How to Take Your Home-Based Business to the Next Level

Starting a home-based business can be immensely profitable as even some huge corporations like Amazon had humble beginnings. The freedom of running your own business is only matched by the stress to produce income. A number of home-based businesses start out as side gigs only to grow into a full-time job for the entrepreneur. Growing your business has to be done carefully as growing too quickly can compromise customer experience and quality of service/product. Incremental growth allows for a business to adjust during growth rather than scrambling after sudden massive growth. The following are tips to take your home-based business to the next level.

Storage and Office Space

Office space is going to be paramount as you likely will be online or fulfilling orders depending on your business model. Storage is also important if you are directly selling items but options like drop shipping can eliminate the need for large areas to store products. Monster sheds can act as storage or an office area if you simply do not have room in your home. People that have worked from home for extended periods of time understand the distractions that come along with working in a common area. Kids or pets can impact your productivity which directly impacts your income. Long hours are a staple of growing a business which is a fact that you cannot ignore.

Leverage Your Current Professional Network

The aspect that a lot of entrepreneurs are hesitant to take advantage of is their current professional network. Doing a favor for someone in a professional setting could lead this person to introduce you to a coveted prospect. You never know what a former colleague or manager is going to be willing to do for you.

The better the relationship, the more they will do for you. Leaving on a good note with proper notice at all jobs will make this far easier as leaving in a storm can leave a bad image in the mind of a former coworker. LinkedIn is a great platform to reach out to previous contacts you have. You would be surprised how far out of the way a person will go for you if they think highly of you. This will also help you find prospects to sell your business in the future when the time comes. Use ExitAdviser to help guide you and answer any questions you might have.

Form partnerships. Get inspired by eBay and Shiply, and how they have served each other. For those collection only items, use Shiply on eBay purchases of heavier items like motorcycles and cars, and get discounts.

Enlist the Help of Freelancers If Necessary

The need for extra help is likely to occur but hiring someone full-time might not be what you want. Hiring a freelancer can really help simplify this as there seems to be a freelancer for every type of task. This could be data entry or even scheduling sales calls in your digital calendar. Freelancers can be a huge help in terms of marketing as you can find affordable copywriters and designers on platforms like Upwork. These platforms have ratings so you can see the rates as well as the previous project performance. Finding a freelancer you can rely on can turn into your first full-time hire.

Growing your home-based business will take a focus on providing quality services/products and overall customer experience. A number of consumers would rather work with a small local business than give their money to a corporate juggernaut.