Developing Yourself as an Entrepreneur for your Home Business

Are there certain personality traits that many successful work at home entrepreneurs share?

One of the main ones is a passion for making money at a young age. Many were kids who had lemonade stands, newspaper routes, raked leaves for money, etc. Many weren’t good employees and were actually poor students in school, as they are more independent minded. Though many people who graduated with a degree in business administration have higher success as entrepreneurs overall. Many have grown up with a close relative or family member that was, or still is an entrepreneur. They tend to take calculated risks, are good problem solvers, are responsible, and resourceful.

"Of those who have created fortunes, first did a certain amount of
dreaming, hoping, wishing, DESIRING, and PLANNING before they acquired money."

Whether or not you share in some of the above traits, it is highly recommended that you begin to take the time to evaluate why you wish to be an entrepreneur with a home business. What are your reasons, skills, talents, resources, and experience in business? Do you have trusted and helpful contacts that can assist you. The Small Business Administration offers free or inexpensive trainings, tips, information, and counseling. Also, you can learn a great deal by doing research at your local library and utilizing other government resources. In your home evaluate the space you have available to run your business and your families’ support and their needs.

There are definite benefits to being an entrepreneur with a home based business. You can enjoy not dealing as much with the heavy traffic and travel time that a regular job entails. You will save on gasoline, and can dress comfortably in your home instead of having to buy and wearing professional work clothes five days a week. Finally, you can spend more time with your family and have more control over how you choose to spend your hours.

However, this also means that you need to have understood boundaries for when you are working and how you manage your time; self-discipline. A great idea is to have normal set hours for working on your business. You can also write-off your business space in your home in your taxes, as well as other tax write-offs. We recommend you seek an accountant to help you with doing your taxes, as well as any tax laws or regulations you need to know about. Keep your business items separate from your other belongings; and you may want to consider sound-proofing your business space to help get it written off for taxes.

Take a class on financial management and understand and use a pricing formula (basically consisting of direct materials costs and labor costs, overhead expenses, and profit) to set the cost for your companies product or service. You will have to know how to do an estimate for start-up costs, to do your projected operating income and expenses, a balance sheet, a profit and loss statement, and a cash flow statement. Your accountant can help you with this, as well as suggest a method for record keeping. There is a variety of software available to assist you in your planning.

We suggest you have a lawyer for information on zoning and zoning legislation, insurance, copyright information, etc.

Educate yourself in business by attending seminars and community college and/or community education classes, and join business foundations, associations, and support groups. These should be ones that you enjoy and that are affordable, useful, and can fit into your time.

Know your market, potential customers, your competition, and how you wish to advertise and promote your product or service. It is easier to have a low-risk, low overhead and gradual development of your business.

Remember to eat right, fitness and exercise, time to have for your self, family and friends, perhaps spiritual or religious time daily into your routine. Finally, you need to maintain your social contacts and activities for personal and professional reasons.

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