How to Start a Business
The key that unlocks energy is Desire. It is also the key to a long and interesting life. If we expect to create any drive, any real force within ourselves, we have to get excited. - Earl Nightingale
If you have passion or drive, you will eventually succeed. Motivation is the reason people do something and drive is the force that sustains that motivation.
Start to Work from Home
Work from Home acronyms and synonyms: WFH, WAH / work at home, e-work, home business, telecommuting, e-commuting; perhaps there are a few more.
Can ESL teachers work from home and run businesses?
The answer is YES. ESL teachers can run businesses better and more successfully than most people can imagine.
How to start, what to do, and which way to go
Home-based job enables people to spend all of their working time at home. With today's technology, unemployment, traffic jams and the desire for flexibility, more and more people are taking up home-based work.
What you have to know
Working from home is suitable only for those who are
1. Creative
2. Motivated
3. With passion, drive
4. Organized
5. Disciplined
Advantages of working from home
1. Cut your travel time and stay away from the traffic jams. In most countries, research results show that those who work from home save about 2 hours a day (= 40 hours per month) in travel time.
2. Avoid accidents and reduce stress that commuting to the workplace often creates. Working from home makes life safer and longer.
3. Say farewell to organizational policy and interruptions.
4. Have a more fulfilling occupation: no confrontation with colleagues or superiors, no long and boring meetings, no distracting office chat and no interruptions.
5. Save money on travel and parking.
6. Save money on attire, perfume, makeup, etc.
7. Save on meals.
8. Enjoy flexibility - sleep in if you want, and work later in the evenings.
9. Find greater job satisfaction; do what you like to do.
10. Enjoy relaxed working environment and reduced stress: self-management of business leads to greater job satisfaction and reduced stress.
11. Tax advantages pertaining to office equipment, electricity and operating cost.
12. More opportunities for people recovering from illnesses, for people with disabilities, countryside and isolated workers.
13. Great opportunities for retired people.
14. Have an interesting lifestyle: financial freedom, more time for self-improvement, travel and leisure.
Disadvantages of working from home
1. Working from home requires strong self-discipline and good time management skills; work is always at home with you.
2. You must cover expenses on electricity, telephone, Internet, insurance and security.
3. No technical support. No IT support.
4. No employer-funded superannuation.
5. No annual and sick leave.
6. No holiday pay.
Best jobs for self-employment
Some types of jobs are more suitable to home-based working than others.
Here is a list of jobs that suit home-based work:
1. Translator
2. Private Home Tutor
3. Online Tutor
4. Editor
5. Proofreader
6. Consultant
7. Researcher
8. Writer
9. Website Designer
10. Network Administrator
11. Programmer
12. Desktop Publisher
13. Graphic Designer
14. Stockbroker
15. Telemarketer
16. Secretary
17. Journalist
18. Virtual Assistant
19. Home Based Agent
20. Artist
21. Painter
22. Transcriptionist
23. Telephone Interpreter
24. Internet Sales Person
25. A few more - related to internet, telephone, arts-and-crafts, and snail mail.
Do you know what you want to do?
The best way to predict the future is to create it. - Peter F. Drucker
Develop your DRIVE to do what you desire. Stop thinking about your skills for a moment, and start thinking about what you want to do rather than what you can do. Draw three columns on a page.
1. In the first column, list your interests which are either related or not related to your ESL qualifications.
2. In the second column, list the things you feel passionate about. These things can be either related or not related to ESL.
3. In the third column, write what you would like to do. Imagine that you have no restrictions of any type and you have too much money. What would you do?
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2. Passion, drive |
3. Preferred activity |
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Write down, on each column separately, everything whatever comes to your mind (or you can write on three separate sheets of paper, if you want). Then try to connect these three things by drawing lines. Look at your skills and abilities.
Select the top three options on your list and carry out some research on each of them. Are there any opportunities in the market? Conduct Internet research. Discuss this with people who work in similar areas and arrange a list of questions for them.
Do the mapping. Think how you fit. If you fit, all you need to do now is work on the rest of the plan. Start shaping your business. Write your business plan. Those who write business plans are usually more successful than those who do not write business plans. If you can run a business, you can write a business plan.
The future has arrived: let's talk about it now
In order to plan your future wisely, it is necessary that you understand and appreciate your past. - Jo Coudert
Millions of people worldwide are working from home and the numbers are growing. What does it actually mean to set up work from home?
