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| | | Forum Member
 
Group: Forum Members
Last Login: 04 April 2009 14:37
Posts: 28, Visits: 121 |
| Welcome to the first 'Happy Hour' where we have a selection of experts who will be giving you impartial advice about all aspects of running and setting up a business from home.
Start posting! |
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| | | Forum Newbie
Group: Forum Members
Last Login: 19 February 2009 18:12
Posts: 5, Visits: 10 |
| If I were to be "laid off" as a result of this current credit crunch, I would find it quite daunting at the tender age of 56, to go job hunting and endure countless interviews. I do believe that quite a lot of employers are "ageist" and would go for the younger model every time. I have 18 years experience of project management and proofreading and if I wanted to work from home is there any advice you can give me on how to go about it all.
Thanks in advance.
Kaz |
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| | | Forum Newbie
Group: Forum Members
Last Login: 05 March 2009 20:28
Posts: 7, Visits: 44 |
| Hi Kaz
It sounds like you have some excellent skills – please just forgive my poor typing in your proof reading!
From the legal point of view it is important that when you start off a business you have Terms & Conditions. All too often these get overlooked at the start– perhaps because you are dealing with people you already know or you haven’t budgeted for getting the terms written. Particularly when you just starting a business and something goes wrong (such as a customer not paying or not paying in time) it really can be a make or break situation.
Terms & conditions literally allow you to set down what terms you will do your business on. For example how long your customer/client has to pay your invoices, what is and is not covered by your business etc so really are vital.
If I were to give you just one tip it would have to be sort out your terms of business BEFORE you start to trade/offer your business.
Antonia
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| | | Forum Member
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Last Login: 04 April 2009 14:37
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| | With reference to Project Management, I have a lot of contacts in that area, and I will enquire if there are any home-based opportunities. I will send you a private message. |
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| | | Forum Member
Group: Administrators
Last Login: 02 April 2009 20:34
Posts: 31, Visits: 176 |
| Hi Kaz
With regard to the age problem, many older people are now working from home for that precise reason and they are now one of the biggest growth areas for home working along with mums and teens. Our Silver Central section will be going live next month covering just these issues, and I will ask Patti, our Entrepreneurial Silver to comment later this evening - she's Stateside - but with project management skills it opens the gate to all sorts of areas, from virtual PA to managing a team of support staff, from cleaners to receptionists.
Claire
Professional Writer, Editor, Publisher
Home Business Expert
Funky Angel Consultant
www.funkyangel.co.uk |
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| | | Forum Newbie
Group: Forum Members
Last Login: 19 February 2009 18:12
Posts: 5, Visits: 10 |
| Thank you so much for your response, much appreciated. I hate to cut and run but I must logout now as I have to catch a train home to Reading. I'll login again tomorrow and I will be an avid visitor from now on.
Kaz |
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| | | Junior Member
Group: Forum Members
Last Login: 24 April 2009 21:15
Posts: 13, Visits: 28 |
| Some of your basic first steps when starting a new business from home will include;
1. First of all deciding what you will need to operate well, what hardware, software and so on. What will it cost and take care to only purchase the essentials as to keep overheads down in the early days.
2. Ideally establishing a place in the home that is set aside for your office only. Ideally it should be in a place where you won't be interrupted whilst trying to work. Pay attention to health and safety advice with regards to workspaces to avoid health issues such as back ache.
3. Deciding on a company name and image to present to the world. What do you stand for, how do you want to be perceived as a service? You can create a personal brand by using your own name, or you can create a business brand to represent your services.
Choose carefully, because once you build up a good reputation, you'll be stuck with the name for the long term! I have information on 'naming your business' at http://www.trulyace.com/blog/thoughts-on-design/what-a-difference-a-name-makes/
Before you firmly settle on name, make sure you can acquire a matching .com domain name that is the same as your business name. The domain needs to match to avoid confusion and aid in customers remembering your company name.
4. Because you will be home based, you really do need a professional website - this will be your 'shop front' presented to those who may not necessarily see you face to face if you intend to operate in a mainly 'virtual' way. In addition it's unusual for a professional business not to have a website and thus it might be seen as suspicious if you don't have one.
