Tag: home business

Home Business Startup Costs

November 28, 2015 jgardner

Home Business Entrepreneurs are a vital and growing part of the business economy in North America. According to Global Entrepreneurship Monitor 2012 United States Report in 2012, over 69% of new entrepreneurs started from home. 55% of the new businesses remained at home even if they hired employees. Also, the average financing was $15,000 with 82% of the entrepreneurs receiving financing from personal funds, family or friend. If you are thinking about starting a home business, it is possible to start from home with less money than you think!

If you haven’t heard the term “bootstrapping”, it is a new mindset for you to save money by doing some of your startup activities yourself and financing your business plan.

1. The first step would be to create a budget of potential income and expenses possible in the first year. Most important would be to define all the expenses as income may not come in the first year.

2. Looking at the expenses, see how you can save by reducing expenses by, for example:

a) doing your own bookkeeping

b) using your existing furniture for your office rather than buying new or go out to garage sales to find used items.

c)asking your computer saavy family member to help you setup your internet in exchange for…

For most service businesses that are home-based, the initial year is the most expensive but saving money by creating an office in your home and using existing furniture and computer equipment helps to reduce costs.

Now on to needing money, a bootstrapping entrepreneur will use:

a) their own personal savings

b)credit cards debt

c)ask family or friends for startup money or if you are lucky, use your family members skills within your business in exchange for whatever you decide on.

The advantage to using your own personal finances is you are not indebted to any other person or company like a bank.

Without knowing what your startup expenses will be, you won’t know what money you need to raise before you even start your business. So, even though the thought of doing a business plan may be something you consider unnecessary, even if you are going to be bootstrapping, a business plan is worth doing to see what you need for the first year.

Government Resources for Writing a Business Plan

The U.S. Small Business Administration has a free resource on creating a business

The Canadian government resources at Canada Business Network

Australian government at Business Plan Template

Great Britain at Write a Business Plan

Go and write up your business plan even if you aren’t going to a bank for financing because it is the guide and plan to use in your first year to keep costs under control!

by Jane Gardner from Jane-Gardner.com To empower and implement your business dreams!

Categories: Start a Home Business Tags: Tags: home business, startup costs

Home Office

July 6, 2014 jgardner

Designing an Optimal Home Office
Your home office makes a big difference on your overall productivity and work happiness. Having a great home office makes it easier to concentrate and will help you get more done in less time. Here are some of the many things you should keep in mind while you’re designing your home office.

==> The Space Itself

Your home office should be separated from the rest of your house and especially the rest of your bedroom. If you don’t have a separate office space set aside, at least use curtains or other material to partition off the space.

When you step into your home office, it should feel like you’re stepping into a workspace. It should not be an extension of your bedroom.

==> Designing Your Flow

Place all the tools you’ll need within arm’s length. In other words, your phone, your keyboard, your printer tray and your notepad should all be in reaching distance if those are tools you use regularly.

==> Measure Your Space

Before you buy any equipment, make sure you take a tape measure and measure everything out. The last thing you want is to buy office equipment only to discover that it doesn’t fit.

==> Make Sure Your Cabinets Have Room to Open

This is one of the more common home office design mistakes people make. They remember to measure the cabinet’s space, but forget to measure enough space for the cabinet to open out. You don’t want your cabinet to hit anything else when it opens – including you or your chair.

==> Add Real Plants

Working in a home office all day can be quite stuffy. Research has shown that nature and real plants can help people concentrate and boost mood.

Add a real plant or two in your workspace to help lift your spirits.

==> Invest in a Quality Chair

Sitting in a low quality chair can result in back pain, aching shoulders and other kinds of body pains. If you’re going to spend money on anything in your office, spend it on your chair. Get a quality chair that supports your spine and allows you to work for extended periods of time without undue pressure.

==> Lighting Is Important

You don’t want to work in dim lighting. Having good lighting helps reduce strain on your eyes, promotes better mood and helps improve productivity.

The light in your office needs to appear diffused, so it can’t just come from one source. Ideally you’ll have three or four different lights that all contribute to an overall sense of having a well-lit room.

These are some of the many things that go into designing the optimal office. Your office space has a big impact on your overall workflow. The time you put into improving its design will pay off many times over.

