Home Based Business

What You Need to Know About Working From Home

SBOCTeam — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 17:38:00 GMT

by Big Ideas4Biz

Today, technology makes it easy for anyone to start and run a business from home. Before you invest time and effort in a home-based activity, make sure you understand legal and tax aspects, as well as practical considerations, so you can avoid problems later on.

Deciding to work from home

Starting and running a business from home can provide many personal and financial benefits: You can see to family responsibilities (e.g., child or parent care) while making money from your business. You eliminate commuting, saving you time and money. And you avoid costly overhead for commercial space (you're already paying the costs for your home). But don't assume that running a business from home is for everyone.

Before committing to working from home:

Make sure you have adequate space to accommodate your business activities (including a storage area for inventory if you're selling products). You need a separate area for business-not only to work effectively but also to claim a home office deduction (explained below).
Be prepared to give up some privacy if the nature of your business entails having customers come to your residence.
And, unless you live alone, make sure your family or roommates will cooperate to give you the space and quiet you need for business.

Keeping it legal

Even though you're in your personal dwelling, you still need to comply with local, state, and federal rules when you run a business there.

*Check local zoning rules. *While consultants and freelance writers probably won't have any problems with their towns and cities, those who want to operate businesses that could involve noise, smells, or traffic may be a problem. Also check whether you're permitted to post a sign (and if there are any size restrictions) and if there are any parking restrictions that could affect customers who come to you.
Obtain licenses and permits. Tradespeople may need licenses from their localities; professionals and others need state licenses (there are even some businesses that require federal licenses). To determine whether you need a license for your business, go to Business.gov (** http://www.business.gov/register/licenses-and-permits/* * ) and click on your location.
Obtain business identification numbers. Sole proprietors with no employees can use their Social Security number for federal income tax reporting, but corporations, other types of business entities, as well as sole proprietors with employees and/or a qualified retirement plan, need an employer identification number (EIN). Obtain this online from the IRS (* www.irs.gov/businesses/small/article/0,,id=102767,00.html* ). You may also need identification numbers from your state (e.g., if you pay unemployment insurance for any employee, including yourself).
Obtain a sales tax number. If you sell goods and services in a state that requires you to collect sales tax on your transactions, you'll need a resale number to report your collections. Contact your state finance or revenue department for details. *Good news: *If you have a resale number, you won't pay sales tax on items you purchase that you intend to sell to your customers.
*Entity selection. *Many people who start a business from home do so as sole proprietors. If you use a fictitious name for the business, be sure to file with your city or county that you are "doing business as" (DBA) under the fictitious name. You may wish to formalize your business structure, even if you work alone, by becoming a limited liability company or corporation so you gain personal liability protection (creditors won't be able to reach your personal assets even if they have a successful claim against the business).
*Insurance. *Be sure to have adequate coverage to protect you. Don't assume your homeowners (or renters) policy covers the business you run from home. You may need additional protection for your business property, including any inventory you store at home, as well as liability protection in case a business guest is injured on your premises. Add a rider to your existing policy or obtain a separate business owner's policy (BOP) for your protection. Talk with an insurance agent to learn the best course of action.

Taking your deductions

Working from home may entitle you to a home office deduction. This tax write-off is the portion of the personal expenses of your home that relate to your business. For example, if you use 10% of the space in your home for business, then 10% of utilities, insurance, mortgage interest and real estate taxes (or rent), and other expenses make up the home office deduction.

To qualify for a home office deduction, you need to meet two tests:

You must use the space at home as your principal place of business or as the location for doing administrative work if you have no other fixed location (e.g., you are a decorator who works at client's locations but uses a home office for scheduling appointments and keeping your books). *Caution: *If you have another location-an office in town or a storefront-and use the home office for extra work, you may not be able to claim a home office deduction. *Exception: *The home office qualifies if it's used to meet with clients, customers, or patients in the normal course of business (e.g., a professional with a downtown office who uses her home to meet clients after hours).
The space must be used regularly and exclusively for business. A spare room devoted as office space is fine; using the kitchen table won't do

The annual write-off for a home office is limited to the gross income generated there. If you're having a bad year, excess amounts of the home office deduction can be carried forward and used i
*Note: *Many are concerned that claiming a home office deduction is a red flag to the IRS. Reality: No one knows for sure. As long as you meet the eligibility requirements, don't waste the deduction.

