Are You Ready to Start Your Own Home Business in 2014?

If you have been following my blog, you know that I work from home and whether you choose the same business as I do or not, I think you should at the very least consider stepping out on your own and start your own home business. It does not have to be full time, but can be something you start on the side with a minimal investment. The important thing is to get it started.

Now, as most of you also know, I am a huge believer in the Dani Johnson model. This is not a product, but a way of doing business that myself and many others have found very easy to follow and more importantly, very successful to use. In addition to Dani's seminars and learning tools, there are few other important things to incorporate into your business plan.

1.       Set a Goal - is this always going to be a part time business or do you hope that it will be something that will eventually support the family? If the long-term goal is to make this your primary income, there will come a time when you will be faced with the decision to walk away from everything else and focus on this business. Now is the time to financially plan for this so you can take advantage of that opportunity when it does arrive.

2.       Research the Business - look deep enough into any opportunity and you will find good and bad. You need to trust yourself to see if the business is legitimate or not. I took the time to actually investigate this particular opportunity and realize there is both an opportunity and a product, the key to many successful home businesses. This presents you with two different options as a way to make money. You can develop your own team or sell the product. Either way, if you do it the right way, the profits will start to roll in.

3.       Mentor - this is something I always bring up and it is something that Dani Johnson as well as individuals like Jeff Usner have provided for me. In most cases, the wheel is not being reinvented. Instead of struggling early, why not find a mentor that is willing to share their model and bring you in on their system. Today, I do this all the time for others looking to start their own travel business. In the end, if they are successful, I will be successful, so why not share?

4.       Test Market - before setting your course of action into stone, take the time to test market your ideas with a sample audience. Gather individuals within your niche and pitch your idea or product. Work out the kinks with a small group before investing larger amounts or resources to the project. Once you have a model that is tested and works, then it is time to jump in with both feet with the public.

5.       Monitor Your Success - in the online world, we use analytics to monitor the success of a website. Use this same premise to monitor the success of your own business. Results may come slow at first, but as long as you are seeing steady progress, the dam will eventually break. Set your business goals over a period of time so you are constantly monitoring the business and trying to move it forward. After all, if you are not monitoring, you have no idea where you stand compared to your initial anticipations. Doing this will help keep you focused and make sure that when things are not working, you can spot them early enough to make a change before they devastate your business.

**Photo Courtesy of zaimoku_woodpile via Creative Commons License