How to Start a Business From Home: 7 Steps to Get Started
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Taking the step to start your own business is no small feat. Otherwise, everyone would do it! If you surround yourself with the right resources it can make the process much easier. In this guide, you will learn How to Start A Business From Home in 7 key steps.
1. Come up with your name
It all starts with the perfect .com! A great name for your business is the start of it all. So how do you come up with a good one?
Sit down and brainstorm your concept. What you will be selling? How do you want your customers to feel when shopping with you? Try to write out your why and vision for your business. Once you have compiled your thoughts onto paper you will find ideas for a name will come more naturally. You can even use business name generators to help you get going.
Tips for the best at-home business names:
- No hard-to-spell words
- Nothing too long (much past 15 characters is too lengthy)
- Easy to pronounce
- Memorable
- Ideally gives a hint at what you sell or do
- A domain that is available
2. Define your goals
Defining your goals is key to getting started off on the foot of success. After you have established your name you want to develop your vision for your brand by writing out your goals.
How many types of products will you sell? What styles? How will you start creating the products? When do you want to launch? What will your initial investments be and how much profit will you gain per product?
Wonderlass is a great resource that provides great goal-oriented courses to help you get started.
3. Create your brand’s story
Branding is often so overlooked by small handmade businesses in the early days. Branding is more than just coming up with a name or logo.
Branding is the feeling, style, and voice of your business. When a customer logs on to your site what do they feel first? Inspired? Do they see a consistent color scheme and style? Does your customer learn about you and your brand’s story? How and why you started?
The one key to branding more than anything else is consistency.
4. Make a to-do list
Make a to-do list. Simple as that.
You need to stay organized and write down all the tasks you need to complete before launching, like getting products stocked, creating a website or deciding where you want to sell, setting up social media, etc.
5. Take eye-catching photos
Photos are a big deal! With time comes experience, BUT there are a lot of great ways you can make sure to can get off to a great start with your photos.
It takes mere seconds for most customers to judge your product and either click to learn more or take a hike elsewhere. Make sure you are taking photos that are capturing their eye long enough to stick around and get noticed.
Read our article here on 10 Genius Ways to Make Your Handmade Business Look More Professional.Â
6. Strategize your marketing
When you are planning out your business you need to think about marketing. There are tons of marketing avenues. Countless social media aside from just the big ones, (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, & Pinterest) email marketing, local markets, and so on. You can’t do everything and a lot of times small businesses fail to rise to their potential simply because they try to do too much.
It’s best to pick two or three targets and stick to aiming your efforts at those. Quality over quantity strongly applies here. Don’t try to cram 10 pounds of potatoes in a 5-pound stack.
In most cases, for a handmade business, Pinterest should be on your marketing list. There are some amazing ways to harness the power of Pinterest.
7. Connect and make friends
For most, the small handmade business can be a solo journey, at least in the beginning, but it’s important to make sure you are making friends, whether at local craft markets or networking online. To succeed as a creative entrepreneur you can’t go at it completely alone. Joining Facebook groups, and engaging on blogs and social media with your peers can often lead to some fruitful relationships and even collaborations that can benefit your business.
Implementing these few steps can be the focus you need to know how to start a business from home quickly and effectively from day one. Do you have other tips you would add? I would love to know! Tell me below in the comments!
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4 Time Management Strategies For Your Craft Business | The Best Resources For A Successful Creative Business: Starting A Home Craft Business | Creative Small Business Success: 5 Ways Failure Made Me Succeed
