EnTrends

From time to time (at least once a day
actually) I'll get an impossible-to-
respond-to email that says
something like, "How can I work from
home?", or "I want to start my own
home business. Please send info." or
even, "Please send free info.".
Naturally such vague, generalized
requests are

not, for reasons of time (among
others), going to elicit a particularly
helpful response but it does
exemplify the mindset of a proportion
of my site visitors - they think they
want to start a home business but
where on earth do they start?

HOW DO I START A HOME
BUSINESS?

The best advice I can give to
someone who asks a question as
vague as this is that they're asking
the wrong question.

The first question they should be
asking themselves is: "SHOULD I
start a home business?", not HOW
do they do so.

The person who asks how to start a
home business has not given much,
if any, thought to what they might do
as such a business (otherwise, their
question would be "How do I start

an errand service home business?"
or "How do I start a gourmet gift
basket home business?").

So, first things first. Why do you
want to start a home business? What
are the advantages as you see them?
What are the disadvantages? What
entrepreneurial qualities

do you bring to the table that make
you think you could make a success
of your own business? What is your
plan? What product or service will
you market? Who are your
customers? When will you give up
your day job? Are you thinking
about this because you just LOST
your day job (if so, warning bells
should be ringing very loudly!)? A
home business is most definitely
NOT for everyone and it's

certainly not a solution to
unemployment per se.

There are financial considerations
too,

obviously. How will you support
yourself until you generate a profit?
Where will you obtain financing?

For more thought starters, read
"Look Before You Leap ... Is a Home-
Based Business REALLY For You?"
in the AHBBO Articles Library at
http://www.ahbbo.com/lookb4uleap.
html .

Assuming you work your way
through the above considerations
and conclude that you do, indeed,
want to start your own home
business, then, and only then,
should you ask "HOW do I

start a home business?"

There are as many answers to this
question as there are individuals who
ask it. There is no one answer that
fits all sizes. Generally speaking,
however, the process of starting

one's own home business can be
broken down into seven broad steps.

=> IDENTIFY YOUR PASSIONS

If you're truly starting at ground zero
and you don't already do something
on the side that you'd kind of like to
see if

you could make fly, your first step is
to decide what it is you'd like to do
as your business.

I'm a firm believer in following your
passion, whether that be for
gardening (start a herb and spice
business or

cultivate cuttings for distribution via
mail order), lead- lighting (design and
create stained glass lampshades),

accounting (run a home-based small
business accountancy service) or
website design. It doesn't matter
whether other people are equally as
passionate about what you're
passionate about. It's YOUR passion
that counts and it's YOUR passion
that will propel you towards success.
Do something you love to do in
other words. Make your work your
joy and you won't be able to help

but succeed.

=> IDENTIFY A NICHE MARKET
FOR YOUR PASSION

Now, it's one thing to know what
you're passionate about, it's quite
another to identify an unmet need in

that field. But that's what you must
do if you want to turn your passion
into a truly profitable business
venture.

Identifying your niche is a pretty
straightforward process:

1. Identify your general category and
sub-category

Let's say your general passion is
gardening. Gardening is your general
category. Let's also say that you're

particularly interested in growing
herbs and how they can be used for
cooking and medicinal purposes.
Herb

growing is your sub-category.

2. Hang out with people interested in
your sub-category

In order to identify unmet needs in
your sub-category (step 3.), you
must find out from people interested
in

your sub-category what they're
looking for that they can't find. A
good way to find out is to hang out
where they hang out - offline and on.
Offline, you may belong to a local
gardening club or cooking class at
which you hear that so-and-so has
been looking high and low for

a certain type of specialty herb that
isn't commonly grown in your
country. Online, you may sign up for

mailing lists and hang out in
newsgroups to listen to what people
are asking time and again.

3. Identify unmet or under-met needs
in your sub-category

If you follow step 2, chances are, if
you hear the same things repeatedly,
you've found potential unmet needs

or needs that aren't being adequately
serviced by your competition. After
all, if the need is being met, it won't
be

the subject of repeated questions.

4. Inventory your experience,
interests and competencies