Categories: Home Office Tags: Tags: home business, home office

A pause during the day

May 31, 2014 jgardner

Be Grateful Always remember to pause for five minutes during the hectic workday and be grateful. Find a poem, find a video like this one with the “Birds of the Ocean” , the Manta Rays or just meditate and turn the phone off. Be Grateful for what you have in your life.

THE VIDEO credit from Youtube

Published on Dec 7, 2012

Julie Hartup part of Manta Trust, a non-profit organization recently went to Yap to begin a long-term monitoring/research program. Video was complied from four days of scuba diving at a shallow cleaning station with help from the Manta Ray Bay Resort. Film was edited by Chase Weir.

Categories: Productivity Tags: Tags: home business, productivity

Google Hangouts great tool for business

April 29, 2014 jgardner

Why Google Hangouts? Why Not Google Hangouts! It is free and it can help your business grow! I did this Google Hangout On Air in 10 minutes, imperfect but viewable.

Google Hangouts is a free video chat service from Google. It makes it possible to participate in one-on-one chats as well as group chats. Presently, group chats can have up to ten people at a time.

While video chat isn’t anything new – Skype, FaceTime and Facebook Video Chat have been around for a while; Google Hangouts provides much more in terms of technology and usefulness.

Google promotes what’s often called “face-to-face-to-face” group interaction. You can easily switch the focus of the hangout to the person who is currently talking.

Google Hangouts is also readily accessible. It can be accessed via laptop, desktop or mobile device, including Android and iOS powered devices.

Google Hangouts also offers more than the traditional video chat. You can share documents, YouTube Videos, scratchpads and images. There’s also a feature that lets you broadcast live video conversations and make them available to anyone online.

Categories: googlehangouts Tags: Tags: googlehangouts, home business, technorati

What is a perfect name for my business

April 13, 2014 jgardner

What is the perfect name for my new home business? Is there a reason I should pick a business name carefully?

When it is time to figure out a name for your new home business sometimes it can be something that you agonize over and wonder am I picking the right name? The idea that once you file the business name with the local government means it is “written in stone” can sometimes hold you back from picking one.

What’s in a name? that which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet;

from Romeo and Juliet

Michael Fortin, in his book “10 Commandments of Power Positioning” says your business name should stick in people’s mind long after they have met you. Make it unique. Have it reflect what you do in the name, be “Heather’s Wedding Wreaths” not “Heather B. Business”. A person will remember a unique business name. At the very least, have what you do in your name, ABC Cleaners not ABC Enterprise.

With my husband’s Structural Engineering firm, we called it Peak Engineering because Maple Ridge is below Golden Ears which has two peaks. Also, whenever we tell people our name, we say Peak, as in mountain peaks spelling since peek is another spelling. It seems fairly easy for people to remember the name spelling though Brian is usually called Brain. Or maybe, he just thinks it is an appropriate name for him.

For my company, JGardnerMarketing, I took a business name that was my name + marketing since our local government registrars have stricter guidelines about business names. I could not have called it The Business of At Home Business because it used the word business in it was too generic. So, it is alway good to check with your local authority and see what type of business name they will not approve before you send in names for approval. With our local government authority, you have to give them three choices for the business name and if they disapprove the first name, you’d better like the second and then third name. So, don’t start printing up your business cards or letterhead until you get the business name approved by the government.

Also, if you pick a name too close to a trademarked name or it seems to come close and the other business can sue you and make you change your name. So, no Burger Queen or Starebucks for you! You can do a search through local Yellow pages, Google, your local Business registry and domain search.

If you want to go put up a website using your Business Name, you had better check early before registering your business name with your local government. It is not possible to have the exact same domain name in the internet and when you are looking at the world businesses up on the internet, the odds are good that there would be a ABCCleaner.com up on the internet already! You don’t want to be known by the website domain of ABCCleaner2.com.

Michael Fortin in 10 Commandments of Power Positioning had another good test for picking a business name that people remember. Create about 5 business names and tell some of your friends you’d like to know what they think of the names. Ignore this advice (just kidding). What is important is to see them or call them up in an hour or two and ask them to recite the names. See which names stuck in their mind and that will give you some idea on the uniqueness of the business name.

