Tips for Setting Family Ground Rules for Your Home Enterprise

One big challenge of running a Enterprise out of your home is balancing work and family. If you're serious about succeeding, then it's up to you to set up ground rules for your family to abide by.

Here are 10 tips for setting the ground rules that will allow you to run a successful home-based Enterprise and keep a happy home.

1. Establish a routine and stick with it. Families, and especially children, thrive on routines. If you set up specific times for both work and family, you’ll be more productive.
2. Carve out a workspace. Establishing a bona fide home office sets clear boundaries for family members. Keeping your work confined to your office will keep your Enterprise from intruding on your personal life. It will also protect important Enterprise information from falling prey to children's spills, negligence, or well-intended but inappropriate participation.
3. Keep separate quarters. If possible, locate your office in a detached section of your home: garage, attic, furnished basement, or another location away from the main house. At the very least, make sure you have an office door that can be closed to give you some privacy.
4. Soundproof your office. Do what you can to keep your office quiet. Make sure that the family noises from the houses — dog barking, kids yelling — don’t distract you or intrude on your Enterprise phone calls.
5. Schedule quality family time. Make sure your children and significant other are an integral part of your daily routine. Set up sacred rituals — bedtime, family dinner together — and devote yourself entirely to your family during these times.
6. Explain flex time. One of the great perks of running a home-based Enterprise is it allows you a certain amount of flexible work hours. You can run midday errands and attend the occasional school function in the middle of the day. But explain to your family members that you may not always be in a position to be with them during the workday, that projects and clients might be the priority at a particular time in the day. Otherwise you risk disappointing them when you can't make it to a school function or take care of a family issue.
7. Hire help. Hiring a housekeeper or a nanny to take up some of the slack can allow you to focus on your Enterprise and be more productive. Consider this part of the cost of doing Enterprise effectively.
8. Assign household chores. Negotiate ahead of time what chores need to be done and by whom. Let your family members know that you are depending on them to help you out, and that you expect and appreciate their help in making your Enterprise a success.
9. Establish telephone protocol. If possible, establish separate work and family phone lines and email addresses. It is also important to teach your children and your spouse that, if they happen to pick up your work phone, they should answer it professionally. They should identify the Enterprise and take a detailed message so you can return the call.
10. Create signals. Create a signal that makes it clear when you do not want to be disturbed. This could be something as simple as closing your office door when you are hard at work or even holding up a "Do Not Disturb" sign when on the phone. 

Top 10 Home Enterprises for Stay-at-Home with Family

Being a stay-at-home parent does not mean you can't contribute financially to your family. To be a good fit for a stay-at-home parent, a home Enterprise should offer a flexible schedule, minimal customer interaction, and must generally fit in to your lifestyle. Here are 10 top recommendations for jobs that fit those criteria.

1. Medical transcription is a great choice for people with a good command of the English language and excellent keyboarding skills. Many doctors prefer to outsource their transcription function. This Enterprise requires a very low overhead, a minimum of necessary equipment, and a good income.

2. Accounting offers a flexible schedule for parents who already have extensive financial skills. You can either purchase a tax and accounting franchise for your area or start your own company right in your home.

3. Child care allows you to spend a great deal of time with your own children while taking care of other people’s children as well. This Enterprise is a good choice for parents who are already experienced in caring for kids.

4. Assembling and selling custom gift baskets let you combine your creative skills with your desire to work from home. These baskets can range from simple fruit baskets to complicated executive gadget baskets.

5. Making and selling candles and crafts is a great way to involve your children in your work. If you are handy at making attractive crafts, you can have your children help you create them and you can easily market these items from your home.

6. Catering can be a good fit for busy parents who love to cook and entertain. Most of the work can be done in your home while looking after your children, with only a minimum of time spent out of the house if adequate staffing is planned.

7. Medical claims billing offers another opportunity to showcase your accounting experience in a steady work-from-home job. There are many opportunities in this field for busy parents with financial backgrounds.

8. Freelance typing jobs are a great way to earn money from home. Even in this age of ubiquitous computers, there continues to be a demand for skilled typists.

9. Publishing e-books can be a great way to share your knowledge with a vast market. You can write and sell e-books on any number of topics. If you have been successful at juggling a family and a home Enterprise, an e-book is a great way to share your secret with others.

10. Online affiliate programs do not require you to directly interact with customers or worry about finding room for products in your home. You can start a successful affiliate Enterprise by finding companies that offer products you are interested in and marketing them on the Internet.

There is no shortage of home-base Enterprise opportunities, but there are also numerous scams you will need to be aware of. If an opportunity sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Do your research before you commit to anything.

In the end, you will need to arrange your Enterprise so it doesn't interfere with your other priorities. There are many home-based Enterprises that will never require you to set foot outside your home, allowing you to spend the majority of your time with your family.

Ten Tips on Creating a Virtual Office for Your Home Enterprise

The advent of the Internet has made it easier and more attractive than ever for budding entrepreneurs to start Enterprises in their homes. The Web has had a similarly revolutionary effect in allowing workers to telecommute. But what about harnessing the power of the Internet to do both?

A virtual office for your home Enterprise is a creative way to let employees focus on their work instead of wasting their time and energy commuting. Going virtual also can help your company save cash, increase profits, and expand its reach.

Here are 10 tips for building a productive off-site team.

1. Find the right phone system. Your phone system must be able to link and support all your remote locations in order to project the image of a single company.
2. Build an intranet. Because your employees don't all go to work at a single location, you need to foster communication and instill in them the sense that they're still part of a team. An intranet can help do both. It can connect your virtual team and make it easier to share information.
3. Hold off-site meetings as needed. There are a number of companies and hotels that provide high-end Enterprise suites and services to mobile executives. There’s also the local chain coffee shop, which may offer Wi-Fi access and enough space for you to hold informal meetings.
4. Plan team-building events. In-person events are essential to remind your employees that they're not alone. These events can be as simple as a lunch at your house or as involved as a professionally administered training program.
5. Hire a virtual secretary. A virtual secretary is someone — or a team of someones — who work off-site but who are hooked into your phone system, giving the impression that they are answering calls on-site. Virtual secretaries can answer phones, set up appointments, and take messages around the clock, if necessary.
6. Communicate openly and frequently. You have to maintain a strong leadership role to lead your virtual team. Be very clear about what you expect from employees and consultants. Make sure they know your policies on pay, health insurance, and vacations.
7. Handle payroll professionally. Treat payroll exactly as you would in a traditional office, with direct deposit or mailed paychecks.
8. Meet and greet your new hires. Whenever possible, meet employees and consultants in person before you bring them on board. It takes a special kind of individual to work remotely, so make sure they have the right make-up. You'll also need to determine whether or not they have dedicated office space at home and the necessary technology.
9. Project a professional appearance. A Web site can create a powerful public image for your home-based Enterprise. Included biographies of all your virtual team members, a description of your team and its services, accomplishments as a team, and a central contact for prospective and existing clients to reach you and the other members of your team.
10. Take your public relations and marketing seriously. A solid and appealing brand — the image your Enterprise projects — is critical to the success of your home-based Enterprise. You have to convey to customers that you offer the best solution to the challenges they face. And don't make apologies for working at home. 

Ten Tips for Hiring Employees for Your Home-Based Business

When your home is your office, the thought of hiring an employee may be daunting. It’s almost more like finding the right roommate, which makes recruiting and hiring the right match all the more important.

Here are 10 tips for finding and hiring the right person.

