by The Happy WAHM
A home business plan is the most important thing that you could ever write when starting a home business. It will provide you with direction and focus that will lead to your success. Whether you are writing a complex plan, like the ones used to secure funding, or a simple one to be used merely as a guide for action, business plans should contain these basic parts:
Overview Summary: This encompasses the business model that you are setting up, from the general idea of the business, to the specifics of the products and the advantages that you will be offering.
Mission Statement: This is the written statement of the purpose of your business from which your strategies will be formulated and guide your actions in managing your business.
Company Information: This should include information about when and where your business was registered, its legal structure, how it functions, etc.
Product or Service: Describe what you are offering, its advantages over the competition, how it is different from the competition, etc.
Market: Who is your target market, what are the demographics, how are they geographically spread, how will you reach them, how do you plan to market your business?
Competition: Who else are offering the same product or service that you are offering, how are you different from them, what part of the pie are you targeting, why do you think you can still have a piece of that pie?
Liability / Opportunity: What are the risks that you see and how you plan to overcome them? What are the opportunities that you can take advantage of?
Management: How do you plan to manage your business and who are the people involved? What are the skills and experiences that these people, including you, have?
Capital Requirements: Are you taking out a loan to finance your business, or do you have a nest egg you can take out from?
Financial Plan: Your projections on revenues and expenses. How profitable do you believe the business will be. Should include an income statement, a balance sheet and cash flow.
Appendices: All supplemental information are on this part.
Remember that the more organized you are in setting up your business, the better are your chances of succeeding. So make a plan, try to stick to it when all is well, and do modifications or adjustments when it isn’t.
by The Happy WAHM
Once you’ve decided what home business to engage in, you need to secure a license to operate legally. Sometimes, a license is all you will need, but depending on what your locality requires, you have to exercise due diligence in securing other needed permits, should there be any.
Business Structure: Before heading to the licensing office, you have to decide on how you are going to structure your business. It can either be a sole proprietorship, or a partnership. In a sole proprietorship, you have the business all to yourself, and so are the risks that go with it. In a partnership, you share the business and all the risks with a partner. This also offers some tax advantages. Your paperwork should be prepared, or at least reviewed, by a lawyer. The business will have its own tax identification and social security number since it will be a separate entity. If you have questions about taxes and legalities, I’d recommend that you talk to a tax advisor or a lawyer.
Business License: Not all localities require small home-based businesses to secure a business license or permit. In areas that do, a license or permit fee will depend on the size of the business, or in case of a renewal, it will depend on the revenue of the business. The local government office will issue a permit or certificate that you are required to display in your office. To find out more about business licenses and permits in your locality, try calling your local government office, the Chamber of Commerce or your local Small Business Administration.
Sales Tax Permits: A sales tax permit has to be obtained if you are planning to sell goods. It allows you to legally make tax exempt sales. If you are going to engage as a reseller, a sales tax permit is necessary so you can buy products at wholesale without having to pay sales or retail tax. For more information about obtaining this permit, you can contact your local sales tax office.
Property/Business Tax: There are areas where a business or personal property tax is required by the government. In this case, you may need to pay tax for your business equipment. Your personal property tax office should be able to help you.
Zoning: This is really important because there are laws that say you cannot operate a business in a residential area. You should check with your community or local government office if the business you are planning to set up may be allowed. Usually, if you are not planning to see customers at your place (that traffic may be disrupted in your neighborhood), or offer toxic or dangerous products, or put up a big sign on your front yard, the community will grant you permission to operate your home business.
Also, if you are renting a house, you should check your rental or lease agreement about restrictions on setting up a home business. If a restriction exists, but you believe that your business will not have a negative impact on your place, consider talking to your landlord about securing permission to run your business from home.
Additional Permits: There may be other permits that I have not covered here, depending on your business plan. Services like therapy and other similar industry may require special permits, so be sure to check this out before you launch your home business.
by The Happy WAHM
Choosing a path, and what to do once that path has been chosen, is, and will always be, a challenge. Having a home business begins with a decision to have one, and that is the easy part. More often than not, people get stuck with the dilemma of identifying a business that best suits them.