Include on the website details of your services, helpful guides (that attracts visitors) what is on offer, prices if you want to (some display these and some do not), your full contact details (to allay any concerns of professionalism) including address and a land line telephone number.
5. You'll need to consider what sort of book keeping system you will operate and establish some sort of system. That can be paper based, software based, or a combination of both. It's essential to keep proper records of your in comings and outgoings, not just for the tax office (obviously important), but also because it helps you to accurately record profits and see where you need to make improvements in cost reductions/turnover.
6. Decide what services you will be offering, check out your competitors (even if you have to contact them pretending to be a customer with an enquiry) and what they are charging and use this information to help competitively price your own services, and decide what terms and conditions will be attached to those services.
When pricing don't forget that 50% of your time will be spent doing admin, quoting and customer communications, as well as doing 'marketing' to keep the work flowing. Thus whatever you want your hourly rate to be, you'll need to double that.
7. Check out your legalities such as what insurances you may need/or would be recommended and obtain quotes for that to protect yourself. You may also consider to take out insurance to protect your business income if you are going to rely on it to live.
Once you start trading you will need to register with the tax office immediately otherwise you could face penalities.
8. Open a business bank account and ensure all business income goes into and out of that that so that you can more accurately see what is going on with your business financially. Shop around before you pick a bank.
MARKETING
Puff, that's a whole other chapter, lets let you digest (and question if you have any) what I've written so far and do your research there.
If you still want to launch a business after doing all your research, the next stage is then figuring out how you will acquire customers, which I can also offer advice on.
Best Wishes
Amanda
A Funky Angel Consultant
www.trulyace.com
www.trulyace.com/blog
Logo Design I Print Design I Illustration I Web Design I & More... |
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| | | Forum Newbie
Group: Forum Members
Last Login: 19 February 2009 18:12
Posts: 5, Visits: 10 |
| Hi Claire, Silver Central is a grand idea and I look forward to reading all about it. |
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| | | Forum Newbie
Group: Forum Members
Last Login: 19 February 2009 18:12
Posts: 5, Visits: 10 |
| | Many thanks Amanda, that is certainly food for thought, in fact, quite a feast. Must away now as the train will not wait for me!! |
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| | | Forum Newbie
Group: Forum Members
Last Login: 19 February 2009 18:26
Posts: 5, Visits: 16 |
| Hi Kaz
Sound advice about terms and conditions.
In addition to highlighting them on your web site (which you would of course have ready to go before you launched your new home based business) you could print them on the reverse of your quotation sheets and invoices so that your clients would have no excuse for not being aware of them.
When I was made redundant four years ago, I had three months to prepare for going freelance again. The first thing I did was talk to my bank adviser about what I planned to do to make sure I had them on board and assisting me in any way they could.
I'd also recommend doing as much networking as you could, both online and 'in reality', and having a presence wherever you feel would be useful to promote yourself and your skills. Blogging is also a very effective way of raising your profile; you could give useful/helpful advice on your personal areas of expertise. Communication with your existing clients and prospective ones is everything in business, so I'd definitely suggest you got yourself an effective database system in place so you could send out a regular e newsletter and keep track of everything. There are numerous software packages available in addition to Outlook, but one that I 'm about to invest in for myself is called Critical Mass (http://www.cmass.co.uk). It's a very comprehensive system that integrates everything and includes an email facility.
Investment in tools and systems that will make you more efficient when you're on your own would be well worth it. It's taken me far too long to realise this. I'm an artist first and foremost and any business skills I've acquired have been from accomplished 'gurus' that I've been fortunate to come across.
Cheers, Paul.
Cheers, Paul.
Graphic Design: http://community.webshots.com/user/bryterlayter
Community Radio Online: http://www.marlowfm.co.uk
Blog: http://paulmansell.wordpress.com
FunkyAngel Consultant: http://funkyangel.co.uk/About/Consultants/Paul+Mansell |
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