THBO Editor’s Blog

If you have a business already, perhaps one out of your home or maybe it’s a little shop in a separate location. Hopefully in these economic times we’re in now, you’re debt-free. If you’re not debt-free than the important thing to start planning for is how am I going to get out of debt. In order to survive the coming economic sideshow, that seems to be approaching us, we’ll need to have resources available, and debt takes these resources away.

Give yourself an opportunity to be successful by eliminating the things that will take it away. Debt is a cancer that will grow unless keyword. The curing of debt is paying it down until it’s gone. Having a debt-free business that creates an income is what we would call a cash cow. You can go out and milk it day and night and it will give you the amount of mail that’s available. So be realistic and feed the cow and not just expect to take without taking care of. Getting rid of debt is taking care of it.

If you have a home business and for a while it’s been just coasting along, you’ve had the thought you’d like to build it into more than it is perhaps, or perhaps even hiring more people to help you. How you go about that will depend on the kind of business you have, and the amount of time available, and your real interest in. If it’s something you really want to do then you’ll do it. If it’s just a thought that’s passing through then sit with it a while and see if it’s really something that will happen.

Patience is a nice part of making a business successful because we don’t jump into every new idea that floats by our school. We use wisdom to weigh the pros and cons of things that could be new. When we come to the place that we decided yes we want to do it, then put all the effort needed to make that happen. Businesses only grow or change as we are willing to grow and change. The business is really just an extension of our self, and the sooner we realize that it’s just us going through motions in a business sense, then we can come to a place where were more able to control it.

If you have started a small home business or if you been doing one for quite a while, you need to treat it like a big business. Big businesses have been around for a long time because they do the things that work. Within a business people have to be motivated to do the jobs they’re being paid to do. So the leaders in the business are the ones who are responsible to keep team members motivated.

There’s a lot of money and time invested in making this happen. In your own home business you are the one it’s going to have to be the leader. And as leader or your going to have to motivate the team, and the team may just be you. But don’t let this piece of the puzzle fall by the wayside. It’s a very important piece that needs to be put into the business. You need to be motivated and you need to be the one that motivation self.

Again if you’re doing a business that you love, the motivation is easy. If you’re struggling to motivate yourself you may be doing something that isn’t what you want. You may want to look at finding something that you can be more motivated about, there again it’s finding your passion again.

If you’re thinking of starting a home business, it pays to listen to people who have been down this road before, the successful ones who’ve made money at it, not the ones who’ve tried it, but failed. Where we get our information from has a lot to do with how well it will work. Just because things are written in a book doesn’t mean it will work for me. I have to be wise enough to see that I’m different than most other people, and that I need a unique way to make something work for me. So in planning a home business is important to spend enough time in the beginning knowing who I am and what I want.

Take days weeks whatever it takes for you to get to the place where you’re clear. And by clear I mean that you know exactly what you want, how it’s going to happen, and when you want to really start. When you tap into your passion you tap into an energy that’s going to create anything you want. So as far as a home business goes, tap into your passion and that will be the fuel that will get you to the end.

I have a neighbor who lives down the street from my house, and some people call him an old crappy bugger. I think that’s kind of a harsh term for him, because there’s been several times where we’ve been able to just pass each other on the sidewalk, and exchange smiles. He hasn’t really said a lot, so I don’t know a lot about him, but I think most of the stories that are made up about him are coming from people thinking they know something about him, but they really don’t.

I know he has a home business, because he’s always home and occasionally delivery trucks come into the neighborhood and take packages to his front porch. When he goes to the mailbox I see him packing quite a bit of mail back to his house. I’m just guessing he has a home business and I’m assuming it’s doing fairly well to. When these days I may go over and talk to him because I’m thinking about starting a new business to. I think that could be an icebreaker to get to know who he is and maybe dispel some of the stories that are going around the neighborhood. Who knows maybe a home business is a thing that creates friendships, why not.

The other day I went for a ride on my bicycle, a few years ago I had a bicycle shop as a home business. It was a lot of fun because I enjoyed people who would come to my home and we would talk about bikes, the Tour de France, Lance Armstrong, you know anything that had to do with biking. I made little money with the biking business, in fact I still have people who show up at my house and we talk about bikes and I give them information if I have it.