*Related benefit. *Once you establish that you're eligible for a home office deduction, you can write-off the cost of travel from and to home for business. Keep track of any business use of your personal vehicle to see customers and vendors or to buy supplies.

Dual (Not Duel) Trajectories

SBOCTeam — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 18:13:00 GMT

How to be there for your family and your small business, and how one may actually nourish the other

By Max Berry

Being either a parent or a small business owner is enough to exhaust the hardiest among us. Trying to be both at once can test one's ability to capably be either. But with the right measure of planning, communication, and passion, these dual roles don't have to put you at odds with your family, your colleagues, or yourself.

It's About Time
"Budgeting time is an enormous part of balancing a business and a family," says Adam Moskow, President of Entrepreneurial Consulting LLC (entrepreneurialconsulting.com). A husband and father of three himself, Moskow is well acquainted with the rigors of this kind of time management. He learned early on that "finding time" (as if there were more hiding somewhere) can be a fruitless endeavor if you're managing the demands of work and home the same way you did before you were a parent. So Moskow uses the time he does have creatively.

"I put a lot of intensity into both [my business and my family]," he says. "When more time is needed [for work], I've been able to put in extra time, but perhaps at off hours."

Instead of binding his workday to arbitrary start and end times, Moskow does his work in the hours when his kids-who are all old enough to be in school eight hours a day-aren't around. The hours between 9:00 am and 3:00 p.m. are ideal for Moskow to meet with clients and colleagues, but things like paper work or e-mail correspondence that isn't time sensitive can be done just as easily at 9:00 at night-when the kids are in bed-as 9:00 in the morning.

Of course, if you have more than one child old enough to be in school, as Moskow does, you've likely also got soccer games to attend, or parent teacher conferences, or school plays. But one of the benefits of being an entrepreneur, according to Moskow, is that "you may not have free time, but you do have flexible time." As long as you check in with your family and your staff daily, you can put together the schedule that best accommodates your commitments. You are the boss, after all.

Know What To Delegate
As creative as entrepreneurs can-or must-be with their time, they can also be just as creative with how they delegate. Every small business owner knows the importance of delegation, but it can be considerably more difficult to delegate the act of raising your own child. A working couple with an infant or toddler would be hard-pressed to make it work without some help, a single parent exponentially more so. Before his children were old enough to be in school all day, Moskow and his wife, who were both able to work from home frequently, still hired a part-time nanny to grant them a few uninterrupted hours of work.

But Moskow also presents a method for delegating household tasks without robbing yourself of time with your children. Rather than simply hiring a babysitter or nanny to be there when you can't, Moskow recommends delegating the household chores that don't involve your son or daughter. Hire somebody to go grocery shopping or do laundry. Get someone else to clean the house while you spend time with your family. With this kind of delegation, of course, comes added expense. "Some business owners can't afford anything," says Moskow. "That's when you call a grandparent or an unemployed niece."

The office, meanwhile, could always benefit from an intern willing to do take care of some grunt work in exchange for some real world experience.

A Bridge, Not a Barrier
But to separate your business from your family completely-to place them on opposite sides of the same scale-is its own kind of mistake. If both give you a reason to get up in the morning, it's a disservice to your family to deny them a connection to that other part of yourself.

"That can be a wonderful opportunity," says Moskow, to include children in the day-to-day tasks of running a business. "That involvement in terms of whatever you're working on-whether it's sealing envelopes or making phone calls-helps them learn responsibility. It doesn't mean they'll become a business owner, but they're exposed to [an experience that can be] really rich."

It will also keep them from seeing your work as nothing more than the thing that takes you away from them. "It requires constant adjusting," says Moskow. "There will be times when the business needs more of your time than your family and there will be times when the reverse is true."

To handle these instances when one role takes precedence over the other, Moskow advocates nothing so much as honesty, especially with a kid who may be missing out on time with a parent.

"I tell my kids, ‘There will be times I won't be there, but I'll make it up to you.'"

Still, the most important thing to remember may be that, whatever your business means to you, it exists to support your family, not vice versa. "I could work more hours and probably make more money," says Moskow. "But that's not the ultimate value in my life."

