Knowing your market
There are three fundamental steps to knowing your market: research, research and, yep, research.
You’ve got this really great idea for your home business venture - you really like it, you’d buy it, you think it’s great. That’s you. What is everyone else going to think? You can be offering the greatest product or service the world has ever seen, if no one is going to buy it it’s a waste of time!
If you intend to market a product or service you need to know two things up front: who are your customers and who are your competitors. This is where the research comes in and it is an absolutely critical part of developing your home business - skip on the research here and you are going to end up making some costly mistakes.
1. Know your competitors
Google is your friend here. Search for terms which will be relevant to your market - if you are starting a photography business in Oxford, search for variations of, “Photography Oxford”. Do not rush this, try different search terms and combinations of keywords that are relevant to your intended market - just because you search for “Photography Oxford” doesn’t mean everyone else will, your competitors may come up for “Cool snaps Oxford” or even “Home camera Oxford”.
Now, once you’ve found some of your competitors’ websites, find out everything you can about them and their service/product. How much are they selling for? What kind of after sales service do they have? One you’ve looked through their website, the next step is to call them up - pretend you are interested in buying from them and find out what you can. What was their phone manner like? Were they pushy? Did the product/service sound good? Where can you compete with them and what are they doing that you can improve on?
If your business is going to be very localised and your competitors are small you may find that they don’t have a website. This could be the perfect opportunity for you because many people are using the Internet to find local services and businesses every day - make sure they find yours!
Once you have identified the competition, you have a question to answer: can you compete? Is there room for you in this market? Why are people going to choose you over all the others?
2. Know your customers
Who are you going to be selling to? How are they going to find out about your product and what is going to make them choose you? Be specific about this - are your customers going to be people in your town? Old or young? Male of female? Office workers or the unemployed? You need to narrow down your potential customer base so that you can then make the decision as to whether you will have any actual customers for your service or product.
Internet forums can be a good way to find out people’s opinions on things. Join some forums that would be frequented by your intended customers, hang around for a bit and find out what people are saying. After a while, you can start asking questions and doing polls to gauge opinion.
There is also the option of going out onto the street and talking to people, or dropping a questionair or flyer through people’s letterboxes. Be careful with this as most people a wary of people stopping them in the street or cold-calling at their house - people will be highly suspicious of some kind of scam or hard-sell.
Don’t skip this bit!
Researching your competition and your customers is absolutely vital in the early days of your home business venture. The last thing you want to do is waste your time developing a great new product only to find out that no-one wants it.
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5 ways to maximise your time
Your biggest investments in your home business are going to be time and money. You might be able to startup with a small amount of money but there’s no way you are going to get something going without investing a serious chunk of time.
You need to make sure you get maximum benefits from the time you have.
1. Plan your work
Write down your objectives for the day, the week, or the month. Estimate how long each task is going to take and where you are going to fit it in. Once you complete tasks, write down how long it took. Comparing your estimates against the actual time it took is a good idea because it helps you make more effective plans with more realistic estimations in the future. If a task took much longer than your estimation, think about why: was your estimations way out or was the task harder than you expected and how can you be more efficient next time?
2. Get up earlier
I always find that I work better in the mornings. I’m fresher, more focused and less likely to get side-tracked. Many studies have shown that office workers do their best work in the morning. A cup of strong coffee is an absolute must first thing if you want to get off to a flier.
3. Have the right tools
No matter what you use for your home business - a PC, a sewing machine, a pen and paper, whatever - make sure they are ready to be used when you need them. You don’t want to be wasting your valuable time updating your PC, searching for your favourite pen or ordering new thread. Make sure your tools work for you.
4. Stick to a schedule
When working from home it is very tempting to get the odd five minutes of work in here and there. I think it is far more productive to keep to a defined schedule - your family knows when you are going to be working and when your time is theirs. Sticking to a schedule helps keep a separation between your work and your free time - which I think is very important - if you let the two mix, both will suffer.
5. Take a break
If your work is stressing you out too much: take a break. Running your own business from home is supposed to be a fun and rewarding experience that will make your life better. If it’s all getting too much, let it go for a few days - a break will see you returning to your work refreshed and full of enthusiasm.
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Lose the negative attitude: start your own business
Many people dream about starting their own business, few get further than that.
People are daunted by the prospect of starting their own business, they come up with reasons why they shouldn’t do it and stay in their ’safe’ job. They think that it’s only for a certain kind of person and they are not that type. They think it takes luck, or the right parents, or the right education.
Truth is, you can start your own business! A good idea, perseverance, dedication and integrity will get you a long way.
If you can:
- Believe in your business idea and your ability to make it work
- Work hard to achieve your goals and grow your business
- Persevere when it would be easier to give up
You have what it takes to turn your dreams into reality.
Needed for your home business: time and money
Time and money are the two things you are absolutely going to need when kicking off your home business.
Everyone complains about not having enough time. Your full-time employment takes up most of the day, you want to spend quality time with your family, your favourite TV shows, your hobbies… Where the heck are you going to find time in all of this to grow a new business? You need to be realistic about how much time you can give to your new venture - you’ve got this great idea for a business but are you going to be able to fit it in day-to-day?
Decide how much time you can spare before diving into anything - you don’t want to spend money getting something set up only to find you can’t maintain it.
And, talking of money: You are always going to have to spend some money to get a home business off the ground. It might only be a little, say $60 for some web-hosting or $20 for some stationary but you will have to pay something out. Think about what you can afford. Are you going to finance your new business through your monthly wage or are you going to take a loan? Can you still survive if the business idea doesn’t work out and you are left out of pocket?
Your biggest investment in your new business will be your time, closely followed by your money. Have you got enough of both to spare?
Hitting on your killer business idea
You know you want to start your own business but there’s a real tough choice straight ahead: what exactly are you going to do?
To get some ideas bouncing around, think about:
- Your skills - Artists, writers and programmers have very transferable skills. What skills do you have and how can you use them?
- What annoys you? - What little things annoy you on a daily basis? Can you provide a service or product to make them less annoying?
- Your hobbies - Can you turn your hobby into a business?
- Save time - People are busy, they have no time - give them some by making something easier or more convenient.
- Teach - People will pay for your expertise.
- Convenience - People want things handed to them on a plate. Serve it up