5 Reasons Why You Should Consider a Home-Based Business

In his classic masterpiece "The Science of Getting Rich", later republished as "Financial Success Through Creative Thought", Wallace D. Wattles wrote:

"If you cannot get rich working for the steel trust, you can get rich on a ten-acre farm..."

Hmmm...

He may or may not have intended it this way, but it sure sounds like Wallace D. Wattles was talking about a home-based business to me.

Regardless of whether he intended it that way or not, if you don't already have a home-based business, here are five great reasons why you should at least consider one:

Reason #1 - Low startup costs.

Unlike most "traditional" businesses, most home-based businesses can be started on a "wing and a prayer", so to speak. Odds are, depending on the home-based business you want to start, you *already* have everything you need to get started and what little you don't have, which you might need, can be easily purchased from your existing income and/or business profits as you go along, without your having to incur debt to do so.

For those of you who buy into the "it takes money to make money" mentality and/or equate "high" startup costs with the ultimate profitability of a business, it might interest you to know the businesses that cost me the most to start were the least profitable (and ultimately failed) and the ones that cost me the least to start, those I literally started with "pocket change", were the most profitable (and were profitable from "day one", I might add).

That alone ought to tell you something.

Reason #2 - Low overhead.

High "overhead" (the general ongoing, recurring costs of running a business, excluding the costs of labor and materials; mortgage/rent, utilities, and maintenance for example), is, in my opinion, one of the biggest, if not *THE* biggest, killers of businesses there is, as a quick glance at recent financial news stories will tell you.

Because you're *already* paying a mortgage or rent, utilities, and maintenance, the overhead of a home-based business is *zero* or darn close to it.

In addition, at least here in the United States, a home-based business allows you to convert a portion of those non-deductable personal expenses you're *already* paying into tax-deductable business expenses (see Reason #4 below), further reducing your "cost of doing business".

Reason #3 - Low risk.

Low startup costs and low overhead, combined with the fact that most home-based businesses can be started on a "part-time" basis, allowing you to keep your "full-time" source of income, make a home-based business practically "risk-free".

Thus...

If for some reason it doesn't work out for you (you end up not liking it, it's not profitable, etc.), it's no "big deal" to shut it down and start another one if you like.

Reason #4 - Tax advantages.

A business, at least here in the United States where I live, is just about the last legitimate "tax shelter" there is.

This is *especially* true of a home-based business as it allows you to *legally* convert a portion of the money you're *already* spending and the money you make from your home-based business into tax-deductable business expenses, thus giving you "more bang for your buck", as they say (depending on your income tax bracket, roughly 10-100%+ more!).

Reason #5 - Profit.

It's been said the first business of *any* business is to make a profit and a home-based business is no exception.

Though it's number five on my list of reasons why you should consider a home-based business, the number one reason for starting a home-based business is...

PROFIT!

Plain and simple.

This profit can be used to supplement your current income, which recent economic events prove a wise thing to do, or to grow to the point where your home-based business can *reliably* (the key word here is *reliably*) serve as your full-time source of income.

Either way...

I *highly* recommend you consider a home-based business!

A word of warning though...

A home-based business, especially one intended to be a "full-time" source of income, is *NOT* for everyone.

Why do I say that?

Simple...

In my experience, many, if not most, folks are so used to working for someone else, without a "boss" to tell them exactly what to do and when, left to their own devices with the freedom a home-based business provides, *won't* do what's required to be successful in business, home-based or otherwise.

That being said...

If you have the self-discipline (or are willing to develop it) to do what it takes to be successful in a home-based business...

I *highly* recommend you consider one!

It may well prove for you, as it did for me, to be one of the wisest things you ever did.

How to Set Up a Legitimate Home Based Business

Of the various home based business ideas you've come up with, you were able to make your choice and now you're raring to get started. If so, start right by establishing a legitimate home based business and applying for the necessary permits and licenses.

What You Need for Starters

The first thing you need is a permit to do business, and you'll get this from both your local and state government. You will also need a permit for all signage ads you intend to use, in the event that you'd want to establish your own store at home. Keep in mind that you'll be paying a fee for every signage so try not to go overboard. A Fire Department permit is always necessary, and it usually entails having your own fire extinguisher - even a small one would do - at home.

Choose a Form

Are you alone in your plans of establishing a home based business or do you have other people contributing capital or skills to the business? What are your future plans for the business? Both questions are important to answer immediately as they can help you determine the ideal form for your home based business to take.

Sole proprietorship is the quickest to set up and enjoys the most number of tax benefits. But of course, sole proprietorship also makes you and only you personally liable for losses incurred and violations committed by your business.

Partnership is the next form in the organization ladder. It's relatively easy to set up and has its own advantages to offer as long as the partners can work in harmony and without violating their partnership agreement. Keep in mind, however, that any home based business owned by a partnership will immediately dissolves if any of the partners dies or leaves the business.

Home based businesses can be owned by corporations, too. The incorporation process make take a lot of money, time, and paperwork to accomplish, but it also provides the greatest amount of protection from liabilities for its directors and stockholders.

Pick Out Names

Most home based businesses use sole proprietorship as the form of their business. Assuming that you'll do the same and you intend to use your own name for your business, there won't be any need for registration then.

If, however, you intend to operate your business under another name then that's something you'll have to register as required by the Trade Name Registration Act. To avoid making repeated trips for registering your business name, try having several alternatives ready in case your first choice isn't accepted.

