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A Home-Based Business Online
_______________________________________________________________
Practical home business ideas, opportunities
and solutions for the work-from-home
entrepreneur
Issue 141 : July 15, 2002
Sent to 12,566 Opt-In Subscribers
Editor: Elena Fawkner
Publisher: Fawkner Publishing
http://www.ahbbo.com
Contact By Email
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IN THIS ISSUE
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1. Welcome and Update from Elena
2. Home Business Idea of the Week
3. Feature Article - How Do I Start A Home Business?
4. Surveys and Trends
5. Success Quote of the Week
6. Advertise with AHBBO
7. Subscription Management
8. Caveat Emptor
9. Contact Information
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1. Welcome and Update from Elena
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Hello again and a warm welcome to all the new subscribers
who have joined us since the last issue.
This week's feature article is a plan of action for how to go
from "Gee it would be so nice to work from home" to making
it a reality. "How Do I Start A Home Business" is at segment
3.
As always, thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy this
week's issue.
Remember, AHBBO is for YOU! If you have comments or
suggestions for topics you would like to see addressed, or
would just like to share your experiences with other
subscribers, I want to hear from you. Please send
comments, questions and stories to Contact By Email .
_______________________________________________________________
2. Home Business Idea of the Week - Online Researcher
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What is the single greatest commodity in demand online
today? Information. The Internet is quickly becoming THE
source for information on every subject under the sun. This
has lead to an increasing demand, not only for people who
can prepare abstracts for online application (condense
lengthy reports, papers, etc. for online database and
information services) but also for people who can carry out
research on behalf of businesses using information available
online (eg databases, indexes, Internet).
As an independent or freelance online researcher, you provide
information services in your chosen area of expertise to
individuals and organizations of all descriptions from the small
business owner who commissions you to carry out research
and prepare a report on trends in consumer shopping habits,
to the mid-sized corporation that doesn't have its own in-house
research department and outsources its research requirements
to independent researchers, to the major corporation that
does have its own research department but utilizes independent
researchers to handle overflow projects.
Useful Resources:
=> Professional Association
National Federation of Abstracting and Information Services
1518 Walnut Street #307, Philadelphia PA 19102.
(215) 893-1561
=> Website
The Association of Independent Information Professionals
http://www.aiip.org
=> Books
Guide to Careers in Abstracting and Indexing
Gale Directory of Online Databases
-----
This is just one of over 130 ideas from the new "Practical
Home Business Ideas From AHBBO" e-book. Find out more at
http://www.ahbbo.com/ideasbook.html .
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3. Feature Article: How Do I Start A Home Business?
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© 2002 Elena Fawkner
From time to time (at least once a day actually) I'll get an
impossible-to-respond-to email that says something like,
"How can I work from home?", or "I want to start my own
home business. Please send info." or even, "Please send
free info.". Naturally such vague, generalized requests are
not, for reasons of time (among others), going to elicit a
particularly helpful response but it does exemplify the
mindset of a proportion of my site visitors - they think they
want to start a home business but where on earth do they
start?
HOW DO I START A HOME BUSINESS?
The best advice I can give to someone who asks a question
as vague as this is that they're asking the wrong question.
The first question they should be asking themselves is:
"SHOULD I start a home business?", not HOW do they do so.
The person who asks how to start a home business has not
given much, if any, thought to what they might do as such
a business otherwise, their question would be "How do I start
an errand service home business?" or "How do I start a gourmet
gift basket home business?".
So, first things first. Why do you want to start a home
business? What are the advantages as you see them?
What are the disadvantages? What entrepreneurial qualities
do you bring to the table that make you think you could
make a success of your own business? What is your plan?
What product or service will you market? Who are your
customers? When will you give up your day job? Are you
thinking about this because you just LOST your day job
(if so, warning bells should be ringing very loudly!)? A home
business is most definitely NOT for everyone and it's
certainly not a solution to unemployment per se.
There are financial considerations too, obviously. How will
you support yourself until you generate a profit? Where will
you obtain financing?
For more thought starters, read "Look Before You Leap ...
Is a Home-Based Business REALLY For You?" in the AHBBO
Articles Library at http://www.ahbbo.com/lookb4uleap.html .
