7.
Re: Am I just too skeptical? Mar 28, 2008 4:11 PM
For a home-based enterprise, at least four of the keys to success are value, profitability, viability, and sustainability (as that term was defined before the "green" movement claimed it).
The product or service being sold has to be worth more to the customer than the purchase price (value). The price the customer pays for the product or service has to be more than it costs the business to produce and provide it (profitability). Enough customers have to buy it to keep the company in business (viability). Customers will either have to buy the product or service again, or have the desire to augment, enhance, or upgrade the product or service at a later time (sustainability).
Any skepticism is
totally justified because most of the home-based businesses that are pitched here almost daily (e.g., legal plans, supplemental health coverage, travel agencies, information services, and e-commerce websites that basically sell from someone else's catalogue) fall short in one or more of those regards (often, all four!). That doesn't mean that they're "scams" (or even that a few people are not making money at them), but it does mean that the opportunities they offer are limited for someone who is just getting started.
I understand the passion and motivation for launching a home-based business, yet a simple four-question "business plan" would save a lot of folks a lot of money, disappointment, and grief:
1. Will people really
buy this from me?
2. Can I make a
profit from what they're willing to pay?
3. Will
enough of them buy it so I can stay in business?
4. Will at least some of them buy from me
repeatedly (or will I perpetually need all new customers)?
Unless all the answers are "yes," it's probably not the right opportunity.