For much too long, the development of home based Internet businesses has been addressed in condescending tones when the owners discuss with others the opportunities which exist for growth and profits in a home based business. Even for those who have built home based Internet businesses into significant entities, many banks won’t consider the income generated from them to be “stable” income.
With a new economic reality, however, comes the new factual opportunity—yes, you too can establish, open, and run a home based Internet business. Whether you elect to run a business that is based solely upon the growth of an avocation into a vocation, or whether you transfer corporately-trained skills into a business in which you are the boss, you get the coffee, and you conduct the meetings while creating your own PowerPoint Presentations, more and more people are successfully starting their own businesses…and are finding that there is a phenomenal growth opportunity and a meaningful personal satisfaction that arises from starting a business and operating it from home. Use the skills you have to spin up a business that will blow the competition away.
Whether you realize it or not, your business can compete equally on the playing field of the Internet with businesses generating exponentially more revenue. The Internet has opened new doors into the potential of worldwide sales, and the ability of business to be highlighted with a website on the internet levels that playing field between small, home-based businesses, and major, multinational enterprises.
There are some caveats associated with running a home based Internet business, however.
First and foremost, set space aside within your home that is dedicated solely to the business. Don’t try to run a business from the seat of your recumbent bike with your laptop perched precariously upon the handlebars. One or the other will fall off.
There are many practical reasons for setting aside exclusive space. It’s generally quieter, so you can speak with confidence to clients and potential customers. Babies crying or dogs barking in the background do not necessarily leave the best impression in the minds of new or potential clients or customers. Exclusive space may, in fact, qualify for a tax deduction on your Federal and possibly State Income Tax. Exclusive space also means that you can maintain whatever positive work habits you have brought with you from your previous work environments. If you tend to leave files and projects scattered across desk, credenza, floor, chairs, etc., you’re probably going to do the same thing when you operate your home based Internet business, too. A wise client once walked into my office and said to me—and I learned quickly from his approval—“Whatever works.”
One of the more important points is to set up office hours. It’s a discipline thing. This is critical if you are dealing directly with clients. They need to know when they can expect to find you in the office. This is a big deal if you’re working from your home. Many people now have jobs where all that is required is a laptop computer, a cellular telephone and a broadband connection—and your clients must know when they can reach you.
That means you must set office hours and stick to them. If you tell your clients that you can be reached between 8 and 5, it’s important that you can actually be able to be reached between 8 and 5, regardless of whether or not it’s a great golf day, or the waves are up at the beach, you’re missing your favorite soap opera, or you have a terrible case of spring fever. This isn’t a hobby; it’s a business and must be treated as one.
Another point is that you must realize that if you start a home based Internet business, you are the business. There’s no one there to do the work when you’re sick, unless you’ve hired someone, or can coerce a friend to come in and “man the telephones.”
Yet another point is that if you’re used to working 9-5, 5 days a week, you’re probably going to find that schedule just won’t work. Most small business owners find that the 24/7 ability to generate sales across the Internet means that they better be available as much as possible.
Always be assessable via cell phone, generally be accessible by email, but be accessible as much as possible whether you have the time to talk or not. Focus your business conversations on business, and learn how to listen to your telephone and hear another call coming in—learn how to courteously scuttle the first call and pick up the next one. After all…it’s your business, and every missed call is a potential missed sales opportunity.
Running your own home based Internet business? It’s an amazing challenge, but one that most people find rewarding and opportunistic. It is truly the way to prove to yourself that you are better than anyone thought you were, and you have abilities that supersede your last performance review!
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