Home Based Business

To establish a Home based Business one should consider the following things:
The Home Business Owner should use a separate phone line for business other than the residential line. This will give the business the required momentum as people will be able to use Phone Directory
Assistance or Internet based Search to find the particular business.
The business related phone calls need to be answered in a professional way.
Voice Mails Facility must be used so that no business opportunity is missed.
Letterheads of the business, business card, envelopes, and brochures should be well-designed and should have a professional look.
Employees of the Home Business should dress professionally as the dresses very much projects the image of the business.

Home Based Business is the Business essentially Based at Home. Home Based Business is the other name of Home Business. To start a Home-Based Business one has to keep in mind a lot of things and has to proceed step by step with proper planning.To start up a Home-Based Business one has to proceed in the following way:

• Planning of the Business
  Business Plan-Even if the home-Based Business is a one-person operation, the business needs a proper business plan to deal with market competition, investment and supply of product or services.

  Marketing Plan-Marketing of a business is such an important thing that a separate Marketing Plan is needed even if there is a Business Plan as a whole. A Marketing plan is a must to have a clear idea about target market, customers and the marketing objective. For successful marketing, other than plan, a home business requires to create a Logo and Print Identity to use on the products and marketing materials.

  Financial Plan-This is something utmost necessary for starting up of a business. One should first decide how to accumulate capital for the Home Business, what amount of personal savings, real estate equity he will use and what amount of loan he will take and how. The owner of the home business should follow a well-planned budget. He also require to open a business bank account

• Legalizing the Business
  For Making the Business legal one has to decide a Business Name, acquire Business License and professional licensing from the state (if required). Before legalizing the aspiring businessman also has to decide about the business structure that is, whether the Home Based Business will be a Sole Proprietorship or a general Partnership or a Limited Liability Partnership.
• Accumulating the required Capital
  The main sources of accumulating Capital can be following:

  Personal Assets-For financing the home business one can use his personal assets or property which he has inherited or has made on his own.

  Personal Savings-For start up capital one can use his personal bank account savings. Collectibles-A businessman can sell his own collectibles to gather funds. If he goes for auction he can easily get good price for the collectible items.

  Bank Loans-Any Home Based Business can get business loans from Bank if they submit all necessary documents.

  Credit card Loans-Credit Card Loans are much easier to get than Bank Loans. But, the interest rates need to be paid on credit card loan is much higher than the interest rates associated with bank loans. So, it is advisable that credit card can be used for paying phone bills of the business and for other small expenses but not for the large monetary requirements.

  Angel Investors and Venture Capitalists-If the Home Based Business has innovative ideas then it will not be difficult to attract Angel Investors ( High net worth individuals like Doctors, Lawyers and Successful businessmen) to invest in the home business. Many Venture capitalists want to invest their money in a new business which is small but has great potential for fast growth. The advantage of using Venture Capital is that one can take up big risk which is not affordable for the business owner alone. But the negative side of using Venture Capital is that the Venture Capitalists can demand large amount of equity from the business.

  Disability Help-if the aspiring Home Business owner is disabled, he can get financial help from the government under various policies.

• Setting up Home-office

  While setting up the Home-Office for the business following things should be kept in mind:
  Electrical Wiring must be done in a safe way.
  Phone lines should be close to its’ support equipments.
  Ventilation System should be done with good care as the Home-Office has to be well-ventilated.
  Lighting System should be such that natural light is used as much as possible and artificial lights should be soft and warm, not too bright.
  Sound is needed to be reduced by using wall to wall carpet, double-glazed windows and solid doors.
  Separate Entrance for the Home Office is very essential for privacy and uninterrupted functioning of the Home Based Business.

• Hiring Employees for the Home-Based Business
  When hiring employees for Home Business following things should be done:
  

  1. Full Disclosure of the Home Business should be provided to the employees, nothing should be hided.
  2. An appropriate workplace should be provided to the employees so that they can work well.
  3. Potential candidates should be asked to reveal their true feeling about working in a Home-Office.
  4. An appropriate Entrance or Exit to the Home Office is extremely important.
  5. A Home Office generally has an intense and stressful work environment. So, employees should be provided with vacations generously.