Starting A Home-based Business

If you're you're unsure whether starting a home-based business is right for you I've got a few things that I'd like to share with you. I was getting all of the sales collateral and other marketing pieces together for the launch of a new business and I thought about all the people who will soon be able to start their own business. They won't have to depend on the income from a job that pays them just enough to keep them coming back each week.

Then I read Doug Thorpe's blog talking about the origin of the word “job”. He summarized that it's closely related to morsel or “piece”. In other words a “job” should only be a “piece” of the work you do. However, for some it has become the biggest piece in the puzzle of life.

Job vs. Joy of Business

If you are currently employed you can still put in a few hours each day, toward building your own business. If thinking about the joy of business is all that you've done, and you’re trying to decide between either starting a business or job hunting, let me share a few facts with you.

Do you like a routine or variety?
Do you enjoy competing or cooperating?

If you have any doubts or you’re struggling with the idea of working for yourself, then the joy of business ownership is not for you and you should be looking for a job. Entrepreneurs must have strong self-confidence and be self motivated.
If you are ready to take your future, your destiny, into your own hands and the idea of working for yourself and creating your own income excites you, then let me give you a few facts before you get started.

Most U.S. business have 20 are fewer employees.
Ideas for potential new businesses are climbing each year.
Courageous entrepreneurs in the U.S. start more than 600,000 businesses each year.

Now that you realize that starting a home-based business puts you in good company and that you're not the only person that feels compelled to own their own business. The next blog post will talk about how get there from where you are today, starting with a personal assessment of some of the skills that you will need to be successful in business.

Biblical Principles For Starting A Business

Using biblical principles when starting a business is not for everyone. It's a must for some people. Especially Christians who want to reinvent themselves, take control of their future and those you've grown tired of exchanging their time for way too little money.

Each year over 1 million new businesses are started in the U.S. I have been self-employed for the past 19-years and helped others get businesses started. I'm in the process of launching another business and if you're thinking about starting your own business I'll gladly share a few tips to help you get on the right foot.

I discovered that owning a business and getting married have a lot in common. For instance about 50% of the business started fail in the first few years. Marriages in The U.S. have about the same rate of survival too. Could it be because people spend months and even years planning for the physical aspects of the wedding, but little or no time mentally preparing for the marriage.

The same thing happens with a lot of new business owners they're willing to spend lots of time, money and effort on the nonessentials, colors for their business, the decor, the furnishing, but little if any on making the needed mental adjustments. If you want to avoid falling into this trap, you need to start by getting yourself prepared mentally, spiritually and physically for business.

Preparations For Starting A Business

The crucial first step is to prepare your mind…heart…spirit for the paradigm shift into the new mindset you need for the journey to become an entrepreneur. If you have been earning an income by working in a job for most of your life you have to accept the fact that you are taking your future into your own hands.

There won't be anyone to tell you how many hours to work and when it's time to start and stop. Nor will there be a paycheck waiting just because you spent 60 hours in the past week trying to make a sale. The whole concept of being paid for each and every hour you work is a key part of the old way of thinking, that you will have to change.

If want to create a business that has a positive cash flow and adds value to your life instead of draining your energy, you need to understand that it all starts with your mind.

Biblical Principles For Business Success

We were wonderfully made and God equipped our brains with the tools that we need, we just need to learn how to access them. James Allen may be credited with writing the timeless classic "As A Man Thinketh", but this a principle that is intrinsic to man. A divine principle, we are directed to follow, taken from Proverbs 23:7 in the Holy Bible.

If you're planning to start your own business you should learn how your state of mind influences your future through these key habits.

Self talk...how what you say to yourself, about yourself, influences your feelings, stress, and the overall outcomes.

Positive affirmations...positive statements that you should repeat with attention, conviction, interest and desire to influence your subconscious mind and trigger it to promote positive action.

Attractions principles...how to attract the things you want and deserve and not what you don't want.

Now that you are aware that using biblical principles when starting a business can make a huge positive impact on your future, you should be applying them and accessing your mental tools. They are some of the things that successful Christian businessmen use and you need as part of your daily routine, if you want to increase your chances for success.

This is one of the areas that people fail to adequately prepare for in business and later on it comes back to haunt them. If you want to get your mindset in shape for business? Take the time to visit one of the best Internet coaches there is, James Holmes at the Internet Business Blueprint. He has put together vlog and podcast on the attraction principle that will give you a better understanding of how to apply it to tune-up your mindset.

Starting A Business

In a down economic cycle starting your own business might be one of the things you consider doing, especially if you're unemployed for a long period of time and have some management experience. Or maybe, you just have that burning desire to break free of the 9 to 5 routine.

I read an ABC News story on how a woman started a business with virtually no money, and decided to share a few of the nuggets that I gleaned from that report in this blog.

Having a huge nest egg to start a business isn't one of the essentials. Many businesses can be started for less than a 1,000 dollars and some for a few hundred. What is important is that you plan your work and work your plan.

There is a Bible story in Genesis 29-31:55, about a young man who lacked the finances to buy his own herd of animals so he contracted to tend his uncles herds in exchange he would receive any the spotted cows and goats that were born, as his wages. That was his game plan, to get the stock he needed to start his own herd.

The young herdsman developed a plan to feed the animals a special diet which he hoped would cause them to produce more spotted offspring than usual.

In today's competitive marketplace a businessman can greatly increase his or her chance for success by having a written plan. I've identified some simple steps for planning a business. If your back is up against the wall and you need to create an income, here a some useful tips to get you started on the right track.


Tips for Starting a Business

A written plan for a start-up doesn't have to be extensive and formal like a corporate business plan. You can start out with a simple one page business plan. It should link together your planning, marketing, strategy and execution.

It's mostly an outline, to clearly show 4 key things, the mission , the company's objectives, the strategies and the actionable steps.

The mission should answer, Why does your business exist?

Objectives, indicate what you should measure.

Strategies, show things that need to be done to accomplish your business objectives.

Actionable steps, are specific things that you need to execute to make your business successful.

How To Increase Your Chances For Success

By addressing these things in advance you increase your chances for a successful business. In addition getting those profitable ideas out of your head and on to paper is a an explosive step towards getting started.

The character in our example from the bible didn't have the benefit of using a written plan, but his plan was still successful and before long he had more animals than his boss. The take-away from the story is that resourceful entrepreneurs can be successful.

Here is a link to the ABC News story I referenced at the beginning of this blog post on "how you can start a business for $100.00 or less."