Working at Home—Downturn Provides Opportunity for Business Start-Up

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Even though we’re facing a tight economy, there are compelling reasons to think about starting a business now. Interest rates are down, lots of talented people are looking for work and suppliers are interested in negotiating to win new contracts.

While it’s true a lot of people and companies are being more careful about the way they spend money, most new businesses need at least a year of fine-tuning before they are ready to operate at full-scale anyway. Taking advantage of a slow economic period to launch your business means you’ll be up-and-running smoothly when business starts rolling again.


If you’ve been thinking about starting your own home-based venture, take these steps to identify a high-potential business concept:

– Brainstorm. There isn’t an easy answer to the question of what constitutes a good business idea because the best ideas take advantage of the individual strengths of the people who run them. Your new business is much more likely to succeed if you are doing something that you are good at and enjoy.

To identify an idea that’s right for you, make lists of your skills and interests, and then look for careers that intersect with both. For example, if you’re a good cook and very social, you might consider a catering business.

– Define your customers. After zeroing in on ideas, you’ll need to determine the type of buyers who will make up your customer base. On the consumer side, pinpoint people by considering characteristics such as age, motivations for purchasing, income and location. To identify businesses, think about size or industry, motivations for purchasing, and location, as a starting point.

Other global characteristics to consider include where your customer base currently shops for what you plan to sell and how much they spend on those purchases. Conduct basic market research by speaking with at least a dozen potential customers to hone your offering, price and sales approach.

– Uncover the competition. Conversations with prospects are a good way to learn about the businesses your company will compete with. You might discover that people shop in many different types of stores for the product you want to offer. For example, if you plan to promote a line of vitamins, you may need to compete with drug stores, nutrition shops and grocery store chains.

Spend some time thinking about your competitors’ positioning and how you can differentiate your offering. Common points of differentiation include price, product, quality and distribution. If you find no competition, review your idea again. It may still be a good one, but if no one is currently in the field, there may be a reason why.

– Research costs and stumbling blocks. If possible, speak with business owners in your chosen industry to gain a leg up on realistic expenses and challenges you are likely to encounter. Contact businesses outside of your target geographic region or ones targeting a different customer so the entrepreneurs won’t be threatened by you. You can offer to pay people for their time or take them out to lunch, but you’ll probably find many people willing to help without asking for anything in return.

– Check your work twice. If the steps above have left you with a viable business idea that is a good fit with your interests, take another pass at it to make sure you haven’t overlooked anything critical. Reevaluate start-up costs to make sure they’re realistic. You may also want to run your plans by a business partner or an accountant or attorney. He or she may be able to pinpoint areas that you need to address before moving forward with start-up plans.

Alice Bredin is author of the “Virtual Office Survival Handbook” (John Wiley & Sons) and a nationally syndicated columnist.

My company is located near Manhattan, and over the last few weeks, many people have been taking the time to ask my staff and me how we’re doing. Clients, vendors and other business partners are suddenly finding time to chat on the phone, and a few have even sent cards to let us know they’re thinking of us.

I’m suddenly finding that people have become more thoughtful about the way they live their lives and how they treat other people.


If you’re looking for ways to warm up your communications, try the following:

– Acknowledge others’ ideas. Adding simple recognition of other people’s thoughts during business conversations is an easy way to make them feel good. It can be as easy as saying “that’s a good idea” or “you’re right” when they make a contribution. If you build a good idea from a thought that someone else introduced, it’s also a nice gesture to acknowledge the source of your inspiration by saying, “as you said a couple of minutes ago ”

– Thank people more often. It seems like I’ve received more verbal and written thanks for common niceties since Sept. 11 than in the past. People are looking for reasons to reach out and let people know they appreciate them. Acknowledge gestures with a phone call, e-mail or thank-you note.

– Respect other people’s time. If you have a bad habit of canceling meetings at the last minute or showing up late, now is the time to break it. This goes for meeting deadlines as well. Inconveniencing others is seldom excusable, and people who do what they promise usually earn others’ respect. If unavoidable circumstances require you to be late, call ahead of time to let someone know.

– Lend a hand. Look for opportunities to help with cumbersome projects or unforeseen business problems. For example, offer to take something off someone’s plate, or volunteer to handle an assignment that comes up in a meeting.

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