Checklist For The Would-Be
Home Business Owner

Contributed by Carla Davis

Many businesses anchor between the treacherous border of accidental and sheer boredom. A craft or weekend hobby can escalate into a full-fledged business venture. Soon, you’re daydreaming on your day job about the possibility of being your own boss, but don’t know where to start. Don’t throw in the towel! Take your passion, mix it with a little ingenuity and organizational skill, and you can fire your boss!

Create a Business Plan
Creating a roadmap (business continuity plan) will help you analyze where you are and where you want to be. Include in your draft an executive summary, fiscal plan and keys to success. Sample business plan templates are available online to help you get started.

After finalizing your plan, don’t just let it collect dust. Review it periodically, making sure you’re on track with planned objectives. Consider market climate, e.g., trends, shifting economies; note thresholds, e.g., hiring an employee. Make modifications, where necessary.

Legal Ease
Don’t wait until getting a cease-and-desist letter from the Law Firm of Will, Sue & You before researching a business name (logo) you’ve been using for a while. Consult with a business law attorney on patents, confidentiality agreements, trademarks and copyright infringements, and other laws that could impact your business. Legal advice can be costly. But it’s a small price to pay to save you heartache, down the road.

Tool kit
Make sure you have all the proper tools for conducting business:

Hardware. Make sure you have adequate tools on hand to perform your work, communicate with your client in real-time and enhance business transportability. Plan ahead—what software programs will you need? A multifunctioning unit for faxing, photocopying and printing?

Software. If you haven’t already, learn how to use a computer!

• Microsoft® Outlook®. Learn scheduling tips and how to set up the “wake up” feature so you never miss a deadline.
• Microsoft Excel®. Some basic Excel spreadsheet training, and you’ll be able to perform basic bookkeeping functions, e.g., accounting ledger entries.
• Microsoft Access. Learn importing, exporting and building relational databases to housing client records, calculating and creating reports (e.g., invoicing).
• QuickBooks®. QuickBooks is a great software tool for managing your entire business portfolio, e.g., preparing tax forms, paying bills, invoicing, managing your budget.
• Microsoft FrontPage®. Learn how to easily design and maintain your own web site to help market and make your business more accessible to potential customers.

Video Professor® offers a one-stop shop (and online training) for all of these programs.

Build a Better Mousetrap
Your home-based business is probably not a new concept. It’s up to you to differentiate from the crowd. Mold your business so that you’re not just offering a product or service, but into delivering turnkey support —a solution that can roll seamlessly into your client’s supply chain, integrally linking you to them—their profitability and revenue stream.

Maximize Your Exposure
It won’t always be “business as usual.” Your clients need to know that you’re a small business ready to explore the provisions of a robust alternative that warrant a sophisticated difference in rounding out their infrastructure. Offer them a feature-rich platform, bundled services they never dreamt possible. They’ll take comfort in knowing that even while they’re sleeping, you’re still minding their business.

To D.I.Y. or Not to D.I.Y.
A home-based business shouldn’t imply doing everything yourself from home. Clients want three things: dependability, reliability, consistency. Manage your time effectively! If a client notifies you at noon, they need 100 color copies of a presentation, collated and bound, by C.O.B., and you’ve already committed to other projects, tap resources. There are 24-hour business centers; you might have a pre-teen at home (in the neighborhood) who’d jump at the chance to earn extra cash. Yes, accounts are your lifeline. You don’t have to say “no,” but don’t overextend yourself for fear of disappointing. Learn to delegate simple but time-consuming tasks, eliminate redundancies and pool resources.

They Can’t all be Wrong
Learn to take constructive criticism. If you’re hearing the same feedback constantly, perhaps it’s time to make some adjustments to your product, to your service, or even, to yourself.

Kudos
There’s nothing worse than having a boss who never says, “Thank you!” Treat yourself once in a while to a day off—before your battery drains low and you’re pulling your hair out.

Be in it, To Win it!
When the going gets tough, the boss gets going. You have to enjoy doing whatever it is you do. Can you picture yourself in it? Having a real passion does wonders for making you forget about the pain and realize just how tired you really are at the end of the day.

‘til Death do us Part
Although this is one of the most important elements of the business plan, most people neglect it and so it deserves a special call to action here: the exit strategy. Perhaps because, as absurd as it sounds, even when it has to do with inanimate objects that take on a life of their own, most of us try to avoid talks about “kicking the bucket.” But the last thing you’ll want to do is be asked to liquidate when you’re not ready to. All good things must come to an end—don’t make it a bad one. It doesn’t mean having to fully dissolve your business, just making arrangements for its life after your retirement. It could mean selling off assets, including clientele, or, gifting it. Whatever the case, wean yourself down, slowly. Start by constructing a timetable that you and your clients can both live with, so you’re not leaving them high and dry.

Happy selling!

Microsoft, Outlook, Excel, and FrontPage are trademarks of Microsoft registered in the U.S. and other countries. QuickBooks is a trademark of Intuit Inc., or one of its subsidiaries, registered in the U.S. and other countries. Video Professor is a trademark of Video Professor, Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries.

About the Author:
Carla Davis is a senior freelance writer. She has an MBA in Global Management and a career span of over nine years in the marketing and advertising industries.

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