BLC_OWNERSHIP

Despite some seemingly “too good to be true” perks, establishing, maintaining, and working from a home office can have its challenges. Knowing what your needs are will help you navigate these issues and have a productive and pleasant workspace.

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.

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.

Thankfully, most micro-businesses will never suffer damage from an EF5 tornado. Yet, there are all too many kinds of crises that could befall a firm, and when one does, it’s important to have a strong leader at the helm. That person need not be a natural-born leader, though. There are skills owners can hone now to best position themselves to lead through any kind of disaster

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?

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.

Small Business Legal Services was a name that said it all, but maybe too much. The problem: Many companies on the larger end of the small-business spectrum didn’t classify themselves as small at all.

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?

In celebration of the NASE’s 30th anniversary, we asked the question, “What are the 30 most important things micro-business owners need to know to be successful?” For answers, we turned to people who have real-world expertise and experience: NASE Members and the NASE staff.

NASE Member Bob Peckenpaugh had two significant reasons for starting his own business, The Home Loan Group Inc. in Indianapolis, Ind.: When he worked for someone else, he often didn’t get home at night before his two children went to bed.