Starting Your Home Based Business On A Shoestring Budget

By Hendra Subrata Liu

Whether seeking a supplemental income or a full-time income,
many folks have undertaken the task to discover a viable home
based business solution to meet their personal needs.

For most folks who contemplate a home business, a low-cost or
no-cost solution is not only nice, but also very necessary. Many
also seek to find a home business that will permit them to
maintain their regular day job in order to protect their base
income.

Taking the cautious approach to a home based business and
keeping one`s job during the start-up period is often a very
good decision. By maintaining one`s job, one can maintain the
health of their personal finances while permitting their home
business grow healthy and strong.

Fortunately, most home based businesses can be started with
little or no cash, can be maintained on a shoestring budget, and
can be operated successfully with only a part-time investment.

One day, the business will be strong enough to support itself
and its owner. When that time comes, it will make good sense for
the business owner to leave his or her outside job to dedicate
more time to growing and maintaining their new thriving home
based business. You will know when that time has finally arrived.

The nature of a home based business makes it easy and very
realistic for most folks to take the plunge into home business
ownership.

Yet, many folks put off starting their own home based business,
because they have the misconception that they will have to risk
thousands of their own hard-earned dollars at start-up. Then
later, if their business fails, they fear they may be forced to
take out a second mortgage on their house just to stay out of
bankruptcy.

Are you one of these folks? Do you let your fears of failure
keep you from reaching for your dreams?

If so, then allow me to introduce you to a few home business
ideas that you can start for less than $100 and can be started
and operated very profitably as a part-time business.

THE LIFEBLOOD OF ALL SUCCESSFUL BUSINESSES

First of all, let me advise you to search out a business model
that will deliver steady and repeat business. It is the one
thing --- above all others --- that will assure that your
company can survive the test of time.

HOME-BASED MAIL ORDER:
Home-based mail order is a good example of how one can quickly
grow a home business income. Mail order is a low cost start-up
business that can be launched for around $100 USD.

With proper planning, your home-based mail order business will
not require up-front inventory purchases. In the mail order
business, it is not uncommon to rely upon drop-shippers for
product fulfillment services.

By utilizing drop-shippers, we can sell the products, collect
the money and then purchase the products from the wholesale
outlet. The wholesale outlet will then put a return address for
your company on the product packaging and deliver the product
directly to your customer.

Your primary expense in the mail-order business is advertising.
Classified advertising tends to be a relatively inexpensive form
of advertising with thousands of outlets available to the small
business owner.

WHOLESALE BUSINESS:
Buy low --- sell high. You can acquire high quality,
top-of-the-line merchandise for a fraction of the retail cost.

AUCTIONS:
Auctions can be an excellent source for buying cheap and selling
high. Both government auctions and Internet auctions can lead to
some excellent profit opportunities. Auctions are an excellent
tool for both acquiring and selling merchandise.

MAKE AND SELL YOUR CRAFTS:
Crafts are a hot seller at country fairs, swap meets or anyplace
where people gather. Make your own crafts and sell them for a
tidy profit!

SELLING INFORMATION:
Selling information by mail is another good example of an
inexpensive home based business start-up. One can gain the
resale rights to information for usually about $50 USD. Other
costs will include printer cartridges, paper and postage. There
are plenty of free classifieds sites on the Internet, in which
to successfully advertise your information.

WRITE INFORMATIONAL BOOKLETS:
Write and publish your own informational booklets; sell them at
a high price! All you need is a little know-how, a printer,
paper and stamps. This is a GREAT home business idea! You can
also sell the resale rights to others, for extra profits. In
this age of the Internet, you may also take advantage of the
fact that selling information is one of the most profitable
endeavors one can pursue online.

OFFICE SERVICES:
Offer office services for hire in your local paper. You`ll be
surprised at the amount of regular office business that can be
gleaned from one little classified ad. Word processing, typing,
accounting, data entry, proofreading, transcription, promotional
letters and newsletters. All these tasks can be accomplished
right from your own home office.

AVON REPRESENTATIVE:
Yes, Avon`s been around for eternity, hasn`t it? Then it`s not
such a bad prospect as a home based business, is it? I once knew
a woman who did so much business as an Avon rep. that she had
people calling her and knocking at her door wanting to order
products at all hours of the day and night! Once you are an
established Avon representative, you, too, will turn a good
profit.

CONCLUSION:
On your search for the ideal home based business, try not to get
caught up in any scams that will run off with your money. There
are thousands of scam artists out there just waiting for the
next sucker to come along. Remember, if it sounds too good to be
true, then it probably is. Just use your good judgement and
invest wisely in proven methods of earning extra income.


Quote of the Day:
"Seek the lofty by reading, hearing and seeing great work at
some moment every day." -- Thornton Wilder

About the author:
To find the best home based business ideas and opportunities so you can work at home visit:
http://www.digitalphotography-camera.com/store
http://www.digitalphotography-camera.com
http://www.pandanwangi.pobs.me
http://www.homebizrevelations.blogspot.com
http://www.healthismorepreciousthanwealth.blogspot.com

Offline Promotion Strategies 101

By Hendra Subrata Liu

No business can survive the long run without some form of
consistent advertising. As a result, most business owners will
eventually consider using advertising to promote their business.