Assuming you work your way through the above considerations
and conclude that you do, indeed, want to start your own
home business, then, and only then, should you ask "HOW do I
start a home business?"
There are as many answers to this question as there are
individuals who ask it. There is no one answer that fits all
sizes. Generally speaking, however, the process of starting
one's own home business can be broken down into seven
broad steps.
=> IDENTIFY YOUR PASSIONS
If you're truly starting at ground zero and you don't already
do something on the side that you'd kind of like to see if
you could make fly, your first step is to decide what it is
you'd like to do as your business.
I'm a firm believer in following your passion, whether that
be for gardening (start a herb and spice business or
cultivate cuttings for distribution via mail order), lead-
lighting (design and create stained glass lampshades),
accounting (run a home-based small business accountancy
service) or website design. It doesn't matter whether
other people are equally as passionate about what
you're passionate about. It's YOUR passion that counts
and it's YOUR passion that will propel you towards
success. Do something you love to do in other words.
Make your work your joy and you won't be able to help
but succeed.
=> IDENTIFY A NICHE MARKET FOR YOUR PASSION
Now, it's one thing to know what you're passionate
about, it's quite another to identify an unmet need in
that field. But that's what you must do if you want to
turn your passion into a truly profitable business venture.
Identifying your niche is a pretty straightforward
process:
1. Identify your general category and sub-category
Let's say your general passion is gardening. Gardening is
your general category. Let's also say that you're
particularly interested in growing herbs and how they
can be used for cooking and medicinal purposes. Herb
growing is your sub-category.
2. Hang out with people interested in your sub-category
In order to identify unmet needs in your sub-category
(step 3.), you must find out from people interested in
your sub-category what they're looking for that they
can't find. A good way to find out is to hang out where
they hang out - offline and on. Offline, you may belong
to a local gardening club or cooking class at which you
hear that so-and-so has been looking high and low for
a certain type of specialty herb that isn't commonly
grown in your country. Online, you may sign up for
mailing lists and hang out in newsgroups to listen to
what people are asking time and again.
3. Identify unmet or under-met needs in your sub-category
If you follow step 2, chances are, if you hear the same
things repeatedly, you've found potential unmet needs
or needs that aren't being adequately serviced by your
competition. After all, if the need is being met, it won't be
the subject of repeated questions.
4. Inventory your experience, interests and competencies
In order to decide what to focus on in particular out of
a group of potential unmet or under-met needs, take account
of your experience, interests and competencies. People are
generally good at what they enjoy and are interested in,
after all.
5. Fill the unmet or under-met need
Once you've identified the unmet need(s) in your
sub-category, you can start thinking about how your
business can fill that unmet need.
=> SURVEY THE MARKET AND YOUR COMPETITION
At this stage, you need to take your business idea
and survey your niche market and your competition.
If you have competition, can you be better? If your
market is dominated by a few large, well-established
players and you really don't bring anything new or
different to the table, then the competition is probably
going to be too stiff. On the other hand, if that
competition is focused on the high end of the market
leaving the lower end largely uncatered for, then this
could well be an excellent niche for you.
The bottom line is to identify your best competition in
your niche and decide whether you can be better.
Only if you believe you can be the best in your
niche should you proceed. If not, keep looking until
you find a niche perfectly suited to your particular
blend of experience, interests and competencies in
which you can be the absolute best.
=> BUSINESS PLAN
Once you've identified your niche and surveyed your
market and competition and are reasonably confident
you can be at least as good as your best competitor,
it's time to get down to brass tacks.
This is where you take your business idea and shape
it into a battle plan. Formulating a business plan is
goal-setting for your business. For a more detailed
treatment of writing a business plan, read
"Putting the Plan Back Into Your Business Plan"
at http://www.ahbbo.com/busplan.html .
Once you've thought through and recorded your
business plan you should have an extremely
thorough understanding of your industry and the
challenges you must overcome to make a success
of your business. Take your business plan and
establish objectives, goals (which support attainment
of the objectives) and tasks (which support attainment
of the goals).
