Is a Home Business Right for You?

If you want to work at home, you are not alone. One million five hundred thousand searches were made last month alone for the keywords “work at home”. In addition to that, an additional eight
hundred thousand searched for the keywords “home business”.

Late night TV infomercials promise their audiences work from home opportunities that will allow them to make millions while they sleep, and there must be a lot of suckers, or there would not be so many of those scammers out there.

The truth of the matter is that almost all businesses  take time to get up and running, and having a plan and lots of persistence are crucial to success. I wish there was some magic formula that could speed up the process and guaranty instant success. One my favorite stories is the one about the turtle and the hare. It gives me hope that slow and steady will win the race. I don’t know about you, but the slow part as far as the learning curve sure describes me.

I think that in some ways, starting a home based business is like dumping out a huge jig saw puzzle on the table and trying to start to put it together. I hate puzzles, but I do know that a good strategy is to start finding the outside pieces. They are easy to find, they all have at least one straight edge. That narrows it down to a more manageable task.

In business some experts suggest you going after the “low hanging fruit”. Start with the easy steps, there is plenty of time to work your way up to the more complicated ones as you grow your business. Last fall, I talked about starting to build a good foundation. It is gathering the straight edged pieces so that you can begin to put the puzzle together.

My goal here is to help you find those pieces so that you can begin to see the bigger picture. For example sake, I will use my cinnamon roll class. If you were someone who took the class, you would leave with all the knowledge you “knead” to make cinnamon rolls, start your business, do the marketing etc.

To actually start your business however, you would have to take some steps outlined in the class. I think the one most people are afraid to take is going after the first sale, no matter what business you are in. Cold calling is  tough, and can be the death of a new business. Hearing “no” repeatedly is likely to cause doubt about your product or service, and in many cases is enough to convince people that there is no market, or that they can’t compete in it.

In the case of my students, I recommend they go after a sale they feel pretty sure they can get. If they have kids, friends, or relatives that are connected to a non profit that needs to raise money, that is a place for them to start. We have all heard the saying “it’s not what you know but WHO you know that counts. ” That really rings true in business.

You need to figure out where that easy sale is for your business. Don’t start by approaching the potential sale of the century. Remember, slow and steady wins the race. Take baby steps, use your connections to get to your first victory. That will start building your confidence for the next sale, and help condition you for the inevitable “no” in the future.

If you are still struggling with trying to find a home business idea, I want to invite you to check out my class to make money baking. It is designed to provide part time work from home, and will be a great fit for some of you. I assure you prior baking experience is not required, I can teach you that.