What
Are You Going to Sell?
All
business is about sales of products or services. If
you are a contract
worker or freelancer worker it is still about selling.
You may already have a product idea to
develop or skill to sell. Many
people
have the desire for a home business but don’t know what to
market or if they
have product idea they don’t know how to turn it into a money
making business.
Not all
business
ideas are suitable for start-up at home. They may be too expensive to
develop,
require heavy equipment, special permits and so on. Other ideas may
have poor profit
potential or face fierce competition. Generalizing about good business
ideas is impossible. Some ideas are simply unique and fly in the face
of sensible
advice.
But, in general, look first at business ideas which have these features:
Low overhead Unless you have unlimited funds,
find ideas which don't require large capital outlays to
buy expensive
machinery, customer lists or distribution rights.
Cheap to operate Don't ruin the low operating
costs of being home-based by choosing an idea that involves hiring many
people, lots of cash, or long downtimes.
.
Internet linkable Home-based
businesses which harness the power of ecommerce. . Look for
ideas which are
web-ready or have potential for electronic communication with customers
and suppliers.
Easy to manage As you become
successful, sales will grow. How will you handle increased demand? Can
you fill
large orders quickly? Can you afford to expand? Avoid ideas that could
quickly
grow out of your control.
 |
Watch Out for Scams!
You'll see
ads for work-at-home schemes on television, at Websites, in
business
publications, and even on matchbook covers. The ads claim you can "Earn
$1,000 a week" and offer "Great Start-Up Potential" with
"No Experience Necessary". The ads often provide fake testimonials
that you cannot verify and use fly-by-night post office boxes as reply
addresses .If you answer the ads, you receive demands for money before
materials are sent and no analysis of the actual operating costs.
Each
year many people fall for scam artists schemes that claim
to offer fantastic profits. Taken in by innocence, greed or
desperation, people can lose
their life
savings or fall deep into debt. Scams tend to target certain types of
people:
seniors, people forced into early retirement, and people wanting to
earn extra cash.
Some
work-at-home
schemes are legitimate but too many are
fraudulent or unprofitable.
The difficulty is telling them apart. The best advice is if it looks
too good
to be true it probably is.
Typical
schemes to be
cautious with are:
No-money
down-real estate
Envelope
stuffing
Call
centre sales
Vending
machines sales
Assembling
crafts and products piecework
Protect
yourself by
asking for local references from scheme participants who you can go
visit to
discuss their experiences. Visit independent forums and search for
sites that report scam complaints. In general, do not believe
any
testimonials.
The best
option is to always check out all operations by contacting the Better
Business Bureau
and know who you are dealing with.
Your
information is Private & Secure