Interview on WCPN 90.3 Cleveland

Listen to my five minute interview with Eric Wellman on home businesses. WCPN 90.3 Cleveland

Will Limkemann
www.doublewarepub.com

Home business scams

In an effort to get an even better understanding of home-based businesses as well as promote my new book, I have become active in Twitter and home-business-related LinkedIn groups, and have been reading many blogs relating to startups and home businesses.

What has surprised (although it shouldn’t) and upset me are the huge number of get-rich-quick schemes targeted to a growing population of people contemplating becoming their own bosses. Many are outright scams promising huge incomes after buying a starter kit or otherwise sending in money. Others are simply questionable schemes. With the huge number of multi-level marketing (MLM) schemes being promoted one could easily be led to believe that there is no other way to have your own business. Unfortunately, MLMs generally provide riches for a few and disappointment for many.

All of these scheme have a common theme: wealth for the promoter. They do not take into account the needs, passions, desires, and skills of the potential entrepreneurs. Anyone starting a business should first examine what they are passionate about, what their skills, experience and training qualify them to do, and then find a business model that will work for them. If the model dictates getting in league with an outside party, check the business out carefully, research, research, research, and be satisfied with reference checks before signing anything or, heaven forbid, paying up-front money.

Will Limkemann
www.doublewarepub.com

Home business is a lifestyle

Starting and running a home-based business is all about life-style choices. It is an option that is appealing yet does not work for everyone. Some of the many benefits of having a home business are:

1. No commute
2.Minimum costs / low overhead
3. Don’t have to get dressed up to go to work
4. Easy to start a business
5. Might be able to take tax deductions on home office space
6. Can work your own hours
7. More time with family
8. Control your own destiny
9. Get all the rewards for your hard work
10. Can do laundry when taking a break

But some of the downsides of the home-business lifestyle are:

1. It takes self-discipline to keep yourself motivated
2. Family interruptions
3. Difficult to separate home from business
4. It can be lonely with no colleagues to chat with
5. Friends may not take your business seriously
6. You can’t blame anyone else if you don’t have the success you want

Will Limkemann
www.doublewarepub.com

New Book

Today I will receive the first printing of the book I alluded to in some prior posts. So I think this is a good time to explain what the book is all about. The title really says it all: The Successful Home Business Guide: Practical advice for starting and operating a productive and profitable home-based business.

The idea for the book took form from the convergence of many of my early blogs and my work with COSE on its Home Network advisory board. As the winter progressed I also had a strong sense that a book on profitable home businesses makes a lot of sense as an increasing number of unemployed people are searching for non-traditional means of earning an income.

Initial research showed that there are today over 20 million home based businesses contributing over $350 billion to the US economy, which accounts for a significant percentage of workers. The further question in my mind was to what extent the businesses are really productive and profitable?

So, in my book, I tried to cover all the bases from starting a business to closing it, with all the information one needs to fund, market, sell, collect money, price goods and services, hire employees, and survive in a home environment in between.

In order to publish the book I considered several options, including the traditional publishing route. Current research confirmed my past experience that a) it takes several months to negotiate a deal with a major publisher; b) once the manuscript is in the hands of a publisher it takes an average of 18 months for the book to be published; c) the author is expected to market and promote the book. So the option I chose was to self-publish, a growing trend among relatively obscure authors who don’t mind doing the leg-work.

So over the past five months: I’ve written the book, had it edited by the wonderful Carolyn Jack, designed the book and cover, and contracted to get it printed. As I explained a few days ago, I’ve also written a marketing plan. All great and exciting stuff. I’ll let you know how it all turns out.

The Successful Home Business Guide will be available at amazon.com.

Will Limkemann
440-871-0976
will@limkemann.net

The Return of the Family Business

I was talking with a friend last week about the proliferation of small businesses as more and more people are losing their jobs from large corporations. The millions of small businesses, including about twenty million operated from home, will only increase during the coming years.

My friend observed that the concept of large business is a very recent one spawned by the industrial revolution. Prior to the mid-nineteenth century, most businesses were family owned and operated – as either farms or as small shops. During past decades small shops have had a negative connotation as “mom and pop” stores.

Fortunate, the stigma of such micro businesses is gone. Even home-based businesses which, for years were not taken seriously, are now mainstream. While most new home-based businesses are started by one member of a family, they often draw in a spouse or children – who do bookkeeping, design the business web site, help produce merchandise, prepare mailings and much more.

While big-business will never disappear, small businesses have retaken their rightful place in our economy and hearts.