The 30 Second Commute

SBOCTeam — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 20:27:00 GMT

Before you begin a home based business, make sure you're aware of the personal and professional challenges you'll be facing

Although late night commercials on television and unsolicited emails may tell you how easy it is to start your own home-based business, the reality is that you're likely to work as hard or harder at home than you did before you took the leap and went out on your own. The appeal of such independence is obvious: no boss, no commute, no office politics, greater freedom, and more time with your family. You may even be able to take a portion of your home expenses as a tax deduction since you are now using your house or a portion of it as an office. However, with all those benefits come dangers one rarely has to deal with when employed by someone else. Strictly speaking, working from home isn't for everyone.

According to Millie Szerman, author of A View From The Tub: An Inspiring and Practical Guide to Working from Home (Stairwell Press), the question of whether to open up your own business depends entirely on the person. "Some people need the structure of an office to be happy and successful," Szerman explains, "while those of us who enjoy working independently will be happier on our own."

Dollars and Sense
Indeed, there are numerous factors to take into account when deciding whether or not to break away and start working out of your home. The first basic question is whether you can really afford to start your own business. Not only will you have to dip into a large portion of your personal savings in order to get your new company off the ground, but you may also have to go without a salary for at least a little while before you start making a profit. And don't expect to get free health and dental coverage anymore, either. Now insurance costs comes out of your own pocket. By the way, if you're looking forward to not counting up your vacation days, remember that when you run your own business there are no paid vacations and no one to run your business when you're away.

There are other matters to ponder. Are you motivated enough to maintain an efficient work style without a higher-up constantly checking up on you? Will you be able to work when your kids and other distractions are around and, on the flip side, can you stop working at night when your desk is only 40 feet away? And do you need the camaraderie of your fellow workers nearby?

Know the Law
Once you've decided that you are, in fact, able to work from home, a huge issue is to make sure you can legally operate out of your residence. Zoning laws may prohibit working out of your house, potentially halting your operation before it even gets going. Some believe that it is better to run your office secretly instead of taking the chance of being denied a permit, but Szerman advises honesty.

"The fines and penalties may be exorbitant if you keep it quiet, and then someone discovers what you're doing," she warns. "You can do your research first, to be sure that there are no zoning restrictions, without letting on exactly what you're doing. Do your homework before you begin, and you'll never have to worry about getting caught."

Consider the Setup
Once this sizable hurdle is crossed, you can finally start setting up your office. Try to find a desk in an area away from distractions, and, if possible, away from the busy places in your house, such as the living room or kitchen. You'll need a place to store records, like a computer and a file cabinet and also ways to communicate with customers and vendors. Internet access is vital these days, along with a phone and a fax machine. Setting a similar structure to being at work is essential to being productive; your family must know that just because you're home doesn't mean you can run errands and play, and you'll have to establish regular business hours and stick to them.

In her book, Szerman describes flexibility, motivation, patience, and determination as the key traits an individual must have in order to flourish in a home office setting. It has certainly worked for Szerman. "As an independent worker/thinker, working from home has enhanced my career, and I can't imagine ever going back into someone else's structure."

Opportunity Knocks

SBOCTeam — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 20:17:00 GMT

So called "business opportunities" present another way for would be entrepreneurs to strike out on their own

In between starting your own business from scratch and purchasing a franchise, with all its rules and restrictions, is a sort of hybrid category, known as the "business opportunity." In 1979, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) set out conditions that broadly define a business opportunity. In general, a business opportunity involves the sale or distribution of goods or services provided by a licenser, who must help secure a retail outlet for the goods or services the licensee is selling.

FTC rules require that a cash transaction of at least $500 must occur between the licenser and licensee within six months of the agreement. Finally, all terms of the agreement between licenser and licensee must be in writing. (Be sure to check on any state rules governing business opportunities: A number of states have imposed additional legal requirements, but most have not.) In most instances, a business opportunity consists of the purchase or licensing of products or services from a company to start a business using the trademark of the products or services purchased

Some business opportunities merely involve the purchase of products for resale, with little or no support; others offer training or other forms of support to get the new business running. Unlike franchises, however, business opportunities usually lack the cumbersome operating rules and policies demanded by many franchisors. Business opportunities also generally call for an attractively low initial investment cost anywhere from $50 to $1,000, usually for products or equipment. This broadens their appeal to would be small business owners, who want the security of selling an already established brand, but prefer to forego the high cost and dictatorial nature of many franchises.

