Product Description

Are you ready to find a better way of living and working? Millions of people just like you have found the career satisfaction they have always craved through starting their own business, whether as a full-time job or as a second income. Filled with practical advice, easy-to-follow to-do lists, and step-by-step planning and preparation, Start Your Own Home Business In No Time puts you on the road to small business ownership. Walk through the process of starting a home-based business—from evaluating your readiness to launch your own business, to writing a business plan, finding financing, setting up your office and equipment, getting legal issues and records in order and crafting a marketing plan that will build a strong client base. If you are like the many entrepreneurs who don't have the time to figure it all out on your own, let Start Your Own Home Business In No Time be your first step toward building the business of your dreams.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1766660 in Books
• Published on: 2004-09-24
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 264 pages

About the Author

Carol Anne Carroll runs a highly successful one-woman writing business from her home office in Northern California. With clients ranging from individuals to large corporations, she specializes in writing effectively—and teaching others to do the same. Her published works include hundreds of articles and more than a dozen courses, as well as business and marketing materials. For more information, please visit her website, www.carolannecarroll.com.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Start Your Own Home Business In No Time

Welcome to a Better Way of Living and Working!

That claim sounds fishy, doesn't it? Yet the facts backing up that claim are all around us. Starting your own home business is one of the best ways to balance your checkbook and your life simultaneously. Have you ever noticed

• Most people on lists of the wealthiest individuals made money through self-employment?

• Thanks to technology, fewer and fewer jobs need to be performed at a single, central location (usually an expensive, dreary office)?

• Employers often think of their employees as commodities, rather than people?

There has never been a better time to start a home business. If you are reading this book, you might have noticed that many people are aware of this trend and are wildly writing about home business opportunities.

This book is different. Instead of writing about home business, this book shows you (yes, you) how to start and operate one.

Instead of insisting that a specific type of business is "perfect" for you, it acknowledges that you know—better than anyone—the business you are best suited to own and operate. Instead of worrying about degrees or pedigrees, this book focuses on the tools you need to give your business the best chance of success. Instead of dwelling on shortcomings (which we all have), this book will start with the assets you have—then help you develop the resources you need. Instead of theories and dry citations, this book provides you with reality-based exercises and guidance.

This book speaks to you for who you are: a future home business owner; an intelligent adult; an employee whose humanity, intelligence, and abilities are routinely overlooked; a person who wants a life in which he enjoys his work—but also wants to knock off at 3 p.m., once in awhile, to catch his kid's soccer game.

By the end of this book, you will know what you need to do in order to

• Own a fully operating home business.

• Use a workable business plan, a realistic budget, and a sound marketing plan.

• Live a life that not only reflects what you want to be doing, but how you want to do it.

Who Should Read This Book

If you are ready to start your own home business, this is the book for you. You want real information about starting a home business—not home business scams, not snooty theory, but real information you can use in your own, real world. You have definitely opened the best book on the subject.

But if you aren't sure whether you want to own a home business, read the book anyway. Because this book covers most of the decisions and dilemmas home business owners face, you will have a realistic picture of what owning your home business will be like. And as you will read in Chapter 1, "Exposing Myths of Self-Employment," many of us make such decisions based on myth, not fact. Gird yourself with the facts, and a more realistic picture of what owning a home business will be like, by reading this book. That one act will make your decision as well-informed as possible.

If you want to start a business, but aren't sure whether to base it at home, read this book. This book provides specific details about a home business, so you will learn more about the unique advantages and challenges of a home business within these pages than you will anywhere else. (In fact, a special icon alerts you to these variations.) You will also learn what is involved in expanding a home business to a more traditional setting, as well as how to make that decision.

Career changers or recently unemployed readers will also benefit greatly from this book. While you are scanning the Want Ads, posting resume after resume on one Internet site after another, this book will provide you with another option. (And unlike some of the job offers you might receive, this book will actually be honest with you.)

How This Book Is Organized

If you have given your home business some thought—and at this point, you probably have—the process can seem overwhelming. That sleek, new office furniture would be the ideal addition to your home office. But maybe you should have a phone line or two added first. And does your office give you enough space for a new computer, as well as space to meet clients? Or will you meet clients in your home? In fact, can you do so—or is it forbidden? Suddenly, what seemed like a simple furniture purchase results in questions that put you right into overload.

This book is organized to avoid that paralyzing sense of confusion. Taking things in a logical order, step by step, you will be answering the most important questions first. Then, by dividing your larger goal into smaller, manageable tasks, you'll avoid inaction, and meet your goal of starting your home business.

How the Information Is Organized

This book is divided into two parts, which reflect the major stages of running your home business:

• Part I: "Getting Ready," covers all the planning and preparation necessary to launch your home-based business. Because this is a life changing endeavor that is also risky, the planning section is quite long. But don't let that discourage you. Success is often based on how well prepared you are. (Just think about how much planning you put in to any important, life changing endeavor, such as moving your home, having a child, or graduating from school.)

• Part II: "Putting Your Plan to Work," covers issues that frequently arise after your business is open. It will make sure that you know how to get your phone ringing and help you avoid customers who will cost you more than they are worth. And, real home business owners weigh in on their own experiences, providing you with additional help in starting and running your own successful home business.

