One thing that you might consider at this point in your career is running your own business. The pandemic has taught us many things and one thing that has become apparent is that we are spending more time working from home than ever before.
So, why spend your time at home working for somebody else when you could be earning the profit for yourself?
Having a home based business can offer you so many different advantages, but you need to know what those advantages are and why you should get started running your own business successfully from your living room.
As a new small business owner, you may not be aware that you need support to make your business successful.
You need the best UK provider of live chat software for small business, and you need to consider the IT companies who use the customer services outsourcing you use and you may want to think about what you get from your sales team.
You will be a one man business at the beginning, but it doesn’t mean you have to do everything by yourself. With this in mind, we’ve got an epic list of tips to help you in running your business from home successfully.
Advantages of Running Your Business from Home
There are plenty of advantages to being a business owner, but when you run a business from home there are different advantages on the table. Some of those include:
You eliminate your commute.
It’s the number one reason why most people want to work from home, and it’s also a great reason to run your own business from home. Eliminating your commute is going to make a big difference to your outgoing costs as well as the time that you save.
If your commute was 90 minutes each way, you are saving yourself three hours everyday to be more productive in your business. This is huge.
You will lower your costs.
Run a business from home and you can avoid renting office space or buying office space. This will help you to cut down on your operational costs because you no longer have to worry about paying certain overheads.
It’s not just rent or mortgage payments on office, but the utility’s that come with it. Yes, some of your household utilities may go up because you’re going to need the electricity in the heat a little bit more, but did you know that these can be tax deductible?
Working from home can offer you tax benefits.
One of the many benefits of working your own business from home is that you can receive some tax advantages. Did you know there is a Home Office deduction that enables you to write off expenses?
You should always consult with tax professionals to discuss this, because you may not actually know which parts apply to you. The point is, instead of just costing you money it’s going to cost less.
You have a much better work life balance.
There is always the risk of your working life blending into one another, but working from home still gives you the advantage of having a bit more balance. Because you are no longer traveling all the way home from work, you can literally shut down your computer and be done for the day.
You can then continue with your day when you are done. When you are running your business, you can dictate your own hours so you could start early and finish early or start late and finish late, it’s completely up to you.
Now that you know the advantages of running your own business from home, here are some of the things you need to know to make sure that it’s as easy as possible.
Think about location.
You are at home, so if your business is going to be customer facing you need to consider this. Some people think about tagging on an extension to their house and building an office, or converting the garage into an office so that they have a space for customers to come in and out.
You need to be sure that you can host that kind of home based business, but it all depends on your zoning laws as to whether you can expand your house. Just because you operate a business from home doesn’t mean you have to have all of your business activity there, so you might decide on a floating desk.
This is an area of an office that you hire when you need it. So, if you have clients coming to see you, or you want to take them out for coffee or you want to impress customers, go to a space that allows you to do that.
Make sure that you have a schedule and stick to it.
A home based business, as we said earlier, can be blurry when it comes to balancing home and work. Your business in the beginning is going to require you to work longer hours, which can eat into your family type.
If you try to maintain a consistent schedule that supports you being productive, then you’re going to do better in the long run. Your schedule may also vary depending on the type of business that you run, so whatever business you are starting, make an appointment starting your schedule and working it out so that you are more than able to balance everything.
Continue to dress for work.
You might be a business owner now, and you may be at home, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t dress professionally. Operating a home business can give you the flexibility that you need and how you dress, but wearing your pajamas and then going to an online meeting is probably not going to be the best impression.
It can be helpful to have a daily routine that makes you feel like you’re in the zone that’s far more achievable if you get up and get dressed for the day.
Don’t run your business from the dining table.
Even if you set up your own office in the corner of a different room of the house, you need an office space. It should feel like you are getting up and working rather than working on the kitchen table while everybody does homework or the kids are at dinner. You want to have some boundaries and limiting those disruptions can help you to do that.
Don’t forget to equip yourself.
You need to have the basic items including office furniture, computers, printers and more. It can also help you to have a noise canceling headset that you can use that eliminates the surrounding noise.
You need to have a reliable Internet connection, and you need to be able to purchase good office supplies which can vary based on your business. If you have the right tools, you will be able to offer the best possible service to customers and clients and that’s going to help your online and home business to grow.
Build a team of outsourced experts.
As a business running from home you’re not always going to have a full staff of people at your beckon call. Having an outsourced team for your IT, marketing, HR, finance and even your live chat online, you can make sure that you are having a full staff available to your customers when they need you.
This allows you to be better connected and it will help you to make sure that you are building a positive culture among the outsourced teams that you use.
Build a good Business Network.
You can network well with other businesses in your community in your industry so that you can gain professional guidance. Opportunities to connect with others, these can be a resource for tips and advice to get your business going.
Building positive relationships can provide you with tons of different benefits, and it can help you to be more responsive in your business to your customers.
Don’t forget branding.
It’s a smart idea to make sure that you have your branding strategy in place when you’re building your business. From the logos to the content, the way that you market yourself, and even the colors you choose, your branding is important.
You can establish your business identity and help you to differentiate yourself from the others in your industry. It’s a process, but it’s one that’s absolutely worth it. it helps to send that clear and consistent message that you need to showcase who you are and what you can do.
Running a business from home doesn’t have to be difficult, so you need to make sure that you are doing all that you can to make it work.
Don’t make your life harder for a business; It should be something exciting and profitable not difficult. Take these tips and see where they get you in your adventure to work your own business from home.