Small Home-Based Businesses -- Five Simple Steps to Success
Did you know that 60% of small businesses in Australia fail within the first year? That is a very depressing statistic for those of us who want to start a small business or even work from home.
Does that imply that your business plan will fail? Not at all! You can take actions that significantly raise your chances of success. You can get started right away with a little bit of preparation and thorough research. Let's begin at the beginning...
The clever notion
Naturally, you must first come up with an idea. Business opportunities can typically be divided into four categories:
1. Providing an existing good or service in a market that already exists.
2. Making an existing good or service available to a new industry.
3. Entering an existing market with a new product or service
4. Making a new product or service available in a new market.
The only restriction at this point in the game is your imagination. Inspiration can come from anywhere; it could be a hobby you'd like to make a career out of, a time you received subpar service and decided to try providing it yourself, or it could be a skill you'd like to use to your advantage.
When you find something you'd like to do, it's time to check out the market to see what's available.
passing the examination
You've got a great idea and are ready to implement it, so It's time to put it to the test. Let's pretend for the sake of the exercise that you are passionate about healthy living and that you want to sell a variety of lifestyle accessories that encourage healthy living by using a do-it-yourself strategy.
Find out if there is a market for goods that encourage healthy living. What types of products are offered? Who would be your rivals, and what services do they provide? Do you possess the expertise required to run a company like that, and more importantly, what would that expertise be? Which location would house your company?
You should have a good idea of how your business will operate once you've responded to those queries.
You decide to source some products and look into the assortment of lifestyle goods that Vitality 4 Life offers in more detail. You have the necessary skill sets thanks to your own life experience and some work you've done as a dietician, and you believe you'll be able to work from home so you can spend more time with your family. There is a market now, but there is room for growth. It's time to look more closely now.
Being or not being?
It's time to get to the meat of the matter. You don't want to dive right in and learn the hard way that the budget isn't going to work.
To begin, sit down and determine whether you need to hire staff, which implies paying a salary.
You must be able to pay the rent if you lease a space, and your location must be suitable for your company and your target market (which also means you must carefully consider who your target market is). Additionally, you must determine the likely demand for your good or service.
Okay, you've determined that there is sufficient demand for high-end accessories like juicers, sprouts, and water filters to consider a distributorship as a home-based business opportunity. You must now decide how to market your business.
Consider me! Observe me!
You should make sure that your advertising budget is used wisely because advertising can be expensive. This implies more One-on-one market research this time. To target the appropriate group or groups of people with your marketing, profile your customer segments.
Create a brief questionnaire—people lose interest in long questionnaires—and hang out in front of a few of the neighborhood gyms (for our example). Create a mix of open-ended and closed-ended questions, such as "Do you have a gym membership?" and "What do you think of? Yes/No; sliding scales are also sometimes helpful.
A good query for our health accessory business might be, "How did you hear about this gym? Word-of-mouth, radio, television, newspapers, etc.' Such a query would then provide you with insight into the media forms to which your target audience responds most favorably. to.
Get ready to trade by picking a company name, printing some business cards, and purchasing some stock.
Measure it and control it!
My teacher once said that you can't manage something in business if you can't measure it.
You must be able to plan, and to do that, you must be aware of or have a reliable forecast of your total sales. The formula is straightforward: total sales = number of customers times average sale times number of visits per customer per year. You'll be able to manage your business if you keep it in mind, review it frequently, and measure it.
Always be mindful of your cash flow, or the amount of actual, hard cash you have coming in and going out. possess in a bank. When you are planning your budget, take invoice periods (14 days, 30 days, etc.) into consideration.
Nobody can plan for every scenario because the market has its own will. Put some thought into your idea, confirm that there is a market for what you're offering, do lots and lots of research, effectively market your company, keep an eye on your bank account, and don't forget about cash flow!
Although it isn't perfect, if you stick to these few easy steps, you'll be light years ahead of many other new small business endeavors. You're off to a great start if you've heard of a fantastic home-based business opportunity or have your goods or services to market.
