Everyone wants to share the upside of small business and entrepreneurship. It’s easy to find helpful hints and inspiring success stories, but what about the dark side – the real insight into entrepreneurship, the mistakes! Small business failures occur every day – actually about 50% of them fail.1) Venturing Out AloneSo often I find that business owners want to start and remain as a one-man show. Some entrepreneurs trust only themselves, a partner, or a spouse when facing key decisions. However, it is vital to avoid small business failures to have a team supporting you. They should include, an attorney, a CPA and a financial advisor/banker. This team of advisors should be dedicated to helping you succeed and communicating with each other to accomplish this goal.2) Wearing All the Hats”A jack of all trades, is seldom the master of one.” One sure way to quickly hit the “small business failures list” try to do EVERYTHING yourself. Cash-strapped startups often begin this way because it is well it, cheaper. However, as your business grows, it’s essential to get help. Responsibilities such as bookkeeping, taxes and payroll take up time you could spend serving your customers. Even more importantly, getting them wrong can be dangerous. Hiring a professional not only helps prevent errors, but shifts much of the risk to someone else.3) Keeping Your Head DownBusiness owners also need to make time to seek wisdom in the wider world. For example, some business owners may not be aware that there’s a fairly simple way to get their website ranked higher on Internet searches.If you are seeking wisdom every day this is the kind of useful information you will find. Research and planning for the future can’t seem like secondary concerns, especially when you’re not sure where to go for information.Numerous small business failures occur because business owners aren’t willing to take advice. Whether your quest for knowledge includes online research, trade shows, Chamber meetings, or networking with peers, it’s out on ways to improve your business, such as funding opportunities for small businesses or educational resources to help you tackle tomorrow’s challenges.4) Running Lean on CashKeep at least three months of cash flow on reserve to be ready for season fluctuations of the inevitable dry spell. It is often difficult to do so, especially if you developed frugal habits when you just were getting started. Use automatic drafts to ensure your commitment to saving monthly. Think of it as a sort of insurance policy.5) Avoiding Credit ApplicationsThis small business failures tip is closely related to Step #4. Minimizing your debt mat be a good goal for your personal life, but most businesses will require some level of borrowing capacity at some point. You have a fresh credit profile with your business, use it! In many cases, if you wait until you actually need credit it can be harder to get.6) Combining AccountsNot separating business and personal accounts may be one of the most common small business failures of all. Like any other situation, when it comes to banking, keep your business & personal life SEPARATE! If you are mixing funds, it is hard to keep track of your business cash flow. Building a credit history in the business’ name, which can make it easier to secure financing.Do any of these sound familiar? To avoid small business failures take a long look at the way you work and follow practices that will keep you moving forward.Remember, You Can Avoid Small Business FailuresI’m headed for the top, I know you’re coming with me!

There are tons of home based business ideas you can adopt, and choosing the right one may not be easy, however, knowing what to look for in a home based business will definitely make things much simpler.

The following is a set of 7 questions which you should be asking yourself to determine the type of home based business you truly desire and worth putting your focus and effort in.

1. How much startup capital am I willing to invest in my home based business?

Budgeting is very important, and you should always set aside an amount of cash flow for emergencies.

When determining the investment, it should be an amount you are comfortable with to start your home based business. It does not necessary mean that you have to invest the full amount, but rather as gauge to filter out high costing home based business ideas.

Since you will be working from home, you need not pay the high cost of rental for office space and depending on the business you are in, possibly no management of employees and salary required. Most of your investment will most likely go into purchase of raw materials, services and marketing.

There are other on-going variable costs you need keep track such as bills, purchase of raw materials and etc. And you should be splitting your household expenses and that for work related for tax purposes.

2. What is the Risk level of the home based business I’m comfortable with?

Home based businesses vary in risk levels, and you should determine the amount of risk you’re willing to take. Risk can be due to return on investment, product fulfillment, natural disaster and more…

Higher risk business not necessary will always give you a better return. There are home based businesses that are low cost and risk level but still make you tons of money.