Put your tasks and goals into action to achieve
your objectives. Decide where you want your business
to be in five years time and work backwards until
you have 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1 year objectives and goals
to support them and tasks to support the goals. The
end result should be a daily to-do list of things that
will directly lead you closer to the achievement of
your goals and objectives.
=> ACTION
Once you have your daily to-do list, DO IT! The best laid
plans of mice and men are useless if not translated into
action. It's action that will propel you and your business
towards success. Mere thoughts and plans are necessary
but insufficient. They must be translated into activity.
=> TRANSITION
If possible, transition from whatever you're doing now
into your business. Test the waters, in other words.
If you're currently in a paid job, stay there and run
your business part-time, taking the risk on someone
else's nickel until you can be confident this thing's
going to float. Know when you're better off devoting
your full time and attention to your business (i.e.,
know when an hour of your time is worth more when
spent invested in your business than your job) for
that is the time to shift into full-time entrepreneurship.
=> MAKING THE LEAP
Finally, make the leap with faith and courage. Sure,
you'll have moments of self-doubt, thoughts of
"can I do this?" when you're wondering where the next
order's going to come from and you think back to the
nice, safe, secure paycheck you used to be able to
count on in your job. But recognize these insecurities
for what they are. They are your mind playing tricks
on you. You can do anything you set your mind to.
You just have to want it badly enough. When the
time comes to make the leap, do it and hold nothing
back. Your success or failure is up to you alone.
There are no excuses.
So, in answer to the question "how do I start my own
home business?", it's quite simple really. You do whatever
it takes.
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** Reprinting of this article is welcome! **
This article may be freely reproduced provided that: (1) you
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Here's the resource box to use if reprinting this article:
------
Elena Fawkner is editor of A Home-Based Business Online ...
practical business ideas, opportunities and solutions for the
work-from-home entrepreneur.
http://www.ahbbo.com
_______________________________________________________________
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4. Surveys and Trends
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© 2002 Ryanna's Hope
WHAT ARE SMALL BIZ OWNERS DOING TODAY?
Of the 501 small business owners/managers with less than
100 employees that were surveyed for the OPEN Small
Business Network 2002 Monitor from American Express, 66
percent revealed that they have integrated the Internet
as a tool to help them run their businesses.
Other common online business activities include:
* Making travel plans/purchasing office supplies, equipment
or other business services (tied at 36 percent)
* Conducting industry or market research (34 percent)
* Marketing or advertising (29 percent)
* Networking with other entrepreneurs (24 percent)
* Purchasing goods from wholesalers (22 percent).
CONSUMERS WANT COMFORT IN SECURITY
Some consumers will never agree to transmit personal
information across the Internet regardless of what assurances
you supply. To capture these customers, offer alternative
methods for buying your business's product and services once
they have learned about your offerings and your company
online. One page of your Web site can direct them to fax,
phone, or mail for order fulfillment.
Include a statement on your Web site that informs buyers
about your policies. Two elements are important in this
statement: what security you have in place to protect
transmitted data and what you will and will not do with buyer
information. Most customers feel more comfortable buying
from someone who agrees not to release their contact
information or buying patterns to outside parties.
SO WHAT WILL IT BE? ONLINE OR OFFLINE?
A Direct Market Association study found that nearly two-thirds
of consumer-focused marketers use their Web sites for direct
sales, while two-thirds of B2B marketers' Web sites aim for lead
generation. Consumer sites, on average, also place heavy
emphasis on using their site to perform customer service
functions; B2B players' secondary goals are for branding and
public relations.
Other findings in the report suggest that marketers are about
equally split between using offline and online tactics to drive
traffic to their sites. About 58 percent of those polled said
they drive traffic to their Web site using direct mail, while
almost as many (56 percent) said they made e-mail marketing
a major component of their promotional efforts. About 42
percent of the respondents said they use print ads and search
engine optimization. Thirty-six percent also said they used online
ads.
A BOOMING NICHE MARKET!
More than 1.2 million households plan to buy infant/nursery
furniture this year, according to Furniture Today's exclusive
consumer buying trends survey.
That adds up to more than $300 million in infant furniture
sales if consumers follow through with their buying plans.
The two life stage groups that are the best candidates to
purchase infant furniture are young couples and young parents.
