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Home-Based Business For Dummies?
Starting a home-based business is a reality that has created wide-open opportunity and success for those who decided to take the plunge—just as it can for you. Setting up a home-based business is also the easiest and least expensive way to become an entrepreneur. But how do you get started? If you’re thinking about starting your own business at home or just curious about what it takes, Home-Based Business For Dummies is the all-in-one guide to making it happen … and making it profitable. Whether you need information on marketing your business, pricing your products and services, or understanding legal do’s and don’ts, this book has what you need to succeed as a home-based business—including twenty-five cost-saving tips for setting up a home office. Home-Based Business For Dummies explains an incredibly wide variety of information that will help you become a successful entrepreneur from the comfort of your own home. This accessible, hands-on g uide offers step-by-step advice on every aspect of setting up shop at home, from picking the right business for you and selecting office equipment to presenting a professional image to potential clients and customers. You’ll also discover how to: Home-Based Business For Dummies is filled with useful information, tips, and checklists. From exploring e-commerce options to dealing with financial and legal issues, Home-Based Business For Dummies provides you with the very best ideas, concepts, and tools for starting and successfully operating your own home-based business.
384 pages, Paperback
First published March 28, 2000
16 people are currently reading
192 people want to read
About the author
Paul Edwards
282 books6 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
March 5, 2014
The book I read to research this post was Home Based Business For Dummies which is a very good book which I bought from Kobo. A home based business can often be a one person operation working from home often with a secretary although this book does look at things like franchises like Macdonalds which is highly sought and you have to put up $45,000 plus pay 12.5% commission on what you earn. Normally when you factor in the other expenses you won't have much change out of a $1 million. Many people do home work via freelance sites like http://elance.com and you have to shop around for the best deal. Some like http://fiverr.com don't pay very much but if you get lots of little jobs you can make a nice living. There is also social media sites to promote your business on and apart from the obvious ones try http://tribe.net & http://ecademy.com. One issue mentioned is having health insurance as if you become ill the business probably depends on you and you don't want to go on a long waiting list for an operation. There are some fairly reasonably priced franchises out there where you benefit from an established company. A lot of franchises and books about start up business ideas are quite frankly rip offs. Some of the best ideas are things like buying and selling especially on sites like Amazon & Ebay where in a lot of cases you can get something either very cheap or be given it and sell it for a substantial sum. Some businesses have had cash flow problems with that kind of business as some of the companies freeze all or part of the money you make in case there are any problems like returns. If you do buy and sell online it is probably an idea to diversify across several platforms and also have your own website to sell from. This book does cover a wide variety of subjects connected to running a home based business. Even things like pets and childcare. One major benefit of running your own business is if you have a real problem customer you can just choose not to accept their custom. I did really enjoy this book.
August 19, 2012
I read through most if it (skipping ovet some parts that don't pertain to me just yet) in order to have as much information on getting started as possible. It's also a great reference book I use when I get stuck or forgot something. Quite helpful.
August 4, 2011
Normally when I read a Dummies book, I don't read it straight through, cover to cover like a novel, but I did with this one. I really wanted to be sure to get the maximum advice
Like all Dummies books, this one is chock full of useful information, and also some general common sense. It's written simply, in a way so as to not intimidate, but to give you the most information at a basic level. It was helpful and I did get some tips (or more often, validation of what I was already doing/thinking). But, it was a bit focused in its scope. I couldn't count how many times they advised potential entrepreneurs to stay at their current job and do the home-based business on the side for as long as possible, to build up customer base and revenue stream before quitting. Well, this book was just revised last year and does mention the current economic downturn, so why does it never acknowledge that some of us have decided to start up our own businesses after an unsuccessful job search? "Keep your day job" isn't very good advice if a lot of the people in your audience already don't have one.
That said, it is a thorough guide, albeit very general both in advice which can't be tailored to your type of business, and also to legalities which vary considerably state-to-state. I am glad to have read it, I am going to keep it as a reference, but I have gotten the bulk of advice on my company from networking and talking with other friends/associates who already have gone through the process. Like all Dummies books, great to have if you're starting at square one, probably a little simplistic if you're at square two.
Like all Dummies books, this one is chock full of useful information, and also some general common sense. It's written simply, in a way so as to not intimidate, but to give you the most information at a basic level. It was helpful and I did get some tips (or more often, validation of what I was already doing/thinking). But, it was a bit focused in its scope. I couldn't count how many times they advised potential entrepreneurs to stay at their current job and do the home-based business on the side for as long as possible, to build up customer base and revenue stream before quitting. Well, this book was just revised last year and does mention the current economic downturn, so why does it never acknowledge that some of us have decided to start up our own businesses after an unsuccessful job search? "Keep your day job" isn't very good advice if a lot of the people in your audience already don't have one.
That said, it is a thorough guide, albeit very general both in advice which can't be tailored to your type of business, and also to legalities which vary considerably state-to-state. I am glad to have read it, I am going to keep it as a reference, but I have gotten the bulk of advice on my company from networking and talking with other friends/associates who already have gone through the process. Like all Dummies books, great to have if you're starting at square one, probably a little simplistic if you're at square two.
June 18, 2016
Very good information. I have a hard time allowing myself to skip around in a book, but I got some practice in this one skipping over information that doesn't pertain to me and my particular business. I love the style in which the For Dummies books are written; they have great information presented in humorous and easy to understand language. There are also great resources listed within their pages, and I was able to bite the bullet and pull the trigger on starting my home based business with help from this book. Good stuff here.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews