The Many Advantages Of A Starting Your Own Home Based Business

by: Stefanie Fauquet

Have you been considering starting your own business and working from home? The advantages of working from home and starting your own business are great. Not only will you be able to stay at home with your children, and be your own boss (who doesn't love that), but there are many tax deductions that can make a home based business opportunity very appealing to moms (and dads) everywhere.

Save on Daycare

Quite possibly the best reason for being a work at home mom is actually being able to stay at home with your children. This is truly a rewarding thing, and might be your main reason to start a home based business. Just the fact that knowing where your kids are, and knowing they are in the best hands (yours of course), gives you total peace of mind. This in itself is priceless.

On the financial side this is also a plus. Daycare costs are outrageous now a days, and even more so if you have multiple children that are not yet in school. The money you'll save on daycare alone can offset the costs of starting your own home business.

Be your own Boss

Being your own boss lets you make your own schedule, and set your own guidelines. Don't want to start working until noon? No problem! As long as you have focus, and can get the work you need to get done, it doesn't matter when you do it. You are in total control of you business, and how you want to run it, and that is a great feeling.

No More Daily Commute

Ahhh! How great it would be not to have to try to beat rush hour traffic? With the rising gas prices today this can add up to a big savings. On another note, think of all the money you will also save on business attire. Working in your pajamas is a lot better than a business suit.

Tax Benefits

When tax time comes having your own business can really make sense. Home Based Businesses receive numerous tax advantages. Most of the time, any expenses that are related to your business can be added as a deduction on your taxes. Some of the deductions you can take on your tax return include:

1. Start up Costs - This includes your initial investment in your business. If you are starting in a direct sales business, this would be your start up kit and any promotional supplies.

2. Business Supplies - Anything you buy and use for your business. Business Cards, paper, pens, etc.

3. Computer - If you purchased a computer to use solely for business purposes this can be deducted as well.

4. Internet Access/ Web Services - You internet connection service and any services such as web hosting, and domain names.

5. Phone Line - This would be a home phone line used solely for business. This also includes long distance calls. Make sure to keep all phone bills for your records.

6. Advertising - Anything you do to advertise your business, whether it is online or off.

7. Automobile Mileage - All your business traveling expenses can also be deducted. This would include your gas mileage to and from events such as home parties. Make sure to keep a detailed account of this as well.

The only rule to this is you MUST treat your business like a business, and not a hobby. This is something you should be doing anyway and is one of the first rules in becoming successful. The next main thing you MUST do is keep good documentation of all expenses. This would include all receipts, credit card and billing statements, and a written log on how the money was spent on your business. Just spending a few minutes a day keeping track of your business expenses can save you an estimated $2,000-$10,000 a year on taxes!

Cheap Insurance - Ten Tips

by: Steve Gillman

Cheap insurance? Auto insurance, life insurance, health insurance, liability insurance - whatever type of insurance you need, you can buy it for less. Try the following:

1. Raise you deductible. Why have a $100 deductible if a $1000 deductible won't break you? It may hurt to pay the first thousand someday, but what if meanwhile you saved several thousand? High deductibles mean lower rates. Of course, get quotes with various deductibles, to be sure you're saving enough for the higher risk.

2. Lower your coverage. Insurance agents secretly admit that people usually get sued according to policy limits. You'll be sued for more if your limit is a million than if it's a hundred thousand. A judgement beyond the policy limits is a scary thought, but this can happen no matter what your limits are. If you don't have many assets or much money in the bank, consider lowering your coverage to save money. Get quotes first, of course, to see how much you'll save.

3. Lower the insurance company's risk. Using seatbelts, not smoking, and having alarm systems can mean cheap insurance. Ask your agent about any discounts that are available.

4. Use an independent agent. Why limit yourself to one insurance company? Independents can show you the cheapest policy regardless of which company it's from. Just check a rating service to see if the issuing company is financially solid, especially when buying life insurance.

5. Drop your insurance. The insurance companies will hate me for this one, but consider eliminating some coverages. You need liability coverage on your car, but collision coverage on a $2000 car doesn't make sense. Invest the money elsewhere, and take the $2000 loss once or twice in your life, or maybe never.

6. Buy stocks instead of insurance. If you and your wife both have good incomes, it probably makes more sense to invest your money than to buy life insurance. If loved ones have enough income or assets, life insurance premiums are usually wasted money.

7. Get rebates. Some states that allows "rebating". California law, for example, allows agents to rebate part of their commission to you. If you live in a non-rebating stae, find a California company online!

8. Get the legal minimums. If you have no assets to protect, ask for state-mandated minimums on auto liability policies. Most companies give you their higher, more expensive "company minimums" if you don't push the point.

9. Review your policies. It is common for parents to still pay for health insurance coverage on adult children long after they are working and have their own coverage. See what other unecessary coverages you may be paying for.

10. Get several quotes. For cheap insurance, compare quotes from several companies, and ask about different policy options. One more thing: take notes.

Increase Business Profits

by: Steve Gillman

How do you increase business profits? Answer the following questions carefully, and you'll have a good start.

1. Can you increase the average sale? A restaurant with 25% profit margins might make 50% on additional sales to existing customers (less labor to bag one large order than two smaller ones). Asking "What would you like to drink with that?" works, and it's just a start.

2. What's the least expensive way to get a customer? Before you spend another thousand dollars advertising to get new customers, could you get as much business by spending a few hours contacting previous or existing customers?

3. What low risk ideas can you try? I once sent a letter to several visiting basketball teams, inviting them to visit our restaurant, and giving the coach a free meal as an incentive. The cost? Two dollars. The pay off was two busloads of customers. At that rate, you could increase your business profits even if nine out of ten ideas fail.

4. Have you tested prices? I knew a store that sold a product for a $1.05, that cost them $1.00. At a price of $1.20, it is doubtful that they'd lose half their sales, but if they did, they'd still make twice the profit. Some things even sell better at a higher price. Test.

5. Can you measure your advertising results? How do you know that you're not spending more for a customer than they're worth? Coupons, customer surveys and other methods of measurement are a must.

6. How do you know your customers are satisfied? The worst restaurant meal we ever ate went down without a comment, but we never returned to that restaurant. Maybe the owner should be talking to the customers.

7. Can you enhance the percieved value of your product? Years ago, I sold walking sticks for $10 at flea markets, and $20 at craft shows. Sometimes location alone can enhance the percieved value of a product. What else can you do?

8. What are similar businesses doing? See what your successful competitors are doing. Can you do the same?

9. What other products can you sell? There's a reason stores have candy and magazines near the checkout. Extra sales are a great way to increase business profits.

10. Can you use your customers as salesmen? Word of mouth is a start, but what other ways can you get your customers to bring their friends to you?

These were culled from a longer list. I call it "stolen business ideas," because I can't credit the original authors. I took them where I found them over the years, with grattitude, but without notes.

SEO For Dummies; How to Choose the right Firm for You

by: Carrie Haggerty

Ok, so you’ve finished your web site. Now you just submit your web site to a couple of search engines, sit back, relax and wait to see your bank account grow. Yeah, that’s what I thought as well. You wait and wait and wait... nothing. No hits. No growing bank account. You cant even find your web site on the search engines when you searched for your company name. Are you even listed? How do people find you? Finally fed up with all the waiting, you decide to do some research. You go to forums and read article after article, and one acronym keeps popping up. SE What? What’s SEO? You continue to read and find out more about search engine optimization, and come to realize that you’re a “novice” to the World Wide Web and you feel left out in the dark and unavialable to the possibilities that the Internet has to offer small business.

I was like you not so many moons ago, and I had absolutely no idea where to start. What is a meta tag? Key word density? Link development? Isn’t that what we did when we were 3? Connect the links and see how long it goes? As I recall, I believe they were monkeys in a barrel.

It’s not as daunting as you might think. The first step is to figure out whether you have the time to put aside to learn about search engine optimization. What methods should you use? Where should you go to ask for help? But like many businesses on the internet this isn't your full time gig. You actually have a job you have to attend for your bread and butter so to speak. So the decision is made, I’m going to get professional help. Now....who do I go to?

This may be the ultimate question when it comes to SEO, who do you go to? I have been working in this industry for quite some time now and the answer is never clear. You don't want to go to a company that’s too cheap - can they produce the results? What are they actually doing for your web site?

What I tell anyone who comes to me is do your homework. Look at what the company has done for previous clients. Look at what the cost is, and what is included in the cost? How did you find them? Can you contact them by phone? Or did they contact you? Look at their rankings. What methods do they use to provide you with your results? Are they one of the good ones? Can you trust them to get the work done? Ask as many questions as you possibly can to find out if what they are saying makes sense to you. Ask them to put it in to terms you can understand and stay away from the fancy computer talk, and last but never least, go to more than one company.

