on Facebook, Twitter and other places who will be more than happy to provide support and help to your efforts. Here at Squidoo, you can find an entire community (tribe) of people at SquidU who will be more than happy to help you learn to make money using Squidoo.