STARTING A PROFITABLE HOME BASED BUSINESS

How To Start A Profitable Home-Based Business By Julia Tang

In these days, it's becoming increasingly difficult to make ends meet

with just one source of income. Thus, more and more people are

investigating the possibilities of starting their own extra-income

business. Most of these part-time endeavors are started and operated

from the comfort and privacy of the home.

Most of these people are making the extra money they need. Some have

wisely and carefully built these extra income efforts into full-time,

very profitable businesses. Others are just keeping busy, having fun,

and enjoying life as never before. The important thing is that they

are doing something other than waiting for the government to give them

a handout; they are improving their lot in life, and you can do it,

too!

The fields of mail order selling, multi-level marketing, and

in-homeparty sales have never been more popular. If any of these kinds

of extra income producing ideas appeal to you, then you owe it to

yourself to check them out. But these aren't the only fields of

endeavor you can start and operate from home, with little orno

investment, and learn as you go.

If you type, you can start a home-based typing service; if you have a

truck or have access to a trailer, you can start a clean-up/hauling

service. Simply collecting old newspapers from your neighbors can get

you started in the paper recycling business. More than a few

enterprising housewifes have found success and fortune by starting

home and/or apartment cleaning services. If you have ayard full of

flowers, you can make good extra money by supplying fresh cut flowers

to restaurants and offices in your area on a regular basis. You might

turn a ceramics hobby into a lucrative personalized coffee mug

business. What I'm saying is that in reality, there's literallyno end

to the ways you can start and operate a profitable extra income

businessfrom your home.

The first thing you must do, however, is some basic market research.

Find out for yourself, first-hand, just how many people there are in

your area who are interested in your proposed product or service, and

would be "willing to stand in line and pay money for it". This is

known as defining your market and pinpointing your customers. If after

checking around, talking about your idea with a whole lot of people

over a period of one to three months, you get the idea that these

people would be paying customers, your next effort should be directed

toward the"detailing" of your business plan. The more precise and

detailed your plan - covering all the bases relating to how you'll do

everything that needs to be done - the easier it's going to be for you

to attainsuccess. Such a plan should show you start-up investment

needs, your advertising plan, your production costs and procedure,

your sales program, and how your time will be allocated. Too often,

enthusiastic and ambitious entrepreneur jump in on an extra income

project and suddenly find that the costs are beyond their abilities,

and the time requirements more than they can meet. It pays to lay it

all out on paper before you get involved, and the clearer you can

"see"everything before you start, the better your chances for success.

Now, assuming you've got your market targeted, you know who your

customers are going to be and how you're going to reach them with your

product or service. And you have all your costs as well as time

requirements itemized. The next stepis to set your plan in motion and

start making money.

Here is the most important "secret" of all, relating to starting and

building a profitable home-based business, so read very carefully.

Regardless of what kind of business you start, you must have the

capital and the available time to sustain your business through the

first six months of operation. Specifically, you must not count on

receiving or spending any money coming in from your business on

yourself or for your bills during those first six months. All the

income from yourbusiness during those first six months should be

reinvested in your business in order for it to grow and reach your

planned first year potential.

Once you've passed that first six months milestone, you can set up a

small monthly salary for yourself, and begin enjoying thefruits of

your labor. But the first six months of operation for any business are

critical, so do not plan to use any of the money you business

generates for yourself during that period.

If you've got your business plan properly organized, and have

implemented the plan, you should at the end of your first year be able

to begin thinking about hiring other people to alleviate some of your

workload. Remember this: Starting a successful business is not a means

towards either a job for yourself or a way to keep busy. It should be

regarded as the beginning of an enterprise that will grow and prosper,

with you as the top dog. Eventually, you'll have other people doingall

the work for you, even running the entire operation, while you

vacation in the Bahamas or Hawaii and collect or receive regular

income from your initial efforts.

For more details on market research, business planning, advertising,

selling, and other aspects of home-based businesses, and building a

good Internet business, check with

http://www.best-internet-businesses.com

Julia Tang publishes Smart Online Business Tips, a fresh and

informative newsletter dedicated to supporting people like you! To

find out the best online business opportunities,and to discover

hundreds more proven and practical internet marketing secrets, plus

FREE internet marketing products worth over$200, visit:

http://www.best-internet-businesses.com

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MyCareerGuide.comfeatures a wealth of information on business careers

and starting a profitable home based business.Please checkout our

other articles on starting a profitable career through a new home

based business.