Expanding Your Home-Based Business
View PDF | Print View
by: HomeOfficeSuccessGuruJeffLanders
Total views: 42
Word Count: 564
'Growth Mavens' are big thinking entrepreneurs. They are fiercely ambitious. A Growth Maven envisions the day when she can take her place among the mega-stars who also birthed their companies as home-based businesses: Bill Gates, Martha Stewart, Jeff Bezos, Steve Jobs, and Michael Dell.
"I want to take over the world. Okay, so how do I do that?"
Great! Now for the bad news The odds are stacked against you. An estimate by the National Federation of Independent Business' Education Foundation states that over the lifetime of a small business, only 39 percent are truly profitable. More than 64 percent of these businesses will fail over a ten-year period. These are some rough numbers to face. You need to know what separates the winners from the losers, and what can you do to start shifting the odds in your favor.
Fortunately, there is not just one overriding factor that will determine if you'll end up on "Millionaire's Row" or "Desolation Row." (For the youngsters out there, this is from a Bob Dylan songYes, I'm dating myself.) Actually, your chances of success can be greatly increased just by following a series of easy but efficient small steps.
For the Growth Maven, that first step to success is to move out of her home office. The Growth Maven starts her business from her house to reduce her overhead, but she can hardly wait to skyrocket her company to new heights. Her vision is to go from a one-person company to a multi-person company and maybe even more.
Does this sound familiar? If you are a Growth Maven, you have to take the first steps to building your empire-you'll need to move to your first "real" office and bring on some staff. But you want to manage it so that the big leap doesn't drain your time, money, and resources. You want to set yourself up for growth and long-term success. You want customers to know your name and what you stand for. You want to develop a reputation and have a consistent stream of dialogue running between you and your customers.
There will be challenges, but as a Growth Maven, you can make it happen. This is your time to harness your inner maverick and make your vision a reality. Say good-bye to your Home Office From Hell, Growth Mavens. You're off to build an empire!
Don't just run out and sign a lease for office space.
Here are two solid reasons to stay away from even relatively short-term leases, much less one for 3-5 years.
1. New businesses often don't make enough to cover the expense in a cash flow crunch
2. A growing operation that has you splitting-up your team or paying for unusable office space.
Renting an executive suite is often the simplest solution. They are classy, fully equipped, and ready to move into. With many other small businesses housed in the same facility, networking with other entrepreneurs becomes a daily event. Most real estate brokers won't even bother to mention this option to you because in most cases the commission from these deals is not large enough to justify their time and effort.. Other options, depending on your type of business, might be to sublet space or share space with a larger company.
So, get started by researching what's available in your area and what's appropriate for your business. A classy downtown executive suite might not be the best option for a software programmer.
About the Author
Friend to the Home Based Entrepreneur Jeff Landers, author of "The Home Office From Hell Cure," Helps You Learn How Your Home Office Could Be Hurting Your Business.
Rating: Not yet rated