Starting A Business from Home

Running a business from the comfort of your home gives you the perfect work-life balance you’ve been searching for. Becoming your own boss is a big step, so whether you’re looking to make a little extra cash or you’re starting your own empire, this guide is for you.

The concept of making money from home whilst your little ones maintain their usual pace sounds idyllic. However, there are a few steps to consider in your home before you jump into your new venture:

New Routines for a Home Business

Ensuring that you keep a tight routine for yourself during working hours is essential to creating a successful and productive business. As a mum, you’re already a pro at keeping a schedule for your family, now its time you put this skill to the test with your professional life. Minimize disturbances and distractions by setting specific “work hours” for yourself with your kids.

Home workspace

Whatever your home business is making or selling, you will need your own physical space. This may be for creating, for paperwork or merely for quiet time with you and your laptop. To literally close the door on your working day is also highly advantageous for you mentally, and for your kids to have a sound understanding of mum’s office. Refer to safeworkaustralia.gov.au to make sure that your home is a healthy happy workplace.

Involvement

Having a successful home business whilst raising a family is entirely possible, but what if you can maximise this experience for you and your kids? By involving your family you will teach them important values and commitment from an early age. Creative involvement for your children is something they can look forward to, whilst earning a little extra TV time or pocket money from mum.

Now that you’ve considered your routine, space and kids, its time to get into the nitty-gritty of the establishment. Here are the steps you need to take to kick start your business:

What’s Right For You

You’re running your own operation, it’s time to do the work you’ve always wanted to. By picking something that you have an interest in you will remain committed and driven. Although, always consider your skillset and how you can best put it to use. If you find an idea that you love and can do well, then you have found your perfect at-home business. Now, this idea has to be original, regardless of your passion. With a very crowded market it’s important that you do your homework, and do it right, to ensure your individuality.

Find An Audience

Once you’ve got a unique concept, establishing an audience is next. By finding the right demographic you are far more likely to run a successful business. You have to make sure your idea addresses a need, this way you’ll be able to effectively develop your concept to fulfill a real gap in the market that catches consumers’ attention. The key to this is research, look online, in print media and always consider the wants and needs of your immediate environment or your nearest and dearest.

Create Your Platform

You will absolutely need a platform to sell your business and the best place to start is online. With platforms such as Squarespace, WordPress or Wix this is becoming increasingly easy, they come loaded with usable and stylish templates for anyone to master.

The best way to ensure your business will be received well is to make your website as clean, simple and as accessible as possible. This way your content and services will be easily digested and understood. Ilya Pozin writes, “Be clear and concise. Don’t make visitors think.”

You will also need to purchase your own original domain, once you have this you can begin to create various social media. This will connect you with audiences as you gain consumer insight. Some free services to look into after this are TalkWalker and GoogleTrends, which will help you to understand how your business and its media are perceived in the online space.

Now that you have your idea and your platforms, you will need to tackle the nuts and bolts of self-run operations. These are small details that you don’t necessarily see, but which are vital elements to your success:

The Business End

You will need a plan of action, a business plan. This will help you to understand your goals, both long-term and short-term. It will also aid you in setting tasks, timelines and will flag any limitations or shortcomings that you may have.

Business investors Max Funding, say, “Starting any kind of business is a great endeavor everyone should attempt at least once in their lifetime. Although not everyone will have the luxury of attempting such a feat. We see all types of businesses enter the market daily. Over the years we have noticed one common factor that separates successful businesses from unsuccessful ones, that is the ability to focus and get the job done. Lack of focus on solving the right problems in your business will ultimately determine whether you survive. Get advice from people close to you or experts who have already succeeded in the business you are entering into. They can help you choose the right aspects to focus on in your business”.

Logistics

Licenses and registrations are essential, refer to Australian Business License and Information at business.gov.au to gain a thorough understanding. This will also help you with your tax registrations and with setting up trademarks. More tax information can be found at the ATO, look to learn how to make claims and to make the most out of your earnings.

Finances

Finally, finances, obviously these are a huge part of starting up a business. You’ll need to set up a separate account for your business or to register an ABN. For a full rundown on all things finance, go to business.gov.au/Finance. This resource can school you on finding funding, how to invoice and how to bookkeep for yourself.

Enjoy Yourself!

Once you’ve created a plan for launching your home business, get ready to enjoy the advantages of running your professional life whilst you care for your children. Making money whilst staying at home with your loved ones doesn’t have to be complicated, with the resources recommended and some careful consideration there is no reason why 2019 shouldn’t be your year for professional growth and family fun.

Find the harmony in your life, the gift which lies between the professional and the personal.

Authors Bio:

Brandon Powell is an Australian freelance writer and Sydney-based university student. As a business student, he has a passion for learning about global changes in business culture and specialises in entrepreneurship and innovation-related topics. When Brandon isn’t at his desk, you’ll find him exploring National Parks. If you would like to get in touch, email Brandon here.