How to Build a Successful Home-Based Business
Gloria Martinez of womenled.org
Who doesn’t want to be their own boss? Whether you’re tired of slogging away at the office, sick of the daily commute, or looking for ways to generate income in college, building your own business is a fantastic way to reclaim control over your life. Work when you want, where you want, and how you want! All you need is a great business idea and the passion to pursue it, and you have the foundation for a profitable home-based business that you can be proud of. Here are some essential tips to keep in mind as you start down the path to entrepreneurship.
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Evaluate Your Business Idea
Most people have a business idea before they decide to become entrepreneurs. While it’s great to have some kind of plan, avoid locking yourself into one specific idea. After doing some market research and flushing out your idea, you may have to make some adjustments to ensure you can realistically make money with it. One of the first steps in validating your business idea is seeing if it exists already. It might just take a simple Google search to discover companies already doing what you propose to do. Even if you find out that your business idea isn’t as unique as you initially thought, you may discover gaps in the market that you can fill!
Consider Your Business Structure
After putting together a business plan, you’ll need to also figure out which kind of business formation you’re going to establish with the state. There are many options for new businesses including sole proprietorships, partnerships, limited liability companies, and small corporations. These are all great options but each comes with its own risks and benefits. For example, sole proprietorships are easy to set up but offer no legal protection for your personal assets, while an LLC can better shield your assets. You can easily learn how to start an LLC or sole proprietorship online.
Learn How to Manage a Remote Team
Many startups require a team of workers to get off the ground. Whether you’re hiring web developers or writers, make sure you know how to manage a remote team. Good communication is vital to the success of any remote business, so set your team up on a collaboration platform like Slack. Unitonomy recommends creating different communication channels within Slack to filter out distracting, unrelated chatter from important projects. You may also want to create a team-side newsfeed channel where you can post important information that everyone needs to know.
Get Familiar with Social Media
Almost all successful business owners are active on social media. Social media platforms, namely Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, and LinkedIn, provide great opportunities for connecting with consumers, learning about your customers, and positioning your brand as a trusted authority in your industry. You can also use social media to market your business for free! If you’re on a tight start-up budget, finding ways to cut costs should be one of your top priorities, so choose low-cost social media marketing over pricey paid campaigns until you start earning revenue.
Schedule Your Time
If you’re starting your business on the side of your day job, make sure you schedule time to work on your new venture. Success.com recommends setting aside a whole day of your week just to focus on your business, but if this isn’t realistic, schedule out short blocks of time throughout your day when you don’t have any other obligations. Keep in mind that you may have to give up some of your leisure time for this! If you pick a business idea that you’re really passionate about, you shouldn’t have any problems freeing up time to work on it.
Find Professional Help
Starting a business on your own is a lot of work. Even if you have all the time in the world, hiring people to help you out will give you access to additional skills and expertise, boosting your business and setting you ahead of your competitors. Here are some freelancers to consider hiring for your business:
Anyone can build a profitable business if they work hard enough. If you want to be your own boss, there’s no reason you have to keep working for someone else. While it may take a while for your new business to generate enough income to replace your full-time job, the wait will be well worth it!
