I envy those people to whom numbers come naturally. In elementary school, arithmetic was not my strong subject and to this day I can’t figure out how I got an “A” in my high school algebra class. My mother, however, was a genius with numbers – she had a successful home business offering bookkeeping and payroll services and doing taxes for folks. Mom didn’t progress beyond high school but she gave herself the equivalent of a degree in accounting. I marveled at the way she could look at a column of numbers and add them up without the use of a calculator.
Me? I always found English class an easy class. Remember those exercises in breaking down the structure of a sentence? Remember conjugating verbs and tenses? I’ve always been as at home with words as my mom was with numbers. One of my former positions was as marketing director for a large nonprofit agency in the central valley of California. One year I was fortunate to have the assistance of a college intern from the University of the Pacific in Stockton. This young woman was in the communications department and wanted to go into public relations. However, I spent quite a bit of time proofreading. For her the words “then” and “than” were one and the same.
Being able to communicate and enjoying the process is what I believe fuels the popularity of blogging. Humans love to talk to one another. We love to share ideas and make known our thoughts and opinions. All social animals love to do this. Have you ever observed two parakeets? They talk to each other all day long!
It is this love of communication that turned me to the career of newspaper reporter years ago and that a few years more recent, compelled me to start my own blogs. I write one about business and one about art. And last year I was encouraged to write my first book. This was inspired by a discussion I had with a friend about starting a home-based business. She was asking my advice and I was recounting some of the thought processes I went through when I first got started. Then she asked me why wasn’t I writing all this down in a book?
“They” say that if you want to be a writer you should write about what you know. I was a beginning solo-preneur at one point and struggled through quite a few issues. What kind of business? How big or small? Did I want to eventually have something that became fulltime or did I want a home business that was strictly parttime? Where in my home would I work? Would my business be centered around a passion for something I already knew or had? Or was I willing to learn something new and develop a business around that? And once I had my business how could I coordinate my presence online?
“Beginners Guide for Home-Based Business Owners-Establishing an Initial Presence on the Internet” was the result of the seed planting my friend did in the conversation that day. It’s not a big book, more of a booklet at 50 pages, but every word, every sentence was designed to give value.
From the Preface:
- “…I wrote this booklet in two parts because I have a heart for the owner of the very small business and recognize that it takes much thought to make the decision to start a business from home. The first part of the book asks a lot of questions. These are designed to help the reader think through the whys of starting a business…Part two of the book gives my suggestions for establishing an initial presence on the internet….”
Why put both in one book? I think it’s important to include the beginning steps of being on the world wide web with the beginning steps of starting a business. Not every business will put itself on the internet; however, in this day and age including a presence on the internet has great benefits…even if all you want to do is have a webpage of contact information.
“Beginners Guide…” helps you walk through the reasons for beginning a business from home. It gives the reader ideas of what having a home-business can give: leverage of both time and money; freedom of time and money; pride of accomplishment.
Have you considered that a single person business, the solo-preneurship, has both a leader and a manager? Just as with any large organization, leadership plays a vital role in setting the direction of a business. A home-based business is no different.
- “…Vision – the leader in the organization holds the dream, protects the dream, polishes the dream and keeps it alive.
- Direction – the leader sets the direction by establishing long-range and short-term goals and objectives that will lead to fulfilling the vision.
- Thought Leader – the leader is always on a track of continuous improvement, eyes wide open to opportunity….”
From Part Two:
- “…Before the internet there was the phone book. Businesses both big and small listed in the yellow pages and/or the white pages so that people (1) knew they were in town, (2) could find them and (3) had contact information available. At the very least, these are the same reasons to give your home-based business a presence on the internet. More and more people are using the internet to find all kinds of information.
- I remember when the internet was mostly a tool of research and a repository of information. Since the 1990s it has evolved into a major player in world commerce….”
Whether your small business is local to your community or based entirely on the internet, coordinating your online presence is key to introducing your business, your products and services to a diverse population.
No one book can tell you everything necessary for making a success of a home business. However, every tool you can add to your toolbox can help.
Beginners Guide for Home-Based Business Owners-Establishing an Initial Presence on the Internet is published and available through Amazon.com.
Thank you for this page! I aspire to write a book for women and am in the early stages of writing…it’s only in my mind. I agree that it takes a beginner to write for beginners and any pointers would be great. Look forward to reading your works.