What did your friends and family say to you when you told them you were off to start your own business?

And how did it affect the way you went about creating your business?

When I first started telling colleagues and friends of my plans to start my own life coaching business back in 2004 [this is where I started 5 years ago], I remember all too well the sucking of the teeth and the “you’re very brave” comments.

Everyone around me told that going freelance and becoming self-employed was all very well but beware the feast and famine. Working for yourself may give you control and freedom to do what you want, but clients come and go like a roller-coaster ride.
The first few months, I would have to spend all my time marketing. I would then get some clients and then the work would dry up. And I have to do a few more months of hard marketing all over again.

But the reason I decided to start my own coaching business was because I wanted to work part-time. I wanted to create a new career around my children’s school terms so that I worked when they were at school and took my foot off the peddle when the holidays came around.

And if I was to be faced with a feast and famine roller-coaster ride, this just wouldn’t work. I wanted to be in control of when and where I worked in the business and didn’t want to fall in to this trap that was being described to me.

So, although I listened to their advice and kind thoughts, I secretly challenged these opinions and decided that it didn’t have to be that way.

Five months later and I was contemplating going back to corporate life. They were right! It was tough out there and my marketing was getting me nowhere. I hadn’t even experienced the feast – it was just famine all the way!

I had hit rock bottom and fortunately the only way was up. Which is exactly what I decided to do!

I am sharing this story because I firmly believe that it doesn’t matter how great your business idea is, how brilliant your business plan is or how unique your product is – if you haven’t got the right business attitude, there is every chance you’ll fail.

Sounds dramatic, doesn’t it?

But let’s flip this over the other way.

It doesn’t matter how competitive the marketplace is, how average your business idea is or how inadequate your business plan is – if you have got the right business attitude, there is every chance you’ll succeed.

And probably succeed beyond your expectations, too.

Give me a great business idea or a person with a great business attitude and I’ll put my money on the attitude any day.
So some tips for you today is to surround yourself with people who support you and believe in you, be clear on your “big picture” and go for gold.

Because with the right business attitude, you’ll win every time!

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About the Author: Karen Skidmore helps Coaches, Trainers, Virtual Assistants & self-employed professionals to work smarter and attract the right clients to their business. To subscribe to her free email newsletter and get access to practical advice and marketing ideas that will move your business forward, visit www.CanDoCanBe.com

You can guarantee that the number of businesses started at home will increase in 2009. That’s for sure. And it’s on account of lower start-up costs, lack of commute and the fact that many more people will launch a part-time business; holding down a day job and returning home to build a business at nights and weekends. But what will these businesses be doing? Here’s a list of what we think will be the top 5 home business occupations of 2009.

Arts and crafts

Driving this growth is the increasing number of platform sites offering a window to the world for products. In a recent feature  we reviewed five such sites, from the globe-sprawling etsy.com to UK upstarts such as www.myehive.com and www.folksy.com. They all offer a powerful sales channel for artisans and are a key factor in the continued rise in arts and craft home based business.

Business services

Expect to see thousands of new businesses started by professional experts including web site designers, accountants, copywriters, lawyers and recruiters. Skilled and talented individuals are leaving employers (or, in the unfortunate case of redundancy, being asked to leave) and choosing to go off and do a better job on their own. We hear from many who are enjoying the new-found freedom and flexibility that comes with being your own boss.

Making Money Online

You can’t ignore the web. And why would we, when it’s delivering so many new opportunities for people to make money. Start a part time business on eBay and build up sales. Launch an online store with www.venda.com and watch the orders come in. Build traffic to your blog or website and generate advertising and sponsorship. By the time the year is out there’ll be dozens more new ways of making money online and home business owners will be making the most of them.

Domestic services

If people aren’t moving homes in 2009, they will be improving them. This throws up a raft of opportunities for new home business owners. We predict a rise in the number of businesses offering services from cleaning to interior design and garden landscaping,

Franchise

This final one isn’t an occupation as such but we are confident of seeing a rise in the number of people opting to buy into a franchise. In doing so, business owners benefit from being their own boss but also being part of a team. Outfits to benefit from this will include Travel Counsellors, Virgin Vie, My Secret Kitchen and Girlie Gardening. (note from editor: If you are interested in Franchising, Ursula Barzey offers coaching and support for selecting franchising)

We’re expecting an exciting year for home business in 2009. Let’s wait until the end of it to see if we got these judgement calls right!

