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3 Things To Consider One of the largest parts of Homesteading to me is being as self supporting as possible. That includes running my own business and not relying upon another human being for my income. I do not want to be dependent on the ideas, or resources of another human being for something as important in life as my finances. At least if I am working for myself I am in control of how much I make, when I work and what I do. This is not a road for everyone. It takes a special talent to run and build a business and not everyone has that ability. It is perfectly acceptable to work for someone else if that is enough financially to sustain you and for you to meet your financial goals. Succeeding at building a business takes not just talent but practicality and an ability to be honest with yourself about yourself. The first thing I would recommend to anyone looking to build a successful business or a homebased business is to assess your abilities. Be brutally honest with yourself. You know what you are willing to do and not willing to do to succeed. You better than anyone know your strengths and weaknesses. If you are not a salesman, admit it upfront and build your business based on that knowledge. Find sales people. If your organizational skills are lacking, admit it and find someone to assist you in that area. If you do not have a clue about how to market your product or service, find someone who does and follow their advice! Form a partnership or hire someone to do what you can or will not do. If the internet and programming or design are not your 'thing' then hire a designer or programmer. If you can't write sales copy find someone who can. Make your business choices based on what you KNOW about yourself logically. Do not attempt to be something you are not. This will cause certain failure. Choose a field in which you are knowledgeable, passionate and excel in! Secondly, no matter what your talents are, you must consider your market. What are the economics of your area? The education level of your community and your potential buyers. If you are selling a product, how likely is it to sell to your local contacts? Your prospects may be well educated in many areas, but be completely uneducated about your product. How much 'teaching' or educating of your potential market will you be required to do to close the sale? Will it be worth it to educate your market? How many hours will you have to devote to each sale? Compare that to the profitability of each sale - is it financially profitable to educate each and every client? How many of them can you sell without over saturating your market. What is the long term prospects? If offering a service is the market seasonable or regional? If you are offering a service, how many hours a week will you have to devote to the actual service itself after marketing and accounting? The third thing you should consider is your competition. Who and what does your competition look like? What other stores, individuals or services similar to yours are already in existence in your area? What do you have that they don't. What sets you apart from them? Is the thing that sets you apart from the crowd enough to generate you a continual flow of business? Can you offer the same products or services to your community at a competitive price or is your service unique enough to warrant a potential customer to abandon their current suppliers? Another thing to consider is loyalty. Many small towns operate on loyalty not just cost. Do you have the time and financial resources to build customer loyalty? If you address each of these concerns and come up with a solution to foreseeable problems or a way to intercept potential problems early you will save yourself a ton of headaches in the future as your business takes shape.
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