There are times when people want to start up a business, however, due to other responsibilities are not able to get out of home and start a venture. It is those times when starting a home based business. Home based business is very good for generating extra income since it is low cost and easy to implement. . However success of Home based business depends upon your planning, execution & management capabilities.
1. Not preparing a well drafted Business Plan:
While starting a home based business, give time to both short-term actions and long-term goals so you run your business in a more balanced manner.Create a schedule and stick to it. As you write the plan, you’ll begin to put together the pieces of how to divide your time between your business and home life, where you’ll locate your office, what equipment to buy, and what to expect in terms of having enough money to continue to cover your home expenses, plus the added expenses of running a business.Regardless of the type of business you have, it is essential to take the necessary time and effort to plan the business and to clearly state the objectives you intend to achieve.
2. Lack of proper market research:
While it is very important to conduct a market research before creating a product or delivering a service. Oftentimes startup entrepreneurs tend to get so excited about their business ideas that they tend to overlook the market research phase. It’s true that sometimes the business idea works anyway, but if you truly want your home based business to succeed you need to do a market research to test if there actually is a market for your product or service. You should also test your product or service before you put them on the market because if you don’t you’ll have no idea if people are even going to want to buy them.
3. Allowing interruptions:
When you work from home, the potential distractions are unlimited: your kids playing around, the TV in the background or family members wanting to talk to you. All these distractions get in the way of your focus and your ability to handle the tasks at hand. So both you and your family members have to understand that there needs to be a balance between working time and family time and that just because you’re home, doesn’t mean that you’re not working. Any business requires dedication and focus and a home based business makes no exception.
4. Not being organised:
In order to be effective in your business, you need to be efficient and to be efficient it is very important to be organised. As work piles up, it’s easy to let organization slide. Hence, in a startup scenario, it is very important to take the time to get organized, and then have the discipline to maintain that organization on a daily basis. It’s an investment that will pay off in time, energy and money.
5. Never taking time off:
Many home-based business owners develop a tendency to work all the time. This type of mistake goes hand in hand with not having a proper professional space well delimited inside the home, because this way you will tend to work everywhere and anytime and this is a recipe for burnout and can cause resentment among your family members. When you never leave your home office, it can create loneliness, and that decreases your motivation. Hence, it is very important that you should also plan some socialization time into your day.
6. Low work-life balance:
It’s easy to become a workaholic when you work from home, and you’ll have to learn to balance your business and home life. Keep informed your family on what you do all day, and that will make them feel a part of your business. You’ll also need to set some parameters during your work hours, and be firm about when you can’t be interrupted. But don’t let your home life suffer. Instead, plan family times
7. Not Keeping a Separate Space for Your Business:
Even if you don’t live in a spacious house, you need to set aside a space reserved almost entirely for work. Try to create a professional environment where you can focus on business matters without any distractions and interruptions. Every day you must have a plan for what you need to do. And you must factor into that plan the inevitable distractions that come when you work from home.
8. Not understanding the value of Money:
You can’t start a business believing that you’ll be able to pay your bills with the business’ sales because they can be slow to come in. Instead, you’ll need to create a budget. By doing this, you’ll be able to plan and save accordingly so you can properly capitalize your business before opening. This is one of the main reasons why it’s advisable to keep your full-time job when you decide to start your own home business, so you will continue to have a constant flow of cash to cover your expenses. You will need to create a budget and to evaluate all your start-up and daily operating costs in order to see how your personal expenses and your business overheads fit together and how much you will need to save in order to provide the necessary business funds.
9. Depending Too Much on Loved Ones:
Without coworkers around, you can easily fall into a habit of talking out your business problems with your spouse or friends. But loved ones may get weary of talking about your business. At times they may not provide the best advice because they don’t always understand your business. So it is always better to try to connect with others in your field to develop an informal network of advisors.
10. Letting Employees Abuse Your Home:
You definitely run a great risk damage to your home if you don’t establish rules for how employees should behave there. So, it is very important to set up rules you’re comfortable with.
Running a business from home offers many benefits to entrepreneurs, such as a flexible schedule, no commute, and a lack of office politics, but it also presents its own unique challenges. So it is very important to keep the above mentioned points in mind while setting up a home based business.
Source: Knowstartup