1. Know what you're getting yourself into. Hiring takes preparation. Will you hire full- or part-time employees or independent contractors? Hiring employees means dealing with payroll and benefits. Will you handle these functions in house or will you outsource them?
2. Ask for referrals. Before you place a help wanted ad, ask for word-of-mouth referrals. Call former colleagues and ask friends and family members if they know any trustworthy, hard-working people. Other places to look for and recruit prospective employees include local universities and community colleges, organizations or trade associations, and chambers of commerce.
3. Do your homework. Before you hire anyone for your home-based business, familiarize yourself with your state's employment laws and with your town's zoning laws.
4. Define your compensation package. Determine what you can afford to pay the employee and what benefits you can afford to offer. If you are trying to cut costs, think outside the box. Offering flexible hours or allowing telecommuting can be very attractive advantages for prospective employees.
5. Perform your due diligence. Of course you'll want to carefully screen your prospective employees; after all, this person will be coming into your home every day. Verify that the person is legally permitted to work in the United States, perform a background check, and check the references your candidate provides.
6. Conduct the interview. Get as much information from the candidate as possible. In addition to submitting a resume, ask for references and have them fill out an application. If possible, have someone else with you during the interview. This way, you will have another person's impressions of the candidate as well as your own. Ask job-specific questions and try to create scenarios to test how a prospective employee would handle typical situations. Determine how they feel about working in an office where family members and even pets may be around.
7. Cover your assets. Make sure your business insurance policy includes worker’s compensation as well as any other liability to which you may be open. Consult with your insurance agent or broker before your employee begins work.
8. Set boundaries. Make sure your employee understands your expectations for being in your home and in your home office. Let them know which rooms are open to them and what the business hours are. Make it clear that though they are in your home, they are there to help you run a business.
9. Compile an employee handbook. This lets your employees know immediately that you take your management duties seriously. Your handbook or operations manual should include policies on sick days, hours, personal use of phones, and performance expectations. It should also include job titles and descriptions, office rules, and procedures for requesting vacation time or reporting an absence.
10. Prepare your family members. Because family members may feel resentful having a stranger in such close quarters, you need to set boundaries with the employee and to prepare your family members for their presence. Assure them that the employee will not be interfering with their personal space, and that they are not obligated to entertain, feed, or treat the employee as a guest. 

Top 10 Advantages of a Home-Based Business

As corporate downsizing continues to make news and the Internet makes telecommuting ever more productive, more and more entrepreneurs are discovering the benefits of running businesses out of their homes. If you are looking to get out of the rat race, to spend more time with family and friends, and to live a more balanced life, a home-based business may be the right decision for you.

Here are 10 reasons why it pays to work at home:

1. Personal freedom. If you're used to spending hours in traffic to and from work every day, some of the most exciting advantages to starting a home-based business are your newfound freedom and the retrieval of lost time. The average American spends 348 hours each year commuting, according to the U.S. Federal Highway Administration. Suddenly with a home-based business, you have those extra hours to regain control of your personal life. Plus, there are no bosses, no dress code, no set work schedule, and no office politics to maneuver. All you need is personal drive, discipline, and time-management skills.
2. You get to keep the money you make. It’s a simple principle: the harder you work, the more money you can make. Your earning potential is directly proportional to your performance, so you don’t have to wait for a raise or a promotion. You work harder, and you produce more. You'll also save money on gas and food. Preparing lunch at home is more cost efficient and offers a nice break in your workday.
3. Increased opportunity. With so many corporations and industries in a slump, starting your own home-based enterprise means you can create your own income-producing opportunities. Good job prospects can be scarce in some industries, and promotional opportunities within major companies are also shrinking.
4. Less risk. Running a business from home takes much less startup cash than a freestanding business, or even a franchise location. And once your business is up and running, it's cheaper and easier to maintain than a separate business location.
5. Tax advantages. There are a number of tax advantages to having your home and office under one roof. You can deduct a part of your home's operating and depreciation expenses on your home as business expenses. This can be a percentage of your mortgage, property taxes, insurance, utilities, and/or the expenses of household maintenance.
6. More time for friends and family. This is especially important for parents of school-age children: you can see the kids off to school and on most days be home when they return. Also, if someone is sick, it's easier to leave your home's desk than one in someone else's office.
7. Less stress. It's a little less stressful to juggle the demands of work and family when you know you can stay home to care for a sick child and generally set your own schedule.
8. Opportunities for professional growth. Being your own boss gives you the chance to wear a lot of hats: sales director, marketing professional, strategist, business development manager, and more. This gives you insight into and experience with all the aspects of running a business, which, in turn, makes you even more marketable.
9. Increased productivity. Now that you no longer have to budget time and energy for commuting or a succession of useless meetings, you should have a lot more time and energy to make your business a success.