For some people, opportunities simply present themselves; but for some, these have to be created. You can either buy into an existing business, like franchising or MLM, or you can create your own based on your passion or interest, experience and available capital.
Following are the steps that can help you find your niche in the work-at-home field:
- Make a list of your interests, skills, experiences and passions.
- From the list, think about the possibilities of converting each one into a profitable business. It is important that you start with something that you already know, really love and enjoy doing. If for example, you love cooking, think of how you can turn that passion into a food business, taking into consideration the time that you have to allot to it, the resources that you already have like space and equipment, and the capitalization that you will need to get it going. Or if you are a person who enjoy surfing the internet, then you can explore the possibility of earning while surfing as a researcher. You can get ideas from the internet itself by looking at what other people are doing.
- Research the market that you will target. Find out if there are people who will be willing to pay for what you want to offer. Just make sure that whatever you decide to do, it should be something that you are willing to spend a great deal of time working on. If you have listed graphic design as one of your talents, but you are sick of doing it, then don’t get into it.
- Write a business and marketing plan, starting with your business name. Think of a name that is relevant to your chosen business. It will greatly help create a recall. Be specific with your objectives. It will help you stay focused. Commit to your plan and commit to your business.
- Find resources (people, books and websites) that will help you stay motivated and confident in yourself and about your venture.
Starting a business and making a success of it requires hard work and dedication. You may find something that’s really profitable, but if it’s not something that you enjoy doing, then you are bound to fail, too.
An example is getting into a franchise. You may find something that is highly profitable, but what if you don’t even like the product? How are you going market a product that you don’t even like? I cannot reiterate it enough that you have to choose a business that you can believe in and stick with for the long haul.
Lastly, choose a business that you already know. It shortens the learning curve and the time it takes to make money. Choosing a business that you know nothing about means you will have to learn it along with everything else, like acquiring a permit and marketing strategies.
To help you start with your brainstorming, look at some of these home business ideas.
by The Happy WAHM
A few days ago, I came across a post of a fellow WAHM, Martine de Luna, who’s running a contest at her blogsite. I’ve been slowly getting our cabinets and drawers organized since June, but I have to admit that housekeeping has never been my strongest suit. Those fancy drawers from Howards Storage World will definitely push me to the right direction.
The contest says I just need to blog or write a Facebook note on why I deserve to win a Php10,000 wardrobe showcase from Howards Storage World. Well, I can do that!
I have to LIKE their page on Facebook. Did that this morning.
Sign up for Dainty Mom’s newsletter. I’ve been a subscriber for more than a couple of months, I think.
Tweet about the contest. Uh-oh! That, I can’t do. No Twitter account. So I went ahead and created one. While I was creating my account, I got to thinking that maybe pursuing tweeting even after the contest would be good. Facebook is kind of limited. Tweeting can be fun!
So now I have a Twitter account with a total of 3 tweets there. Ha ha ha! Now I need to start writing that note, or blog post, so I can officially submit my entry. I won’t win without an entry, right?
Wrong!
Even with an entry, I still won’t win.
Because I went back to the Dainty Mom’s site just now, and in asterisk and bold letters, it says: **Contest is open to Philippine residents in Metro Manila only.**
Oh, well… I still have a blog post. 🙂
by The Happy WAHM
Here’s how I have planned my day:
I would start my day early and attend to my work inbox first thing, pick up the girls’ dresses for the recital on Sunday, then we’ll do the grocery shopping, buy shoes for the girls, buy me a cake since it’s my birthday, pick up some goodies for Xia’s classmates who are coming over after class to the house to do their group project, go home, take Bea to practice, then while Bea’s at practice, I’ll be taking pictures of her drawings for documentation and have Bea insert them in her portfolio, get Bea, attend to Xia’s guests, then finally sit down for more serious work.
That was my plan.
But God has other plans.
I was awakened by Jude’s kisses. I know the kids all have something for me. Xia wanted to know what time I would call it a day last night. I knew she wanted me to get my “gift” the moment I wake up.
