Hey there, friend. So, you’re looking for a change? Think starting a business from home is the way to go? I’m certainly a fan because it has worked out really, really well for me. That doesn’t necessarily mean it’s right for you, too… but you did land here for a reason, and I’m so happy about it. I’m here to help you decide what’s best for you and what to do next. So, read on to learn how to start a business from home.
Why do you want to learn how to start a business from home?
First, the reason behind wanting to make a big change is super important. It helps to make sure the reason is aligned with the decision. In other words, will it solve the problem it is attempting to solve?
Tell me, what’s really going on?
Unhappy with the current career situation? Know you have a bigger purpose? Need more time or flexibility? Possibly planning to care for babies or kids at home and don’t want to stop working? Need more money to add to or replace current income? Is there a passion that isn’t being fulfilled? These are all incredible reasons to start a business! Now, all the reasons shape how the business from home is designed.
For example, someone who needs more time and flexibility to care for children while working from home will not do things the same as someone who has 8+ hours per day of uninterrupted time to work on a new business. There is no right answer, just a better answer for you.
What is it that makes you want to change your life in this way, or at all? Your answer to that question will come into play later.
What kind of business do you want to start?
Second, do you already know what kind of business you want to start, or are you still exploring? If you already know, how sure are you? In my humble opinion, the best businesses come from an overlap of knowledge or expertise, meeting a need, and a passion for it. If you want to learn how to start a business from home you must first learn about yourself, what you want, and how that can all come together with your business.
For example, someone who knows a lot about how food can fight diseases and loves to create new recipes could be great in a business designed to help people manage disease with the foods they eat. Hello, food bloggers and functional nutritionists!
So, what if you have absolutely no clue what to do, you just know you need to do something? That’s one of my favorite parts! (Confession: they’re all my favorite parts.) There’s a little activity I want to recommend called making the lists. Basically, you make some lists and compare them to see what overlaps. What lists? I’m glad you asked.
List ideas to change your life:
- Make a list of all your strengths. What are you good at doing? They can be broad or specific, seemingly with no profitability, just write them.
- Make a list of all the thinks you wish were available, for you or for others. What do you need? Who are the people around you, and what do they need? What does the world need?
- Make a list of all your passions and all the things you love. If you could do anything you want every single day, what would it be?
That’s a good little start. Now make sure you have at least 100 things on each list, so 300 in total. No, I’m not kidding. Yes, I know they may start to get silly at the end, that’s part of the point. Highlight you top seven on each list.
What connections do you notice? What possibilities are there with these lists? It’s time to make another list. No, you don’t have to come up with 100 this time. Write 10 business ideas that seem good to you. Cross off your three least favorite. Ponder the others for a bit. It will become clearer.
Again, this comes back to the theme of change. What change do you want your business to make in the lives of others, and what change do you want it to make in the world? Your future business has power to change your life and so, so much more.
Click here to read about the personal reason I’m motivated to help others change their lives.
What business model(s) could use your business idea to satisfy all your reasons for starting a business?
Third, you will need a plan. It’s such a crucial part of learning how to start a business from home. This is the place in the journey where we get more strategic. Your business plan must satisfy your needs and allow you to live the life you want to live. If it doesn’t, it’s time to rethink that plan. Otherwise, why are you even starting the business in the first place?
For example, someone who wants to leave their 9-5 job to travel the world probably wouldn’t want to start a business with a lot of hand-on product work, would they? Well, maybe it could work… if the plan is to hire others to do the hands-on product work or to travel to different locations for stuff related to hands-on product work. You have the knowledge and expertise in the industry and your life, so you get to come up with that amazing plan to make it all fit together in the best way. No, that doesn’t mean you have to do it alone. More on that later.
Okay, so we have covered some of that higher-level planning, which means now it’s time to get down to some details.
