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The Best Time to Start a Home Business is NOW
The Best Time to Start a Home Business is NOW
by Donna Schwartz Mills
I love reading success stories. The good ones always include
accounts of adversities that were overcome and teem with lessons
I can apply to my own home business. Best of all, they inspire
me. If Ben and Jerry can start an ice cream empire with a five
dollar investment, just think what I can do! So I eat up all
the Top 500 lists published by the glossy business magazines...
which is how I came across this interesting statistic:
Nearly half of the companies on the Inc. 500 list were started
from home!
Think about it - not long ago, guys like Thomas Massie, CEO of
SensAble Technologies( #211) and Edy Bedoya of EBC (#81) were
building computer gadgets out of their dorm rooms (although not
together). And we all know the story of Michael Dell (not on
the list - he's too big).
But it's not just high-tech. Corporation #32, Twin Hills
Collectables, started out as a hobby of owner Steve Halsell.
He earned $8,000 his first year selling die-cast replicas of
NASCAR cars and $200,000 the next - At which point, his boss
told him he should quit his day job because it was costing him
too much money. His 1998 sales revenues reached $8 million.
These stories underline the fact that there has never been a
better time to start a home business: 500,000 new ones are
launched each year, and that number is expected to grow, thanks
to new tax rules that make working from home more cost-effective
than ever. Affordable technology makes it possible to offer
products and services that rival those of big corporations.
That same technology is rapidly becoming a staple in households
where owning a computer was unthinkable just five years ago --
in new yet familiar forms, like TV's and telephones --
creating new markets.
The companies on the Inc. list share some things in common. One
is a founder/owner with vision; someone who identifies a need,
has a good idea and the courage to run with it. Another is
perseverance. Bedoya's story is especially moving: a Peruvian
immigrant, he arrived in the States in the mid-80's with just
$100 in his pocket. After his first job -- cleaning toilets in
a restaurant -- he worked his way up to dishwasher and finally
to head chef before switching gears and entering the jewelry
business. A few years later, his car was stolen - along with
all of his money, credit cards and inventory. By this time,
Bedoya had enrolled in a college work-study program to earn a
degree, and this is when he discovered computers. Six months
later, he was in business buying and reselling parts. In 1998,
his company's revenues reached $13 million.
Successful businesspeople also know how to get the capital they
need to launch and maintain their ventures. The Internet has
recently become a force in funding startups; several
underwriting organizations have sprouted online to help match
investors with projects. Some good places to start the search
are Commercial Finance Online (http://www.cfol.com) and
Garage.com (http://www.garage.com).
Interestingly, almost 200 of the companies on this year's Inc.
List were capitalized with investments of under $10,000. And
79 were founded just five years ago.
Anything is possible, even becoming the subject of your own
Success Story.
This article may be reprinted with permission by including the following resource box:
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Donna Schwartz Mills writes about the specific needs of work
at home parents at her website,
http://www.ParentPreneurClub.com , "For Parents Who Want
Choices, Not Office Politics." Tools, free tips and support
to help grow your home based business while raising a family.
For more articles like this one, visit Donna's other site,
http://www.Family-Content.com
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