BLC_MANAGEMENT

When the frustration of the daily grind or the thoughts that “I could do this and be my own boss” start to cross your mind, then it is time to sit down and plan how to get from the “here” of a job to the “there” of starting your own business.

Somewhere between that “ah-ha” moment of a great business idea and cashing your first paycheck should be a lot of research to determine what the market is like for your idea. Many entrepreneurs are very good at coming up with services or products that sound like they fill a need, but fall short in how to enter the market. Often they will blindly jump into the business arena, only to find that they either failed to do any market research or grossly misunderstood the market.

Q: I've been a licensed professional counselor and marriage and family therapist for 21 years, and I've been in solo private practice since 1999 and have always rented office space. My wife and I are in the beginning stages of looking into arranging for me to work out of our home. Could you please provide us with any ideas or issues we need to be paying attention to in this endeavor?

Career setbacks and restarts can be particularly challenging for the self-employed. Rather than just focusing on updating one’s resume and strategizing on whom to send it to, the self-employed often have to reinvent their brand, find a new way of doing business and uncover a fresh customer base. This can be a gut-wrenching process requiring a lot of introspection, faith, courage, and above all, confidence. Learn from the stories of three NASE Members who weren't afraid to reboot their businesses.

In the age of big-box home improvement stores, many people have started handling fix-it projects themselves. The worst that can usually happen is a plumbing repair springs a leak. Do-it-yourself lawyering, however, is another story.

For all micro-businesses, customer service and marketing no longer need to exist in separate silos: Given the high costs of finding new customers and consumers’ widespread use of digital media to both communicate with companies and spread tales of glee and woe, it’s time to make customer service a successful marketing strategy

Q: Can you recommend a partnership agreement that we should use and advise us about any other steps we should take in starting our new business?

Crafting an informal business plan is a simple, straightforward way to monitor the health of your business. It’s a vital tool that will help you diagnose problems, cut costs and implement new strategies. It also helps you capitalize on the things you’re doing right and correct the things you’re doing wrong.

Q: Can you tell me which employment forms a contract employee needs to complete before starting to work for my company?

Your network—the people you know—is one of your most vital business assets. Collectively, these folks are like a superhuman assistant that can help you earn money, meet people, brainstorm ideas and troubleshoot problems. Such connections are invaluable. But first you have to make them.

Q: I’ve operated a handyman business for several years as a sole proprietor. I’m now starting a second business as a voice-over artist. I’ll be operating both businesses for at least two years. What would be the best business structure?

Many small-business owners assume they’ll just know when it’s time to expand operations. The decision seems intuitive: If business is booming, and you feel overwhelmed, it’s time to hire help. But, like most things in life, hiring decisions are rarely straightforward.

Health Reimbursement Arrangement (HRA) eligibility

The number of Americans who go back into business after retirement is on the rise. The 2010 Kauffman Index of Entrepreneurial Activity showed 23 percent of new entrepreneurs are 55 to 64, a figure that was just 18 percent in 2000.

What is the best way to establish a trademark for a business?

The economic slump has caused an existential crisis for many small-business owners who are struggling to redefine themselves according to the whims of a volatile market.

Nearly every day of the year, conferences for every industry, every niche and every type of business convene across the world. Attending a conference in your industry or area of interest can boost your market insight, expose you to new ideas, help you grow professionally and offer opportunities to meet new contacts.

The U.S. government purchases $500 billion worth of goods and services each year and is required to spend at least 23 percent of it with small businesses. Fortunately, you don’t have to build tanks or manufacture parts for fighter jets to enter this market.

Micro-business owners love to be productive. The ability to work hard and reap the full reward for the effort is the reason many NASE Members started their own businesses in the first place.

Many micro-business owners have a hard time envisioning anyone else running their company. It’s your baby, after all, and you’ve built it from the ground up with your own blood, sweat and tears.

It’s the big challenge every summer for self-employed parents who work from home: How to keep the kids busy during those hot, school-less days...and run a business at the same time.

NASE Member Ron Wilson, owner of R&S Cleaning Service in Peoria, Ariz., has been cleaning commercial buildings for as long as the NASE has been providing services and products to help the self-employed succeed. Thirty years.

Subway, H&R Block, Jenny Craig and Dunkin’ Donuts are household names that have exploded across the U.S. through franchising. But these empires didn’t rise overnight—most big-name franchises started out as small, single-shop operations.

As a self-employed professional, you might see yourself as a boss, a business owner, a contractor or even a supplier for other business owners. But do you see yourself as a leader?

Most home-based businesses are long on projects and short on project managers. The good news is that the basics of effective project management are simple and intuitive, and they can be applied to almost any project, regardless of size or scope.

Networking is no longer just a matter of shaking hands and exchanging business cards. Some of today’s most effective networking platforms don’t even require that you leave your desk. Increasingly, people are building business networks by putting in more face time with their computers than with their colleagues and contacts.

No one needs to tell micro-business owners that the past three years have been the toughest economically in decades. Even entrepreneurs who survived several previous recessions say this time has been more difficult.

Finding ways to cut unnoticed home office costs can improve your profits.

Whether you’re in your home office or on the go, these top-notch iPhone apps are guaranteed to help you manage your schedule, organize your data and optimize your workflow. Check Apple’s App Store for up-to-the-minute price info.