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About the Author: Emma Jones is Founder of Enterprise Nation and author of Spare Room Start Up: How to Start a Business from Home

Adjust your clocks as the world of work is changing. People in their thousands are heading home from the day job to build a business at nights and weekends. It’s what we call the 5 to 9 economy and it’s a great way of starting a business as it means low cost and low risk. Are you interested in joining this growing group of part-time and spare-room entrepreneurs?

Starting up a business in your spare time is, I would say, the best way to start. You give yourself time to research the market, test out your products & services, build a presence on the web and, critically, make some sales. And you can do all of this whilst holding down a job that continues to pay the bills and cover your overheads.

Consider a few small investments to get you going:

Find dedicated space in the house – it’s important to keep home as a place to which you return from work and unwind so find a dedicated space/room which becomes your home office and in which you can comfortably be in ‘building my business’ mode.

Technology – a growing range of products are designed to help the 5 to 9 entrepreneur. Create a home on the web through a blogging tool like blogger.com or wordpress.com, sell your products through sales platforms such as etsy.com and keep in contact with customers with a BlackBerry and follow-me numbers. These products and gadgets mean you can keep in regular contact with your business in a way that’s not detrimental to your job.

Develop relationships – use your time to develop relationships with possible partners, suppliers and an all-round support network. Much of this can be done online by visiting business sites (such as my own at www.enterprisenation.com and women-unlimited.co.uk) and industry-specific sites where you can keep an eye on new ideas coming to market and follow what customers are buying.

Business branding – promote yourself and your business at every opportunity with stylish stationery like business cards/promotion flyers/stickers etc. I particularly like moo.com as they offer good quality for low prices and the ordering process happens online.

As your brand grows and, with it, the number of customers knocking on your home office door, the time you devote to the business will increase. Before you know it you’ll move from working full time for someone else to working full time for yourself!

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About the Author:

Emma Jones is Founder of Enterprise Nation,  the home business company, and author of ‘Spare Room Start Up – how to start a business from home’

Whether or not you have been lucky to escape on holiday and leave this dismal UK Summer behind you, as we settle back into an early Autumn – and for me with that lingering post-holiday minimalist clarity of mindset and aspiration – never is there a better time to do a bit of Autumn pruning for your business and clear the slate for a renewed business season.

Mine is long overdue. After a tumultuous period of client work the debris left from this whirlwind of activity is all too evident both to me and others. So, on yet another wet Sunday, I finally trundle down the path in my wellingtons to my garden office – but trust me that’s really where my ‘sustainability’ ends! – to embrace my paper mountain. “What better day” I tell myself to do this ‘rainy day’ activity. There are two types of pruning I’m intent on. Tidying but also pruning back the business proposition to its core objectives. This week I focus on the physical act of tidying up.

I’m not naturally tidy and certainly not when I’ve busy! For some reason, for most of my life I’ve been in denial about this. It’s true there was a spell in childhood when I was tidy. I was also a hoarder of pocket money and nerdy children’s club treasurer instead of the profligate spender I am now. Where is this getting me?….Well self awareness I’m sure. But back to the present day…

There must of course be a character (defect) link here, the desire to print and hoard documents – when in this electronic information age retrieval – if that’s even necessary – is a mere keystroke away and time management challenges. I’ll explore the separate issue of knowledge management in a future column.
I’m sure there is a whole body of psychological literature on why some people are tidy and others are ordered or require orderliness. I like to think it’s because I’m “creative”. But, being creative is not enough anymore – and seems strangely childish, despite the fact that I have a frightening ability to produce my very best work against this rugged background – and against the odds I can still pluck documents magically like needles from haystacks and retain critical information in my head.

Yet, I increasingly feel I can’t rely on it – the ability to work against disorder – and significantly I don’t want to anymore either. It must be an age thing – maturity brings a desire for orderliness and serenity of environment. It’s second best and I care about it now. Plus how much better would I be – and my business prosper – if I was able to combine my business intellect with some better processes? I’ve often had that conversation with myself.