A creative outlet. Launching your home-based can be an opportunity for you to give birth to your passions and hobbies and create a money-generating outlet for your unique and creative talents. 

Be Your Own Boss, Be an Owner of a Home Enterprise

A lot of people think about being their own boss. Often when asked why they want to start their own home based Enterprise, a frequent answer I hear is "to be my own boss". I wonder, however, how many people really give it that much thought. What does it really mean to "be your own boss"?

For one thing, it means there is no one to tell you what to do. In a network marketing home Enterprise, you may have people such as your up line "advising" you, but they will not be your boss. While that thought might may bring a smile across most people's faces, there is a reality there that you have to deal with. Since you are your own boss, you must control your own time and how it's spent. And that will often mean working more hours per day than you might perhaps have envisioned. It may require you to force yourself outside of your comfort zone do things you haven't done before to build that Enterprise.

So if you're ready to really be your own boss and not just fantasize about it, this is a good time to start up on your own.

Convert your Time into Money

When you work at a job, you are essentially trading time for money. You work 8 hours a day, you get paid for 8 hours. And if you work more than a certain number of hours, you get paid an overtime rate. It works similarly for people who are on salary (except for the overtime part).

On the last job I had before I quit and started my own home based Enterprise, I was in one of those 'salaried' jobs. That meant there was no need to punch a clock or report my hours to anyone: I was just paid the same no matter how many hours I worked. Even under that arrangement, I was still trading time for money because there was this overall expectation that I would be there at least 40 hours per week and on the average of 8 hours per day. Either way you wrap it, you're trading time for money.

For many people, that's a perfectly good arrangement. That's the norm and that's what they expect. They never stop to question it. But many people, especially now, are beginning to wake up to the fact that as long as you are trading time for money, you will never achieve abundance and/or prosperity in your life. That is almost universally true in the ‘job' world unless you can land a very high paying job that affords you abundance. Those jobs by the way are drying up quickly and what few are left have more competition than ever.

For those people that do wake up to the value of their time, I cannot think of anything better than a home based Enterprise. A home Enterprise will take work – don't get me wrong. But the big difference is that today's work can turn into tomorrow's money. The 8 hours you work today on your home based Enterprise can provide you with income many years into the future. It is one of the few arenas of Enterprise that can make that claim.

As they say: You can always get more money but you can't have any more time.

Your Own Home Enterprise: Your Own Dream

The job market is not exactly thriving despite some brief reports that unemployment claims are down. There is nothing in the news that points to a full job market recovery in 2011. If you have still have a job, you might consider yourself "lucky" but how long will it last? There are very few jobs that offer "immunity idols" (yes I swiped that concept from Survivor) against getting laid off.

As an employee, you are expendable; meaning you can be replaced, discarded, used and then thrown out. Cost cuts come, expendable employees go away. The reason for this is simple. When sales and profits are down, the principles in any Enterprise begin to look at things they can get rid of. What seemed like a necessary position last year, may be a prime candidate for dismissal now.

One of the largest overhead items for any company is its payroll expense and this is the first place they look to chop dollars. One person who recently started a home based Enterprise tells me he did so just in time. His employer didn't fire him, but gave him a 10% pay cut! Fortunately, this person has been steadily building a Enterprise and now has a buffer to cover that 10%. But he's not satisfied with that. He will keep building until he can tell his boss what to do with that job including that pay cut!

Despite it being a bad job market, it's a good time to have a home based Enterprise from which you cannot be fired!

Pears of the Home Enterprises

You've heard the term 'fruits of his/her labor' before haven't you? That is referring to a long term commitment that after some time, gives its payout. In terms of fruit, think of what would happen if you planted a pear tree in your yard. At first it would be a small sapling and in fact for two years it would be just a small tree not bearing any fruit at all. And during that time, you would have to pay close attention to it to see that it grows.