NASE Member Chris Lamb, who owns Lamb Exterminating LLC in Gloucester, Va., is in an industry that’s regulated by various government agencies and is constantly changing. He doesn’t dare allow himself to be unaware of new laws or new technology if he wants to remain competitive in business.

What are you supposed to do with broken or outdated office equipment? Fortunately, there are an increasing number of eco-friendly ways to dispose of this waste without hurting the environment.

NASE Members need to evaluate exactly what growth means and how to make the climb to the next level a reality. The move is exhilarating but needs to be executed carefully and purposefully, experts caution. Here’s what you need to know to avoid stumbling as you step up to your next level.

A well-crafted elevator pitch is an essential networking tool that home business owners can use in social situations, online profiles and even marketing materials. Here are five tips that will help you make sure your first impressions are pitch-perfect.

Serious-minded students at colleges and universities across the country are eager to help micro-business owners with tasks as varied as advertising strategy, feasibility studies, market research, social networking and strategic planning.

Remember the manual typewriter? Imagine relying on one today to run your micro-business. How much time—and profit—would you have lost if you had clung to that relic?

Many home-based business owners are leveraging social networking tools like Facebook, MySpace and Twitter to boost their bottom line. In the same spirit, entrepreneurial thieves are using the sites to look for new business while minimizing the risk of getting caught.

Diane Parker expected to pay for her new home with the funds received from the sale of her previous one. Suddenly the sale of her first house fell through, creating a serious cash squeeze. Common problem, right? What’s not so common was the solution.

Micro-business owners inevitably assume risks in their pursuit of rewards. To slash the odds of a setback—or worse, a crisis—it’s wise to prevent accidents before they happen.

Some say mixing business and pleasure is a mistake. Nonetheless, married couples often take the plunge and expand their partnership to include business, too.

Selling products and services to today’s budget-conscious customers isn’t easy.

Many of us spend more time in our home offices than any other area in the house, so it seems strange that these workspaces are often neglected. How many stay-at-home workers dragged a desk into some unused corner when they started their business and never looked back?

In the not so distant past, a business needed only a few basics to ensure success. A good location, decent customer service and an advertisement in the local newspaper was just about all a micro-business really needed to attract customers and keep sales coming.

Micro-business owners everywhere are relying more than ever on freelance workers.

Anyone who works out of a home office knows that it can be a lonely place. At home, the trivial interactions that break up most people’s workdays—chats around the copy machine, birthday cake in the break room—are in short supply.

Carla, the owner of an Atlanta gift shop, knows only too well what a recession can do to the financial health of a micro-business. Earlier this year a steep sales decline made it tough for her to pay the rent.

If you’re experiencing hiring challenges, one solution might be to broaden your search to include members of Generation Y. Also called Millennials, they were born roughly between 1979 and 1988. Businesses that ignore these 20-somethings are shutting the door on a huge universe of potential employees—employees that might be a perfect fit for micro-businesses.

The failure of an anchor store can cause a shock that’s as much emotional as financial for surviving retailers. But, you can take action to mitigate the potential financial loss and improve the well-being of the surviving small retailers. Here’s how.

In these tough economic times, it’s not uncommon for micro-business owners to be approached by family members or friends looking for a job. Laid off from work and unsuccessful in landing a new job, these relatives and friends may feel like you’re their last hope for employment.

We all know being creative isn’t easy, and it can be especially challenging for folks who work in home offices with nary a brainstorming partner nearby. Here are five tips for sparking creativity even when you work alone.

Few people in the business world look down on home-based companies these days. But if a potential client balks because of your firm’s lack of size or real estate, use your smallness (and your homeyness) to your advantage.

The health of your micro-business depends to a great extent on business-friendly decision-making from your town and county governments.

A showroom retooling can be just the ticket to get shoppers excited about buying. And that’s what you need to move that moribund merchandise sitting on your floor.

Can you or can’t you take the home office deduction? This is one of the most vexing questions faced by home-based business owners.

There are only so many hours in the day and so much energy that solo operators can spend in their businesses. If they want to grow the enterprise—while keeping their health and sanity—they need to let go and pay someone to handle certain parts of the business.

One reason the home office workday stretches into an exhaustive 12 hours rather than merely a weary 10 is because we’re so easily distracted.

Shake-ups across the air travel industry have given even the most seasoned travelers a newfound fear of flying.

Large businesses have long had the luxury of employing receptionists, telephone operators and online booking tools to serve customers.

The economy is tight. Customers are tight-fisted. Many micro-business owners are eyeing that monthly check for the lease of their commercial office and thinking of a thousand better uses for the money.

Not having the proper home office insurance — or under insuring your home-based business — can put you at a big risk.

You want the most bang for your buck when you invest money in your business. If you buy a computer or truck, for example, you select a top-quality machine and maintain it for peak performance

What’s the fastest way to double the size of your home-based business? Hire your first employee. But while you’ll now have additional help, you can also double your headaches if you don’t hire the right person for your home office.

It’s a quiet crime. Sometimes the only evidence is a missing pair of jeans or a vacant display shelf. Shoplifting, though, can do a big bang on your bottom line.