Be Your own Boss

Starting a business is not easy. It will take patience, self-determination good people skills and perseverance to succeed. On the other hand the reward is very handsome, you gain independence from a boss and the dependent status employees suffer. Your employees will become your customers. You may lose ONE customer but you cannot be fired or laid off, downsized, replaced with the cousin of the manager or out sourced to India.

This forum will offer ideas, exchange experiences in various home based businesses that are viable and flourishing even in a dismal or slow economy.

What we generally do not recommend is that people buy a franchise or a business that can be easily self-built. The reason is most home based business exchange only a customer list when bought and sold. We know from experience that these customers may not stay with the new owner.

Buying a business is the last resort and should only be done by professional businesses (that we generally not covering here) such as CPA’s, lawyers etc.

Our ideal visitor/reader has some resources like a working spouse or perhaps other incomes that can tie him over while the business is in the infancy. This is important. Our belief is that the concept of multiple sources of income is of paramount importance in any commercial venue that one considers home based.

The other issue is we generally will not discuss or cover any business that is the traditional brick and mortar type such as a retail store. There are two very important reasons for this.

• The cost of retail space is often the death of the business
• Legal liability of disability access in certain states such as CA.

There are exceptions to this rule in malls. There are some viable business ideas that we might cover that include renting retail kiosk. The startup cost for these venues is on the high end however. We know start-up that went out of business after only a few months due to the cost of the space. If your income initially will not cover the rent then you must have enough funds to tie you over for at least 6 months to a year. Many people forget about this or circumstances change and they must close shop.