An example of a good SEO campaign is ongoing work, open communication and the willingness to help you understand the optimization itself. Any ethical and honest company wants to have an ongoing relationship with their clients. They want their clients to feel like they are treated well during every step of the process. So when you are looking for your SEO company, make sure they make you feel like you’re going to be included in the process and not just tossed to the dogs once you have signed on the dotted line.

Link development is just one example of ongoing work that should be done on a consistent basis. In simple terms link development is how the search engines find your site. The more links you have coming in, the sooner you will be found.

The web is evolving everyday and search engines are constantly trying to stay one step ahead of SEO companies. The frequent change of search engine algorithms is just one example, so it is a good idea to find an SEO company that will stay on top of SEO methods and practices in case there is a change in algorithm and you get dropped like last weeks potato salad. These two reasons alone is why you should find a company who is looking for long tern relations and not ones who are trying to get you the easy answer and get you up in the search engine rankings fast and dropped even faster.

In this industry, you have to work with blind faith ...a scary thought, and there are many companies out there who have put a bad stigma on SEO. Many people have been burned more than once. If I had a nickel for every time I heard a story about an SEO company that put forth promises and couldn’t deliver I would be retired and living in Tahiti right now. The advice I have for the “newbies” coming in to the e-business is do your research, find out your competition, and make sure you are looking at all your options before you choose your SEO provider, because if something sounds really good, there could be a big, bad wolf behind that red shawl ready to gobble you up.

Minimize Your Office And Equipment Start-Up Costs

by: Maria Stefanova

When you set up your office area you have to consider clients, suppliers, family, neighbors and yourself. The balance is easy to achieve when you keep in mind the double function your home has from now on: a home and an office. Below I outline the baby-steps that will help you to achieve this balance.

Define your work area

This is the first step on your path to success. If you don't have a defined work area, a place that says to you "While You Are Here, You Are At Work!", then you will probably stumble in a lot of distractions and by the end of the day you will be surprised with how little you have done. You should not limit your idea of work area to space only. Consider time dimensions, too. Your coach could be your office, if your family knows that you are working and not sleeping, petting the cat or watching TV.

You should always keep in mind your cost. If defining your area means drywall, purchasing that awesome coach and a new carpet, then you'd better reconsider. Your business will be pretty slow for the first few months, so you'd better save that money for promotion and to secure your basic expenses.

Equip it

Equipment is always a two-sided issue—you have to keep your costs at a minimum and at the same time you have to be professional and not to look "cheap".

The first place to start cutting your costs is furniture. Think classic, think second-hand, and think professional use! Don't fall for that brand-new filling cabinet for "home use"—it is likely to become outdated very soon and fall apart just when you need it. You will be better off with a comfortable second-hand chair, table and filling cabinet that were actually used and proved to be sturdy enough.

Now, let's look at the "tools". In most of the cases they constitute of your computer, keyboard, mouse, printer and your website. It is my personal observation that the most sensitive pieces of equipment are the mouse and the keyboard, so I would recommend that you consider the best quality for these two. Your monitor is also very important, but I've found that you don't need Sony in order to feel comfortable and keep your eyes healthy. A good alternative is CTX.

Finally, let's look at your website. Your website is your store- front and here, you'll have to go an extra mile in order to create a good first impression. If you can afford it, I would recommend that you hire a professional web designer. However, if money is tight, there are various alternatives that will help you to create a professional image. One of my favorites is BigStep ( http://www.bigstep.com ) that will help you to create your site in several easy steps. Another good source is Working Solo ( http://www.workingsolo.com ) and the SCORE program ( http://www.score.org ) that offers free consulting for over 500 categories. Once you have your website ready to be published, you should think about finding a host for it and securing your own domain name. InterNIC lists the major ISP providers here (http://www.internic.net/alpha.html ). There are some very good solutions: http://service.bfast.com/bfast/click? bfmid=12768212&siteid=37618938&bfpage=home offers 200 MB of web space for $200 upfront without Any Monthly Fees. This is a good deal, especially if you plan to keep in business for at least a year. Here: http://www.namezero.com you can secure your business name for free (the free service comes with a navigation bar) or upgrade to the deluxe version.

Think about safety

This section includes anything that may jeopardize your business— from word of mouth that a customer tripped in a toy and broke her neck to a costly lawsuit for damages. Don't dismiss any of these possibilities and research carefully how to insure and protect your business.

Finally, I wish you success with your newborn business!