Let’s talk about what you need to get started. What resources are required within the first few months, the first year, such as time, money, manpower, infrastructure, technology, learning or credentials, licensing, services, and anything else? Wait, before you get overwhelmed, it’s okay to start small and build as you go. The question was about what is required, what you need, not what could be needed down the distant road after a lot of growth. If it seems like way, way too much is needed now, what could be cut? Chances are there are ways to get started on a smaller scale. Plus, growth doesn’t need to happen at a specific pace.
I know, I know, and I’m sorry. Perhaps that was a big, scary question. It doesn’t have to be. Let’s back up. Think about those needed resources while wearing your problem-solving hat. How much of that do you already have, how much of it do you have available to you, and how much of it can you get without too much trouble?
Here’s some encouragement for the self-doubters who wonder if they can learn how to start a business from home:
Plenty of people have started highly successful businesses with no money, or very little money, from the start. Highly successful businesses have been started with little more than the time allotted for lunch breaks, or while the baby naps. {Picture me proudly raising my hand with a massive smile.}
You may be wondering about the other stuff, the stuff you need but aren’t able to get right now. That’s fixable, too. So much comes down to time and money. If you have the time you can do the things and if you have the money you can buy the things or pay someone else to do the things. There’s a balance, and it looks different for everyone.
What if you don’t have the time or the money? There are options. You can shift the plan, cut expenses, save money, free up time, wait, or something else. The details don’t really matter. The most important part is the way you think about this. When you run into a wall, all you have to do is find a way to dig under it, climb over it, or walk around it. In reality, every hardship can be viewed as a challenge, and challenges are made to be overcome.
Related article – The Motherhood Penalty Challenge
How much do you want to learn how to start a business from home, and how much do you want to follow through with it? That’s the difference between thinking about it and actually doing it.
At some point you must start traveling down that road, start moving forward. Of course that doesn’t mean to do something irrationally and jump all in before you’re even remotely ready, burning all the bridges along the way. What it does mean is that a lot of the building happens on the journey.
Things don’t go exactly as planned. That’s okay, and that’s good! It’s a learning process. The business takes shape and forms through research, planning, execution, trial, error, second tries, third tries, and on, and on. Even an online business builds one row of bricks at a time.
Are you ready to start building? If you are, what do you do? Maybe you have some money saved up to get started and you have some time in your schedule blocked off. That scheduled business starting time comes, you sit down at your desk all motivated to and ready to go, and you…
Ready, set, go!
Now, how do you move from reading a blog to starting that business?
I highly recommend processing all the most important content from this blog in whatever way works best for you. Yes, this really is important enough work to schedule time to focus all your attention on it! It’s called CEO time, and one of the biggest secrets to my business success. All my breakthroughs started right here… inside my brain.
Think through your options and what you want to do. I’ll provide the summary questions. You get to read them and then journal, ponder in nature, talk out, meditate, or {insert your preferred method here} the answers to them.
Here are the magic questions:
- Why do you want to learn how to start a business from home?
- What kind of business do you want to start?
- How can you form a business model that allows your business idea to satisfy all your reasons for starting a business?
- What resources do you need for your chosen business model?
- Of those resources, what do you have available to you, and how can you get the rest?
- What is standing in your way, and how can you overcome one challenge at a time?
Whew, that was some great work! I’m so proud of you for making it this far in reading how to start a business from home. What comes of this process can be a huge change, and change can be scary. It can also be incredibly rewarding.
If you haven’t already, your next step is to schedule a time to think through the magic questions above. Plan what you want for your business and your life and enjoy the process. Remember to dream. What may seem like a total stretch {or even completely impossible} now may be very much within reach before you know it. I’m here to guide you every step of the way if you get stuck – in business and in life.
Want a little more support as you learn how to start a business from home and build the life of your dreams?
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This blog post discussed change (making the life change of starting a business from home). Here are some more blog posts related to the word “change” (but not about how to start a business from home) from other sites:
Change How You Parent: Fear or Faith?
Such great advice! I have actually been thinking about what I could do from and how I could make a business of what I already do. 🙂