So Jude was in charge of waking Mommy up. And Xia was already in her school uniform when she came in the room to ask if I’ve seen “it”. “It” turned out to be cards that each of them made for me with dedication that brought happy tears to my eyes. They were lying neatly beside my pillow.
Xia’s card reads:
Mom, I want you to know how much I love you
Your smile brightens up my day like sunshine
I am lucky to have a great mother like mine
You always encourage me
To become who I want to be
I know there are things that I can never repay
But still I just want to say, happy __rd birthday!
Bea’s card reads:
Dear Mommy,
Your birthday means so much to me
The time I spent enfolded in your love
I cherish the very special bond we have
I celebrate your life
I honor you and love you
Jude’s card is a whole long bond paper with a pencil drawing. It looked like… uhm… planets? And a big heart right at the center. I see the earth. And lots of dots.
Take a look:
When I asked him what it was, he said: “It’s the universe, Mommy. ‘Yan lang ang kaya kong ibigay sa ‘yo.”
I cried.
And I mean, CRIED. But with a big smile. Didn’t want to frighten the kids and make them think I didn’t like their gifts. I LOVE them! My son has given me the universe, my middlechild honors and loves me, and my smile is sunshine to my firstborn. Who could ask for more?
Ah! I should remember to smile more. A lot more. Since they are giving me so much to smile about. Laugh, even. And Bea’s card… it came with pressed sampaguita flowers. I know she and Jude started on that project last week. Jude circled the date on his calendar. And a fight would always ensue when Jude would try to check on the flowers. He doesn’t have Bea’s restraint.
So what went wrong?
I didn’t have time to do my scheduled laundry in the past days, so seeing the great sun up and bright, I just thought I’d throw in a couple of loads. I knew we’d be busy over the weekend because of the recital, so I thought I’d take advantage of the sunshine and do my laundry a day early. While the first load was spinning, I attended to my inbox, and disheartened to find out that for some reason, all the links in one of the websites I manage just stopped working. They’re no longer clickable. So I have to attend to that, pronto, or my client will lose clients. Then there’s another link in another website that is supposed to go to a shopping cart, but it lands on a blank page, so another troubleshooting task on top of the regular stuff that I do daily.
A few days back, I’ve noticed that the belt of the water pump needs to be replaced already. So before my first load, my husband replaced the belt. We’re supposed to switch off the pump when the gauge reads 40, and we’re actually alerted that it needs to be switched off when the pump starts to sound like the wheels are no longer willing to turn. Or something. After the belt replacement, my husband warned me that it will no longer emit any sound, so I just need to be alert. After my second load of laundry, I totally forgot that I had the water pump on. And I succeeded in rupturing our water tank.
Panic time.
With the tank leaking, we could no longer pump water into it. So off the husband goes to search for a welder. He found one, but the guy was still busy with a prior commitment, so we had to wait. There goes the trip to the grocery and the department store to buy shoes. No cake. No more having classmates over. With no water, it would not be a good time to be entertaining at home.
Oh, but there’s water! Because by lunchtime, it was raining cats and dogs. There goes my hope of having the laundry dry and folded by afternoon.
We simply could not leave the house coz the welder might miss us. So we just made a really quick trip to pick up the dresses, and settled in for the long wait until it was time to take Bea to her practice.
The rain has been incessant, so when the welder finally arrived, they had to take down the tank under the pouring rain. And put it back up with just a teeny weeny bit of rain still.
But the good part is… in the midst of all the chaos that was happening at home, I was truly happy with all the birthday greetings (which actually started to trickle in last Monday) via Facebook, on my wall, thru private messages, SMS, FB Groups, Yahoo Groups and phone calls. I may still have some messages that I need to reply to, but those can wait. I just needed to write about today’s blessings. I’ll just worry about the shoes tomorrow, and the fact that there is not a single slice of bread in the house, and there is not a single piece of egg in the fridge. Today was a challenging one, but that’s all it was. A challenge. And I survived.
I had a really happy birthday!
And by the way, when I went to my desk (this was before I started work), I found these on top of my open notebook…