Legitimacy is occasionally judged on the mere basis of a business's name so take care when picking out a name for your home based business. Choosing one that sounds too much like a competitor's could make people think you're not averse to using illegal tactics to do business.

Choose a name that best represents your business and one that can easily catch people's attention. Try not to make it too difficult to spell as your business name, in ideal cases, would also be your website's domain name. Generic names might sound cute at times, but the law generally doesn't approve its use as a business name.

Pay Your Taxes

Legitimacy may be established earlier on, but it's also something you have to consistently prove. One way of doing so is by paying your taxes properly and on time. Customers in general have greater respect for home based businesses managed by diligent taxpayers and they're quicker to trust such businesses, too.

Be meticulous in keeping your books. A home based business is entitled to certain home office benefits as specified by the law but you'll have to submit documentary proof before your deductions can be approved.

Get Accredited

Last but not the least, work hard to obtain a positive rating from the Better Business Bureau; a commendation from the said agency is the best proof you can obtain that yours is indeed a legitimate home based business. You will not be evaluated by the BBB if you don't ask for it. You also have to pay a small fee for the accreditation and yes, you have to pay even if you don't like the end result. Aim to have the BBB OnLine Reliability seal on your website and don't worry, your customers can guarantee that it's not a fake because they can click on the confirmation link redirecting them to the BBB site.

Home Based Businesses From an Average Family Point of View!

This is my first article on home based business so if you want to succeed and get out of your financial debt and make some realistic extra money just pay attention! I was currently in the same situation that you are currently at now now knowing how to make it to the next month living pay check to pay check. Until I started seeing how much money people was making with a work at home job. A work at home job would be just what I needed for a second source of income . And you know what it turn out great. I was always taught that if you just believe in your self and the good Lord! Everything else will follow!

I have been searching the Internet to come up with a second source of income and I have come up with quite a few. But most of them are trying to either lure you in for the kill or charge you anywhere from $50 to thousands of dollars just to get started. I can say this I have personally found out the hard way on quite a few resulting in losing thousands of dollars and bad credit. Boy what a bomber. One of the worst ones out their is a credit card site where they say you can make anywhere from 1 thousand dollars a month to 50 thousands a month. But I am not going to disclose the name of the site. The CEO was a very powerful speaker He sure did know how to lure us in. Boy did me and my wife fall into it. They seen us coming a mile away. Fortunate after this long journey of pain knot know my head from the other end.

The advice that I give to everybody that reads this Article about Home based business needs to be aware of the wolf in sheep clothing. Be careful and sleep on it for a day, and the next day if you still think that is a good program then go ahead and buy them by all means. But make sure you do your homework before you submit to any make money on the Internet program. Or you can learn the hard way like I did. I have found a few to make some realistic extra money. Making a program to produce massive amounts of cash is not an easy job!Their isn't program that I have ran across that will generate massive amounts of cash without doing homework. Since I'm spending so much time on the Internet I was looking for a Home based business that works. I thought it would be good for me to see if it was at least possible to make money on the Internet.

Guess what I found some of the best home based business programs .Boy now that I have found them how would I promote them? Well after I done research on my business and how to bring it up to the top ranking . I first tried adwords but after weeks of using them I still didn't get to the top. So I started going solo and doing everything by research. My first thing that I did was go a search term for keywords for my web site. After that I had to make sure that the keywords was relevant to my web site. After that and I was happy with that I had to come up with a good and catchy name for my home page , I did research to make sure that it was a very unusually one and it wasn't being used and I think that I cane up with the perfect home based business name and was very happy.

The next thing to do was to create an article to announce to the world that my web site was up and running. The reason that you do this is article generally tend to give a higher ranking than regular web pages. And article can give your home based business new life and on top of this its free. Their are free web site optimization out their. That in itself along with keyword optimization will help your site ranking. After all these things are done to publish your home based business after that all you have to do now is getting back links . Before you get back links make sure its in the same business market that you are currently in it will bring up your ranking with search engines. The more the merry. You can manually submit your site to search engines it is a very long process but it is possible and can be done. So you really don't have to pay for most of these things unless you have a lot of money to just waste. If you do all these things your ranking will go up and after this all you have to do is fine tune everything! What do I mean by fine tuning your home based business opportunity you ask? That means getting the appropriate keywords for every page of your work at home job. And every page that you have must be optimize for better search engine results. You want good search engine results for your home business.

Good results means more money and more products being sold. Now you see why it is very important for you to have good key words optimization. All this will insure an very productive work at home job. With a very productive home based business you can do a lot! But this isn't going to be an easy task. It could take anywhere from 1 to numerous hours to get everything just right for the search engines to pick it up. Ensure that you don't have any broken links will help out a lot when the search engines search your site and they come across a broken link and they stop in their tracks. That could cost your home based job thousands of dollars just for that mess up.

After you are up and running and need to know how your home based business is tracking as far as search engines I suggest that you type in one of your main keywords and see where your home based business is located on the Internet. Their is a lot of things that run in conjunction with web site optimization for your home based job. That brings up the page reverence in conjunction with your keywords did you know for every keyword that you use for your home based business that you need to have a web page in conjunction with that keyword. That got your attention about doing your research on your home based business! To check the amount of traffic that a key word receives type in the symbol ~ it is right under the escape key. I recommend some of the top key words and some of the lower ranking ones to cover all angles of your home based business. This way you would have maximum conversion for your home based business. Well that's about covers it about how to get the most from your home based business. Home based business from family man! Good luck!