Ask These Questions First and You Won’t Regret It Later.1) How many years have the Current Owners had Control of the Company?I recommend that you do not do business with a company that has not been established, with its current owner for more than 7 years. Most businesses (approx. 80%) will fail within the 3-5 year mark, if they make it that far. You don’t want to invest all of your time and energy into a company that is going to close its doors on you, just as you start to make some money. Some companies are aware that people look for this and will buy an established name or trademark so that they can claim they have been established for longer. It is important to include the phrase ‘under current ownership’ when you ask the question.2) Do I need to Stock, Sell, Distribute, or Package Any Products?It is a very time consuming activity to resell products when you have to package up other peoples orders, collect their money, deliver, etc. The days of doing letterbox drops of brochures, flyers, etc are gone – so should be the need for you to handle other people’s money and orders. If you are going to partner with a company where you are required to do these things, ensure that you include the time taken to perform these tasks in you cost calculations. These costs can easily be 25% to 50% of your potential profit, is your time worth that little?3) If You Invest in the Company and Partner With Them, What Sort of Guarantees do They Offer?If a Company is a good and as reputable as they should be for you to partner with them, they will provide you with a written (and in modern times web-published) guarantee that you can get your money back if down the track they don’t pan out to be everything that you hoped they would be. Most reputable companies will extend a minimum 30-60 day money back guarantee. Ask specifically what is covered by the guarantee. Some companies only cover minor elements related to the costs even though you may be lead to assume they cover all aspects of your start up investment.4)Is the company private or public?There is really no major benefit either way, except knowing what tools and resources you will have available to determine the strength of the company. For example if they are publicly held, there are a number of filings that they must make available to you. If they are privately held you can run a credit check or various companies such as Dunn and Bradstreet will share the company’s credit rating to insure they are financially stable. If they are privately owned, it may become even more important to be aware of the time the company has been operating under current ownership.5) Will the Company Provide You Annual Growth Trends/Sales Statistics?If you want to know how a company is going to perform in the future, look at how they have performed in the past. Look at the sales performance for the most recent five years. If they won’t reveal sales figures or trends – there’s probably a reason. (ie. They’re embarrassed by it.) Reputable companies realize the need to provide you with sales information, especially if they are asking you to invest in their business or as a home based business partner.If they will not give you this information, we suggest you walk, no make that run away. For those who do, you are looking for positive growth trends and sales volumes. That’s one indicator for selecting a growth company to partner with and one measure of how safe your investment may be. We don’t recommend partnering with a company that’s stagnant or declining in sales. It can also be pertinent if possible to have a look at what happened with the trends during a recession… If they can survive and grow then, then they should be fairly stable.6) Ask about ‘Hidden Costs’.I have researched many home based business opportunities and this can be a real issue. I will tell you now about some of the more common hidden fees that you don’t get told about until after you have made a decision. Many companies offer websites as an added value when you start your home based business. It can be a very valuable and powerful tool. We have found that a ‘Free Website’ isn’t usually free at all. Some offer a website free but have a whole host of hidden charges associated with using it. Some charge to shorten unusually long website names known as URLs to a more manageable length. That’s just a way to charge you for that supposedly free website and not very ethical.Many will not disclose this option until after you start. Others may charge you for user fees, full use of all features including the database, calendar, members areas or even monthly maintenance just to mention a few. Be sure to ask about any and all costs associated with the ‘FREE’ options like websites. Make sure that if you are being offered a website, that hosting is included also… this is real big one – so many companies out there offer a free website… the catch is that you have to host it with their hosting company at your expense. This is usually an extremely inflated hosting fee. Reputable companies don’t have hidden costs – they practice full disclosure. If you identify hidden costs they didn’t tell you about voluntarily, be very cautious. You don’t want to be associated with a home based business that preys on others inexperience.7)Ask about Awards that the Company has Received and what Reputable Organisations they are Registered With (ie. Better Business Bureau)?This can be a bit misleading, so be very careful. A large number of companies will tout numerous awards from organisations that they have created. A reputable company will have numerous awards from tangible and respected organisations, such as the Better Business Bureau, or Ernst & Young, even right up to the U.S. Chamber of commerce.Whilst awards and recognition on a global scale are evidence that company has a strong foundation and good business sense, always ensure that the awards listed are from reputable organisations, and ask about what criteria the company needs to meet in order to receive these awards.8) What are People Actually Earning?When I researched hundreds of home based business opportunities, I found very few were willing to provide income statistics about there representative for very apparent reasons. There are only a very select few who are actually earning an income, and they are the ones that were there at day one… which was probably several years ago. Most people who represent them are actually running at a significant loss. The companies will probably tell you that they don’t release those statistics in the interest of protecting their member’s privacy. This is usually just an objection cover straight out of Sales 101 when someone asks for information that would embarrass the company. No income statistics will usually mean no income for you.9) How are the going to help you, not only in the first 30 days, but for your business life?This is by far the biggest indicator of your potential to succeed with this company. What do they offer you to help. Will there be charges for mentoring after thirty days, will you be required to pay to get access to the training website (if they have one) at any stage. What tools and resources do they have to help you achieve the success you deserve? Sadly a large number of people and companies hide behind a home-business opportunity. They don’t care one way or another about your success, all they care about is how much money they can wrangle from you. They will offer to mentor you at a price, give you a “do it all” website for a price, they will basically offer you all of those things that you do need, particularly when you are first getting started at a price that you probably cannot afford.10) What are their products like?First of all, if they do not have a product, it is probably an illegal pyramid scam. Most people are aware of that now, so the less reputable companies will have a how to e-book or something of the like that you pay $997 for. (Which would struggle to sell on its own for $7?)Other Companies will sell tangible products, but at absurd prices… Products that would not stand the test of time without a business opportunity to support them. You probably know some of the things I’m talking about like $13 tubes of toothpaste, $60 bottles of juice, or even a phone plan that will easily double your next bill. What you are looking for is a company that stands head and shoulders above the rest when it comes to things like price, product quality and customer satisfaction. Another positive is sign is products that have patents. To determine if the company is right for you, look at the products, the quality and the price in particular and ask yourself… If there wasn’t a business opportunity here, would I still purchase these products? The answer will speak volumes about whether or not you should pursue a partnership with that company.Reputable businesses will not hype you up on some figure head, the insane income opportunity or just how simple it is. They will provide you with all of the facts that you need to make an informed decision on your own… They know they have the best, they know you will join them sooner or later and they will leave you to decide when will be the time for you. They flaunt it – because they have it. Bottom line is that if you think the information is important, and they won’t give it to you before you join them… BE VERY CAREFUL! The best situations are evident when they offer a wide range of support, training and tools to help insure your success. The best do not have hidden charges or undisclosed add-on costs. The best do not charge for the advice they promised to provide before you got started. You should expect to be paid for your efforts but don’t expect instant success. You have to work at it. If they tell you it doesn’t require hard work that’s a reason to steer clear in itself.For more details visit my blog: http://therealhacks.blogspot.com

