| If you're like most people, you've probably dreamed | | | | Getting a catchy "dot com" address will cost you |
| of starting your own home based business. Why | | | | about ten dollars a year. Web site building and hosting |
| commute for hours each week and pay outrageous | | | | packages vary in price, but they're a lot cheaper than |
| gas prices when you could be your own boss, making | | | | renting space for a regular store. If you want to be |
| money from home? | | | | really thrifty, you could even learn how to build a |
| Internet marketing has surged in popularity. That's | | | | web site yourself, using one of the thousands of |
| because more and more people have discovered the | | | | free templates available on the Web. |
| benefits of running their own home based business: | | | | Running an online business also gives you greater |
| low start-up costs, easy access to mass marketing, | | | | control over your inventory. You can make a small |
| and flexible hours. Let's take a closer look at how an | | | | initial investment, then ratchet it up once business |
| online business compares to a traditional storefront | | | | starts to increase. By contrast, you couldn't open a |
| shop. | | | | storefront boutique with such a small inventory. |
| If you start up a small franchise, you can expect to | | | | Customers would see empty shelves and question |
| pay for:o Rento Utilitieso Employee wages and | | | | your ability as a store owner. |
| benefitso Equipmento Marketing | | | | Home based businesses also allow you to outsource |
| And those are just the predictable recurring costs. | | | | a lot of your work to freelancers. The Internet is full |
| You'll also have to order supplies; stock your | | | | of writers and programmers who would be glad for |
| inventory; shell out money for repairs when | | | | the work. By outsourcing projects, you only pay |
| something breaks; keep your cash register full; | | | | when you need something done. This is a more |
| decorate and furnish the store; and pay for any | | | | affordable alternative to keeping a staff of full-time |
| special licenses your business requires. A new pizza | | | | employees. |
| shop owner can easily find themselves $25,000 in | | | | As you can see, any business requires a certain |
| debt before they sell their first $8 pizza! | | | | amount of money to launch. Plus, there's always risk |
| Also, consider the credit crunch before you decide to | | | | involved when you start a new venture. Would you |
| start a bricks and mortar business. If your credit is | | | | rather risk $25,000 on a bare bones storefront shop, |
| less than perfect, you could have a hard time | | | | or $1,000 on a high quality home based business? |
| convincing lenders to finance your endeavor. And | | | | Even most high-ticket endeavors, like online multi-level |
| paying for everything with your credit cards will leave | | | | marketing ventures, require a $5,000 buy-in or less. |
| you even deeper in debt once interest rates kick in. | | | | If you've got time and money to burn, a traditional |
| By comparison, starting up a home based online | | | | business setup might be within your reach. If, like |
| business is cheap and easy. If you're reading this, | | | | most of us, you have limited time and start-up funds, |
| you've already got a computer and an Internet | | | | an online business can have you bringing in the |
| connection. You can also expect to pay for:o Domain | | | | money in a couple of days - all from the comfort of |
| name registrationo Web site building and hostingo | | | | your own home. |
| Inventory and shipping, if you're a retailero Marketing | | | | |