Is Running A Thriving Home Business Is Easier Than You Think?

Have you decided that you’re done with the general nine to five that you call work? Or perhaps you have children you want to me at home to spend more time with or you are struggling to balance day to day life and holding down a job away from home. If so then you may have always dreamed of running your own business but wondered how easy it really is?. If this is the career path you want to go down then you will need to decide if you are going to run your business from a certain location or just from the comfort of your own home. Running businesses from home has become quite the norm since the Covid pandemic hit the world.

If you are not sure how to manage this then take a look at the article below for more information and guidance. 

Funding

You will need some form of money and funding to start your home business. You might have heard from others that you can start a business with no money at all. While this is somewhat true it tends to be solely online businesses and ones that have been handed down the line. 

Running a business from home does mean you won’t need as much start up money as other companies. You will need to make a list of everything you need money for and then round up the final figure. This gives you a bit of wiggle room in case something is more expensive than you anticipated. You will need enough to keep your company going until you start seeing returns and profits. 

If you can it is a good idea to have some savings put aside to maybe cover 1-3 months of bills as this will give you a bit of leeway to start your new business and allow time for it to flourish and you to settle in without having to worry about making enough to cover bills the very first month!

Quiet Space

Whereabouts in your home are you going to be working? This one might seem obvious but you would be surprised how many people don’t have a designated work space within their home. While you are trying to set up a business and get everything going you need an area that is free from distractions and temptations. This rules out the kitchen and anywhere public within your home, especially if you have children running about. 

If you have a spare room then you could convert this into an office space or even somewhere to store your stock. Even better if you have a large enough garden you could transform an old dreary shed into the office of your dreams. When thinking about where you are going to work you might also want to think about storage too as often businesses will come with paperwork and invoices for example and these need to be kept safe.

Employees

Ask yourself whether you need to hire employees. These members of staff will need to work from home also, unless you have room for them within your own home to come and work from there. Many home based businesses decide not to have employees as it brings the costs up. However, depending on the type of business you are running then employees might be necessary.

If you do decide to hire people then you need to know what you want and who you are looking for. Set out a solid job advertisement stating everything you are looking for and the skills, knowledge, or experience you want your employees to have. Watch out for employees coming and going once you’ve hired them. You don’t want to be met with a high employee churn rate. This could be detrimental for your business. If you want to avoid employees you could always employ someone like a virtual TA in which you can delegate particular jobs, perhaps those really time-consuming jobs you hate! You can usually hire them by the hour and therefore unlike an employee you can just hire them as and when you need them.

Branding

Branding is the key when it comes to your own business. It is what potential buys will recognise you with and the one thing that will help get your brand recognised and loved. You will need to know what you want your branding to look like and then get it professionally designed. This includes a name, it should be catchy but memorable. You don’t want a long name that nobody is going to remember as then your customers won’t come back. You also need to work on your company logo and what colours you want this to be. 

Once you have sorted out those technicalities then you can add your name and logo to your website. You could also get quality business cards made to hand out to people and put in local coffee shops.

Marketing 

As a home-based business, you will need to get your marketing spot on if you want to get noticed. This means you will need to sit down and work out which marketing strategies you are going to use. There are so many to choose from, it is all about getting the right one for your type of business. For instance, if you are based solely online then leafleting isn’t going to help you. 

Social media will be your very best friend as a run from home business. You can set up various online pages, mostly free of charge which is great for your budget. You can then build a following of customers and clients from there, make sure you use sites that target your desired target audiences. 

Video marketing is also great for home businesses, customers love seeing a video on a page where the owner is introducing themselves and stating what they are about. It’s a far more personal way of gaining new and keeping existing customers around. 

Comfy Furniture

When you are getting your business off the ground you may be sitting down for long periods of the day. You don’t want to be battling back ache or neck ache while you are figuring out tasks to do. This is where ergonomic furniture comes into play. It is designed to support you for long periods which means you can sit comfy all day. 

You can get your hands on ergonomic chairs, desks, and even keyboards. The keyboards are wonderful if you are going to be typing a lot during the day. If you don’t have the budget to buy these brand new, you might want to check out second hand marketplaces or auction sites online.  

Tech

Lastly, you won’t be able to get much work done for your business if you don’t have the right tech available. Ideally you should have a phone, laptop, or PC. Tech can be pretty expensive especially if you have just spent a large sum of money on your company. Fear not, as long as your tech is up to date then you can get this second hand. 

As your business progresses and time moves on then your technology has to do the same. Have you ever rung a company and been told, ‘sorry our systems are running slow today?’ Yes, that’s their old and outdated tech causing them grief. Make sure you invest in the very best tech that fits into your budget. 

We hope you found this article helpful and that it gave you some ideas and reassurance that running a business from home is easier than you think. You will face hurdles along the way but as long as you handle these quickly and efficiently then you shouldn’t have any longevity issues.

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