To Start a Business From Home: Do This - Not That! Copyright Notice: Copyright © MoonLightWealth.Com. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, mechanical or electronic, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. http://www.MoonLightWealth.Com Legal Notice: While all attempts have been made to verify information provided in this publication, neither the Author nor the Publisher assumes any responsibility for errors, omissions, or contrary interpretation of the subject matter herein. This publication is not intended for use as a source of legal or accounting advice. The Publisher wants to stress that the information contained herein may be subject to varying state and/ or local laws or regulations. All users are advised to retain competent counsel to determine what state and/ or local laws or regulations may apply to the user’s particular business. The purchaser or reader of this publication assumes responsibility for the use of these materials and information. Adherence to all applicable laws and regulations, federal, state, and local, governing professional licensing, business practices, advertising, and all other aspects of doing business in the United States or any other jurisdiction is the sole responsibility of the purchaser or reader. Remember that the forms and documents included are meant as a guide to help you set up your new business. These documents will have to be customized with your particular information. We are not an attornies or accountants. If you have concerns or legal questions about these documents please consult with a professional. The author and Publisher assume no responsibility or liability whatsoever on the behalf of any purchaser or reader of these materials. Any perceived slights of specific people or organizations are unintentional. http://www.MoonLightWealth.Com MoonLightWealth.Com Presents To Start a Business From Home: Do This - Not That! http://www.MoonLightWealth.Com Introduction Unfortunately, even in a time where we have unlimited access to information and resources, many entrepreneurs still start a businesses in a vacuum. Little thought is given to their competition, location, skillset, or a sound marketing strategy. In this short report we will cover some important areas that any entrepreneur considering a business venture should review. The time you spend with this report now can save you thousands of dollars later. Since 1988 the staff members of MoonLightWealth.Com have helped business owners start, grow, or fix their enterprises. We hope that you put the information in this report to good use. http://www.MoonLightWealth.Com What Type of Business Should You Start? This question speaks to your nature as much as it does the marketplace. Are you someone that likes to manage people are do you prefer a more solitary business model? Do This Consider taking one of the many online personality tests that can give you some insight into your strongest skillset. Interview your friends and family members. Ask them what they believe are your outstanding character traits. You might be surprised to discover that these people know you better than you think. Not That Don’t choose a business model because you have a friend that is doing it. And certainly don’t choose something that is ‘on trend’ but you would never be happy doing the work. Remember, you will spend many months, and possibly years, doing this work. It should be something that is compatible with who you are inside and out. What Is The Competition? If you are going to work this business from home who else is doing something similar close to you? Do This Go to the local business searches available online and pick up the yellow pages. You can even call the Better Business Bureau to get a listing of similar businesses in your area. Other resources that you can use are: SCORE – www.score.org U.S. Small Business Administration Local Chamber of Commerce Through these resources you can determine if there is a need for your product. Are the existing businesses owners making a profitable living doing it? One strategy is to call someone in a different state (maybe even the opposite coast) and ask them about their business. Let them know that you are interested in starting a similar business in your state and that you will never be in competition with them. Most owners like to talk about their business. Many would gladly give cautionary words of advice to a newcomer as to what mistakes to avoid. Offer to pay them for 30 minutes of their time to have this discussion. You may find that successful business owners are helpful and don’t mind sharing advice for free. http://www.MoonLightWealth.Com Not That Don’t get excited about the idea of the business and not put any time into researching the industry and competition. This can be the kiss of death for a new home business owner. Do The Math! Before buying your first pack of business cards do the math. Too many business owners are quick to envision success without starting with the basics. Do This Determine how much it will cost to deliver the service or create the product. When you are pricing services you have more room than pricing a product. Products have hard costs that you can’t get around. But what you decide to charge for services have more flexibility. Cost-plus pricing. This is the traditional method for pricing. What is the cost to provide a service or create a product? To determine cost, you will need to consider: direct costs – if you are selling cakes for example what does it cost to purchase the ingredients? Direct costs are those for activities or services that benefit specific projects, e.g., salaries for project staff and materials required for a particular project. Because these activities are easily traced to projects, their costs are usually charged to projects on an item-by-item basis. indirect costs – will you have an assistant? How much will you pay them? How much gas/electricity will you use with the oven? What is your monthly mortgage, taxes, insurance? Will you need additional insurance? Sometimes these are referred to as ‘overhead costs’. The goal is to break these costs down and apply them to the product/service being offered. fixed costs - are business expenses that are not dependent on the level of goods or services produced by the business. They tend to be time-related, such as salaries or rents being paid per month, and are often referred to as overhead costs. This is in