Is it a wise move, however? That depends on several factors:
- Are you a self-starter who doesn't require others to establish your
goals and motivate you to accomplish them?
- Do you have the discipline to avoid home-based distractions?
- Are you content to work in home-based isolation?
- Is there a market for the product or service you plan to offer?
- Do you have the expertise to fully develop and market the product or
service?
- Do you have adequate capital to fund the startup costs and support
yourself while you grow the business?
- Have you fully considered all of the market forces driving the
demand for your product and developed a viable business plan that will
help you
Simply having a desire to be your own boss isn't a good motivation for
starting your own business. Starting any business involves hard
work, long hours and an honest assessment of your own personal strengths
and weaknesses. Working at home can be an even tougher
assignment. Your family will typically present a tremendous
distraction and maintaining a professional environment can often be
critical to your success.
Having a business operate out of your home also doesn't mean that you
will escape any of the various laws and regulations that other businesses
face. As a matter of fact, many people have established businesses
in their homes only to find out months later that they are in violation of
their neighborhood zoning laws prohibiting home businesses.
Before you even consider a home-based business, your first call should
be to your city's equivalent of a zoning council to determine the
applicable regulations. You will find that many products such as
poisons, food, clothing, pharmaceuticals and medical products are
prohibited from being produced in the home in many areas.
After any zoning requirements have been addressed, you are ready
to tackle
the next obstacle - obtaining financing if needed and registering the
business with state and local agencies. If you plan to hire
employees or operate as anything other than a sole proprietorship, you
will need to register your business with the federal, state and possibly
local governments. Selling items or services subject to sales tax
will also require you to obtain a sales tax number from the state and
collect the applicable tax from your customers. Having employees
means you are also responsible for withholding income and social security
taxes as well as complying with wage and safety laws.
Of course, we can assist you in many of
your "startup" endeavors. In addition to examining your
own strengths and weaknesses and registering your business, you will also
need to develop a sound business plan which will examine your product,
your competitors and your cash needs not only at the beginning, but during
those long, lean months when few potential customers know you even exist.
If you intend to use your business plan to
obtain financing, there are numerous strategic points that creditors are
going to look for in your report. It would definitely be
advantageous for you to at least let us give your plan a "critical
review" before taking it to the bank. Starting your own
business can be an exciting time, but there are a lot of financial
pitfalls that we can help you to avoid from the outset.
Who knows? A year from now, you may
still be sitting in your pajamas sipping a cup of coffee while you read
the newspaper waiting to begin your "work day" at around 10 AM
(well, maybe 11 today - the squirrel is still quarrelling with the Blue
Jays in the backyard!).
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