The Perks and Quirks of Having a Home-Based Business

If you’re reading this article, it’s a pretty safe bet that you’ve already considered a number of inexpensive business ideas and are now ready to delve into the nitty gritty of what it’s like to work not only for yourself, but out of your own home.

PERKS

If there weren’t perks to having a home business, so many people wouldn’t be striving to start one for themselves. Here are a few of the most popular perks that come hand in hand with launching your own gig.

Cost

Not having to head out the door and drive to work every day is a huge money saver. Some of the many ways it’s cheaper to work from home include lower fuel costs, reduced wear and tear on professional clothing and not having to spend money on restaurant office lunches. Depending on how much you are able to reduce your mileage, you may even be able to spend less on your auto insurance. How cool is that?

Productivity

While a typical supervisor of cubicle employees might not think so, the truth is it’s possible to be at least twice as productive when you have your own home business. One major way I save time is by not waiting in line for things like coffee, copies or face time with the boss. If I need to have a phone conversation with a client or colleague, I can have it via a wireless headset, which frees me up to toss a few ingredients in the slow cooker, fold a load of laundry and even brush the dog.

Even if your home business requires more one-on-one face time with customers, you still don’t have to commute to work both ways every day. Trust me. There are WAY more productive things you could be doing with your time than sitting in highway traffic.

Flexibility

Unless you are running a shop or maintaining a professional office for legal, accounting or medical services for example chances are you can create your own schedule. This means flexible hours which allows you to take the kids to their soccer game and finish that report after they go to bed. You’ll need self discipline to make sure you don’t take more down time than appropriate, but if you’ve got mad organizational skills and a strong sense of accountability, the world is your oyster as far as owning a home business goes.

QUIRKS

You didn’t think it would be all sunshine and roses, did you? Owning your own home business may provide its fair share of sweet perks, especially for those used to working for the man, but it definitely has its quirks as well.

Logistics

Depending on the services you intend to offer, and how much room you have for things like an office or a photography studio, juggling your home business in the kitchen or from the coffee table can be a real drag. There are a few simple tips for a successful work at home experience, including carving out a dedicated space. Even if you have to use a closet or craft armoire to do it.

Health

Since so many home businesses focus on desk jockey tasks like writing, editing and image manipulation, those who operate them are at increased risk for a variety of health issues, including heart attack and stroke. These risks occur regardless of how fit you are.  Here’s an article I wrote recently detailing the many reasons why you need to spend more time on your feet and cheap ways to build a standing desk.

Boundaries

Just because you’ve set aside several hours each day to make your new home business venture a priority, doesn’t mean your friends and family will realize they need to respect your space. Expect to receive unannounced visitors, people expecting they can interrupt your asking for support and more than a few “since you’re at home” requests. Rest assured these are absolutely as annoying as they sound. You’ll need to be firm about your boundaries, and that may mean a fair bit of friction in the beginning. In the end however, those who truly respect what you’re doing will adjust. Those who don’t no longer need to be in your immediate circle.

Many people who successfully make the transition from cubicle employee to home business owner find they never want to go back to their previous money-making situation. While it isn’t a quick switch to make, the rewards are there for anyone willing and able to put the time in. Do you currently operate your own home business? What are some of the perks and quirks that you’ve noticed over the years?

source: financialhighway.com

 

How to Make Money with Your Skills and Knowledge

Chances are that you know something, or that you have a particular skill. If this is the case, why not monetize it and make extra money?.

Whether you want to make a little extra money on the weekend or start a full-fledged home business, what you know, and what you can do can earn you money.







Identify Something Others Will Pay For


Your first step to making money with your skills and knowledge is to figure out what you have that others will pay for. Do you have some knowledge that others might want? Are you good at something that others might want to be good at?

Think about your talents, and what you know. If you are a good musician, there are likely others who would pay you to share your knowledge of how to play an instrument. If you have good woodworking skills, someone might pay you to build a piece of furniture (we recently paid a local woodworker to build us a custom bedroom set).

Consider what you have, whether it’s a knowledge of web design, an ability to knit beautifully, or the ability to tutor others in difficult math concepts. Think about what you can offer. Chances are that someone is willing to pay for what you know — in one form or another.

Deliver Your Product or Service to Others

Once you know what you have to offer, it’s time to deliver your product or service to others. The great thing about selling your skills and knowledge is that there are a number of ways that you can convey what you have to others. Here are some ideas for effectively selling your skills and knowledge:

• Teach lessons or classes: You can offer lessons to individuals, or even teach on a class level. You can put out fliers or use word of mouth to let others know that you provide one-on-one lessons. If your town has a community education program, you can offer classes to small groups of interested students. Offer seminars or workshops as well.