These two groups comprise 60% of the households planning to
buy infant furniture this year. Young couples (under age 45 with
no children in the home) are planning to buy at a rate 4.4 times
higher than their presence in the population, while young
parents (under age 45, youngest child under age 6) are planning
to buy at a rate 2.6 times higher.
One-third of young couples planning to buy infant furniture have
household incomes under $50,000, while nearly one-fourth have
incomes of $75,000 or more. Young couples are well educated
with more than half of them having either a 4-year college
degree or a postgraduate degree. In most cases, each member
of the couple works, with 71% of the women and 93% of the
men holding full-time jobs.
AND...THE TREND WITH TEEN FURNITURE?
Bedroom furniture for youth/teens means even bigger business
for retailers than infant furniture. According to the consumer
buying trends survey, 3.7 million U.S. households plan to buy
youth bedroom furniture this year, amounting to $1.1 billion in
furniture sales.
Young parents and middle parents are the life stage groups
offering the best opportunity for youth bedroom sales. Young
parents plan to buy youth bedroom furniture at a rate 4.5 times
higher than their presence in the population and middle parents
(under age 45, youngest child 6 and over) plan to buy youth
bedroom furniture at a rate 2.1 times higher. Together, these
two groups account for 73% of the households planning to buy
youth bedroom furniture, with spending plans topping $750
million.
CAN YOU SELL ONLINE GROCERIES?
Online Grocery Buying reveals that about 11 percent of
Internet users surveyed fall into the category defined as Online
Grocery Buyers, consumers who have purchased groceries online
in the last three months. A further 11 percent are Deserters,
defined as users who have purchased groceries online in the past,
but have not done so in the last three months, and 78 percent
are Offline Buyers, who have never purchased groceries online.
The primary motivations to purchase groceries online are
convenience-related, such as the ability to shop from home,
have products delivered, or shop at any time during the day. The
study also revealed that lower prices and wider product
assortments are not the key motivating factors for Online Grocery
Buyers.
The study also highlighted the amount Online Grocery Buyers are
spending on groceries, both online and offline - a mean monthly
amount of $334. Grocers have the opportunity to build a more
efficient operation and strengthen consumer relationships by
shifting a greater portion of the $334 monthly spending to the
online channel. Understanding consumer needs will be key to
executing on this type of strategy.
------
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5. Success Quote of the Week
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Why should we live with such hurry and waste of life ...
When we are unhurried and wise, we perceive that only
great and worthy things have any permanent and absolute
existence, that petty fears and petty pleasures are but the
shadow of the reality.
-- Henry David Thoreau
_______________________________________________________________
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6. Advertise With AHBBO
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Ezine (electronic magazine or newsletter) advertising is
the most cost-effective and targeted form of advertising
online today. This is because the ezine's editor has already
done the hard work of bringing together a large group of
readers highly motivated by the subject-matter of the
ezine itself.
Therefore, assuming you place your ad in an ezine with
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group of highly targeted prospects for your product or
service.
AHBBO offers four different advertising packages:
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(2) single ad placements,
(3) ad paks (4 ads for the price of 3), and
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To learn more about advertising in the AHBBO ezine,
visit http://www.ahbbo.com/advertising.html .
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7. Subscription Management
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8. Caveat Emptor
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Although all of the information presented in AHBBO is
published in good faith, I accept no responsibility as to the
accuracy or otherwise of the information presented. By making
use of the information contained in AHBBO the reader assumes
all risk that certain information may prove to be incorrect.
**I do not endorse any advertisements unless stated to the
contrary. Your money, your decision, your responsibility.**
All advertisements are accepted in good faith. However,
advertisers are solely responsible for the content and
accuracy of their classified advertisements and I give no
warranties, nor accept any responsibility, in relation to any
classified advertisement appearing in this publication. ALWAYS
carry out your own due diligence! Remember, if it sounds too
good to be true, it probably is.
_______________________________________________________________
9. Contact Information
_______________________________________________________________
Elena Fawkner, Editor
A Home-Based Business Online
Contact By Email
http://www.ahbbo.com
_______________________________________________________________
All Rights Reserved