When deciding on a Business Name for your Home Business remember to:

pick a business name unique to you
pick a business name that has what you do for a living in it as an action word – Cleaning, Engineering, Marketing, Writing– somewhere within the business name
check that the business name is not already being used on the World Wide Web
check with local government authority on their business name rules
test some business names by getting friends to remember the most memorable of a list after an hour
stay away from other businesses names who are already registered as they can sue you to change it ,if it is too close

In the end, what your business name is will not define your business in your customer’s mind. Who you are and how you deliver the services or product to them will be the reason customers will return to your business. Micheal Fortin’s book “10 Commandments of Power Positioning” has some other great ideas about keeping your business name in top of mind of your customers so you receive a copy when you sign up for The Business of At Home Business newsletter.

Categories: USP Tags: Tags: business name, home business, Michael Fortin, technorati

Is it possible to have a craft business?

April 13, 2014 jgardner

For those who are love audio, I have the audio recording of the post below: 🙂
[s3audio url=”http://jgardner.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Untitled.mp3″ /]
Can I make a living with a craft business? Is it just a hobby or can I make it into a business I can do from home? I love to do my crafts but can I make a living with it as the business? According to the Craft and Hobby Association press release in 2011, that 56% of U.S households crafted at least once during 2010 contributing to the 29.2 billion U.S. craft and hobby industry. There are people out there doing crafts and selling their crafts. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average median pay in 2012 for a craft or fine artist is $44,380 a year or $21.34 an hour. There were 51,400 craft and fine artist in 2012 in the U.S. who were self employed. It is possible to make a living as a crafter. But how?

Heather

Heather was a grandmother who loved making wreaths for Christmas and her family wedding celebrations. However, her grandchildren came first when spending money on them she would not buy supplies for her crafting. As her living costs went up, she thought she would have to sell off her crafting supplies. Before she decided to do that, she would splurge on making table wreaths for her granddaughter’s wedding. Well, ladies came up to her saying how amazing her wreaths were and could you make some for my daughter’s wedding. How much would they cost, her friend said. She took her name and she said would phone with the cost in a week. Well, she went home all in a tizzy wondering what were her costs and could this be a potential craft business to make more money! More about Heather next time.

Icraftopia.com has done this wonderful infographic detailing the potential of the craft market either selling crafts below. Can you see the potential? For more information on the potential of a craft or artist career, check out the Bureau of Labour Statistics facts on artists.

Courtesy of: iCraftopia.com

Categories: Inventory, cash investment Tags: Tags: craft business, home business, make a living, selling, technorati

Grow Your Business

March 10, 2014 jgardner

Fred had a successful consulting service serving many clients in his community. He enjoyed his days in his home office but he was finding that he wasn’t spending the time with his family as much as he wanted to do. He hadn’t had a vacation in a year and he wasn’t sure he could be away from his home office without his clients being angry.

He took the time one day to look at his options for decreasing his workload while maintaining his lifestyle.
He could:
1. Hire and train an employee to help with client related documentation.
2. Partner with another consultant in his field sharing some of the workload while getting a “finders fee” for sending the work to the sub-consultant.
3. Find a support desk for his office administration who do all the office paperwork leaving him free to do the consulting.
4. Increase his consulting work by marketing his services on the internet to companies in other communities and setting up a virtual business with lots of automation to reduce his time and expenses in maintaining a home office. He would have to think “outside of the box” as it would be a new way to market his services.
Fred decided that spending time with his family was a high priority for his lifestyle so he put all four ideas into action by getting advice on resources available on the internet to help him decrease his workload while increasing his revenue. He hired and trained a personal assistant for his home office knowledgable in his consulting work. He paid for virtual office support and he got training in how to sell his consulting service on the internet.
If you are wanting to move your business onto the internet and international community, you should subscribe to The Business of At Home Business newsletter for tips and resources.

Categories: Fred's Story Tags: Tags: business, entrepreneur, home business

Be my own boss?

March 9, 2014 jgardner

Have you thought of starting a business but have no idea what you want to do?

Is it possible that you could make income from physical work? Have you done physical work before in your life? Do

you feel the most satisfied and content when you are outside working in the sun? Are you tired of the commute to a desk job?

