Choosing the Right Business

Like any big decision in life, choosing the right business is much more complex than simply coming up with a list of pros and cons. Choosing the right home based business should be a decision that you spend some time on, because if you want to be successful, you’re going to have to put a lot of time and sweat into your business, and it will essentially take up the better part of your time for at least the first couple years. Here's a few probing questions to ask yourself that should help you narrow down what the perfect home business is for you.

What Are Your Core Values?
Just about any business coach will tell you that narrowing down your core values personally will not only help you figure out what kind of business to start, but it will keep you on track and give you some common language to refer to when you bring others into the business (particularly investors). For example; if in your own life you place a high value on the environment and living green, you will want to model that in your business as well. This can result in higher costs (buying locally, using green materials, etc.) but depending on the business, you may be able to charge a premium, knowing that your customers also share this value and are willing to pay more for it.

What Are You Willing To Put In?
A business will not build itself, so you need to have realistic expectations for the time and resources that you’re willing to invest in the business to get it off the ground. The earliest stage of a business is often called “friends and fools” because when you first start out, you will have little money and will have to rely on friends helping out and “fools” or people who are willing to invest time and/or money with no guarantee of any payout anytime soon.

What Is Your End Goal?
A common mistake when starting a new business is to build it with the intent to sell the business in a couple years and make millions of dollars. While this would be nice, and it may very well be what happens to your business, setting an exit strategy as the goal for your business is a good way to kill your business before it ever starts. You need to set a goal for your business that will allow it to continue to evolve and grow over time, and you need to invest yourself in it for the long haul. This doesn’t mean that you’re committing the rest of your life to the business, but it will help you to focus on making the business truly great, rather than just building something in order to get rid of it.

Where to go from here?
Check out our Work From Home Business Directory for proven home based business concepts.

Home Business Bug
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