All over North America, people who want more control over their lives are starting home-based businesses. Despite the obvious attractions of independence and convenience, there are many risks to be aware of.Start & Run a Real Home-Based Business offers stepby-step advice, from selecting the type of business to run, to marketing and growing the business. The book comes with a CD-ROM loaded with worksheets, forms, and documents to help the entrepreneur get started.Furman's tips can be applied to many different types of home-based businesses, including computer services, plumbing services, daycares, hair salons, electricians, and numerous others. Furman gives real world advice from the trenches, with tips and pointers to help the entrepreneur succeed.The book provides additional advice on how to deal with the common problems that arise when working from your home, such as how to get your family on board.This book is for anyone who has considered a parttime or full-time home-based business.2nd edition includes new chapters on:
thinking big even if you're local,
dealing with busy and not-so-busy times,
differentiating yourself from the competition
INTRODUCTION xvPART 1 MIND 11 A LITTLE CREDIBILITY: HOME-BASED BUSINESSES I HAVE RUN 319921994: Intriguing Ideas 319951996: Night Owl Marketing 420012004: Night Owl e-Ventures 42004: Favorite Clubs (Under Night Owl e-Ventures) 42004Present: Night Owl e-Ventures Inc. (""Inc."" Added in 2004) 42 THE NEW BUSINESS BLINDERS 53 STARTING AND NAMING YOUR BUSINESS 8What Type of Business to Start? 8Avoid Meaningless Roadblocks 9Select a Business Name 9Open a Business Bank Account 10Contentsiv Start & run a real home-based business4 PARTNERSHIPS ARE USUALLY A BAD IDEA: HERE'S WHY 11Unequal Roles/Limited Skills 11One Partner Is Simply Better Than the Other 12Friends and Family Members in Business 12Partnerships That Can Work 135 FORGET THE BUSINESS PLAN BUT PLAN FOR YOUR BUSINESS 14Your Plan for Business 156 PSST YOUR ""BIG IDEA"" IS COMPLETELY WORTHLESS 17Somebody Else Has Likely Already Thought of Your Idea 17Nobody Buys Ideas 17But What about a Patent? 18Nobody Is Going to Steal Your Idea 197 MAKE SURE YOU CHOOSE A BUSINESS THAT IS REALLY FOR YOU 20Consider Your Lifestyle 218 TEN REALLY GREAT THINGS ABOUT A HOME-BASED BUSINESS 221. You Are Paid What You Are Really Worth 222. You Call the Shots. All of Them 223. The Commute Is Usually Really Nice 224. More Time at Home 225. You Get to See More of Your Children's Activities 236. You Get Out of Doing Things You Don't Want to Do 237. No Coworkers 238. You Can Do Usual ""Weekend"" Things When You Wish 239. No Stupid, Arbitrary Rules 2410. No Boss 249 COUNT ON THE UNEXPECTED HAPPENING 25Things That Seem Simple Often Aren't 2610 NICHE MARKETS 28Other Types of Niches 30A Small Numbers Game 30Contents v11 THINK BIG, EVEN IF YOU ARE LOCAL 31But What about True Local Businesses? 31Types of Businesses That Should Be Thinking Big from Day One 32How to Sell to the World 32Why Does This Happen? 33How to Overcome This ""Local Only"" Thinking 3312 GET OUT OF YOUR COMFORT ZONE 34Take Some Advice or Not 3513 SOME THINGS ARE SIMPLY WORTH PAYING FOR 3714 HOW HARD CAN IT BE? 3915 STOP DREAMING AND START DOING 41The Walking Test 42To-Do Lists 43Change How You Spend Your Time 4316 YOU DO REALIZE YOU'RE THE ONE WHO MAKES THE WORKAPPEAR, RIGHT? 45Lose the ""Job Mentality"" 4617 DON'T IGNORE THE THINGS YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND 4818 STOP WASTING TIME ON NONSENSE 5019 BEING NEAT MEANS BUSINESS 52Dress for Success or Not 5320 DO THINGS THE RIGHT WAY, OR DON'T DO THEM 5421 SOME FINAL TIPS TO HELP YOUR BUSINESS MIND STAY SHARP 57PART 2 BODY 5922 HOW MUCH MONEY YOU'LL NEED TO START YOUR BUSINESS 61Immediate Income? Not Likely 61Start-Up Expenses 62vi Start & run a real home-based business23 OUTSIDE MONEY AND FUNDING (DON'T EXPECT ANY) 65Grants 65SBA Loans 66Venture Capital 67So Where CAN You Get Money From? 6724 ACCOUNTING AND TAXES 69Hire an Accountant 69Keep Good Records and Receipts 70Pay Your Taxes 70Two Last Things on Taxes 7125 POLICIES AND FORMS (YES, YOU NEED THESE, AND THEY