Perhaps you are in the beginning stages of creating a home business–so “beginning,” in fact, that you have just hit on a fabulous idea and now you’re wondering what to do in order to get that “idea” out of your head and into your life? If you are at the very beginning stages of contemplating a home-based business, here are some suggestions for working out your idea and developing a plan to get you started:
To begin with, put everything down on paper–before you even start to talk to people about your plans to go entrepreneurial, sketch out your idea on paper–what sort of products or services will you offer? How many days a week will you work? Hours? Will you need a separate work space or room? How much will you charge and how much do you plan to make? Will you work alone or with a partner or family member(s)? Write out every little detail you can think of as you’re formulating your business idea. This could take some time and you will likely find that you go back and adjust and tweak things while you’re working. Once you have a pretty good picture of how you envision your home business in a realistic world, you’ll be better prepared to start to talk about it and take the next steps.
I think the next step is the research or “feasibility study” step–do some research about what you envision your market to be, try to find out if there is, in fact, a market for your product or service and who those people might be. This is the time to research any licenses, insurance or other specific regulations and requirements that apply to your business and start to get an idea of what a startup budget might look like. Make a list of what you’ll need, what you imagine your expenses will be, and who you might need to contact or work with in order to get your business off the ground.
This is also a good time to contact your local chamber of commerce and any small business administration or education centers in your area. There may be retired business people who volunteer as mentors, classes on starting a business, or other resources that would be incredibly valuable to you as you launch your own business.
Try not to rush through this early explorational period–if you take your time and do your research, you’ll find out if you really do want to start this business, and you’ll have the tools and resources to give it a good go if you’ve decided it’s what you really want to do. If you do the research and preparation stage right, you should have a pretty decent business plan and a startup budget at the end of the process and be ready to turn your dreams into reality.