Start & Run a Real Home-Based Business

Whether you want to work at home on your computer, open a daycare, start a local service (like a plumber, computer consultant, pet sitter, etc), or anything else, then Start and Run a Real Home Based Business is what you've been waiting for.

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Self-Counsel Press is the premier source for self-help law books and books for small business. All of our legal titles are written by lawyers who practise in the field they are writing about. Our business books are written by experts on the topic. People who have "been there, done that" in the businesses they write about, and know how to clearly and simply describe what they have learned. We are proud to have been the pioneer publisher of self-help law titles in North America when we launched our first Divorce Guide in 1971.

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INTRODUCTION xv PART 1 - MIND 1 1 A LITTLE CREDIBILITY: HOME-BASED BUSINESSES I HAVE RUN 3 1992-1994: Intriguing Ideas 3 1995-1996: Night Owl Marketing 4 2001-2004: Night Owl e-Ventures 4 2004: Favorite Clubs (Under Night Owl e-Ventures) 4 2004-Present: Night Owl e-Ventures Inc. ("Inc." Added in 2004) 4 2 THE NEW BUSINESS BLINDERS 5 3 STARTING AND NAMING YOUR BUSINESS 8 What Type of Business to Start? 8 Avoid Meaningless Roadblocks 9 Select a Business Name 9 Open a Business Bank Account 10 Contents iv Start & run a real home-based business 4 PARTNERSHIPS ARE USUALLY A BAD IDEA: HERE'S WHY 11 Unequal Roles/Limited Skills 11 One Partner Is Simply Better Than the Other 12 Friends and Family Members in Business 12 Partnerships That Can Work 13 5 FORGET THE BUSINESS PLAN ... BUT PLAN FOR YOUR BUSINESS 14 Your Plan for Business 15 6 PSST - YOUR "BIG IDEA" IS COMPLETELY WORTHLESS 17 Somebody Else Has Likely Already Thought of Your Idea 17 Nobody Buys Ideas 17 But What about a Patent? 18 Nobody Is Going to Steal Your Idea 19 7 MAKE SURE YOU CHOOSE A BUSINESS THAT IS REALLY FOR YOU 20 Consider Your Lifestyle 21 8 TEN REALLY GREAT THINGS ABOUT A HOME-BASED BUSINESS 22 1. You Are Paid What You Are Really Worth 22 2. You Call the Shots. All of Them 22 3. The Commute Is Usually Really Nice 22 4. More Time at Home 22 5. You Get to See More of Your Children's Activities 23 6. You Get Out of Doing Things You Don't Want to Do 23 7. No Coworkers 23 8. You Can Do Usual "Weekend" Things When You Wish 23 9. No Stupid, Arbitrary Rules 24 10. No Boss 24 9 COUNT ON THE UNEXPECTED HAPPENING 25 Things That Seem Simple Often Aren't 26 10 NICHE MARKETS 28 Other Types of Niches 30 A Small Numbers Game 30 Contents v 11 THINK BIG, EVEN IF YOU ARE LOCAL 31 But What about True Local Businesses? 31 Types of Businesses That Should Be Thinking Big from Day One 32 How to Sell to the World 32 Why Does This Happen? 33 How to Overcome This "Local Only" Thinking 33 12 GET OUT OF YOUR COMFORT ZONE 34 Take Some Advice - or Not 35 13 SOME THINGS ARE SIMPLY WORTH PAYING FOR 37 14 HOW HARD CAN IT BE? 39 15 STOP DREAMING AND START DOING 41 The Walking Test 42 To-Do Lists 43 Change How You Spend Your Time 43 16 YOU DO REALIZE YOU'RE THE ONE WHO MAKES THE WORK APPEAR, RIGHT? 45 Lose the "Job Mentality" 46 17 DON'T IGNORE THE THINGS YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND 48 18 STOP WASTING TIME ON NONSENSE 50 19 BEING NEAT MEANS BUSINESS 52 Dress for Success - or Not 53 20 DO THINGS THE RIGHT WAY, OR DON'T DO THEM 54 21 SOME FINAL TIPS TO HELP YOUR BUSINESS MIND STAY SHARP 57 PART 2 - BODY 59 22 HOW MUCH MONEY YOU'LL NEED TO START YOUR BUSINESS 61 Immediate Income? Not Likely 61 Start-Up Expenses 62 vi Start & run a real home-based business 23 OUTSIDE MONEY AND FUNDING (DON'T EXPECT ANY) 65 Grants 65 SBA Loans 66 Venture Capital 67 So Where CAN You Get Money From? 67 24 ACCOUNTING AND TAXES 69 Hire an Accountant 69 Keep Good Records and Receipts 70 Pay Your Taxes 70 Two Last Things on Taxes 71 25 POLICIES AND FORMS (YES, YOU NEED THESE, AND THEY AREN'T AS BORING AS YOU THINK) 73 The Forms You Need 73 The Proposal