logging in...
Home Business Plan
Learn how to turn your passion into a paycheck and start your own home business with advice from financial expert, Farnoosh Torabi.
Learn how to turn your passion into a paycheck and start your own home business with advice from financial expert, Farnoosh Torabi.
Establish Your Goals
Whatever sort of business you are starting, whether it's online or a bricks and mortar shop, or direct sales, you need to have goals in place. Write them out! It doesn't have to be five pages, just 300 words on the goal of your business. What do you want to accomplish this year? Refer to your goals often so you don't lose sight of them. You may have aspirations to turn your operation into a multi-million dollar business, but maybe your first year up and running isn't about money. Maybe it's about increasing traffic to your business, meeting other bloggers, or joining a community organization. Think about your business structurally and what kind of advances you want to make, because it is not just about the financial.
Don't Quit Your Day Job
As excited as you may be about starting a business you're truly passionate about, remember that the transition you make from your old job to your new job is very important. Make sure you have your financial ducks in a row before you embark on your new journey. If your income is very important to your household and essential to keep your household running, I wouldn't recommend leaving your current job. Try scaling back your day job or working on your new business during nights and weekends, because you don't want to cut off your steady source of income right away. Once you really want to leave that day job, you should have six months of household expenses tucked away. Another consideration is health care - as a business owner, you are responsible for your own health care, and if you have health care through your day job, that is another good reason why you shouldn't leave right away.
Get Noticed
There are a lot of established websites, sites like Blogher (Blogher.com), Etsy (Etsy.com), Shopify (Shopify.com), eBay (eBay.com), that have a pre-existing network with an audience that you can join as an entrepreneur for a small fee. You can also refer people back to your blog or business. Having that built-in community will help your business get the traffic it needs, which is key to growing your business into a success.
Stay Organized
When you start a business, your taxes change. You have to keep receipts. Have a little nook in your home where you keep all that information, so that come tax time you can deduct a lot of your expenses. Keep a really good log and all your receipts for things like supplies for your home business, gas in your car that you used for business trips, mileage on your car, furniture you bought for your business. The IRS website is really clear and you can look at all potential tax deductions you can take: Irs.gov.
Farnoosh Torabi is a personal finance journalist, author and TV personality. She is the author of "Psych Yourself Rich: Get The Mindset & Discipline You Need to Build Your Financial Life," and she is a frequent contributor to Credit.com, Yahoo! Finance and Moneywatch.com. In 2010, she filled in as a syndicated financial correspondent and anchor for CBS Newspath. For more financial advice from Farnoosh, click HERE to read her weekly blog!
Community Question:
Leave your comments below.
Join or
Today's Top 5
Be On The Show
see the full list »
-
Do you have a question about photography or a certain photo? more »
-
Has Nate inspired you to become House Proud? more »
-
Are you looking for a 2nd date? more »
-
Do you have trouble sleeping? more »
-
Is your mattress preventing you from getting a good night’s sleep? more »
-
Do you want a hair makeover? (NY, NJ, CT, PA ONLY) more »
Follow Nate:
Attach A Photo To Your Comment
Photos must be in JPEG, PNG, or GIF format (no progressive JPGs or animated GIFs), 100 MB limit
Do not upload copyrighted materials without the original author's permission!