Know Your W's Before Starting a Home Business

by Deepak Dutta

Published on this site: September 15th, 2006 - See more articles from this month

Starting a home business has been one of the biggest growth industries in the last decade. There are thousands of new business owners entering the online arena everyday.

No matter what type of business product or service you choose to participate in, there is one and only one starting point.

The only place to be starting your new home business is, in your mind, more importantly your mindset.

It is imperative for you to know the Who, What, Where, When and Why's when considering starting up a home based business. No matter what type of venture you may choose, if you cannot answer the five W's you will greatly hinder your chances of success dramatically.

Let's take a look at the five W's individually.

1. Who.
   
   Who are you doing this for? Is it for personal gain and notoriety, family obligations or maybe to help a friend in need. If you do not clearly know and understand who you are doing this for, you will have a very difficult time maintaining the motivation to achieve the level of success you desire.
   
   
2. What.
   
   Do you clearly know what is you that want to achieve? Is it to attain financial independence? Contributing to your retirement plans? Is it to put a down payment on a new house? Do you want to be able to quit your job, or do you just want to be able to purchase those big ticket items you have always yearned for?
   
   It is crucial to know exactly what it is you wish to achieve. You have to be able to close your eyes and picture in your mind, down to the finest detail, what your life would be like once you achieve success. If you don't truly know what it is that you want, it is almost guaranteed that you are not going to get it.
   
   Achieving success comes from knowing precisely what it is you want. Then next step is to set goals that are specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and time based, better known as S.M.A.R.T. goals. To learn more about goal setting just do a quick search on your favorite search engine, there is a great deal of information available.
   
   
3. Where.
   
   Research is the key here. There are countless ways and places to set up a home business on the internet. What is most important here is to keep a level head and an open mind while doing your research to determine your chosen field.
   
   Sales pages are finely tuned to trigger impulses and emotions to get you to buy now, this very second. Fight those urges to click that order button, step away from your computer for a moment if you have to.
   
   Take the time to actually study what is being offered. How much is it going to cost you? Is it a one off, monthly or yearly cost? What is the actual product or service that you are receiving, and is there something else out there that may better serve your needs.
   
   It is highly recommended that you never hit the order button on your first visit. Take a look around and do some comparison shopping, or window shopping if you will. If the original offer was the best you can always return and purchase at a later time.
   
   A quick example. Let's say you find that perfect ebook with resale rights and you just have to have it, and the cost is $97.00. Try this out first. Type the ebook's title into your favorite search engine. You may be pleasantly surprised to find the exact same title for as little as $5.00 maybe even less with the same resale rights. Remember that the first offer you see may not always be the best in value for your dollar. The internet is extremely competitive.
   
   
4. When.
   
   Knowing when to launch your business is where many marketers fall short. Ensure that your business is completely ready to go. Test everything before your launch. Check your webpages for loading time, grammar and spelling. Do all the pages and links work properly? Test your newsletter. Does your autoresponder send the messages when they are supposed to go out? Are the messages formatted correctly? Do those links work? Is the payment and delivery system perfect?
   
   When setting up your business try to keep your mindset as if you were the customer. Would you purchase this product or service? Would you subscribe to this newsletter? Is there valuebeing offered? What makes this product or service stand out from the rest? Until you can answer these questions with conclusive statements, you are not ready to launch.
   
   Always keep in your mind, your name and reputation are always at stake. Online purchasers have very little tolerance when things go wrong.
   
   Studies have shown that you usually have thirty seconds or less to grab your visitors attention. If there is nothing of great value, your potential customer will simply move on and probably never come back. Be completely ready when launch time comes. On the internet first impressions are paramount.
   
   
5. Why.
   
   One of the most important questions to ask. Why am I building this business? Why will my customers buy from me? Why is this the best product? Why did I choose this web hosting company? Being able to answer any and every possible question about your business will give you the knowledge and the tools to build your website as well as your compelling sales pages to perfection.
   
   Asking yourself why will clearly give you the right answers to provide your future subscribers and customers before they need to ask.

Keeping the five W's in your mind throughout the planning, preparation, testing and launch phases of your business will provide you with the greatest chances for success. You owe it to yourself and to your potential subscribers and customers.

Your mindset is what is going to make or break your business, after all everything starts with an idea.

Dr. Deepak Dutta - is the creator of http://www.semanticbay.com - an interactive social network website based on user shared text and picture contents on any topics. His other website http://www.classifiedsforfree.com - is one of the oldest online classifieds site where users can post ads in more than 600 US cities and 60 countries.