You would have to attend to propping it up during storms and making sure it has enough water during the dry season. But once the pear tree becomes mature, it will begin to bear fruit. Not only once, but season after season. Once it becomes a full grown tree, it will require less attention and will increasingly be a provider for you, providing you with more and more fruit.

I'm sure you see the analogy here when you consider what happens with a home based Enterprise. They generally don't just take off right away. In spite of what some web sites tend to advertise, they don't just start paying off overnight. They require continuous nurturing and lots of attention. Just like the tree, they require your regular vigilance and watch. Then one day, they will be profitable and give you the fruit of your labor.

Integrating Work and Home

Is there a difference between "Work from home" and "Home based Enterprise"? You bet there is. To a lot of people they mean the same thing but there is a fundamental difference between the two. A Work from Home arrangement implies just that -- that you will do some work from home. This could be a Enterprise or it could be just a job that you are able to work from home.

For example, many call centers have started to adopt the model of letting their call center agents work from home. Their technology allows not only for the routing of calls to the call center agents, but it tracks their time. This is an example of a "Work from Home" arrangement. But this is not a home based Enterprise.

In a home based Enterprise, you must commit to it and work to build it up just like any other Enterprise. And unlike the Work from Home arrangement example above, you will not get a steady paycheck from it. However, you can achieve an income if you work the Enterprise but it's not a pay-by-the-hour like the call center example above. When you are researching home based Enterprise opportunities make sure you make that distinction in your mind. Do you want to Work from Home or do you want a Home Based Enterprise?

Employment and Home Enterprises

Along with job cuts, pay cuts are now heading into the spotlight. A lot of companies are realizing that they can only cut so many jobs and that they can also save money by offering a pay cut instead to higher paid people. I suppose it then becomes a choice of taking the pay cut or quitting. Employers know full well this is not a good economy to be quitting a job and they leverage that to their advantage. I would guess most people who are offered pay cuts accept them without much of a fuss.

None of that exists with a home based Enterprise. You pay yourself and you decide how much you can pay yourself. At first it may not be very much, but over time, you can build your home based Enterprise into a full time income producer. A lot of home based Enterprises are marketed with the 'pie-in-the-sky' income levels and those levels can be reached over time.

But what a lot of people want is just a living income and home based Enterprises seldom advertise themselves as "make a living online" ventures. But it's a fair and worthy goal. The higher incomes can come later. And you may even have to give yourself a pay cut some month (followed by a pay raise the next month).

Home Enterprise for Spending Leisure Time

Have you ever heard the expression "procrastination is the thief of time"? What that is referring to is the more you procrastinate on something the more time just slips away and the less likely it is that that something will get done. Is your 'something' the idea of starting a home based Enterprise but somehow you might be thinking procrastinating thoughts? Two of the ones I hear a lot are of "Maybe I should wait until the economy gets better" or "Maybe I should wait until I learn more about running a Enterprise" (or some variation of those).

Maybe I should wait until ___ (fill in the blank). There are probably hundreds of things you could fill in there, but the point here is unnecessary procrastination. When is procrastination necessary? It may genuinely wise in some instances to put something off with good reason. But the difference between wisely putting something aside and outright procrastination is subtle but significant. If you are 100% serious about doing something and you put it aside, then you will come back to it. If you are only half serious or only toying with an idea, and you put it off, you may or may not come back to it Or you may keep finding things to fill in that blank with.

Operating the Home Enterprises

In most Enterprise ventures, much less home based Enterprises, it's important to have realistic expectations. Realistic expectations of long term profits not short term windfalls. So many home Enterprises are marketed with "make money fast" hoopla that it's no wonder people are disappointed when they join an Enterprise and can't 'fire their boss' right away.

Realistic expectations for a home based Enterprise means a long term commitment, not a short term fix. Therefore, you need to expect to operate your Enterprise at a loss; at least at first. It's actually quite normal for Enterprises to operate at a loss when they start and often even in their first few years. For example, Amazon.Com was founded in 1994 but it wasn't until nearly 10 years later when the company posted its first annual profit for the 2003 fiscal year.

