Tuesday Chat - Mums in Business

This Tuesday I wanted to share something a little different with you, I often have mums commenting how they would like to start their own business and work from home, so hen I read this article from www.mumsinbusiness.net I thought I would share it with you. Enjoy!

Are You Looking at Starting Your Own Small Business or Just Started a Home Based Small Business?

There are many reasons why mum's want to start a home based small business – flexibility of working around the children, working from home, potential to earn more money and being able to create a better lifestyle. A home based small business gives you options that you wouldn’t normal get if you were employed. It can be a great win-win situation!
In this day and age there are plenty of good business ideas available. Coming up with ideas for a business is usually easy. But how do you turn an idea into a profitable business?
Well you just need to follow the right business steps. It is a well known fact that a high proportion of businesses fail within the first few years and for business mums it can be a little more challenging; trying to juggle the children, the business and the finances but with the right research, planning and help (Mums in Business has been established especially to assist you) it can be a lot of FUN and very REWARDING. You can have a very successful business.
Five key points for mums starting up a new business
So before starting your own small business you should consider your situation and your business idea. Mums in Business has put together five key points for you to consider before starting your small home business:

1. Is this for you? Running a business can be challenging and demanding and is not for everyone so before taking the next steps to set up a business it is important to see if it is for you. You need to consider your personality, skills and circumstances. Ask yourself why you want to start a home based business and if you are really suited to running a business or are you just looking for some extra cash.
2. Are you ready? Consider the following:
   • Are you able to work at home? At least you will need a computer and an Internet connection. It is also advisable to have a designated place where you can work from that is away from distractions around the house.
   • Are you disciplined? When working from home it is easy to get distracted by housework, errands, Facebook or personal emails. So do you have the discipline without procrastinating to assign time (a few hours each day or a few days a week) to focus on your business.
   • Are you committed and motivated? You will need to learn new skills and try things you have never done before. You will need to motivate yourself on an ongoing basis by setting goals. Are you are up for the challenge? 
   • What changes will you make? How much time are you prepared to spend on your business and what are you going to give up to achieve that, less time watching TV, less time with the family etc. If you have children at home, who will look after them whilst you are working on your business and how will you pay for that - one less takeaway maybe!
3. Need ideas for a business?There are lots of ways to make money online - here are some good business ideas for you to consider.
   
   • Affiliate marketing. This is where you become an affiliate of someone else's product and sell it for a percentage of the sale. This is an easy method as they deal with everything else – stock, payments, shipping etc. There are sites like Clickbank.com and PayDotDom.com that have thousands of affiliate products at up to 70% commission for you to promote. 
   • Digital/Online products. Creating your own digital products, eBooks, Audio, Videos, e-courses, subscriptions and memberships etc to sell is a great business. The key is to find a niche market (people with mutual interests) and bring them together into one place. You will need to create information that people cannot get anywhere else. The beauty is you can sell them over and over again once to your niche market it is set up because people download the products straight from your site automatically. 
   • Sell a service (your skills). You can sell just about anything if there is a need for it. Think about what you are good at – event planning, teaching people to use Facebook etc and then create a package of your services to sell on a simple website. Now a day’s location isn’t a restriction with most service businesses as you can use Teleseminars, conferences, Skype, Videos, Audio etc. 
   • Physical products/Ecommerce sites. This method will require you to invest a little more time and money to set it up that the other methods as you have to source products and get those products online. You will also require capital to purchase these products (some companies will allow products on consignment).
   For more details on what kind of resources are available to assist you start a business, just click here
   

   If you are still looking for more specific ideas for a business, visit the Ideas for a Business section on this website www.mumsinbusiness.net/ideas-for-a-business.html

4. Is there a DEMAND for your product?Far too often business mums start a business, but fail to consider if there is a DEMAND for their business before spending time and money on developing it. It’s as simple as Supply and Demand. You need to supply products to meet the demand. If there is no demand no amount of marketing or money will help you sell your products. You can find out if there is a demand by doing some keyword research. If the research shows that there are buyers searching for your product, then you know there is a demand.
5. How are you going to finance your business? The good news is that a lot of work at home businesses can be started on a small amount of money but you will need some start up money to fund your business; the amount will depend on the type of business you start. You need to consider what you will spend it on, like on a website, office equipment, stationery, marketing etc. Also you should have funds available to cover costs whilst you are trying to make sales.
   A word of caution - Don’t spend any money until you have investigated all avenues. Many times I talk to business women who have spent $3,000 on a magazine ad, or are just about to pay up to $5,000 for a website - there is no way a website needs to cost anything like this.
   
   So before you spend anything substantial, research the market and suppliers. I can tell you now; there are always other options I am teach you to get you started, like using a free blog instead of a website or using free traffic methods to promote your business. You can always upgrade your website or pay for advertising once you start making money.

For more useful information visit www.mumsinbusiness.net