You are seriously looking for an additional income stream and you want to work from home. With the internet full of business opportunities, which one do you pick? Do you choose the one with the most income potential? Do you pick the one with the best opportunity or the best product/service? And do you choose an affiliate or a network marketing home-based business?Listen, I am going to cut through all the misconceptions and lies out there and get right to the point. I hope this will make absolute sense to you. There are 4000+ network marketing companies today to choose from. There are thousands, no hundreds of thousands of products and services to choose from. If you are looking to work from home, to add an additional income stream to meet your families’ needs, then an affiliate marketing business with several products will certainly work faster. If you want to create generational income then network marketing is the ticket as this will involve building a downline, working with people who want your product/service as well as your opportunity. The best home-based business is determined by your interest and passion.Many people get involved in the next best home business that promises great money, ‘get-rich-quick’, and no need to have any particular skills. Money talks… absolutely. However, you are best choosing a business based on the product or service. Ask yourself these questions:
1) Do you believe in the product or service?
2) Is the product or service viable; is there a real need for it today, and who would purchase it (besides yourself)?
3) Could you become passionate enough about the product or service to reach out and share it with others (other than family, friends)?
4) If choosing a network marketing company, then you need to consider the company’s credibility; how long has it been in business, and does it have a good, lucrative compensation plan? And
5) Are there guarantees with the product/service?After considering these questions, then it is simply asking yourself if you want to sell purely product or are you vested in other people: i.e. helping them solve their pain or problems with the solution you have and working with them to help them be successful as well. Either way, you need to know how to:1. Target your audience who needs, wants, and desires your products/services.
2. Position yourself so that these targeted prospects find you.Now if 80% of people are on the Internet looking for that product or services, guess where you want to be found? Absolutely, on the internet! And you certainly want to know what you are doing. You need to acquire a skill-set… a proper marketing skill-set that involves creating an attractive website with relevancy to your product/service, that’s keyword-rich, and has a compelling message to get prospects to take action.There are billions of websites out there today and many of them are purely informational or too lengthy or devoid of relevancy or a ‘call-to-action’. You can pay large sums of money to have someone else create your website, you can try to do it yourself and struggle; however, if you (have the advantage of support with a mentor) can learn under the wings of a mentor so that you make the least amount of mistakes and ultimately learn to do it yourself, then this is the best avenue. Invest in yourself because you are your best resource.Choosing the best home-based business must first come from your core belief, your interest and passion to help others with a viable product (or service or information) and then have them finding you, the expert from whom they will ultimately purchase because you are solving their pain or problem. For an Affiliate Home-Based Business you will need to optimize the Internet and Copy (the power of the written word). For a network marketing home business, in addition to the internet and copy, you will need the telephone to prospect, present, and close business. Find your niche first, via the product, then you will have taken the first best step for a home-based business.