The Small Business Troubleshooting Toolkit

After you have your home business up and running, of course, you face a whole new series of challenges. How do you prepare for and avoid work slowdowns resulting from computer or equipment problems? How do you keep your business running when you become ill? How do you manage problems when they arise, and what can you do to avoid angry clients? And what happens when you don't have enough work to meet your financial obligations, or when you have too much work to do before deadlines arrive? To help you answer these and a number of other important questions, we've provided a downloadable Small Business Troubleshooting Toolkit. This series of value-added chapters is available as downloadable text from our website at http://www.quepublishing.com. Type the ISBN of the book (10-digit number listed next to the bar code on the back of your book) into the Search field. On the book's web page you'll find a More Information box listing the Toolkit. The chapters in the Toolkit include:

• When Your Business is Well—But You Aren't

• Houston, We Have a Problem: Preventing Disasters During Equipment Failure

• Managing Angry Clients

• Surviving Lean Times: No Work, No Money

• Keeping Up When You Have Too Much Work

Basic Tools and Special Elements

To help you keep track of what you want within your home business, you will be creating several documents throughout the course of this book. Those documents are

• A business plan. This plan is written for your own reference, but later on, it can also be a document submitted to financial institutions when applying for a loan. As your business grows and changes, so will this document.

• A business budget. These are the numbers that back up the words in your business plan. Without the budget, your business plan is just a nice idea.

These two documents will be your constant companions. They are "living documents"—that is, they will constantly be changing. It's a good idea to put them on your computer, if you are comfortable doing so. Treat them with care. They are the blueprints for your new life.

Throughout the book, you will be creating, adding, and changing both the business plan and the budget. Most of this work will take place in Part I, with some changes and additional work with these documents taking place in Part II and in the downloadable Small Business Troubleshooting ToolKit.

In addition, special icons point out particularly important items and related information. Here are the special icons you'll find in this book, and what they represent:

The Resource icon marks text that provides you with contact or order information for a company, book, or other item that can help you.

The Watch Out icon alerts you to text that describes situations or items that require extra care.

The Budget icon alerts you to items you should include in your budget.

The Business Plan icon alerts you to items you should consider or discuss in your business plan.

The Walk the Walk icon marks information that suggests ways to get into the business owner mindset. These items include exercises you might want to try, as they can help you improve the skills you need to run your home business.

In most chapters, you'll see a number of lists. To Do lists outline major tasks you'll accomplish within the associated section of the chapter. You'll Need lists provide a fast checklist of all the materials, tools, and supplies you'll need in order to accomplish the tasks described in the associated section. The book also contains a number of notes, tips, cautions, and sidebars—all containing useful information that will help you make the most of the skills you're learning.

Recommendations for Using This Book

Customer Reviews

Good for general business, lacking Internet business info
As someone who started their own home-based business many years ago and has never regretted it, there are two reasons why I read books like this. The first is to be reminded of the things that I know, but circumstances have caused a drift away from them. Basics such as always be actively marketing your business, have a business plan, keep everything organized, and where to search for basic advice. The second is to hopefully encounter the one new idea that more than justifies the cost of the book and the time to read it.
In terms of the first reason, I was generally satisfied with the advice in the book. Most of the basics of starting and succeeding with a home-based business are covered and I was prompted to reconsider some of the areas where I have grown lax. The only significant point of weakness, and in the modern world this could be major, is the lack of emphasis on the Internet. Hard data is difficult to acquire, but it is clear that a large number of new home-based businesses have a heavy, sometimes even exclusively Internet presence. I could not find E-bay even listed in the index. Whether you sell on E-bay or not, the advice to shop there first for any major purchases should have been included. Some other minor points, such as having a credit card reserved solely for your business, were also not included. While the Internet and the World Wide Web are mentioned, there is little more than a statement that you should have a web presence.
My second reason for reading the book was not satisfied. I did not encounter any new ideas in the book that were significantly helpful. The closest was the listing of the National Association for the Self Employed web site. I went to it and investigated some of what they offer in the area of group health and dental plans. While I am still in the process of evaluating their programs, it appears that joining the organization will be money well spent.
Since I was a manager many years ago and have had my own home-based business for nearly a decade, I have experienced most of what is in this book. Therefore, on that basis, I can recommend it for anyone who is considering starting one. However, if the business is one that depends on the Internet, then this book will not help you in the specifics of starting an Internet-based business.

Reading material for wanta-be entrepreneurs
I really liked this book. On its cover are the words: "fast, simple and easy." I'm not sure starting a business can be done that way, but if someone reads this book they'll probably start a small business (or home business) quicker than if they did not read it.

The 16-point checklist on the inside of the front cover is the same list of questions I typically cover when I meet with SCORE.org clients as a counselor. The book goes on to provide the information I provide my SCORE.org clients. If you don't want to spend lots of time with SCORE.org counselors, then you can read this book and only get counseled by counselors regarding the questions you have after reading the book. You are sure to have some because the book is only 249 pages.

Although the business plan material in the book is cursory, it is still complete. You'll be best advised to consult other books and Web pages to find sample plans and templates, and to seek out counsel from SCORE.org volunteers to edit and proof your final plan for reasonableness.

I think the book is wonderful. However, in my humble opinion the cover design and page layouts were a little more childish than they should have been. The book loses a little credibility because of its appearance. I also think the title should have emphasized "small business" rather than "home business." Since home businesses typically will use a Web site or Web sites in a big way (and maybe eBay, too?), I think the book was deficient in not including sufficient material on Web sites and how they help in marketing efforts.

All in all, great book and a must-read for someone considering starting a business.