Choose the right business for you

Build your business around your life and your desires.  Have you thought about a service or product based business? Do you have a hobby that you can expand? Find out what makes your heart sing, what you are passionate about and do that. Once you have found this you will work the hours that suit you, working will never be a chore but be fun, exciting and rewarding.

Choosing the wrong business

Building your life around your business is what most women do.  NO, don’t do that!!!  That is where women go wrong.  Life isn’t meant to be hard, it’s us that make it hard, so set up the structure of what it is you want.  A working from home mum has choices she can have the best of both worlds, a career and a family, she can have her cake and eat it too.

If doing a business that doesn’t meet her values, doesn’t serve her emotional needs then it isn’t a great idea.  Working from home can be flexible if its not then it will be a chore, something that initially she has to do but will eventually become a drain and something she hates to do that she resents.

Working out which is the right business

What do you Love to do:

Spend time working out exactly what it is you love doing, that you can turn into a profit and make money from.

What are your Values:

Think about what your values are and what you want to do that is important to you.  My kids are still the most important thing in my life and now I have grandchildren, helping my daughters with their kids is what makes my heart sing.  I love collecting them from school, taking them home and feeding them milk and cookies, my business has to fit in around this and it does, I can be writing blogs at 1am one night and having coffee with girlfriends the next morning.  I don’t have to fit into a routine that doesn’t suit me.  I love that about my life and my business.

Be honest:

Be honest with yourself, how much time do you have to commit to this endeavour and what are you good at, what are your skills, these two things will probably be the basis of what it is you do. What’s out there and what sort of a business do you want?  What industry are you passionate about, good at and want to enter?  Do you want to work alone or have a team/ support around you?

What are the Business Style Options?

There are lots of different choices you can choose from.

Do you want a service based business where you offer your services/advice/time to help clients?  For example: Councillor, teacher, Virtual Assistant, bookkeeper, blog writer, computer programmer, web design, Social media manager, masseur, cleaner, speaker, coach, stylist, transcriptionist, proof-reader, dog walker.

Or are you looking for a product based business where you have physical product you distribute to customers and how is the structure of this business going to look like? For example:  Market stall holder selling products you make, internet seller offering goods via drop ship or distributing yourself, shop front store (but you won’t be home unless you live behind or above the shop or employ someone to run it).

Can a hobby turn into a Business?

Is your hobby a potential money maker, or do you want to keep it as a leisure time activity?  Hobbies are often our passion and we are often experts in the field, knowing more about them than other people, we can either use our knowledge to help others make or do what we are doing or increase the volume and selling off the products we make.  For example: Making Candles or teaching candle making or selling kits, teaching sewing or making clothes, lead-light classes, kits or making lead-light windows for special orders, bread making either teaching or selling our goods to local café’s.  Photography is another hobby that can easily turn into a career, but you will need to find out what type of photo’s sell and people are buying.  Make sure you get releases signed by anyone who’s in the photo you take so you can sell the photo.  The last thing you would want is to be sued by someone for publishing a photo of them without their consent.

Plant and herb gardens often start out as a hobby and can turn into a great business.  Learning how to propagate your plants, multiplying them and selling them off to either nurseries online or having stalls can be a great way to make money if you enjoy the outdoors and your garden.  Buying seeds and growing them up planting them into pots can be a very lucrative business.  If you’re a green thumb this might be worth thinking about.

Network Marketing

Network marketing or MLM companies offer independent business opportunities usually selling products, these can be cheap entry points for business and offer support from others already in the business.  They are a great way to obtain personal development while earning an income, but it will take time and effort to build a substantial team under you for the  income to grow.  These types of businesses are often great as a 2^nd source of income.

Be aware of Trends

What do you like to do that other women/men or your customers like to do, often we follow trend and find others are doing the same things we are doing.  Find out what is trending in the market, this can give you ideas about what you can do.   Don’t be afraid to do the same as someone else, just make sure you have a point of difference and make your business yours.  People often buy because of you, not necessarily what it is you are selling, so personalise your business so it has its own unique style.

Taking your new Small Business Forward

Once you have chosen and idea here are a few questions to ask yourself.

1. How will you make your idea different to what others are doing?
2. How will you be better than your competition?
3. How will you market what ever it is you want to offer?
4. What is your point of difference? What makes you unique?

I know there are a lot of questions there but all essential to answer if you are serious about starting a business.

Starting a home-based business can be fun and rewarding. It doesn’t need to be hard. Perhaps it will be a service based business that has evolved from a hobby. Or a product that has a wide audience appeal. Be honest with yourself, do your homework, learn from others in the industry and give it a go.