Feature Article - How Do I Start A Home Business?

A Home-Based Business Online

Issue 108 : November 12

Sent to 11,563 Opt-In Subscribers

Editor: Elena Fawkner
Publisher: AHBBO Publishing
http://www.ahbbo.com
   Contact By Email

IN THIS ISSUE

1.     Welcome and Update from Elena
2.     Home-Based Business Idea of the Week - Contractor
Referral Service
3.     Feature Article - How Do I Start A Home Business?
4.     Surveys and Trends
5.     Motivational Tip for the Day
7.     Subscription Management
9.     Contact Information

1. Welcome and Update from Elena

Hello again and a warm welcome to all the new subscribers
who have joined us since the last issue.

I've been receiving more than the usual number of emails
recently from people suddenly thrust into the ranks of the
unemployed and deciding, by default, to start their own
businesses from home without having any real idea or
conception of what's involved. "How Do I Start An Online
Business?" is this week's feature article.

Thanks to Louis Fearnley who this week recommended I
recommend to you an excellent site, Woody's Windows Watch
(), an extremely valuable
resource for anyone using Microsoft products (and, let's face
it, who isn't?). "Woody" is none other than Woody Leonhard,
author of a multitude of authoritative tomes on all things
Microsoft. So, thanks to Louis, I do, indeed, recommend this
site.

I also want to briefly recommend to those of you who
publish your own ezines and articles great new submission
software. It works like the good search engine submission
software programs out there except it's dedicated to
sites and directories that accept ezine listings,
announcements and article submissions (which, as you know,
is one of the major keys to generating traffic to your own
site or ezine). For more info, visit
. I got my
copy this week and it's excellent. It's reasonably priced and
will save you hours each week.

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 .

Dear Mom...This is a letter from my heart to yours.

I'm a mom with three kids. I know what it feels like to
have to work outside the home and feel torn between your
need to work and your need to be with your kids. Now I've
found a way to make money at home and be there for them.
I want you to be able to find it, too. Please...read this now.

2. Home-Based Business Idea of the Week - Contractor
Referral Service

I've been putting up with a leaking shower head for weeks
now because I just can't seem to find the time to get
someone in to fix it. Every time I decide to do something
about it I open up the Yellow Pages to find a local plumber
but am confronted by so many choices I really don't know
where to start. So I put it aside until I "get around to it".
If truth be told, I can't be bothered with the hassle of
finding a contractor who can come out and fix my problem
at a time that actually suits ME!

I don't want to hire some expensive plumbing company that
requires appointments days in advance and have to hang
around the house for half a day because they can't give me
an exact time of arrival. All I really want is a local handyman
who can call around on Saturday morning before I head out
to do my grocery shopping. And there are plenty of people
like me out there.

Just think about the kinds of services the typical household
needs from time to time. There's plumbers, electricians,
gardeners, glaziers, carpet/furniture cleaners, appliance repairs,
cleaning services, painters and babysitters to name just a few.

At the same time, local tradespeople are wanting the local
work that's currently going to the big companies. Many of
these tradespeople would be prepared to pay you a commission
or a booking fee for referring customers. You may even offer an
attendance service where you attend at the customer's house
while the work is done to avoid the customer having to take
time off work or lose a Saturday morning.

So line up a group of reference-checked tradespeople and then
start advertising your referral service in the classified ads of
your local newspaper, by letterbox drop, flyers in the local
supermarket, even a Yellow Pages listing of your own.

-----

There are many more ideas like this at the AHBBO Home Business
Ideas page at free home based business ideas with more being
added all the time.

STEPS FOR SUCCESS - THE SIX HABITS OF HIGHLY SUCCESSFUL
WEBMASTERS

"The Most Powerful Direct Response Marketing Site on the web
today!" This site contains Marketing Techniques, Tips,
Strategies, and Everything you could ever need to make money
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free home business opportunities

3. Feature Article: How Do I Start a Home Business?

© 2017 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 Look before you leap .

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 how to write your business plan .

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. So, 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 what it
takes.

------

------

entrepreneur. AHBBO free home business ideas

4. Surveys and Trends

© 2017 Ryanna's Hope

=> THE CONTINUOUS MOVE TOWARD "PERSONALIZATION"

According to the Q4 2017 Online Merchandising Research
report from the e-tailing group 92% of US retail websites
provide visitors with some form of a personalized "my
account" feature. Most also offer benefits for creating an
account, like e-mail or newsletter updates (91%) and
exclusive offers (80%).

=> WHY MANY WON'T BUY FROM YOU....THE "HIDDEN" COSTS!

The latest report from Vividence finds that 75% of US internet
users abandon their online shopping carts before executing their
transactions. Vividence surveyed 719 people while they used
shopping carts on e-commerce sites and determined the main
reason e-shoppers give up is due to high shipping and handling
charges (72%). Additionally, 43% say they find the total cost
of their purchase too high and therefore they leave their
transaction. Editor's [i.e., Larry Wack of Ryanna's] Note: I
think you'll find it's a violation of FCC regs to "profit" from
shipping and handling prices. It could result in a stiff fine.
Editor's [i.e., me] Note: Yes indeedy.

=> WHAT ARE YOU SELLING? AMERICAN CONSUMERS WANT
"COMFORT" RIGHT NOW

While Americans still seem willing to leave home to go to the
movies, they would rather spend their $10 on something
that's going to make them laugh or feel warm and cuddly.
"We're retreating to the film equivalent of macaroni and
cheese," said James Rocchi, senior film critic for the online
DVD rental company Netflix.

In a survey of 4,000 of its customers, the company found an
increased interest in comedy films and less appetite for action
and drama.

But while sales of luxury goods have softened, home
entertainment and housewares may get a boost from America's
urge to nest. In fact, sales of throw blankets, craft products,
flat shoes and comfortable clothing seem to buck the trend.
"We might see more sales at places like Bed Bath & Beyond or
anywhere else we can buy things that make us feel
comfortable."

5. Motivational Tip For The Day

© 2017 Jan Tincher

If you visualize success as the outcome, what do you think
will happen?

Success? It's inevitable, right? Well, kind of.

That is, unless you had negative thoughts before and after
the visualization -- which many people do.

If that happens, the minute the negative thought comes in,
replace it with this: *I now release the pattern in my
consciousness that is creating resistance to my good.*

Pretty soon you won't be having the negative thought anymore.
You can then bask in your success. In fact, I recommend it.
The more you *bask,* the better you feel about the situation.
The better you feel about the situation, the better you will
handle it.

Good luck! (Or should I say, Good Basking!)

-----

Learn unique strategies and techniques for personal success
from Jan Tincher online at

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9. Contact Information

Elena Fawkner, Editor
A Home-Based Business Online
Contact By Email
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