Some people still want to pay me for this chat that we have. A business can be formal and very structured, or it can be somewhat loose and just fun. Of course the accounting the budgeting, the taxes, making ends meet, and all that stuff need to be taken care of to. But remember to keep it fun, because when the fun ladies then it’s time to shut the doors. You’re not make any money if what you’re doing is not fun to you, in fact it will end up costing you a lot of money if you try to hold on to something when it’s time is over. Look for the next fun thing to do and the money will come with it just as easily.

After the sun went down I heard a loud splash in the pool. I went out to see what was going on, because it was a little cool to be swimming this time of year. In fact I was surprised the pool wasn’t covered for the winter. When I got outside I saw the neighbor’s dog swimming across to the other side. It had happened before, this dog seems to like water I guess, but the people around here aren’t that keen on it swimming in a “human” pool, not a dog pool.

So I called the dog and it seemed to know it was doing something wrong so it climbed out the far end and ran off into the dark bushes as fast as it could. Smart dog, I would have been less than friendly. So I talked to the owner and he said he understood, but he just can’t train the dog to stop doing it. I can appreciate what he is saying, because I have the same training issue with me. I can’t get me to do my budget on time ever. Maybe I need to take me and the dog to a trainer and get some help. My money situation would sure benefit if I would.

So it is that time of the month again, you know, the end of the month and the bills are due and the time of reckoning is about to reveal if the income is big enough to handle the out go for the month. Now I have a budget that can tell me that way before the end of the month, and with plenty of time to do something about it if there is going to be a problem. But if I don’t look at it often enough, I won’t know and I won’t be able to do anything except suffer through it.

I started using a budget a long time ago and have had good and bad times with it. When I get lazy and don’t do it, my finances are always worse than when I do. It tells me is I want to have more money and peace of mind I should do a budget. I know this but there must be a wild gene in my body that sneaks out without my knowing and sabotages the whole thing. I know that isn’t true but it is like what I do, I find a reason that I can’t do it. Well let it go goofy, and just do it! Ok.

I was at my friend’s house the other day and he was going to build one of those little sheds to store stuff in. He had a kit from the hardware store and the directions laid out in front of him with tools at hand. He looked very prepared and I had the sense he would get it built. I think the process for creating a budget is the same kind of task. We need to get all the pieces of the budget. Write down all the information of income, expenses, what I want and when I want it. Then I need to get my plan written and fill in all the blanks.

I have to convince myself I am going to regularly keep it up to date and change things as they need to be updated and improved. I need to get it down on paper or in the computer where I will look at it and fill it in regularly. The budget should be your own creation and fitted to your needs and wants. An off the shelf budget is going to be lacking the perfect fit you want, so take the time to build “your” budget. When it is done, find someone to share it with and ask if they would be willing to check up on you to make sure you are doing ok. Don’t just leave it up to your self, you are too smart and will find a way out when the going gets hard. Stick with it and you will be smiling all the way to the back.

No matter what kind of business you have, you have to advertise to some degree.  You need the business, and you have to get the word around without spending thousands of dollars every month.  it is true that you could use commercials on the radio, in newspapers, or on TV.  But most small businesses don’t actually have those funds in the beginning.  And you cannot take a break, you have to market every day.

One of the best ways to market is word of mouth.  People are far more likely to complain if you do a bad job than spread the word if you do a good job.  But by doing a good job every single time, you will have people who will sing your praises to their friends.  In addition, especially when friends ask or if you provide them with a nice little magnet or some other advertising piece, others may see it whether they think to talk about it or not and then ask.

Second, you can advertise through online newspapers, ads, craigslist, etc. which can be extremely cheap or free.  You can also distribute business cards, flyers and use billboards, 2 out of 3 of which you can just pay for the cost of printing and materials and then of course you spend time distributing those flyers, business cards, etc.  However, some businesses will allow you to put your flyers at their counters, etc. thereby achieving greater advertising potential in return for your business and encouraging people to also visit their business.

Over time, if you have a little more money, you could also advertise through radio commercials.  they are cheaper than TV commercials, and many people hear them, whether they think about it at the time or not, and they can reflect back.  Whether at work, in their car, or anywhere else, there is a good chance they will listen to the radio and hear your commercial.