3. Do I want to deal with physical or digital products?

Product fulfillment is very important in a business. It determines the customers’ trust on your home based business and how much you can be making. You have to be prepared for cases where the product failed to deliver, product damaged during delivery and refund request.

Thus, you have to decide whether you want to deal with physical products that needs to be delivered, or digital products that can be downloaded from the website directly after payment.

4. Do I want to target global or local customers?

Depending on the type of product or services you are providing, you can be targeting either local or global customers. Of course, this will also depend on how you handle payment and product fulfillment. Should you be leveraging on the Internet to target global customers, you need a website that accepts credit card payments. On top of that, you must be ready to handle larger orders.

5. Do I have the knowledge or experiences in this industry?

You need not be an expert, but at least some knowledge is preferred before you jump into an industry. Always do your research to find what is in demand before you waste all your money, time and effort.

Keep a lookout for partners or mentors who are more experience, whom you can leverage on to guide and assist you towards your success in your home based business.

6. How much time am I willing to spend on this home based business?

Time management is important, especially when you are your own boss. There are home based businesses that require a lot of your time, and those that requires lesser time but giving same result.

If having more time freedom is one of the reasons you want to start your home based business, then you should be looking at home based businesses where you can outsource most of the work and put it into automation.

7. Do I want to get paid once or many times per sale?

If you are dealing with membership or subscription types of businesses, then you would have a ready customer base that will purchase from you regularly from your one time marketing effort.

Alternatively, you could also be in a home based business that you market frequently and make money on every sale made.

As many women already know, there is nothing more empowering than having control over your own finances and future. Women are making great strides in today’s world, and many empowered women today are entrepreneurs and business owners. In fact, the statistics on women in business and women who own businesses just keep getting better. If you Google “empowered women” you can find a wide variety of topics, from successful career women, to women’s self-help sites, to women’s blogs, to home-based business opportunities, to stay-at-home moms who made it big with a product or idea that really paid off.The idea of women in business is not new. Women are the original mothers of inventions. If they need it and can’t find it, they invent it, market it, and sell it. Women juggle families and careers and still manage to donate, volunteer and support others. Some women are choosing to keep their traditional jobs and careers, while others have made the leap into entrepreneurship and have started their own home-based businesses.According to figures published by the DSA, Independent Research and Bureau of Labor Statistics:53 percent of all businesses in the US are home-based.
The home-based market has grown over 15 percent each year since 1995.
There are over 14 million home-based businesses in the US.
These home-based businesses generate over $1 trillion annually.
Direct selling accounts for a huge percentage of home-based businesses with sales of $30 Billion in the US and $100 billion worldwide.
Direct selling has added 175,000 people each week in the US and 300,000 worldwide.Did you know that the profile for a home-based business owner is predominately female, 35-54 years of age, who is married and most likely to be college educated? These women typically work on their businesses part-time. The majority of these women are involved in direct sales with companies that successfully empower women such as Avon, Cookie Lee, Creative Memories, Pampered Chef, Shelf Reliance/Thrive Foods, Jewels by Park Lane, Etc.Empowered women entrepreneurs and business women are quickly gaining the edge in the competitive world of marketing. Companies are changing how they design, produce and market products in order to appeal to these niche businesses and the women who own them.Because technology has made such great strides in the past decade, working from home is no longer something you have to dream about doing. Working from home is now a viable career option and a very realistic means to financial success.To decide if a home-based business is right for you, ask yourself where your talents or passions lay.Do you have an idea or an invention that you would like to market and distribute?Do you want to work on your business full-time or part-time?Are you interested in direct sales?Do you interact well with people?It is always best to set a realistic goal for yourself, thoroughly research any ideas you might have, and create a business plan for yourself. If you decide to go into direct sales, be sure that you understand how much time, effort and money you will need to invest before you start making money. Be certain that you understand the compensation plan of the company you are thinking of partnering with. Know if you will be required to recruit mass numbers of people to create “teams” in order to be successful. Research the company and check the complaint boards to make sure you are not joining a company with mostly negative reviews.If you feel that being in control of your own financial success will empower you and you are an entrepreneur, then a home-based business may be right for you!