Crowded buses, traffic jams, formal dress, office policy, school regulations and irritating noise at lunchtime. You arrive home from work at night and you curse the bleak reality - you will get up early tomorrow and will do it all over again. You have a computer and broadband internet at home and you reflect…
Step-by-step instructions
Things you should know about working from home
1. You will need to make the following arrangements:
1. Take a blank A4 sheet of paper and write an Outline (rough draft / sketch) of your business.
2. Think of long-term goals – a few years in advance.
3. Think of short-term goals – daily, weekly and monthly.
4. Think how you will manage your time - time is money.
5. Organize your filing systems - both in your computer and hard copies.
6. Get suitable furniture - designed specifically for home business.
7. Prepare to get dressed properly - in a way that helps you to work effectively.
8. Make a separate space for your office - separate ‘work at home’ from ‘family life at home’.
2. You should give clear answers to yourself:
1. What do I like to do?
2. What do I not like to do?
3. What technical and business skills have I developed?
4. What technical and business skills have I not developed?
5. What do my colleagues and friends tell me I am good at?
6. What do my colleagues and friends tell me I am not good at?
7. Will my family support me psychologically? Why? Why not?
8. Can I involve my family members into my business? If yes, how? If not, why not?
9. How much time will have to pass until I start earning money from my business?
10. Do I have any hobbies or interests that are related to my business?
11. When shall I resign from my present position?
3. To identify your business niche, answer the following questions:
1. Who are my customers?
2. What services or products will I sell?
3. Who are my competitors?
4. What is my business's advantage over my competitors?
5. How will I create a demand for my business?
4. Before you develop your business plan, answer the following questions:
1. What is the name of my business?
2. Where will my business be located?
3. How much money will I need to start my business and to support it for at least one year?
4. Is my business legal?
5. What type of insurance will my business need?
6. What equipment and premises will my business need?
5. Here are the essentials of preparing a business plan; please note that your business plan must be flexible:
1. Customers: profession, age, interests, sex, cultural background and social status
2. Basic Business Concept
3. Business Profile
4. Business Objectives
5. Mission Statement
6. Resume-Assessment: Customers - Competitors - Myself.
A business plan is an essential step to take, despite the size of the business. If you want to run a profitable business, you must write a good business plan. In the future, your business plan will help you to estimate your success. It will also guide you to an advanced stage of success.
If you can run a business, you can write a business plan, and you are the best person to do it.
Control your destiny or someone else will. – Jack Welch
There seems to be a perception that business plans have to be difficult. You should note that the best business plan is one that is kept as simple as possible and at the same time addresses the purpose for which it was written.
So why would you write a business plan?
Some of the reasons could be to get a loan or to attract a business partner. Most importantly, it gives you the opportunity to think through all aspects of your business. In this way you can minimize your potential weaknesses and capitalize on your strengths. Do you believe that accountants are always the best people to write a business plan? You have to ask yourself why you are doing the plan in the first place and who will read it. Accountants have a financial bias which is of value, but what do they know about marketing?
If you choose to have someone write a business plan for you this is how it works.
1. They will have a template for each business segment, such as retail, manufacturing or service (you can find such a template, or design it yourself).
2. They will then ask you a lot of questions, as you are the person with the most intimate knowledge of your business (you can answer these questions to yourself).
3. They may then do some online research (which you could do yourself).
4. They complete the template (you could complete the template too).
You need to know that any business plan has three main sections:
1. Marketing
2. Operations
3. Financial
You are the best person to write your own plan even though there will be plenty of things that you do not know. You have to be prepared to do some research about business plans. Writing a business plan takes time and commitment. Your business plan does not have to be complicated or difficult. If you can run a business, you can write a simple business plan. In fact you will increase your chances of success by understanding the three main sections of your own business plan. Do not allow others dictate your business plan.
Make a Logical Investment
You will find a lot of websites and ‘online services’ boasting job opportunities from home. There are a lot of scams there. An online "job offer" to earn $20.000 a week in your spare time looks very suspicious. Also, be alert when you find websites boasting "Join now" or “Seventy Minute Money” and ‘assuring’ that you will become a millionaire within two or three weeks or even earlier. Think logically.
In most cases pictures can tell whether it is a scam or not. If an online job posting has pictures of a posh mansion, a Ferrari and the illusion of tropical paradise, it is a scam and you should not waste your time at it. Vacation brochures usually have pictures of a tropical paradise but not job ads.
Never pay money in response to such ads. This is ‘work from home heavens’ scam. If somebody wants your talents, abilities and skills they should pay you. Instead of wasting time and money on scammers, try to think how you could build your own profitable business by making a logical investment.
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