The toughest part of the advertising equation is in determining
where and how to spend your advertising dollars. If you do it
wrong, you could plunk down your entire advertising budget and
receive absolutely no return on your investment. But, if you do
it right, your advertising could continue to bring a nice return
for years to come.

HOW DO I MAKE THE RIGHT ADVERTISING DECISIONS ?

In order to make good decisions concerning how to spend your
advertising budget, you must first have a good understanding of
the different types of advertising and promotion available and
what can be expected to be achieved by each.

· You must understand which markets the different media`s can
reach.
· You must understand the demographics of the media`s
consumers.
· You must understand the buying habits of the consumers
reached through the media.

WHAT OFFLINE ADVERTISING & PROMOTION MEDIA`S SHOULD BE CONSIDERED

The media`s that people think of most often are television,
radio, newspaper and magazine advertising. Of course, these are
the big boys that big businesses use regularly.

Other methods of promotion include trade shows, press releases,
direct sales, telemarketing, word of mouth, branding and
billboard advertising.

CONSIDERING THE BIG MEDIA OUTLETS

The big boys of advertising media`s generally cost big bucks.
Given certain circumstances, the big media`s can be bought for
very little money.

Take for example, television, radio and newspapers cost big
bucks during their prime times, but can be bought for pennies on
the dollar during non-primetime hours.

Television primetime is between 7pm and 10pm. Radio primetime is
between 7am and 6pm. With newspapers, the primetime is
Wednesdays and Sundays.

If you intend to hit a media during prime time, get ready to
drop some bucks. Primetime means that you will be able to hit
more consumers during these times. So, in most cases, a
primetime buy will enable you to reach more people with your
advertising.

Non-primetime hours can still deliver a lot of eyes and ears to
your message, and sometimes, these off-hours can be bought for a
bargain basement price.

GETTING MILEAGE FROM EVENTS

Trade shows and press releases are more event-driven. The trade
show is the event, while the press release generally exploits an
event.

Trade shows are an exceptional tool when you deal directly with
potential sellers of your products or services. Other shows are
directed at the consumer, and those can be very valuable avenues
for sales as well.

The press release is aimed towards gaining attention for a
business by distributing newsworthy information about the
business.

Sometimes the appearance of a business at a trade show or other
show can provide the necessary angle for a press release. But
most often, a successful press release will actually require
more noteworthy information than the appearance of a business at
a show.

Yet, even the most mundane of information could be spiced up to
give the real air of importance necessary to get your press
release read and printed.

The great thing about a press release is that might permit you
to get relatively inexpensive promotion on television, radio,
newspapers and magazines; for far less than what it would cost
you to buy advertising in those same outlets.

UTILIZING A SALES TEAM

Depending on what type of business you run and the consumers you
are trying to reach, you might find direct sales and
telemarketing to be very lucrative ways to drive sales to your
business.

Both are very similar in nature. Direct sales can be very
expensive, as it requires a great investment of time to
accomodate. Telemarketing seeks to minimize the time
expenditure, but it often leads to a smaller degree of respect
and attention.

Depending on your product or service --- and always depending
upon the people you employ to the task --- each method will be
more suited to each business on an individual basis.

BRANDING YOUR BUSINESS

Branding is the process of establishing your business as the
supplier of a certain product or service, or in emphasizing a
certain USP (Unique Selling Proposition) as it pertains to your
business.

If branding and USP seems to be a confusing concept, think about
Wal-Mart and their tag line: "Always Low Prices, Always."

Think about Ford Motors, "Quality is Job One."

Think about the Visa Card, "It`s Everywhere You Want To Be."

You see, these top corporations have managed to make their USP
part of their branding.

Even if you are only competing in a local marketplace, your USP
can and should fit snugly into your branding strategy.

NO MATTER THE MEDIA OR METHOD

Whichever method or media you should choose to employ in your
advertising and promotion, you should become knowledgable about
your market, and the consumers reached by each media. It is
important to understand which consumers can be reached by a
certain media, and in what quantities.

However you choose to spend your advertising dollars, you should
always track the results of your promotional efforts. Failing to
track successes and failures will ultimately lead to the failure
of a business.

When you know whom you are trying to reach and how you think you
might be able to reach them, you will begin to learn how to use
advertising and promotion to make your business successful. That
is a good thing --- after all, that is why you got into the
business in the first place, isn`t it?


About the author:
To find the best home based business ideas and opportunities so you can work at home visit:
http://www.digitalphotography-camera.com/store
http://www.digitalphotography-camera.com
http://www.pandanwangi.pobs.me
http://www.homebizrevelations.blogspot.com
http://www.healthismorepreciousthanwealth.blogspot.com