Choose the Right Home Business for You :

There was a time when people used to run their business from home, and they usually used to end in neighborhood.

Currently if you are paying any attention to your email inbox, and you'd be forgiven for thinking that the only way to run a business from home is on the Internet. Sure, many people are running spectacularly successful Internet-based home businesses. Many, many more are doing so even more spectacularly unsuccessfully.

But what if you're not interested in running an Internet business What if you want to start and run a home business the old-fashioned way Where do you start

Actually starting any home business is the easy part, than what is difficult surely deciding what to run.

So how do you even start the process of deciding on the right home business for you The key is to be methodical, realistic, objective and patient. So here is something what might be helpful, if you are to be a home entrepreneur.

Personal Inventory :

The first place to start is to stock youre experience, Skills, interests, and personality characteristics.

These are what you have to work with - youre raw ingredients, so to speak.

Make a list of personal qualities and factors that you can throw into the mix. Include things like:

• Personal background;

• Training and education;

• Work and volunteer experience;

• Special interests and hobbies;

• Leisure activities;

• Your personality and temperament.

All of these qualities and factors make up what you know and what you're good at.

Its one thing to know a lot about something or be good at it. It's quite another to enjoy it enough to want to make it your life's work. So, remove from the list you created in

Anything that you don't like doing or which doesn't interest you, no matter how good you are at it. If you're lucky enough to like what you're good at, as a general rule, stick with what you know.

Match Your Likes with Vendible Activities:

Crafts:- pottery, ceramics

Health and Fitness:- aerobics instructor, network marketing for a health products company, home health care

Household Services:- cleaning, gardening, shopping

Professional Services:- attorney, architect, interior

Designer

Personal Services:- make-up artist, hairdresser

Business Services:- business plan writer, meeting planner

Wholesale Sales:- antique dealer

Retail Sales:- children's clothing, widgets

Computers:- web design, internet training.

You get the idea. This is not an exhaustive list, obviously.

Make a List of Business Ideas

By the time you're done, you'll have a hit list of possible matches between your skills and interests on the one hand and home business ideas utilizing those skills and interests on the other.

Research

identify those ideas that you think have marketable potential and then research whether that belief is accurate. In order to have marketable potential, the idea must satisfy the following criteria:

• It must satisfy or create a need in the market. The golden rule for any business is to either find or create a need and then fill it.

• It must have longevity. If your idea is trendy or faddish, it doesn't have longevity. Go for substance over form in all things.

It must be unique. This doesn't mean you have to invent something completely new but it does mean that there has to be some *aspect* of your product or service that sets it apart from the competition. This is easy if you go for the niche, rather than mass market.

 Don't try to be all things to all people. You'll only end up being too little to too many.

• It must not be an oversaturated market. The more

Competition you have, the harder it will be to make your mark. It's unrealistic to expect no competition, of course. In fact, too little competition is a warning sign either that your business idea has no market or that the market is controlled by a few big players. What you want is healthy competition where it's possible to differentiate yourself from competing businesses.

This all gets back to uniqueness. If you can't compete on uniqueness, you must compete on price (or convenience).If you're forced to compete on price alone that just drives down your profit margin. Not smart business.

• You must be able to price competitively yet profitably. The price you set for your product or service must allow you to compete effectively with other businesses in your market, it must be acceptable to consumers and it must return you a fair profit. If any one of these three is off, move on.

• Your business must fit with your lifestyle. If you're a parent of young children and you primarily want to start a business from home so you can stay home with them, a real estate brokerage business that requires you to be out and about meeting with prospective clients is obviously not going to work.

You'll instead need to choose a business that can be conducted entirely from within the four walls of your home office.

• Your financial resources must be sufficient to launch and carry the business until it becomes profitable. No business is profitable from day one, of course. But some are quicker to break even than others. If your business requires a considerable initial capital outlay to start - computer, printer

and software for a web design business, for example - it will take you longer to break even than if the only prerequisite was the knowledge inside your own head, such as working from home as an attorney.

If your financial situation is such that you can't afford to quit your day job until your business is paying its way, this, too, will mean it will take longer to break even than if you're able to devote every waking hour to your business. Just do what you have to do. That's all any of us can do.

Business Plan

Once you've gone through the above process and identified what appears to be the right business for you, the final "gut check" is to write a business plan for your business, much as you would for a presentation to a bank for financing. Include

Sections for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, and set goals for what your business needs to achieve for you, by when and how you are going to get there.

Although it may seem like a waste of time and effort to complete a business plan if you don't intend to seek outside financing, taking the time and exercising the discipline needed to really focus your mind on the important issues facing your

Business, you will be forced to take a long hard look at your idea through very objective and realistic eyes.

If your idea passes the business plan test, then you can be reasonably confident that this is the right business for you. If you come away from this exercise feeling hesitant, uncertain and unsure, either do more research (if the reason for your hesitancy and uncertainty is lack of information) or discard the idea (if it's because you don't think your idea is going to fly. If this happens, just keep repeating Steps 5 and 6 until you end up with an idea and a business plan that you're confident is going to work!

Although it's frustrating to wait once you've made up your mind to start a business from home, this really is one situation where the tortoise wins the race. By taking a methodical, systematic and disciplined approach to identifying the right home business for you, you give your business the best possible chance for long-term survival, hopefully avoiding some very expensive mistakes along the way. So if you are clear what to do from your home instead of cooking and sleeping, step in to the new world of business and profits.