Your Home Business: Insights, strategies and start-up advice for aspiring entrepreneurs, 2nd edition

328 Pages·2004·1.28 MB·English

by  Helen Chryssides

737-main.QXD 19/11/03 11:41 AM Page i
Your Home Business
737-main.QXD 19/11/03 11:41 AM Page ii
Also by Helen Chryssides
Local Heroes,published by CollinsDove,a former division of HarperCollins
A Different Light,published by HarperCollins
Arabian Nightmare,with Richard Arnot,published by Allen & Unwin
737-main.QXD 19/11/03 11:41 AM Page iii
Your Home Business
Insights, strategies and start-up advice for
aspiring entrepreneurs
Helen Chryssides
cartoons by Andrew Weldon
737-main.QXD 19/11/03 11:41 AM Page iv
First published in 1997
This edition published in 2004
Copyright © Helen Chryssides 1997,2004
All rights reserved.No part ofthis book may be reproduced or
transmitted in any form or by any means,electronic or mechanical,
including photocopying,recording or by any information storage
and retrieval system,without prior permission in writing from the
publisher.The Australian Copyright Act 1968 (the Act) allows a
maximum ofone chapter or 10 per cent ofthis book,whichever
is the greater,to be photocopied by any educational institution for
its educational purposes provided that the educational institution
(or body that administers it) has given a remuneration notice to
Copyright Agency Limited (CAL) under the Act.
Allen & Unwin
83 Alexander Street
Crows Nest NSW 2065
Australia
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
Email: [email protected]
Web: www.allenandunwin.com
National Library ofAustralia
Cataloguing-in-Publication entry:
Chryssides,Helen.
Your home business :insights,strategies and start-up
advice for aspiring entrepreneurs.
2nd ed.
Bibliography.
Includes indes.
ISBN 1 86508 859 5.
1.Home-based businesses - Management.2.New business
enterprises.I.Title.
658.041
Set in 11/13 pt Minion by Bookhouse,Sydney
Printed by SRM Production Services,Malaysia
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
737-main.QXD 19/11/03 11:41 AM Page v
Contents
Contents
Acknowledgments vii
Introduction ix
1 A new life beckons 1
2 Getting started 38
3 Home sweet office 70
4 Money matters 105
5 Performance and presentation 138
6 Selling yourself and your business 163
7 Dealing with stress and other health issues 188
8 Making it work 219
9 New technology 259
10 Useful contacts 302
Index 310
v
737-main.QXD 19/11/03 11:41 AM Page vi
737-main.QXD 19/11/03 11:41 AM Page vii
Acknowledgments
Acknowledgments
Iwould like to thank the home-based workers and all those who
gave so willingly and generously of their time to share their
experiences and expertise for the purpose of this book. Your
comments and your wisdom are much appreciated,and I congrat-
ulate you all on your commitment and dedication.
My aim has been to produce a book that offers practical guide-
lines together with moral support.This is the book I would like to
have read when I was contemplating a home-based business many
years ago—one that provided no-nonsense information, realistic
advice and examples from those in the know, the home-based
workers themselves. In the process of writing it I have found
ingenuity,determination and motivation behind some ofAustralia’s
hardest-working and most successful small businesses. That was
for me,and I hope will be for readers,a fascinating and exhilarating,
rewarding and encouraging experience.
Revising the book has been both pleasurable and rewarding.
Ihave enjoyed re-establishing contact with many of these individ-
uals and have found it affirming to discover how their home-based
businesses have fared. Most have thrived and even expanded,
becoming more successful than they were. New home-based
businesses have sprung up in hitherto inconceivable areas.
vii
737-main.QXD 19/11/03 11:41 AM Page viii
viii | Your Home Business
The major changes in home-based business in the six years since
the first edition was published have been in the associated areas of
improved technology, growth and perception. Advances in tech-
nology, such as the now widespread use of the Internet and the
World Wide Web, have resulted in easier business dealings, the
possibility of an international client base and the subsequent
proliferation of home-based businesses.
Home-based businesses are no longer seen as unprofessional or
second-rate options. They are, in fact, part of the norm and an
accepted lifestyle choice.
All information was accurate at the time of printing. While
having produced the book in good faith,the publisher and author
are not responsible for any adverse consequences arising from the
use of any information supplied here.
737-main.QXD 19/11/03 11:41 AM Page ix
Introduction
Introduction
Today’s technology gives us choices and options—the choice to
select an appropriate and appealing work environment, and
the option of having a flexible work base.Working from home is
the smart career move of the 2000s.As your own boss, you have
adjustable work patterns and structure.You can create your work
content,meaning and goal,whether that be working solely to obtain
sufficient income to allow you to have more time to spend with
your family or to combine a home office with headquarters in
the city so that you will be able to work more efficiently and
comfortably.
Since the publication of the first edition of this book in 1997,
I have relocated from South Australia to Queensland. While
continuing my freelance journalism with Sydney-based employers,
I have found extra work with a variety oftourism bodies,Institutes
ofTAFE and a nearby university.That’s the beauty ofa home-based
business—the flexibility and opportunity it offers.
Today I live in a high-rise apartment in a peaceful suburb,
overlookinglushgreeneryandsmallclumpsofrainforest.Notforme
the dash through heavy traffic,the overbearing boss,the rigid work
hours and dreary, time-consuming meetings. I have control and
autonomy over my work day and its structure, having exercise
andtime offwhen I choose and making up the time in the evening.
ix
737-main.QXD 19/11/03 11:41 AM Page x
x | Your Home Business
I can break up my day with swims at the pool or relaxing river
walks. I find I am achieving more with less frustration and more
satisfaction.Ifeel happier,am more productive,and am in charge
of my own life and destiny.
Join me.Almost one million Australians already have,and the
numbers are growing daily.