Business opportunities come in a variety of forms. You can become a distributor for a particular company's products or services without adopting their trade name, offering only their goods from your retail establishment, home, booth, or kiosk. In some cases, the business opportunity is a turnkey operation, offering you supplies, marketing materials, varying levels of sales support, and even assistance in setting up your outlet. Vending machine operations are another major area of business opportunities. Investment costs are higher with vending machines, since the vending machines must be purchased (usually at a cost of several thousand dollars each) in addition to fees paid to the property owners of the locations where they will be placed (malls, office buildings, stores, schools). Other business opportunities involve becoming essentially a product salesman, keeping a company's products on specifically assigned shelves of various stores in a given area. The company providing the products generally negotiates the store shelf assignments, but is up to the rack jobber to keep the shelves stocked with the right products.

While business opportunities demand less creativity than starting your own business from scratch and more independence than a franchise, they have been notoriously plagued by fraud. In an attempt to combat fraudulent schemes, the FTC has issued mandatory rules governing the issuance of business opportunities, including the provision that an FTC disclosure statement must be provided to the purchaser of a business opportunity a minimum of ten days prior to the close of a contract or binding agreement. If the provider of a business opportunity declines or delays providing an FTC disclosure statement, avoid the deal completely, no matter what other assurances are offered.

In addition to lower initial costs, business opportunities offer some significant advantages over franchises. First, business opportunities don't demand a percentage of your monthly sales (in addition to what you already paid to purchase the goods or services) simply for using the company's name. Second, the company behind a business opportunity may leverage its purchasing power to obtain supplies, equipment, and services for its licensees far below normal costs. Finally, larger providers of business opportunities often offer more favorable financing options and lines of credit than could be obtained by an independent business owner from a financial institution.

However, many business opportunities come with exclusivity arrangements, offer poor locations to licensees, and little recourse if the company decides to end its support. You should have a lawyer scrutinize any contract with a company offering a business opportunity before it is signed or any investment made. And you should regard any claims of fantastic profits from minimal investment with great skepticism.

How To Set Up a Home-based Business

akgold — Sat, 21 Jul 2007 01:57:00 GMT

Home-based businesses are fast becoming a popular way to operate your small company, while reducing expensive start-up costs such as leasing space, lease hold improvements, utility and phone deposits and major office equipment. Thousands of people across the country are finding that working from home provides them with the advantages of earning an income with the flexibility to work when it is best for them and take care of family and other responsibilities that often arise throughout the work day. However, before starting your home-based business, consider the following advice:

Determine local and state requirements for licensing and zoning regulations. Be sure to check with your local zoning office to find out how the zoning regulations in your area may affect your business plans. Determine if your business requires any licenses and file the necessary forms.

Rent a post office box and use that address on your promotional mail and stationery, doing this will make it less obvious that you are working from home. The professional image you portray is very important to your clientele.

Install a phone line in your home dedicated to your business.

Use an answering machine for incoming business calls.

Organize your work space with great care. Make sure that you have sufficient space to meet your needs.

When scheduling appointments with clients, consider meeting at your client's office or renting a conference room to maintain a professional image.

Establish contacts with your competitors and join associations pertinent to your business. Have your clients suggest possible new clients and ask if they will recommend you.

Keep excellent records of entertainment and travel expenses. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) tends to audit home-based businesses more frequently—especially when they are writing off a variety of expenses, including the percentage of the mortgage or rent for your office space. There are several good record keepers such as Day Timer®, Franklin Quest® and Day Planner that will help you keep track of your expenses. Your accountant, a CPA is recommended, can advise you on deductions you can take and records you must keep for the IRS.

And above all, put some of your earnings into a savings account for those times when your business is in a slump . . . and it will happen.

Discipline yourself. You must be a self-starter and follow a routine, just as if you were working for any other business. In many cases, you are the only person you can rely on to get the job done. Unless it's an emergency, do not baby-sit or chat with your neighbors.

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