Have you ever asked yourself how to start a home-based business? Read on to create the spark so you can start your own home based business.But, “How?” and “Where?” it’s one of the most common questions when starting anything new, right? In today’s age and with the advent of technology our options can be over whelming. Then, let this article jump-start your journey on starting a home-based business.1. Set Your Goals – 1st things first, be very clear with your goal setting. Don’t just start your engine and just drive; although you will eventually get somewhere the question is, is that where you wanted to be?
2. Evaluate yourself – Don’t just start any business opportunity just because you read it somewhere or a friend of yours told you so. Since your going to be part of this whole thing, then it is just best to assess yourself as well.
a. What are your skills?
b. What is it that comes naturally to you?
3. Equip Your Self – REMEMBER THIS! It does not mean that because you want to start a business, you are already qualified to run one. If it applies to life in general, then it applies to business as well. When your just starting out you will suck at it, so don’t worry cause its okay. Even if you answered none to both questions on evaluating yourself, you don’t have to worry cause you can give it to yourself by, learning and equipping yourself.So, what types of home-based business are out there? Before we continue, here’s a very basic point that is easily overlooked. Every business no matter what kind of business you have is always and will always be about selling, selling a product or a service. “Nothing happens, until something is sold!” So every business is about promoting a product or service. So our success in business and making money and in general is directly proportional to our ability to promote and sell things. Another thing about businesses is that it is a system that is supposed to make you more money, without you being stuck in it. Cause if you are stuck in it – then you own a job and not a business.These are some of the industries that allows’ you to learn and earn from home.
• Direct Selling and/or Network Marketing – Amway, Avon, Herbalife, USANA are some of the world-famous companies in this category. When joining companies like this, you are basically buying a complete business system that allows you to make money by “selling” their products directly or through your network.
• Internet Marketing and/or Affiliate Marketing – Internet marketing is the newest fad in making money or starting a home based business. This business system allows you to leverage on technology and the internet specifically to run your business system. Some of this technology driven systems can be run on autopilot, you set it up once and you watch your bank account grow.
• Work From Home – This is part of the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) industry. You can find freelance web developers, content writers, technical support reps, telemarketers and transcriptions in this industry. If you have a marketable skill that can be delivered using the internet, then sites like http://www.elance.com and http://www.getafreelancer.com would allow you to start your home-based or work at home services.Here’s a quick run down on why people are starting to join these home based money-making activities
• Being your own boss
• Working anytime you choose
• Building the future you have always wanted
• Spending your time on things that you value the most
• Compared to traditional business – it has lesser overhead expensesLatest News: Since the inception of Facebook in 2004, it has growth exponentially. Facebook right now is becoming the worlds’ largest market place with more than 500,000,000 Million users. Once you have decided on what and how to start your home-based business, make sure that you add Facebook marketing into your strategy.
Home Based Business With The Touch of IT
Internet Home Based Business – Equipment That You Need to Start and Run One
Internet has become one of the major sources to reach out to a large spectrum of people with your business ideas. Any business requires equipment .Once you have decided to start an internet home based business, you’ll need to make sure that your equipment that you have will serve you well for the business.Computer with internet access:Most obvious equipment for starting an internet home based business is a computer. You should choose a computer that helps you in all your business needs. It should have enough memory to download the needed software and other programs.When you are planning to do carry out an online business you will need a reliable internet connection. It’s wise to invest in a faster connection. Slow connections not only slow down your computer. It will also slow down your productivity.A product Or Service:This is the most important thing in internet home based business. When there is no product or service to sell there is no business. Basically, you will need to identify what kind of business you would want to run and then do the necessary groundwork to materialize it.A quiet space and a desk to suit your necessity:One thing that everyone forgets is a quiet place where you can work without any disturbance. This space should have a desk to keep your computer and maybe some cabinets to store your files.Printer and scanner:It is very important to have a printer and a scanner to print out documents or to scan documents so that you have an electronic copy of them. You cannot afford to lose time searching for one when the need arises.Credit card processing equipment:This equipment could come handy if your internet home based business involves collecting payment in your local area.Credit card gateway:It is very important for you to allow the people to make the purchases on your website online. It will save a lot of time and the transactions will be faster. There are many payment processing companies which will give you this option for free. You might want to look up the search engines for more information.Phone:Since you will need to call your clients to discuss about your products and services, you will need to sign up for an unlimited calling plan with your phone service provider.Website:You will need a website where your users can get information of your business. It is like an online shop.Digital camera:A digital camera helps to take photographs and use them online.Sound/audio card and microphone:Check if your computer has a microphone and a sound card before you rush to buy them. Audio card helps in audio recording your talks with your customers.Fax machine:Sending and receiving faxes is an important part of any business. Online fax is a new way of sending and receiving faxes through your internet, computer and emails. There are many companies on the web offering faxing services.Insurance:Since the nature of business involves risk, any type of business needs protection of insurance. Common insurance policies include property insurance, worker’s compensation insurance, liability insurance, malpractice insurance and prepaid legal insurance.Blog, sales pages, auto responders:You will need all of these to collect contact information from your customers.Your equipment should be ready before starting an internet home based business .There is nothing worse than starting a business without having the right equipment to help you succeed in your new venture.
Effective Marketing Strategies in Product Creation
Marketing includes matters such as pricing and packaging of the product and creation of demand by advertising and sales campaigns. There are other options, of course, like product creation, resale rights marketing, joint ventures and the likes, but they are merely secondary to the above.
If you take the freelance route, it is important to ensure that all rights to profit from the final product, or any materials produced in its making, remain yours. Bookkeeping, physical product creation or delivery of goods can be done better with specialized help. Determining the purpose of the product is vital in niche product creation.
Implementation of Methodology – The choice of implementation of Six Sigma methodology depends on whether development is required on existing processes (DMAIC) or on new process/product design creation (DMADV). Determining what you really want to sell, something that you can be relaxed selling is the first step at the creation of a niche product. With the technological advancements in the hosting industry, from automated control panels and scripts that simplify creation of accounts; to complete turnkey solutions, there is no excessive need to worry about spending time on the actual product sold to the customer.
For instance, you should be prepared to either perform yourself or to subcontract the completion of the following tasks:- Product idea research (are there any existing products or patents already existing for this idea)- Product specification document training (what it will do, how it will look, how will it be powered, and how the user will interface with it)- Marketing study (what it will be named, who would buy this, how much would they pay, how will we get customers to purchase the product)- Schematic or electronic circuit design process- Creation of a bill of material or BOM and an approved vendor’s list or AVL for each component in the design, preferably with multiple sources identified, with a BOM and AVL for each assembly level in the product- Printed circuit board layout design process (single sided board, double sided board, or multilayer board; size of the PCB; board material)- Mechanical packaging design with user interfaces (displays, buttons, switches, key. This removes all product creation costs from your budget as a marketer.
No other database of affiliate programs offers such a possibility for profit on either the affiliate side or the product creation site. Your chosen niche should allow for the creation of more than one product or service.
There are several marketing strategies that are necessary in the creation of a successful e-commerce web site – Email marketing (broadcasting) of prospects/customers – Effective use of auto responders (generate automatic email messages) – Online Newsletter – Online Form / Survey to capture your prospect’s email address – Electronic Product Delivery (if you sold a digital product) – Advertisement (Ad) Tracking – Back End Sales – Affiliate program etc.