Fortunately, home based Enterprises can get to the profitability mark a lot sooner than a company like Amazon.Com. There is less overhead with a home based Enterprise. That means no space to lease, no employees to pay, no equipment to invest in, etc. It is important however to be aware of your ongoing costs. How will you fund the Enterprise at first until it begins to make a profit? Ah, now that's the million dollar question.

You can stick with something that doesn't have a lot of start up costs and doesn't carry much in the way on ongoing costs. That means your risk of operating at a loss is minimized and your Enterprise will have a great chance of surviving until it can start to monetize.

Job Market Vs Home Enterprise

Unless you've been hiding under rock for the past few years, you read a lot of economic 'gloom and doom' in the news. While the current sets of problems are certainly unique, the normal cycles of economics include both growth and contraction (recession). That's been going on for a quite a long time and the current recession probably won't be the last one.

The problem I'm seeing over the past 10 years is that the last period of "growth" didn't really include a lot of prosperity for job seekers. The growth in the job market was mostly in low paying service jobs and the high paying jobs continued to dry up. I think this trend will continue on as companies look for ways to be more efficient and run their Enterprises in the most cost effective manner.

One group of people that became prosperous in the last period of growth was people who built their own Enterprise. This is why there is so much interest in home based Enterprises now. I think a lot of people are waking up to the fact that good paying jobs are becoming scarcer and more difficult to compete for. 

I gave up competing in the job market around 2004 because it felt like I was spinning my wheels. Schooled and trained in Information Technologies, I grew tired of having to always chase after the latest and greatest technical certification in order to stay current. I got tired of having to go out on endless interviews that never went anywhere. Talk about time consuming! That's about the time I decided to pursue my home based Enterprise. I mean after all, if you're going to compete for something, it may as well be building your own Enterprise against your competitors.

Define and Mix Your Own choices, Targets and Capabilities with REALITY

Are you living with whatever you have? And are you happy with that? There is a certain mentality that says we should learn to get by with less. Now I agree that when there is excess involved, it's a wise thing to cut down to a more normal level. But are you happy when you have get by with less, or do you feel deprived?

Conversely, pretty much everyone says they want more money, but do they really need it? Are they happy when they get it? The answers to these questions can only be answered by you -- the individual. I can't answer them for you, but I can say that it involves getting very clear on what you want. And that also involves getting clear on your financial goals. And don't be afraid to change your financial goals either.

For a long time, my financial goals with my home based Enterprise were just about survival. I was focused on getting enough money to put food in the cupboard and keep a roof over my head. But now that I'm making a more comfortable income, my financial focus has shifted to padding my retirement funds as much as possible (avoiding stock-based investments at this time, but even that may change soon).

What about you? Are you clear about wanting a home based Enterprise and your financial goals?

Considering Potentials: Where are you?

There are a lot of people with economic hardships right now. I have been writing about how we should look beyond the current economic hardships to build our home based Enterprises. In doing so, I don't mean to marginalize the fact that some people are actually hurting badly right now. There are people in danger of losing their homes or who have already lost them. Hard to have a home based Enterprise with no home.

My heart goes out to those people and if things are that desperate, this is not the time to start a home based Enterprise. A true home based Enterprise will take some time to monetize and will take an even bigger investment of time to bring in larger profits. So if you are absolutely desperate for every penny, this would not be not a good time to start a home Enterprise.

When people lose their jobs, they often feel themselves at a crossroads, not really knowing which road to take. I have felt that way several times in the past when I've lost a job due to circumstances beyond my control. At one point that 'beyond my control' point began to take on another meaning. I began to look at jobs as dead end propositions and began to look toward to building my own home based Enterprise. It was through this change in direction, that I stopped worrying about what was "beyond my control". With my home based Enterprise, nearly everything is under my control – mistakes and successes alike. That doesn't mean there isn't uncertainty, but at least I don't feel like I'm headed down a dead end road.

I hope this helps anyone who may be at that kind of "crossroads".