Tweet

What You Should Ask Yourself When Deciding on a Home Based Business Opportunity

Guest post by: Eric Stein

Article Overview: Like any big decision in life, choosing the right business is much more complex than simply coming up with a list of pros and cons. Choosing the right home based business should be a decision that you spend some time on, because if you want to be successful, you're going to have to put a lot of time and sweat into your business, and it will essentially take up the better part of your time for at least the first couple years.

What You Should Ask Yourself When Deciding on a Home Based Business Opportunity

Like any big decision in life, choosing the right business is much more complex than simply coming up with a list of pros and cons. Choosing the right home based business should be a decision that you spend some time on, because if you want to be successful, you're going to have to put a lot of time and sweat into your business, and it will essentially take up the better part of your time for at least the first couple years. Here's a few probing questions to ask yourself that should help you narrow down what the perfect home business is for you.

What Are Your Core Values?

Just about any business coach will tell you that narrowing down your core values personally will not only help you figure out what kind of business to start, but it will keep you on track and give you some common language to refer to when you bring others into the business (particularly investors). For example; if in your own life you place a high value on the environment and living green, you will want to model that in your business as well. This can result in higher costs (buying locally, using green materials, etc.) but depending on the business, you may be able to charge a premium, knowing that your customers also share this value and are willing to pay more for it.

What Are You Willing To Put In?

A business will not build itself, so you need to have realistic expectations for the time and resources that you're willing to invest in the business to get it off the ground. The earliest stage of a business is often called "friends and fools" because when you first start out, you will have little money and will have to rely on friends helping out and "fools" or people who are willing to invest time and/or money with no guarantee of any payout anytime soon.

What Is Your End Goal?

A common mistake when starting a new business is to build it with the intent to sell the business in a couple years and make millions of dollars. While this would be nice, and it may very well be what happens to your business, setting an exit strategy as the goal for your business is a good way to kill your business before it ever starts. You need to set a goal for your business that will allow it to continue to evolve and grow over time, and you need to invest yourself in it for the long haul. This doesn't mean that you're committing the rest of your life to the business, but it will help you to focus on making the business truly great, rather than just building something in order to get rid of it.

Related Articles
  Find The Perfect Home Based Affiliate Business Opportunity
  How to Succeed in any Home Based MLM Business Opportunity
  How Do You Find Legitimate Online Home Based Income Opportunities
  Work At Home Business Opportunity? Get Started NOW!
  What Are the Benefits of a Home Based Business?
  Home Based Business Opportunity Can be the Best Decision for you in Tough Economic Times
  Home Based Business Opportunity--Getting Started
  Online Home Based Business Opportunity - Tips to Financial Freedom
  6 Irrefutable Reasons Why Working At Home In Your Own Home Based Business Makes Sense.
  Top Online Business Ideas For Work At Home Moms
  Finding The Best Internet Home Based Business For You
  Rules for Home Based Business Success pt.1
  WHO ELSE WANTS TO MAKE MONEY ON THE INTERNET?
  Home Based Business Opportunity-Choose One that is Best for You
  7 Critical Factors That Define A Home Based Business’ Potential To Succeed
  Home Small Business Ideas
  How to use growth marketing in your home business
  Why A Lucrative, Easy, Legitimate Home Business Opportunity Provides A Solution For Retirement
  How To Start a Home Based Business
  How to Survive the Economic Disaster by Owning a Home Internet Business

Article Tags: business planning, home based business, small business, work from home, work from home articles



Related Forum Posts
Home Care Business Opportunity - You should not buy a franchise until you review our Senior Care Business Opportunity... Michael Gultz
Elevator Pitch in 10 Words - "Winning Business Design For Aspiring Entrepreneurs Based On Their Idea"
Fed rate cuts . . . - So just what do the newest Fed rate cuts mean to Franchise and Business Opportunity investing? Is it immediately felt? What timeframe do you think, or rather, where are we in terms of new vs. existing business investment? A similar question can be composed for the economic stimulus checks - will they a have any effect if consumers spend a little $$
Re: How do you budget your life? - Here is my financial management categories for today: 15% Long Term Savings; 10% Home Expenses; 45% Business and Marketing charges; 10% Friends (Meeting); 20$ Scientific and Law Books. But this will change when it is August or September. Orxan
Books for Women Entrepreneurs - There's a thread for good books in the Resources folder, but it doesn't target books for businesswomen particularly, so I figured I'd start such a thread here. It doesn't matter how successful you are in your business - it's always possible to learn something new. In subsequent posts I give Table of Contents and brief descriptions for various titles - most of them devoted to the businesswoman - and sometimes a review. If anyone else has read a review, or has read the book and found it useful, please comment! 1. The Old Girl's Network 2. Mother's Work 3. The 7 Greatest Truths About Successful Women 4. Pitch Like A Girl 5. Workplace Warrior 6. Treasure Hunt: Inside the Mind of the Modern Consumer 7. Contingency Planning & Disaster Recovery 8. She Wins, You Win 9. Napoleon On Project Management 10. Why Good Girls Dont' Get Ahead, But Gutsy Girls Do 11. Comeback Moms: How to Leave Work, Raise Children, and Restart your Career even If you Haven't Had a Job in Years 12. The One Minute Millionaire 13. Talking From 9 to 5 14. Soloing: Realizing Your Life's Ambitions 15. 101 Best Home Based Businesses for Women: Everything You Need to Know About Getting Started on the Road To Success 16. Work With Passion: How to Do What You Love for a Living. Revised and Expanded 17. Fail-Proof Your Business: Beat the Odds and be Successful 18. Confidence: How Winning Streaks and Losing Streaks Begin and End 19. Women Don't Ask: Negotiation and the Gender Divide 20. Millionaire Women Next Door: The Many Journeys of Successful American Businesswomen 21. Start Small, Finish Big: Fifteen Key Lessons to Start - and Run - Your Own Successful Business 22. Rewired, Rehired or Retired: A Global Guide for the Experienced Worker 23. The Martha Rules: 10 essentials for achieving success as you start, build or manage a business 24. The Essentials of Entrepreneurship: What it takes to create Successful Enterprises 25. Net Ready: Strategies for Success in the E-conomy 26. The Promotable Woman 27. Leave The Office Earlier: The Productivity Pro shows you how to do more in less time and feel great about it 28. The Work At Home Balancing Act: The professional resource guide for managing yourself, your work, and your family at home 29. Secrets of Six-Figure Women


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

Top Ten Home-Based Businesses

Is the iPad useful? One CEO tells all ....

Leading with Discernment

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.