How to go to Work for Yourself with a Home-Based Business

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The trick is not to allow that to happen. Because the simple fact of the matter is that those facts and figures and numbers are not dull at all! Rather, they're the lifeblood of your business. And, once you've learned to maintain the discipline necessary to record every transaction and then review those records from time to time . . . you'll soon find that those "dull" ledger entries will tell you a story of real interest. Try it!

SATISFACTION, OF COURSE, COUNTS TOO!

Then again, even though the most successful self-employed people are aware of the value of money and time . . . and they've learned to at least cope with their fears of "boring" bookkeeping . . . I must mention one other very important fact: Of the many self-employed folks I've talked to, only one even mentioned money as the reason behind his or her decision to trade the "corporate" world for independence! For all the others, it was the nature of their work or the product they made (and their pride in it!) that was the biggest source of motivation.

I know that sounds hard to believe, but maybe you'll accept it if you consider this: The average full-time self-employed person spends 80 hours a week to earn what he or she once made in 40! Moral: If you're thinking of striking out on your own, at least make sure you spend your working hours doing something you love . . . because, if the experience of others is any indication, there may be precious little time left for life's other pleasures!

THE SECRETS OF ADVERTISING (WITHOUT MADISON AVENUE!)

Your best advertisement is your work itself . . . even the biggest companies live by that rule. But how will anyone ever find out how good your work is if they never see it?

First, you know that word-of-mouth advertising is the most effective publicity you can get . . . it really makes a difference. Let's say, for example, you build exceptionally good-quality wooden toys, and your friends have all been enthusiastic about them. It's still worth a whole lot less to you to fill your storage shed with these valuable totpleasers than it is to place them strategically among the energetic children of the very friends who've praised your work!

Also think about selling your product, at a small markup, to a few institutions. If you're a potter, go to some neighboring restaurants and offer the manager a complete set of your dishes at your cost (or with a smaller than usual profit). I'll bet any maitre d' worth his salt will jump at the chance! Then, after he bites, you might add, "My only request is that you permit me to mention your establishment in my promotional messages." You've already given him something . . . how can he turn you down?

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