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Posts published in “Entrepreneurship”

5 Reasons why Home-Based Businesses Fail

The Foolish Couple 0

[The Foolish Couple@ Home Series]Top 5 Reasons Home-based Businesses failHaving started several businesses from home, I dare say that I am some kind of an expert on the subject. In 2013, there are 28 million small businesses in the US, of which 52% of them are home-based. Approximately 75% of all U.S. businesses are ‘non-employer’ businesses, meaning that there are no additional employees other than you.In other words, small business is ‘big’ business nowadays, and there is no smaller business than home- based businesses.There are many reasons people choose to start a home-based business: No commute, low startup costs, comfort and convenience, amongst many other reasons. However, even with all these advantages, most small businesses, including home-based businesses, fail within the first 5 years. From my 20 years of experiences dealing not only with my own business, but also as a business and entrepreneurial consultant, I came up with a list of 5 reasons why home-based businesses would fail:Clutter –while your home may be comfortable, most American families that way too much clutter inside their homes. Whether you believe in Feng Shui or not, your work place has to flow freely. Imagine you are stuck inside a closet full of books, newspaper, and magazines. Can you still focus on your work? Can you even find your desk?To make things even worse, if you decide to take your work to bed, you tend to leave your notes, books, and other work-related stuff on your bed. And while you sleep, you kept getting nightmares about unfinished work, forgotten tasks and you get poor quality sleep.My suggestion is to create a dedicated work space, ideally a room with a door, bright windows and lighting, and quiet (away from street noise) that will allow you to focus, to let your creativity juices flow, and to be your most productive self. For a more comprehensive guide on setting up your home office, you can download my ebook: Setting up your home office, for free.Children and Pets If you think clutter is bad, moving things are worse. I mean, kids and pets. Personally, I have 4 cats at home, ages from 1 to 13 (really young to really old). Good thing is that my cats tend to sleep a lot, which gives me the quietness and privacy that I needed to get my work done. Kids, however, cannot be handled the same way. You can’t exactly put your kids to take 4 hour naps in the morning and another one in the afternoon. Kids need constant attention, and, honestly, they are happy that you are home. Kids want to spend time with you, and they want to help. So the best way to keep them busy is to give them something to do. Get them to lick envelops, organize your mail, dust your shelves. By asking them to help your business, your children feel like they are truly contributing to the business as well, and they tend to understand when you need time away from them to do some…