contrast to variable costs, which are volume-related (and are paid per quantity produced). Competitors' pricing. You need to be aware of what competitors are charging for similar services in the marketplace. Thanks to the internet this information is readily available for entrepreneurs. http://www.MoonLightWealth.Com Not That Avoid trying to compete on price alone. It simply doesn’t work. Any business that is larger than you can drive prices down long enough to run you out of the marketplace. Establish a niche that would be difficult for larger companies to provide. An example might be a carwash service that goes to the client’s home. The logistics behind such a business model would be a nightmare for a large company. But nimble entrepreneurs can pull off such a service easily and make healthy margins. What Is Your Value Proposition? A value proposition is a promise of value to be delivered and a belief from the customer of value that will be experienced. A value proposition can apply to an entire organization, or parts thereof, or customer accounts, or products or services. Developing a value proposition is based on a review and analysis of the benefits, costs and value that an organization can deliver to its customers, prospective customers, and other constituent groups within and outside the organization. It is also a positioning of value. This is where a lot of the subjectivity comes in when setting a price for a service. When you have a product, you may decide to use keystone pricing, which generally takes the wholesale cost and doubles it to come up with a price to charge and account for your profit. With a service, you can't necessarily do that. A good example of bonuses that add value can be seen in any infomercial. The “but we’re not done yet” bonuses always compliment the main product. They create excitement and help push the viewer into a buying decision. Do This First determine the direct and indirect costs of your product or service. Now what other ‘psychological benefits’ could you offer to increase the perceived value? Let’s look at the cake service example again. You might add: an oversized personalized greeting or thank you card with each order. The cake delivery person might have a song that they sing (or a poem they read) to each recipient. The delivery person might also where a special theme costume that would make the delivery itself an event. Not That Don’t choose bonuses that are simply stacked on your offering that are not compatible. For example you wouldn’t want someone in a costume delivering flowers for a funeral arrangement. http://www.MoonLightWealth.Com Do You Have the Proper Equipment to Start? Which equipment is really needed for your business to get off the ground? In the cake business scenario you would need: oven(s) mixer(s) refrigeration shelves delivery vehicle etc. Do This Research a franchise model for the type of business that you are starting. Many times you can order a franchise prospectus. The franchise prospectus sent to a prospective franchisee generally contains a brochure of information about the general operations of the franchise, a copy of the franchisor's Uniform Franchise Offering Circular (UFOC), a franchise agreement, and an individual franchise application. These hold a wealth of information for anyone starting a similar business. As we mentioned earlier you can contact a business owner in another state and get their advice about equipment and costs. Not That You don’t want to buy more equipment than you initially need to get things going. Once you are generating profit purchase additional, non-critical, items. Don’t think that leasing equipment is a safer approach. Leasing business equipment has two main disadvantages: overall cost and lack of ownership. With regard to cost, leasing an item is almost always more expensive than purchasing it. For example, a three-year lease on a computer worth $4,000, at a standard rate of $40/month per $1,000, will cost you a total of $5,760. If you had bought it outright, you would have paid only $4,000. In addition to the higher cost, you will have built up no equity in the computer. Process Map Your Business Before Starting One of the most worthwhile endeavors you can undertake is to do a process map of your business before opening your doors. This is something that you will continue to update on a regular basis and will become an indispensable exercise. Business process mapping refers to activities involved in defining exactly what a business entity does, who is responsible, to what standard a process should be completed and how the success of a business process can be determined. Once this is done, there can be no uncertainty as to the requirements of every internal business process. A business process illustration is produced. http://www.MoonLightWealth.Com The main purpose behind business process mapping is to assist organizations in becoming more efficient. A clear and detailed business process map allows you to look at the business at any point in time and determine if there are redundancies that can be eliminated. Do This Take a process like baking and delivering a cake. Then map out every detail in the process: getting the materials/ingredients (who is responsible and how is it done?) pre-baking, baking, and post-baking activities delivery customer satisfaction/feedback referrals Not That Don’t assume that because YOU can do a task that process mapping isn’t necessary. As your business grows you will need to add more people. By giving them process maps of procedures you will accelerate the completion of tasks and reduce the training time exponentially. Some Start-up Steps for New Business Owners If you want to help increase your chances of success consider the following: Inquiry about local and state requirements for licensing and zoning regulations. In our cake baking scenario it is important to note that some states don’t allow commercial baking in residences. Be sure to check with your local zoning office to find out how the zoning regulations in your area may affect your business plans. Determine if your business requires any licenses and file the necessary forms. Rent a post office box and use that address on your promotional mail and stationery, doing this will make it less obvious that you are working from home. A professional image is very important to your clientele. Consider using a voicemail service in the beginning to lighten your load until you can afford a live receptionists answering service. http://www.MoonLightWealth.Com Get help in organizing your work space area. You will be surprised how much space can be gained by consulting with professionals in this area. You may also want to schedule appointments with clients at their office or renting a conference room to maintain a professional image. Many companies provide satellite office space that can be rented by the hour. (At the time of this writing Execu-Centers offer such a service).’ Join a strong “Lead Group” or another association to help promote your business. If you can’t find time to go yourself consider hiring a college student to go and take notes on your behalf. Always ask your new (satisfied) clients if they will refer your services to peers. Keep organized records of entertainment and travel expenses. The IRS likes to audit home-based businesses especially when they are writing off a variety of expenses, including the percentage of the mortgage or rent for your office space. There are several good software programs that will help you keep track of your expenses. Find a good accountant or CPA now! They will prove a real asset as your business grows. They can also put you in touch with many other resources that can help your business to prosper.’ Critical. Learn to put a large percentage of your earnings into a savings account for tough times when business is slow. (There will be times when business is slow – no matter how busy you are now). Remember, you are no longer punching a clock. If you are to get fed you must make it happen. Start your new business on the side (in the Moonlight hours) while you are still working full-time. If you don’t have that luxury then maximize every minute of your work day. http://www.MoonLightWealth.Com [...]... 1 – Plan your day Before turning on your computer, sit down with a notebook (that you will use each day and should file later for reference) choose the 3 tasks that you need to do today These should be highly important tasks In most cases these will also be tasks that you may not want to do This is why it is important to do them first (if you can) STEP 2 – Take inventory each hour Set your watch, phone,... groups and start a group You can participate in Q &A s related to your profession to build credibility and visibility Animotto A fun and easy to use online video maker that anyone can use You don’t need a camera and they offer a free service Create videos that highlight your company’s products and services on YouTube http://www.MoonLightWealth.Com Digg If you get your site recognized by Digg it can increase... what did you learn today that you can work into procedures, plans, or your process map? Now before you get out of your chair think about what needs to go on your list for tomorrow Not That Don’t blunder into your day doing whatever the phone calls or email dictates Learn to control your day One of the most powerful strategies (that is very counter intuitive) is never to answer the phone yourself Have... Have a remote receptionist, voicemail service, or other resource do that This will save you an enormous amount of time If you are concerned about some “family crisis” dedicate a separate line to these calls and only give it to family members http://www.MoonLightWealth.Com A Word About MoonLightWealth.Com In closing we wanted to offer a few words about MoonLightWealth.Com Even if you have a home-based business. ..Marketing Your Business Online Odds are you found this report online Hopefully this means that you already know the importance of the internet But many businesses are neglecting the internet Many owners feel that it takes too much time and is too expensive They are absolutely right – if can – if done incorrectly Obviously there are thousands of channels that can be used for marketing your... others to our membership Making money with MoonLightWealth.Com is easier that you can imagine Why? Because the moment you join we match you with another member! When you join others will be matched with you You have everything to gain Plus, for a limited time you can become a Bronze Member and take advantage of this matching service for only one dollar! Here’s the question that all new members have:... the special discount this month using this voting/polling/survey site would be a good strategy It lets you place polls on your site to get instant feedback These sites are a good start for a new home-based business owner http://www.MoonLightWealth.Com The Importance of Scheduling Your Work Day There are hundreds of workshops on Time Management But the main components are easy to tie down Do This STEP... are many who prefer Twitter to Facebook because you can get in and out without putting a time dent in your day You can see how we use Twitter at: http://www.twitter.com/moonlightwealth Technorati If you are selling any technical products online get acquainted with Technorati fast They are the number one aggregator of all things technical online SurveyMonkey If you were trying to decide which cake to. .. the question that all new members have: “How can you possibly earn hundreds, to thousands, of dollars a week starting with only a dollar?” They are always thrilled to learn the answer to that question http://www.MoonLightWealth.Com You can learn the answer to by watching the short 4 minute video at: http://www.mlwblog.com/bonus.htm http://www.MoonLightWealth.Com ... recognized by Digg it can increase traffic substantially (There are Digg experts on Fiverr.com who do this full time) AWeber AWeber is almost a necessity if you use email to market A basic account will cost about $20/month It allows you to communicate with individuals who have visited your site and received information about your product or service You can see how we use Aweber at the link below: http://www.mlwblog.com/bonus.htm . Should You Start? This question speaks to your nature as much as it does the marketplace. Are you someone that likes to manage people are do you prefer a more solitary business model? Do This Consider. and an individual franchise application. These hold a wealth of information for anyone starting a similar business. As we mentioned earlier you can contact a business owner in another state and. materials/ingredients (who is responsible and how is it done?) pre-baking, baking, and post-baking activities delivery customer satisfaction/feedback referrals Not That Don’t assume that because