• Consulting services: Act as a consultant to local companies or others. If you have a green thumb, offer yourself as a garden consultant. My husband has acted as a survey design consultant, as well as a statistics and analysis consultant. You might be surprised at what others need consulting help with, from public relations to social media to web design. Along with this is the idea of freelancing. If you are involved in something that you can sell as a service to others, consider freelancing on the side.

• Write a book: Share your knowledge in a book. If you can present information in a compelling way, you could earn money from the sales of your book. You can receive royalties if the book is published by a more traditional company, or you can self-publish an ebook or self-publish to Amazon and keep more of your money.

• Start a web site and/or blog: If you want to share your insights and knowledge with a wider audience, you can start up a web site or blog (or have both). You can share tutorials with those who want to learn how to do something you are good at, or share your expertise on a subject. As your traffic grows, and as you are seen as a trusted resource, you can earn money from advertising and affiliate programs. If you are interested in starting your own blog check out our sister site How I Make Money Online for tips and register for the free course.

• Sell what you make: If your skills are more focused on making things, you can sell what you make. Set up an online store, and then sell your wares. Your skillfully made product might be worth a lot more than you think to some people. If you want to start your own online store, check out Steve’s course on Running A Profitable Online Business.

 It’s important to understand that setting up a way to make money from what your skills and knowledge doesn’t happen overnight. None of these paths are particularly easy to follow. You have to dedicate time and effort if you want to be successful at making money with your skills and knowledge. With the right plan, and some persistence, though, it’s possible to make monetize what you know.

source: financialhighway.com

How to Make Money with an Online Store

One of the first things that comes to mind when many think of a home business is selling something. Setting up an online store can be a good way to earn money, especially since it is possible to do it by either selling your own goods, or becoming involved in drop shipping, so that it isn’t necessary to keep goods in stock.







No matter how you decide to run your online store, though, you need to give careful thought to how you set up your store, and how you market your goods.

3 Tips for Successfully Establishing Your Online Store

Establishing a successful online business requires planning and effort. Steve Chou runs Bumblebee Linens, a successful ecommerce store selling cloth napkins and mens handkerchiefs. Steve runs the store with his wife, and they made a profit of six figures in their first year, by carefully considering their target market — and how to market to that target.

Steve offered these three quick tips for setting up a successful online store:

1. Pick a product that is not readily available in stores.
2. Pick a product with an ambiguous dollar value. Stay away from brand name goods that are easy to comparison shop.
3. Pick a product that is timeless, and that will never become obsolete or go out of fashion.

When looking at Bumblebee Linens as a case study, you can see that Steve has followed his own advice. You can’t find handkerchiefs, especially those that are custom embroidered, easily in stores. Additionally, these types of handkerchiefs are hard to find, since they have an element of customization and personalization. The dollar value isn’t set. And, finally, a nice handkerchief is always acceptable as a momento, or a token, and a very fashionable addition to almost any occasion or special event.

But you don’t have to choose handkerchiefs. There are plenty of items that fit this description — especially if you are particularly good at making something hand-made, or if you can find a good wholesale price on something that isn’t available in the big box stores.

Making money with your online store starts with carefully considering what you will sell, and how you will get it to customers. You can use drop shipping to avoid keeping the items in stock yourself, or you can actually sell items that you keep with you, and arrange to ship them yourself. Steve is running an excellent course on running a profitable online business, if you are interested in starting your own online store I highly recommend this course.

Market Your Online Store

Of course, next you have to figure out how you are going to market your online store. People won’t buy what you’re selling if they don’t know about it. Some of the common ways to get the word out on your online store include:

1. Use an AdWords campaign to increase your visibility online.
2. Sign up with other ad networks and programs to help you place banners and ads on a variety of web sites.
3. Make use of social media by creating profiles on Facebook and Twitter.
4. Start a blog to draw traffic to your online store.
5. Encourage bloggers to help spread the word by offering an affiliate program that pays commissions.
6. Buy more traditional advertising in print, radio, and magazines (although this can become very expensive, very quickly).

Part of your marketing strategy has to include search engine optimization, though. An increasing amount of business online comes as a result of web searches. Your online store needs to show up in results when people are looking for the items you sell. This means that your product descriptions, tags, and other web page elements need to be optimized so that search engines can see that you are a good fit for a potential customer’s search.

source: financialhighway.com