Thinking About Starting a Home Business?

How Involved Do I Want to Be?

You will need to determine the level of involvement that you want in your home business – do you want to do it as a hobby to make some extra money? Do you want to devote a specific amount of time (part-time) while you continue to work at a full-time job or do you want to quit your job and work from home?

The latter, while it sounds so great, to be realistic, is something that might be a long range target, unless you have a way to support yourself and your business for what may be years, until you reach the level of success that would sustain you.

It's a good idea to look at any undertaking in stages – for example, the short term goal would be to have the home business up and running in 3-months; the mid-range goal would be to break even within 12 months, and in profit at 18-months; the long-range goal is to quit the day job at 36 months and work from home! Of course, since 'nothing is constant except change', go back at half-way points and review the feasibility of your targets, and push your time line forward or backward depending on your level of success at that point.

Finding a Niche

You would think you would be most successful finding a niche in something that you are interested in. There is a theory that you will do best at something you like. This is undoubtedly true. Do you have a hobby that you love enough that you would like doing it as a job?

However, there is another theory and it is from people who have actually turned a hobby into a part-time home business and then into a successful mega-corporation. They say you should find the market FIRST and then get the product that they want, and provide it to them! This makes a lot of sense.

If you are really lucky, you will be able to do both – that is if you like what most people like! A home business like this would work, for instance for something to do with sports, health, or cooking, that the average person is interested in or concerned with. Quite a few are interested in their children and their pets. Be specific – is it how to train pets, how to ensure their health, choosing the right pet, specific breeds, etc.

Another area to look at is, for example if your hobby is making jewelry. You could have a home business selling your creations, and then as you grow your business, you might expand into supplies and tools for making jewelry, or start a 'mall' where other artists could also feature their work.

The latter would work to your benefit in many ways, besides the obvious commissions on sales, or even 'rent' for the space – it could be used to increase the traffic to your site, so that someone looking for a specific artist, may view your product while they are there and make a purchase directly from you, as well.

Affiliate Programs

A great way to get your feet wet in a home business, especially if you are not sure what you want to do yet, and/or don't have ANY start-up capital to speak of, is affiliate marketing. This is an ingenious way to start a home business, and is great for the company as well as the affiliate, as it serves a need for both sides with little commitment or investment on either part.

There are companies that you pay a membership* to belong, and a great many that are absolutely free to join. The company runs the main web site and does customer service, technical support, has the inventory, runs the payment gateway, processes the order, ships it and does the accounting.

*There are some that charge a rather large membership fee, and these should be avoided. This doesn't make sense. At what other job do you pay people so that you can work for them? However, if the company does give you software or other tools, and you can afford it, you may justify it that way. The vast majority of affiliate programs have multiple levels of membership with corresponding levels of commissions, etc.

You will want to do research thoroughly before making any commitment of your time and money. First of all, you want to search on the company name and find out if there are any negative records on the company.

However, keep in mind that some folks have unrealistic expectations and/or don't actually expect to do any work, and then when they fail, they blame the company. You will find postings from present and former affiliates, as well as legal sites that track complaints specifically for home businesses.

The affiliate is given an 'affiliate link', which, if your business is online, is a URL that identifies their member number. The company may link this URL to the main web site, and/or have what are called 'splash pages', which are one page 'sites' that have an extensive sales letter and an order link.

They also may supply banners, email documents, text ads, etc., that the affiliate may use to promote the company.

The affiliate is not an employee of the company, and as such is not paid a salary or wage. At their own expense, they will market and advertise their affiliate URL through a variety of methods, ranging from online to offline- e.g., classified ads, newsletters, ezines, email campaigns, online traffic programs and banners, and/or offline brochures, flyers, etc.

When the affiliate is successful in compelling a prospective customer to click the affiliate link, and to purchase the service or product from the company/website using that link, then the company pays the affiliate a commission. Some commissions are as high as 75%!

Additionally, there is nothing to say you can't belong to as many different affiliate programs as you can handle; and nothing to say that at any point you couldn't drop the ones that aren't working for you and concentrate on the ones that are.

A few examples of companies that might use affiliate programs are satellite TV companies, telecommunications companies, training programs, product vendors of many varieties, and software developers. There are numerous others you could discover if you were to shop around.

One could even use affiliate programs as a short-term method to make money that would be then invested into the home business of your dreams. The investment in marketing and advertising is really the only expense you would incur doing this.

However, there is a phenomenon called the 'super affiliate'. Super affiliates do this as a full-time job, eventually, and some have become millionaires over time, starting their own affiliate programs.

The Difference Between
"Work-at-Home" and "Home Business"

Did you know there is a difference? Well, there is. "Work-at-Home" denotes something that you can just sit down and do, maybe for a small fee or other charge. Examples of this would be when you do paid surveys, mystery shopping, etc. With some of those, you buy a database that has companies that will pay, with either cash or prize, for your opinion.

These are fun to do - even without the money. I would like someone to care about my opinion - and who knows, maybe some companies make improvements based on the answers!

"Home Business" on the other hand usually means you are actually starting your own business working from home. If this is an "online home business", it can include having a domain name, a website, marketing programs, link programs, advertising programs, etc. There is more than a small investment of time and money.

However, this doesn't mean, if you don't have a lot of money or a lot of time, that you can't start a home business. The beauty of working for yourself is you can do as little or as much as you want to!

You can go at your own rate of speed! Unless you do have a lot of money, however, I wouldn't advise quitting your day job right off the bat (as great as that sounds!).

The first rule of thumb with either "work at home" or "home business" is to completely obliterate in your mind any hype of getting rich overnight, driving expensive cars, and sitting around all day by your new pool. On the other hand, there is no reason to mistrust every single opportunity because so many are deceptive and misleading in this regard.

Unfortunately, with the 'work at home variety', there are many scams and 'bait and switch' schemes. Remember to do your due diligence before making a decision on working for a company. Remember, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

There is no reason, with either option, that you can't make money, either part-time or full-time. However, with "Home Business", just like any business, there are going to be expenses. This is a fact of life. If you are serious and determined about wanting your own business, however, you will find a way, one way or another to do whatever you have to do. It's as simple as that!

If you stick to it, you will do it! At least in the USA, your business expenses are tax deductible if you itemize your taxes.

In every case, there are plenty of free and inexpensive resources to use for marketing and advertising your home business while you 'get your feet wet'. These are classified ad sites, safelists, traffic programs, search engine submission, reciprocal linking, etc.

The idea is to get going with whatever you've got. Save your pennies, and when you get affiliate commissions, referral fees, sales commissions, reinvest it in more effective advertising. Maybe even do work-at-home jobs to generate cash for investment in an eventual home business opportunity!