If you have been following along for the past few days, you know that I have been describing some steps that you can take to get through the work of preparing to open your home-based business. Today, I am gong to describe the three steps that will get you to the finish line, to that day when you are officially open for business.
Even though many home-based professionals own and operate one-man or one-woman businesses, in realty there are quite a few people that are essential to the success of these sole proprietors. Before you open your doors for business, it is important that you think about the roles of those people that support you in your quest to own and operate your business. The most obvious of these supports are your family. Your spouse, partner, and children are very important people to consider when you design your business. You will most likely work closely with them on such things as deciding your hours of operation, where your work space will be, and who will take care of household tasks and duties while you are working. Other people to think of include mentors (in my opinion a must have for anyone going into business alone), suppliers, employees, contractors, and anyone else who will be involved on a regular basis.
Remember that marketing plan that you developed a couple of days ago? It’s not going to do anything for you if it remains just a plan on paper. It’s time to put the plan into action by placing ads, making calls to prospective customers, or doing whatever it is that you have decided you will do to get people interested in doing business with you.
Since you are beginning to reach out and connect with potential customers, it is time to declare yourself open for business. Keep busy with reaching out in the ways that you have planned to in your marketing plan and hopefully the first return calls or email inquiries will arrive soon. All it takes is one interested customer to get the ball rolling and soon you will find yourself dividing your time between doing the work that customers need and reaching out for more customers. Congratulations, you have gotten through the work of opening your business – now, get to work!