I share the garden office with my long-suffering husband, Jon. I sat at his desk the other day, my fingers and gaze traversed, admiringly, his neat tidy “to do” lists, and labelled, spirit-levelled straightened papers and folders. Next, I opened his stationary cupboard and gasped at the beauty of its order. I can’t shut mine! It was a cathartic moment. I finally realised I must tidy up as it isn’t fair to those I would previously – but no longer – have dubbed as “neat freaks”. Anyway they say opposites attract and our marriage still works but there’s no room for complacency!

Speaking of rainy day activities, the act of tidying up, for those of us that are creative and whimsical creatures, brings its own dangers of “dwelling” on old – or possibly historic! – documents as if they were rare treasures and friends. It’s akin to looking at old family photos instead of filing them. No stop this now, the ruthless purging must go on as I progress with my structured filing retrieved from the precarious piles of paper.

Of course, there is a burgeoning army of admin assistants ready to sort out local businesses and untidy entrepreneurs. They will regale you with stories of dead mice and “final demands” that they find in the course of their work – I’m not that bad, but it’s testimony to the fact that I am not alone in my untidiness – perhaps I should form Untidy Anonymous! I suppose it is a kind of addiction. Why don’t I use an admin buster? Well, it’s partly embarrassment – shades of my mother (more evidence of ageing) who would always tidy and clean the house from top to bottom before the cleaner turned up! – I too don’t feel I’m tidy enough to be helped yet!

Anyway I have well and truly aired my dirty laundry in public, or at least online. It’s shamed me – hopefully – into action and I hope to report on my new state of pristine tidiness next week. Meanwhile, I’d love to hear your comments or reflections. But go gently on me!

Have a structured, tidy and prosperous week.

Melanie

I lie here on my sun bed in Spain soaking up the sun while relaxing by the pool and reading those women’s magazines – as we all do – profiling all those inspirational career change stories of brave and creative business women who have pursued their “eureka” moment.

As I read the stories of these female role model entrepreneurs – this year is different. I too have left the security of my permanent job – mine with a City and Westminster based pr agency – to strike out with my own business as a pr consultant. So let this be a salutary reminder about everything that has been and remains positive about having taken the plunge. Let’s pause and reflect for a few moments on my journey so far.

It hasn’t been easy…I don’t think anyone really appreciates the sheer hard work – exhaustion at times! – of working for yourself. Now I really understanding the humour and meaning behind the jocular definition of an entrepreneur as being “someone that would rather work 16 hours a day for herself/himself than 8 hours a day for someone else!”

There has been frustration, the inevitable setbacks, the need to hold one’s nerve, the struggle to retain focus and stick to priority areas of business development , learning to say “no” sometimes as a secure client base is established with your target market, managing multiple projects for different clients simultaneously, never being able to stop, the one the buck stops with – being the primary circus juggler really of all the spinning plates …and for women – often domestic and family commitments on top – the ultimate time management challenge.

But what of the pleasures! the sheer exuberance and energy and excitement – albeit tinged with risk – of pursuing your dreams and ambitions, without encumbrance from former employers, escaping office politics, sweaty rush-hour trains, the excitement of working within local business communities, for local businesses and charities, forming new partnerships, building new initiatives together, supporting business associates through a myriad of networks, inspiring each other, learning new skills, trying new things, succeeding at them – the diversity – the friendships. Gaining confidence…and wisdom.

And actually doing it as opposed to just daydreaming and reading about others doing it while being too scared to jump or perhaps the timing not yet being quite right. Make the timing right and take the plunge too. Congratulations to all those that have. All are welcome to our Women Unlimited community which is here to support your dream.

Now back into the pool before cocktails!

Melanie

Deciding to start your own business can feel like a big step and isn’t something that should be taken lightly. Though, in my opinion it is more rewarding and fulfilling than working for someone else. Before you get started though, the first step is to decide what type of business you want to run. This can often be one of the more difficult things to decide on. So here is our guide to figuring out what is best for you.