Form 73 The Client Sheet 75 The Invoice 76 About Legalese 76 Policies and Guarantees 77 26 ACCEPTING CREDIT CARDS (YOU MUST, AND IT'S EASIER THAN YOU THINK) 78 Accepting Credit Cards Is Simple 79 Let Me Take a Moment to Dispel a Few Credit Card Myths 79 27 LAWYERS, ZONING, INSURANCE, AND OTHER BORING THINGS 81 Lawyers and Legal Issues 81 Zoning 81 Insurance 82 28 THE MAKINGS OF A FUNCTIONAL HOME OFFICE 83 The Basics 83 The Three Different Types of Home Offices 84 29 BUSINESS CARDS AND BROCHURES 86 Business Cards 86 Brochures 87 Contents vii 30 THE TELEPHONE 89 Answering the Phone 90 Messages 90 The Phone Itself 90 31 VEHICLES 91 32 COMPUTERS AND SOFTWARE 93 Learn about Them 93 Make Sure You Can Back Up Your Data 94 Keep the Kids Away from Your Work Computer 94 Get the Right Software 94 All Kinds of Useful Programs You Never Knew Existed 95 33 BUSINESS WRITING, LETTERS, AND SALES PROPOSALS 96 Business Writing 96 Business Letters 96 The Sales/Marketing Proposal 98 34 TRADITIONAL ADVERTISING AND YOUR HOME-BASED BUSINESS 103 Newspapers 104 Radio 104 Television 105 Yellow Pages 105 Direct Mail 106 Specialty Advertising 108 What to Say in an Ad 109 What to Expect from Your Advertising 109 35 THE INTERNET AND YOUR WEBSITE 111 Why You Need a Website 112 Here's How You Get a Website 112 Working from Home, At Home 113 Scams 114 One Last Thing - Website Conversion 115 viii Start & run a real home-based business 36 EMAIL (IT'S MORE IMPORTANT THAN YOU THINK) 116 Email Marketing 117 Dan's Email Rules 118 37 INTERNET ADVERTISING - SEARCH ENGINES, PAY-PER-CLICK, PRESS RELEASES, AND OTHER THINGS YOU MAY NOT KNOW ABOUT 120 Paid or Free Directory Listings 120 Search Engine Ranking 121 Press Releases 121 Pay-per-click 122 38 PERILS OF THE 80/20 RULE 123 Resistance Is Futile - or Is It? 124 39 MONEY TALKS (OR DOING BUSINESS ON A HANDSHAKE IS STUPID, AND OTHER INVOICING ISSUES) 127 Invoicing Advice 128 Additional Invoicing Tips 129 Address Payment Issues Right Away 129 40 BARTERING 131 What Is Bartering? 131 41 SMOKING 133 PART 3 - SOUL 137 42 A SUREFIRE WAY TO GET YOUR SPOUSE OR PARTNER ON BOARD 139 43 CHARGE A FAIR PRICE - FOR BOTH YOUR CUSTOMER AND YOU 142 But What If I'm Charging a Low Rate to Build the Business? Is That Okay? 143 Don't Work for Free 143 How to Bill - Hourly versus Other Methods 144 One Last Thing on Pricing 145 44 A HUGE MISTAKE PEOPLE MAKE IN MARKETING AND ADVERTISING 146 45 ONCE OPENED, DOORS TEND TO STAY OPEN 148 Rush Jobs 148 Contents ix Discounts 149 Introductory Rates 149 46 AN ASPECT OF WORKING AT HOME THAT YOU MAY FIND ANNOYING 150 47 DAYS OFF AND VACATIONS 152 48 KEEP YOUR MARKETING SIMPLE 155 But Wait - What Is Marketing? 155 Keeping Things Simple 156 49 YOUR COMPETITION 157 You Can Learn from Your Competition 157 Your Competition Can Refer Business to You 158 You Need Your Competition 158 Criticizing Your Competition Is Unprofessional 158 Dan Furman Has No Competition, and Neither Do You 158 How To Be Unique 159 No Competition 160 50 BE PATIENT, BUT BE READY FOR CHANGE, TOO 161 Now, Be Ready to Change 162 51 EVERYBODY SAYS THEY CARE ABOUT CUSTOMERS. BUT DO YOU? REALLY? 163 52 CUTTING TIES: SOME CLIENTS JUST AREN'T WORTH IT 164 Cutting Ties 164 Stop the Madness Before It Even Starts 165 53 DEALING WITH BUSY AND NOT-SO-BUSY TIMES 166 Being Too Slow 166 Seasonal slowness (forced slow times) 167 Being Too Busy 167 Make Sure You Take Time To Work On Your Business 168 Putting Money Back 169 54 THE OTHER SIDE OF THE COIN - BEING A GOOD CUSTOMER 170 Be Someone People Want to Do Business With 170 x Start & run a real home-based business 55 SOME FINAL THOUGHTS 172 You Will Experience the Highest of Highs, and the Lowest of Lows 172 Spend Wisely 172 In Business, Money Means Everything 173 Just About All Business Relationships End 173 You Will Never, Ever Be Completely Comfortable - So Relax, It's Normal 173 AFTERWORD - WHY I'M AN ENTREPRENEUR (OR, "WORK IS A FOUR-LETTER WORD") 175 Who Will Take Care of You? 179 SAMPLES 1 Proposal form 74 2 Closing statement on proposal 76 3 Client's bus…