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Make Sure You Choose A Business That Is Really For You

So, why do you want a home-based business? It’s a valid question, and it deserves an honest answer. Because the reason you want a home-based business will go a long way in not only determining its success or failure, but it will also determine the direction your business takes.

There are a lot of reasons why people want to start a home-based business, and all of them are valid. The very fact that you have the entrepreneurial bug makes you a cut above everyone else in my book (and this is my book)!

However, keep in mind that your reason for starting the business should match the type of business you are starting and your lifestyle. This can sometimes be tricky, and is something a lot of people overlook.

For example, if your primary reason for starting a home-based business is to be home with your preschool-aged kids, you need to start a business that is conducive to your kids being around. In other words, don’t start a business where you will have to spend a lot of time on conference calls with roomfuls of marketing people, or a business where you will have to go see clients on a continual basis. In the middle of a conversation, corporate clients and marketing people do not want to hear, “Not now, Mommy is busy. We’ll play Choopa Chok later.” Not that marketing people have anything against kids, but they likely don’t want to turn over the fourth quarter spreadsheets to someone who plays Choopa Chok.

Let’s look at another reason people start businesses — money. Lots of money. However, if your reason for starting a home-based business is to get rich, you need to pick a business that can reasonably grow beyond the work you can do on an hourly basis. For example, if you wanted to start a psychic readings business for your local area, or perhaps become a magician who performs at parties, well, you are essentially the business, and there are only so many hours in a day. Your income is, for all intents and purposes, capped at however many hours you wish to work. This is true for many types of businesses.

Now, this in itself isn’t bad — a magician performing at parties and business conventions can make a fine living. But again, the overall income is limited by how many hours the magician is willing to perform.

I realize that any business can grow at the hands of a clever marketer, but some are easier to grow than others. And businesses where you work face to face (and especially one where you are the selling point) have a fairly limited scope in terms of expansion and increasing your income.

For my own business, I changed it from marketing myself as a writer to myself offering “writing services.” This means I have other freelancers take on certain projects, and then I approve their work. Since I see nobody face to face, I just changed some wording on my website and hired another writer.

Consider Your Lifestyle

In choosing your business, you also need to consider your lifestyle and what you enjoy doing. Otherwise, there will be trouble later on.

Here are a few examples of businesses conflicting with lifestyles:

• Someone who really doesn’t like working weekends opens a catering business.

• Someone who doesn’t like working evenings starts a home computer repair business (evenings are when most clients will be home).

• Someone who relies on others for care and/or transportation starts a courier service where he or she would be needed to deliver important documents at a moment’s notice.

The conflicts here may seem obvious, but in the excitement of starting a business, the obvious often gets overlooked because of the New Business Blinders.

My first business was an advertising business where the main product was a direct-mail coupon. My business partner and I were so excited at the prospect of the direct-mail fortunes we’d make that we overlooked one teeny little thing — I hated to cold-call and sell door-to-door (and he worked full time, so he couldn’t do it

either). Well, cold-calling and approaching businesses door-to-door are the primary ways a local direct-mail product is sold. Especially in the beginning.

Yeah, it should have been obvious to us. But it wasn’t. Starting entrepreneurs are blind to a lot of obvious things. It wasn’t until after all the planning was done and I had to hit the pavement and walk into that first business that I realized, “Wait a minute — I HATE doing this.”

It was a horrible feeling. That first day, before that first sales call, I sat in my car for an hour and listened to Iron Butterfly’s “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida” over and over again, afraid to get out of the car. Talk about a pathetic sight. My business was doomed right then and there. I eventually forced myself to make sales calls (and even made some sales), but I hated every second of it. And the business slowly died.

That’s why I’m telling you this now: No matter what business you are going into, make sure the business you pick really matches your goals, your lifestyle, your tolerance for work, your income expectations, etc. You’ll be much better off in the long run, whether you have an Iron Butterfly CD or not.