EnTrends

In order to decide what to focus on
in particular out of a group of
potential unmet or under-met needs,
take account of your experience,
interests and competencies. People
are

generally good at what they enjoy
and are interested in, after all.

5. Fill the unmet or under-met need

Once you've identified the unmet
need(s) in your sub-category, you
can start thinking about how your

business can fill that unmet need.

=> SURVEY THE MARKET AND
YOUR COMPETITION

At this stage, you need to take your
business idea and survey your niche
market and your competition.

If you have competition, can you be
better? If your market is dominated
by a few large, well-established
players and you really don't bring
anything new or different to the
table, then the competition is
probably going to be too stiff. On the
other hand, if that

competition is focused on the high
end of the market leaving the lower
end largely uncatered for, then this
could well be an excellent niche for
you.

The bottom line is to identify your
best competition in your niche and
decide whether you can be better.

Only if you believe you can be the
best in your niche should you
proceed. If not, keep looking until
you find a niche perfectly suited to
your particular blend of experience,
interests and competencies in which
you can be the absolute best.

=> BUSINESS PLAN

Once you've identified your niche
and surveyed your market and
competition and are reasonably
confident

you can be at least as good as your
best competitor, it's time to get down
to brass tacks.

This is where you take your business

idea and shape it into a battle plan.
Formulating a business plan is

goal-setting for your business. For a
more detailed treatment of writing a
business plan, read "Putting the Plan
Back Into Your Business Plan"

at
http://www.ahbbo.com/busplan.html
.

Once you've thought through and
recorded your business plan you
should have an extremely

thorough understanding of your
industry and the challenges you
must overcome to make a success of
your business. Take your business
plan and

establish objectives, goals (which
support attainment of the objectives)
and tasks (which support attainment

of the goals).

Put your tasks and goals into action
to achieve your objectives. Decide
where you want your business to be
in five years time and work
backwards until

you have 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1 year
objectives and goals to support them
and tasks to support the goals. The

end result should be a daily to-do list
of things that will directly lead you
closer to the achievement of your
goals and objectives.

=> ACTION

Once you have your daily to-do list,
DO IT! The best laid plans of mice
and men are useless if not translated
into action. It's action that will propel
you and your business towards
success. Mere thoughts and plans
are necessary but insufficient. They
must be translated into activity.

=> TRANSITION

If possible, transition from whatever
you're doing now into your business.
Test the waters, in other words. If
you're currently in a paid job, stay
there and run your business part-
time, taking the risk on someone
else's nickel until you can be
confident this thing's going to float.
Know when you're better off
devoting your full time and attention
to your business

(i.e., know when an hour of your time
is worth more when spent invested in
your business than your job) for that
is the time to shift into full-time
entrepreneurship.

=> MAKING THE LEAP

Finally, make the leap with faith and
courage. Sure, you'll have moments
of self-doubt, thoughts of "can I do
this?" when you're wondering where
the next

order's going to come from and you
think back to the nice, safe, secure
paycheck you used to be able to

count on in your job. But recognize
these insecurities for what they are.
They are your mind playing tricks

on you. You can do anything you set
your mind to. You just have to want
it badly enough. So, when the time
comes to make the leap, do it and
hold nothing back. Your success or
failure is up to you alone. There are
no excuses.

So, in answer to the question "how
do I start my own home business?",
it's quite simple really. You do what it

takes.

Elena Fawkner is editor of A Home-
Based Business Online ...

practical business ideas,
opportunities and solutions for the

work-from-home entrepreneur.

http://www.ahbbo.com