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Duh Idiot's Guide to Starting a Home Business

"Starting a Home Business"..."Work from Home"..."Be a Work at

Home Mom"..."Make Millions Working From Home" I CAN'T TAKE IT

ANY MORE!!!!!

So why does everyone want to work from home?? I'll tell

you why, because working 9 to 5 SUCKS!!

Hey don't listen to me, here are the stats: According to The

MicroEnterprise Journal "In the last 25 years,

self-employment has grown by almost 300%, fueled by waning

employee loyalty and growing worker dissatisfaction." And the

US Census Bureau reports that "90% percent of all U.S.

businesses employ between ZERO and FOUR workers, making this the

fastest growing segment of the business community." See I told

you!

Everywhere you look on the Internet we're bombarded with

sites peddling "work at home" opportunities. The stats prove it,

we're all looking to get out of the 9 to 5 rat race. The biggest

problem is that MOST of the so called "work-at-home" related

websites are so bogged down with clutter, fluff and double talk

that you'd have to be a friggin robot to find and process the

information you need in order to understand what the heck to do.

So where can an Idiot like me get the information I

need contained in a simple, concise format that's easy to

understand and follow? Well nowhere really. That's why I wrote

this article and condensed the whole process down into 5

Summarized Steps, so that maybe other Idiot's like me will have

a fighting chance in hell to get out of the "Rat Race".

Idiot Step 1:

SELECTING a business - simple enough right...wrong.

Questions to ask yourself: What do I like to do? What will make

money? What is available? Can I make Money?

These are tough questions. These days, most people are scouring

ways to make money on the Internet. If considering a TV or

Internet program, do as much independent research as possible on

the program you're interested in and find something that fits

your personality so that you will excel no matter what.

Whatever you do use common sense and don't allow desperation to

influence your decisions.

Start-Up Nation - www.startupnation.com offers SOUND advice and

has tons of RELIABLE resources for selecting a home business.

Idiot Step 2:

PLANNING your business. You will have to have some "form"

of a business plan before you get started with a home business.

Even if you are the only one that will ever read it, you should

definitely put a plan together on paper. An informal business

plan should contain a start-up budget (money you need to get to

the point of doing business) and an operating budget (money you

need on a weekly basis just to keep doing business).

Be certain to include all overhead expenses and be sure to

include a budget for advertising. Also you should note any

significant milestones you hope to achieve and list your

financial goals in a time-line fashion.

Idiot Step 3:

FUNDING your home business. Every business has start-up

costs and your new home-based business will be no different. As

the old saying goes "You need money to make money". So where do

you get the money you need to start?

The simplest way for home business owners to get the money they

need is from the principal owner's own pockets...that means YOU!

Like myself, many work at home entrepreneurs simply use their

own savings to fund their businesses, using money from personal

resources such as...

· Savings · Personal Investments · Credit Card Advance · Sale of

Assets · Second Mortgage Loan

...are all ways to finance a small business start-up using your

own funds.

The alternative to funding it yourself is to apply for a small

business loan. The biggest issue there is that unless you have

sufficient collateral, or any related experience in your field

of business, you may not qualify for this type of loan.

The Small Business Administration - www.sba.gov has a TON of

information and resources for start-up businesses. It contains

valuable info on locating financing and it contains several

links to other business resources, planning tools and

calculators.

Idiot Step 4:

STARTING your home business. Once you've chosen your

great new home business, and have got your starting cash in

reserve, it's time to get you up and running. But before you do,

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you will have to do some preliminary work just to get to the

point where you can actually start operating.

Two-thirds of all small business are solo operations. Therefore,

when you're a "one-man band", you must wear different hats and

assume several roles as the "head" of various departments.

You're the CEO, sales manager, director of marketing, director

of finance, the shipping clerk, receptionist, the janitor...you

get the drift Fonzi?

Because of your heavy load, you need quality office equipment,

supplies, software and business services to keep you, I mean

your "departments", running smoothly and at peak efficiency.

Idiot Step 5:

MARKETING your home business. Now that you've got your

business funded and operational you will need to implement a

marketing and advertising campaign so that you can start

attracting customers and finally start making some money.

This isn't "Field of Dreams". If you build it, that doesn't mean

they will come.

In order to draw customers to your business, you MUST do some

form of repeated advertising, and you should definitely have a

plan in place so that you can budget it into your overall

Business Plan when you first start.

A good place to start is by reading Jay Conrad Levinson's

series of Guerilla Marketing books. This is standard reading

for any small business entrepreneur. You can learn some very

useful and basic techniques that will help you form a great and

inexpensive plan.

Everything contained here is information extracted from my web

guide, "Duh Idiot's Home Biz Start-Up Guide", and

condensed to fit into this 1,000-word article format. Not bad

for an Idiot, huh?

You can visit the site to get the additional "Easy to Follow"

Idiot's recommendations on what you'll need to successfully

launch your own home business.

"U can do it...just dive into it" SM

About the author:

Duh Idiot's HomeBiz-StartUp-Guide, a website dedicated to

helping average individuals find EVERYTHING they need for starting a home business.