IntroductionI recently received a call from a client. I use the word client loosely because in actuality she is someone I help as a volunteer counselor through a local Small Business Administration (SBA) office.Kelly (I’ll call her Kelly for this entry) is everything that an entrepreneur should be. She is passionate about her business idea (a restaurant serving Caribbean food), willing to work hard to turn her restaurant into a money making and community supporting endeavor.I met with Kelly to help her write a business plan and to go over the steps in starting a business. She is a single mom with a six month old beautiful girl and a clear vision of where she wants to go.I mention Kelly because I think it is important for all of us to have the same level of passion toward our business dreams. It is why I often counsel clients to identify something that you love to do regardless if you have a long line of people wanting to buy your products/services. We all want to make money and we can…but it is important to feel passionate about what you are doing.There is a changing demographic in the economy with the growth of the home-based business. Home-Based Businesses are a thriving segment of the economy. The Small Business Administration cites that over 53% of ALL firms are Home-Based Businesses and provide 10 percent of the total receipts of the economy….. or about $314 billion in 1992.For those of you are considering a change in career choice or a way of augmenting your income – a home-based business is one solution. For Kelly, her plans involve renting a space to create her restaurant which involves signing a year’s lease. My advice to her was to delay on the lease and to start selling at local farmer’s market to establish her brand, her revenue stream and to gear up for higher volume sales that are typical of a restaurant setting. I would classify Kelly as having a home-based business at this time as she goes through these important growth stages. Adapting this approach allows her to mitigate her risks and to control her growth.I recognize that this is not a typical application of the home-based business model but it represents the freedom and flexibility that the structure can offer. Traditional types of home-based businesses can range from service-oriented child care businesses to product-oriented craft outlets. Other examples include: farming, catering, specialty mail-order, home horticulture, and computer software consulting, woodworking and bed and breakfast establishments. In Maine there are over 39,000 home-based businesses which demonstrate the wonderful growth of this economic sector. I had a client who did wonderful wood working as a means of reliving stress from his government job and another client who does taxidermy out of his house as a hobby/business. Both of these gentlemen had passion about their craft, both had full time jobs but both were able to create viable small home-based businesses that allowed them to augment their income while practicing their art.There is no one reason why people are attracted to home-based business. For Kelly she wants financial freedom, an expression of cultural pride through her Caribbean cooking and the opportunity to fulfill a dream that her daughter will witness and be proud of. Other reasons for considering a home-based business include:• experiencing the personal satisfaction of making your own decisions• expressing your own ideas• financial independence• being your own boss – or as I like to say being in control of your destinyKelly is a single Mom which is a common demographic for those starting a home-based business. With the ecommerce company that I owned my employees tended to be older who wanted the freedom that a non- traditional job afforded them.I tell my clients there is no greater joy than owning your own business. It is the ultimate expression of creativity. At the same time I’ve never worked harder than when I was running my own company. Don’t be afraid to venture forth in pursuing your business ideas but make sure you have the passion to keep you committed to the endeavor.

Having made a decision to start a home based business, you will now have to identify your Best Home Based Business Idea. There are numerous home based businesses that you can think of, but will all these ideas work for you? Will you be able to make money? Most people who wish to venture out do not have sufficient funds to commence operations successfully. Hence money will be an important consideration.

In such a situation or otherwise, the smart way to pick the best home based business idea will be to consider all the assets you possess such as your house, vehicle, computer, the time you can spare and of course the Needs of the community you live in.

Time:

If you want to make money with your business ideas then time is an important factor. How much time can you spare for your business? Having time available whether in the week-ends, full day or even evenings, is a great asset.
Selling your time to people who simply cannot find the time to do things for themselves is one smart way of picking your best home based business idea. Such people are prepared to pay for you for helping them out in such tasks as Child Minding, Baby Sitting, Secretarial Work, Car Cleaning and Valeting or Walking their Dog.

Home:

Having a home is the biggest asset to get your best home based business idea going. There are many possibilities such as converting one of your rooms into a Home Office, your kitchen for Catering purposes and your garage for turning out some products. You could also consider taking in a lodger offering bed and breakfast.
The advantage of running a business from home is that you save on rent which is substantial and also get part of your running expenses set off against taxes.