AREN'TAS BORING AS YOU THINK) 73The Forms You Need 73The Proposal Form 73The Client Sheet 75The Invoice 76About Legalese 76Policies and Guarantees 7726 ACCEPTING CREDIT CARDS (YOU MUST, AND IT'S EASIER THANYOU THINK) 78Accepting Credit Cards Is Simple 79Let Me Take a Moment to Dispel a Few Credit Card Myths 7927 LAWYERS, ZONING, INSURANCE, AND OTHER BORING THINGS 81Lawyers and Legal Issues 81Zoning 81Insurance 8228 THE MAKINGS OF A FUNCTIONAL HOME OFFICE 83The Basics 83The Three Different Types of Home Offices 8429 BUSINESS CARDS AND BROCHURES 86Business Cards 86Brochures 87Contents vii30 THE TELEPHONE 89Answering the Phone 90Messages 90The Phone Itself 9031 VEHICLES 9132 COMPUTERS AND SOFTWARE 93Learn about Them 93Make Sure You Can Back Up Your Data 94Keep the Kids Away from Your Work Computer 94Get the Right Software 94All Kinds of Useful Programs You Never Knew Existed 9533 BUSINESS WRITING, LETTERS, AND SALES PROPOSALS 96Business Writing 96Business Letters 96The Sales/Marketing Proposal 9834 TRADITIONAL ADVERTISING AND YOUR HOME-BASED BUSINESS 103Newspapers 104Radio 104Television 105Yellow Pages 105Direct Mail 106Specialty Advertising 108What to Say in an Ad 109What to Expect from Your Advertising 10935 THE INTERNET AND YOUR WEBSITE 111Why You Need a Website 112Here's How You Get a Website 112Working from Home, At Home 113Scams 114One Last Thing Website Conversion 115viii Start & run a real home-based business36 EMAIL (IT'S MORE IMPORTANT THAN YOU THINK) 116Email Marketing 117Dan's Email Rules 11837 INTERNET ADVERTISING SEARCH ENGINES, PAY-PER-CLICK, PRESSRELEASES, AND OTHER THINGS YOU MAY NOT KNOW ABOUT 120Paid or Free Directory Listings 120Search Engine Ranking 121Press Releases 121Pay-per-click 12238 PERILS OF THE 80/20 RULE 123Resistance Is Futile or Is It? 12439 MONEY TALKS (OR DOING BUSINESS ON A HANDSHAKE IS STUPID,AND OTHER INVOICING ISSUES) 127Invoicing Advice 128Additional Invoicing Tips 129Address Payment Issues Right Away 12940 BARTERING 131What Is Bartering? 13141 SMOKING 133PART 3 SOUL 13742 A SUREFIRE WAY TO GET YOUR SPOUSE OR PARTNER ON BOARD 13943 CHARGE A FAIR PRICE FOR BOTH YOUR CUSTOMER AND YOU 142But What If I'm Charging a Low Rate to Build the Business? Is That Okay? 143Don't Work for Free 143How to Bill Hourly versus Other Methods 144One Last Thing on Pricing 14544 A HUGE MISTAKE PEOPLE MAKE IN MARKETING AND ADVERTISING 14645 ONCE OPENED, DOORS TEND TO STAY OPEN 148Rush Jobs 148Contents ixDiscounts 149Introductory Rates 14946 AN ASPECT OF WORKING AT HOME THAT YOU MAY FIND ANNOYING 15047 DAYS OFF AND VACATIONS 15248 KEEP YOUR MARKETING SIMPLE 155But Wait What Is Marketing? 155Keeping Things Simple 15649 YOUR COMPETITION 157You Can Learn from Your Competition 157Your Competition Can Refer Business to You 158You Need Your Competition 158Criticizing Your Competition Is Unprofessional 158Dan Furman Has No Competition, and Neither Do You 158How To Be Unique 159No Competition 16050 BE PATIENT, BUT BE READY FOR CHANGE, TOO 161Now, Be Ready to Change 16251 EVERYBODY SAYS THEY CARE ABOUT CUSTOMERS. BUT DO YOU?REALLY? 16352 CUTTING TIES: SOME CLIENTS JUST AREN'T WORTH IT 164Cutting Ties 164Stop the Madness Before It Even Starts 16553 DEALING WITH BUSY AND NOT-SO-BUSY TIMES 166Being Too Slow 166Seasonal slowness (forced slow times) 167Being Too Busy 167Make Sure You Take Time To Work On Your Business 168Putting Money Back 16954 THE OTHER SIDE OF THE COIN BEING A GOOD CUSTOMER 170Be Someone People Want to Do Business With 170x Start & run a real home-based business55 SOME FINAL THOUGHTS 172You Will Experience the Highest of Highs, and the Lowest of Lows 172Spend Wisely 172In Business, Money Means Everything 173Just About All Business Relationships End 173You Will Never, Ever Be Completely Comfortable So Relax, It's Normal 173AFTERWORD WHY I'M AN ENTREPRENEUR (OR, ""WORK IS AFOUR-LETTER WORD"") 175Who Will Take Care of You? 179SAMPLES1 Proposal form 742 Closing statement on proposal 763 Client's business card 874 Revised business card 885 Sales and marketing proposal 1006 Percent of business one dominant client 1257 Percent of business healthy mix 125