Start with what you know and let your experience be your guide

Start with what you know. If you have spent twenty years working as an marketing consultant or you
love to go to art galleries as a hobby, consider how you can take that experience and turn it
into a successful business.   Look around your workplace. Do you see needs that are going unmet or can you think of a better way of doing something? If so, you might have the seed for a profitable business. 

Faster, Smarter, Cheaper, Better

Many first time entrepreneurs assume that they have to come up with a new business idea to be successful. That simply is not true. Most successful businesses are born not of innovation, but of necessity. Instead of trying to come up with an idea that changes the world, take a look at the world around you and see where there might be a void that needs filling or a business concept that needs improvement. Think about yourself as a customer or seller of a service or product and how you might be able to do it faster, smarter, cheaper or better. 

In a competitive market you need to find a way to differentiate yourself. If you have an idea think about these four questions and brainstorm 20 ideas for each one to see which way feels right for you.

1. How can you deliver a product or service or give value faster than anyone else
2. How can you deliver products or services more efficiently than anyone else.
3. How can you deliver a higher quality product or service than anyone else
4. How can you deliver products or services cheaper than anyone else.

Many successful businesses have been built by taking a traditional business and making it
better. Domino’s Pizza was certainly not the first to offer home delivery of pizza, but they were
the first to guarantee it would be delivered piping hot to your door in 30 minutes or less.
Amazon.com was not the first company to sell books, but they were one of the first that would let
you buy books from the comfort of your own home while sitting in your underwear.

What is your motivation

Often women will have different motivations for starting their own business.  Work / life balance, flexibility, independence, personal satisfaction, AND to make money.  Getting rich is often not very high as one of their motivations.  It is worth identifying what your values are before you get started to help you understand what your success criteria will be. 

Do what you love

It is important that you have a passion and connection to what you are doing.  You will increase your chances of success enormously if you find a business that excites you so much that you want to be doing it all the time.   Working in a business that you have no fire for can be extremely difficult and can even make you ill.  A friend of mine was a partner in a business that was really draining her.  She had compromised on her family life by not spending much time with her son and is now going through early menopause at the age of 39.  She has now stepped away from that business and feels like an enormous weight has been lifted from her shoulders and is pursuing her own dream to create a consultancy that helps businesses in crisis situations.  If you don’t enjoy what you do the business will become a chore, not a joy.

Find a niche – and own it!

Many businesses have gone broke trying to be all things to all people. The ability to offer a
millions of products under one roof is all well and good for Tescos, but not for most new small
businesses. Try to identify a niche that you would enjoy working in and think about the type of business that you could create. If you love to work outdoors, consider starting a landscaping business. If you
enjoy working with numbers, think about becoming an accountant or financial management consultant.

A couple of examples of people that I know that are doing this really effectively are Kirstin Gronning who has started her own business as a Divorce Coach.  She has powerfully used her own experience of going through a divorce and turned that into a successful niche business.

Using an already successful model – Franchising

Many new entrepreneurs consider buying a franchise operation instead of starting a business from scratch. Franchises are a good way to jumpstart the process because they have already done much of the hard work for you. They have proven the business model, established guidelines for running the business, spent millions of dollars on establishing the brand, etc. Buying a franchise is typically a very expensive and involved process that is beyond the scope of this article. The best thumbnail of advice I can give you is to thoroughly investigate the franchisor and the opportunity, use your own attorney to do the deal, and read the fine print in the franchise agreement.

Assess the competition and decide if you can find a place for yourself

If the business pool is already filled with other companies doing the same thing you want do, think about how you might be able to differentiate yourself.  Henry Ford has a great quote “A market is never saturated with a good product, but it is very quickly saturated with a bad one. ” Take this to heart.  Test your proposition to determine whether you can make yourself stand out and always try to be the best in your market.

… and finally, there is no rush

Whatever business you choose to start, Itake the time required to make an informed, intelligent decision. Think about whether you can start your business in your free time, while you still have your current job (and income) to fall back on. Talk to friends and associates who use the product or service you will provide to see if they would consider become paying customers.  Do your market research and put together your business plan as your road map to success.  Consider whether it makes sense to start small to test your idea and move into your business full-time when it can support you.  Finally, good luck and remember this ”If you can imagine it, you can achieve it. If you can dream it, you can become it.” William Arthur Ward