Start A Home Based Business

When you start a home based business with SFM there are a number of crucial things you need to do at the front end. In this post I’ll cover some of the important stuff to get in place.

Before we go into the detail I would like to stress how important your mindset is at the start and throughout your new home based business. You are building a solid foundation for a new and rewarding life – you are not in this to get rich quick. You need to commit to the same learning curve that everyone goes through and leave yourself open to personal development and maybe changing your thinking.

Things to set up when you start a home based business

In the early days with your SFM home based business you need to focus on the training, decide on the strategies you are going to follow and dedicate your efforts (with a huge amount of support from the company and the community) to sticking to your plan. Now to the nut’s and bolts of your business start up.

The other main areas to set up are around the actual setting up, registering and sorting out the accounting side of the business. This is after all a business and not a hobby. Just because it’s a home based business doesn’t mean you can be sloppy with the duller stuff. You have a couple of choices as regards the company registration and set up and also as regards your accounts.

When I first started as self employed I was able to take advantage of a training allowance which also provided me with a business plan. The plan was good from the point of providing with focus and targets it also enabled me to apply for a couple of grants that got me some computer equipment. Check with your local jobcentre or self employment agencies to see if something similar is available where you are. There is a lot of support for people looking at starting a home based business.

Start a home based business – Tax and banking

As regards the tax set up – you have 2 choices if this is your first venture into self-employment. The first is to register as a sole trader, the second as a LTD company. My advice would be to engage an accountant and to seriously consider the LTD company route even if you think that sounds over the top for a home based business. I have a superb accountant who has also become involved in an online business through me. They normally recognise a good thing when they see one!

Sole or Ltd?

You need to pay Companies house to register your company name and if you don’t use an accountant there can be a lot of extra work involved – if you do however, a good accountant will do most of this for you. In the long run going the LTD company route will save you a fortune in taxes and has a number of additional advantages that an accountant can explain to you.

Either way you might want to look at setting up a business, or at least a separate bank account for the home based business. Also make sure you have a good system in place to administer your receipts and sales. There are some great software packages out there if you want to use something like that but standard MS office type programs are more than enough in the early days.

If you take time to set up all of this (boring) stuff properly it should be easy and not too time consuming to manage, leaving you to concentrate on the business.

Mindset and routines

Aside from the nuts and bolts stuff with a business, which is really just methodical it’s also very important to invest some time in developing some routines. Not just office hours but time away from work, fitness and self-development. Your SFM business is a constant learning process but you don’t want to become too engrossed and forget to actually start marketing!

SFM offer 3 types of application: General, Express and VIP. Click on the link below to look at the options and decide which one is for you.