Have you always been good with your hands doing repairs and services around the house when others in the family don’t have the time or energy?

Bob was tired of his 3 hour commute to the office and the office politics so when he got laid off from work he

thought “is there anything else I could do? I have some unemployment benefits for a few months and the spouse is

bringing in some money. Why don’t I see if I can make a go of handyman services? I live in a suburb where most

people go into the city and the only time they can do house repairs or chores is on the weekend.”

I should look into:

   local handyman services already in my town

   how many customers I might have for my service

   What could be the unique selling point for my business

   What would be the costs of starting up and creating awareness for the new business

   Was there any local town bylaws and government certification needed for a handyman service.

He had some research to do before he started the new business and we will follow along as he does in the next

installment.

Subscribe to The Business of At Home Business newsletter for advice and resources in starting a home business.

Categories: Mindset Tags: Tags: home business, self employed, technorati

Think like an entrepreneur

December 29, 2013 jgardner

Gaining control of your mind is the most challenging but also the most rewarding thing you can possibly do. Why? Because once you learn how to direct your mind, you can guide it to help you achieve anything that you fully commit to.

You do this through mind conditioning. I also like to call it mental programming. Everyone has been programmed to behave in a certain way. Some people have been entrepreneurs their entire lives. They were programmed for this type of lifestyle a long time ago. Since you were programmed with the job mentality, you are going to have to reprogram your mind so that you think like the entrepreneur !

What exactly does this mean? It means that you think of yourself as powerful and resourceful.

You see yourself as someone who can overcome fears and limitations.
You are willing to do what it TAKES to succeed rather than doing what is comfortable or convenient.
You take control of your mind so that when challenging situations do arise, you can ignore that voice of worry and summon your voice of strength.

How? Through repetition.

Repetition is the first law of learning and there are literally thousands of authors and speakers out there who are more than willing to share their stories with you. The more you listen to their stories and apply the concepts to your life, the greater the change you can make in your life.

So take action today and start reading about successful entrepreneurs and the challenges and triumphs they had in their business!

To find out more about being an entrepreneur, feel free to try the Be Your Own Boss quiz, find out more here.

Subscribe to The Business of At Home Business newsletter to find out about resources and ideas for a home based business.

Categories: Mindset Tags: Tags: athome, entrepreneur, home business, Mindset

Fred

December 29, 2013 jgardner

Fred, the homebased business consultant

Life as a consultant or the continuing story of Fred. Is it possible to create a new job with his old company?

Fred was on disability after suffering a heart attack. His disability was running out in six months so he had to decide how he would make some money. His boss was eager to have him back but Fred knew he couldn’t handle the 5:00 a.m. commute to the downtown office and working for nine hours each day. So, he went in to the downtown office one day to talk to his boss about working from home.
“ If I set up a Skype conferencing connection for any meetings and we shared the documents and emails through the company intranet system, I think I could actually have more productive hours per day!” , said Fred.

“But how would we get ahold of you for any questions during the day?”, asked his Boss.

“ I could have my email messages forwarded to my smartphone at all times so that if I wasn’t in the office, it would be just as quick for me to respond as in the office,” said Fred.

“ But what about meetings with clients once we have the work done?”

“ You could add any meetings that come up in the intranet calendar and I could drive in for the meeting. We could review the job before the meeting and what to do with the job after the meeting that I could take home to work on. Since there is still the same tight work deadline, I would probably do extra hours at home as I am saving time by not commuting back and forth to get the work done quicker,” said Fred.

You could fire me as an employee and re-hire me as a sub-consultant. We would have a contract specifying our responsibilities which would include me remitting my own required taxes to the government and other requirements as a sub-consultant. You know my work and how I have been able to work to deadline so this should be a win-win for both you and me.”

Fred’s boss said he would think about this new development as he valued Fred’s skills. Fred went home to look into how much net income he would need to work from home as a sub-consultant

Have you thought about the idea of hiring yourself with your skills out as a consultant? What are the legal and government regulations you need to put into place to be self-employed?

Have a look at Fred’s continuing story as he starts his home business by subscribing to The Business of At Home Business newsletter.

Categories: Fred Tags: Tags: home business, self employed, technorati