Thursday, February 21, 2008

Create a Budget For Your Home Based Business

Reading message boards, one of the things I see regularly is “I don’t have any money to invest” or “I have very little money to invest”.

I believe you need to create a budget before you ever begin a business. Without a budget, you are setting yourself up for failure.

I know you can find ads that say “no money required” or “free to join”. However, money can only be made if something somewhere is bought and sold. In order for you to buy and sell whatever it is you are now in business with will require money to invest.

To begin with, whatever you are selling, you need to try yourself. While it might be free to “join a program”, there will be a fee to try the service or product.

Now consider the actual business aspect of your venture. There are fees to purchase a domain and fees to host your domain. “But the program gives me a free website” you might be thinking. There’s not a lot you can do with an affiliate site URL. If you want to advertise, write articles etc, you’re going to need your own domain. Free websites give you what you pay for. They are loaded with ads and try to find 10 people, just 10 people who have made purchases from a free web site.

To put up a website will also take an investment. You’ll either need to purchase a site building program or you’ll need to hire someone to build the site for you. Either way, this too is a financial investment.

What about marketing? How are you going to market whatever it is you are selling? Again, you might be thinking “but I know you can advertise for free”. Yes, there are forms of advertising that are free, such as article marketing, plug boards and message boards. However, these methods of marketing need to be combined with paid advertising. You’ll need to place classified ads, place banner ads and put ads into ezines. This all costs money.

Are there any supplies you’ll need? Often folks will buy a software program to help keep track of inventory, or help them keep track of customers. Sometimes folks will buy an accounting program to help them keep track of money in and money out. What about your work space? Do you have everything you need at home for your work space?

Often in business, you’ll need a long distance service for your phone. I use a combination of the free long distance on my cell phone and a phone card that I pay only a couple of cents per minute on.

I believe one of the first things you’ll need when considering a home business is a realistic budget of how much this business will cost to get off the ground. There really is no such thing as a “free business”

Audrey :)
http://mytupperware.com/audreyoka

2 comments:

Jill LaFaye said...

Very good post:)

I am an Avon Representative..yes it was only $10.00 to join..you receive a kit and brochures to begin..but then you have to purchase more books..I purchase 400books each campaign/every 2 weeks..this cost me about $60.00 every 2 weeks. Then samples..everyone loves free samples..usually $1.00 for a box of 10. Long distance..I have an unlimited plan for my house phone that runs $35.00 but I added another office line..$20.00 for the additional..but I have unlimited local and long distance on both now..my cell phone has 1000minutes + free nights and weekends. But sometimes it gets close to going over..people will call me first on my cell..they won't try to call the office first. I will ask them if I can call them right back..and they don't mind..then I call from the office phone..just to "hoard" my minutes..just in-case:)
Printer ink..I print out my invoices..much easier..but ink isn't cheap..I go through a lot of paper..and gas..I drive a large SUV..and gas is so high right now.

So back to your post..people really need to consider if a new small business will work for them..and not make things worse..if they truly are in need of extra income.

Have a great weekend!

j said...

Thank you for your California prayers!!! Have a happy weekend...Jennifer