Vehicle:

If you own a car or a van it can be considered as another great asset like a house.There are quite a few business ideas that can be started using a vehicle such as Home Delivery Service, Courier Service and Cleaning Service. Identify the best home based business idea that will be right for you and implement it. Trade-in your car for a van and get started if you need to do so.

Computer Fax and Telephone:

A good knowledge of the Computer and the Internet is very use full and helpful in implementing several home based business ideas such as Internet Marketing, Affiliate Marketing,Secretarial work, Copy Writing and Desk Top Publishing. A Fax machine and a Telephone are great assets for your business.

Hobbies:

To many people, business ideas have originated from their hobbies and they have successfully converted their hobbies into money making ideas. Your hobbies clearly indicate that you have a keen interest and motivation. If there is a need for some of your skills such as Photography, Craft Work, Dress Making and Playing the Piano, in your community, you can without any hesitation convert your hobby into your best home based business idea.

Tools and Equipment:

The very tools you use in your home such as DIY Tools, garden and cleaning equipment can be successfully made use of to start your best home based business. With a van and with a few more additions to your equipment if necessary, several home based businesses can be started such as House Cleaning, Window Cleaning, Lawn Mowing and as Handyman.

Conclusion:

The smart way to identify the Best Home Based Business Idea is to make a serious study of the assets you possess and find out which of these you are good at and love doing. Assess the Needs of the local community and match them up. That’s it and you are done.

As a small business owner you can often feel alone, even when surrounded by many people.

How is this possible? The answer is that many small business owners keep their business challenges to themselves. They don’t want employees, or customers, or suppliers, or family and friends for that matter, to know that they have business issues that might be difficult to manage.

If this describes your business environment, consider building a business network to help you manage your challenges and grow your business.

What is a small business network? In this instance it is a network of either similar or dissimilar small businesses that work together to help each other solve their business issues and also to help each other manage and grow their businesses.

Let’s examine an example of a small business network for similar businesses.

A group of between eight and twelve business owners in the same industry but in non-competing locations set up a peer business network. They get together (either face-to-face or online) at a regularly scheduled day and time (maybe monthly or quarterly) to discuss their small business strategy and issues and they each ask for, and get, feedback from the rest of the group — all experienced business owners of similar type businesses.

Some of the discussion might center on human resource issues such as training, hiring, firing, turn-over rates, and comparative wages or salaries. Other discussions might be on common customer centric issues such as turn-around times, over promising and under delivering, quality, service, handling difficult customers. Some sessions might focus on business planning, marketing planning, sales planning or results from plans.

To form this type of group, business owners could meet through national or international industry trade associations. To make this type of network work, the participants must sign confidentiality agreements and non-compete agreements — even though today the businesses are non-competing, there is no guarantee that tomorrow they won’t be competing. It is important that legal advice is obtained at the start of setting up this type of network — your group will need to know what is allowed or not allowed by government competition acts.

The advantage of this type of network is that all participants already know and understand the industry and can bring that knowledge and expertise to the discussions.

Now, let’s examine an example of a small business network for dissimilar businesses.

This type of network would work best in a group of not less than eight and not many more than twelve business owners (too small and the input is weakened; too large and it’s hard to have a voice or hear what’s going on). This group would get together on a regular basis (likely monthly) and review each business’ progress, operations, challenges, or the designated topic of the month. Since this is a network of non-competing, dissimilar businesses, the group could be local and meetings could be face-to-face.

An advantage for local meetings is that the group would be operating in the same economic climate and would have a thorough understanding of what that means to local businesses. It would be relatively easy to form a local group by meeting businesses through local small business associations.

Topics could be selected in advance by month, by quarter, by year and each business owner would attend a network meeting prepared to discuss issues surrounding that topic. For example, one month’s topic could be about reducing the cost of financing and sharing tips and tactics. Another month’s topic could be about the use of the best and most successful recruiting methods for that local area. Another month’s topic could be on creating a business plan and the necessary tools to do so.

In this type of network it is also important to have confidentiality agreements and non-compete agreements at the start of the network meetings. You will want to have the assurance that if someone leaves the group that they won’t share confidential information with others.

The advantage of this type of network is that you can more easily set this group up in your local market so that face-to-face meetings would not be difficult and that you might actually get more out-of-the-box thinking from business owners outside of the industry who are not constrained by past practices.

For both types of networks, use an outside facilitator to ensure that the group stays on track and that each member gets out of the network what it needs (its reason for joining). The concept of a business network is to provide small business owners with a small business advisory group to test solutions, find answers, change old ways of doing things, and more. In large businesses, that type of network support typically comes from other departments or management. In small businesses, a strong small business network is part of an overall business community that becomes part of the infrastructure for your business’ success.