Rico Mossesgeld, who writes b5mdia’s Contract Worker blog, provides several advantages for working at home. His post, “Working at Home Saves You a Lot,” is very informative and gives you five reasons why this is true:

*Time Saver

*Money Saver

*Sanity Saver

*Reputation Saver

*Environment Saver

Don’t these ideas intrigue you? You might want to check out Rico’s blog to read more about these advantages/savings.

Some home businesses may be temporary…a business that fills a need, for you and your customers, for a particular stage in your life, for a particular time period or event, or related to a particular region where you live at the time.   If this business doesn’t become a lifelong pursuit, that doesn’t mean it’s a failure.

You may find that another opportunity comes into your life, your life encounters changes that make this business no longer feasible, or the market for your product or service disappears. 

*During the Bicentennial Years in the United States (1975-76), many businesses created items and services related to this celebration.  I was doing dressmaking at the time and evolved into quiltmaking as a resurgence came about in this art.  Gradually I no longer took dressmaking and alteration orders.

*For several years my husband was a carpenter/cabinetmaker.  After an accident damaged his shoulder, arm, and knee, he was a long time healing and then not very adept at these skills.  So a business change was necessary.

*My son-in-law also was a self-employed carpenter/contractor.  However, a bout with cancer necessitated a career change.

*A friend had a hair salon in her home.  Then there were changes in her life and she sold the house.  She didn’t start a home business elsewhere.  It seemed more practical to work from a friend’s beauty salon in a mall.  She had been successful in her home and many of her clients followed her to the new location.

*Pat operated a fabric store in one room of her home.  She was successful and developed a good clientele.  However, her husband was transferred.  They had to sell their house and move to another state.  She had sales to get rid of her fabric inventory and closed her shop.

*Sometimes your business appears so successful someone else sets up a competitive one, thus causing you to vary what you’re doing or reconsider.

Some businesses, by their nature, are of a temporary nature and provide a service or product for a specific event or duration.  Others take awhile to develop so a business owner shouldn’t become discouraged because time and persistence will prove them successful.

If you have every intention of making your business a long term one, but circumstances beyond your control prevent this, don’t feel you’ve failed.  Learn from this experience, recall the joys, and go on to your next venture.

Sometimes it seems we have so much to do, with a business, family commitments, perhaps a job if we’re not full time home business that we wonder how we’re going to get it all done.  Working at or from home is what we want to do, but how do we get everything done…and on time?

Rico Mossesgeld, blogger at b5media’s Contract Worker has an interesting post addressing this situation, “Getting Things Done, Even if 30 Projects Are Pending.”  Check Rico’s post if you’d like some suggestions on how to “dig yourself out of the hole” and set your priorities.

I mentioned in Baby Boomers Start Home Businesses, that, according to an AARP report, many people in the “baby boomer” age range are starting their own businesses, a considerable number of them work out of their homes.

If you’re among the baby boomers who want something to supplement retirement or are interested in starting a business before retirement, you’ll find continual information especially for you at Jim Norton’s Small Business Boomers blog (business advice for boomers) here at b5media’s Business Channel.

One of his posts, Boomer Strengths on the Job helps you analyze your strengths that may help you decide what business to become involved in. This and other discussions relating to boomers and the business world should prove informative to this age group.

Highlights from posts presented on the b5media Business Channel blogs appear in a channel highlight today. The post from Home Biz Notes mentions finding a need and developing a home business to fit it.

You’ll discover a great deal of helpful business information by checking here…..

Tammy Powley, who writes b5media’s Jewelry & Beading blog, has written at least two posts recently about getting the information ready for her taxes. It’s sometimes interesting and informative to learn what someone else is doing.

“This [taxes] is one of the things a lot of jewelry makers [and other home business people] don’t think about when they want to start doing jewelry and beading as a business,” mentioned Tammy

Her post, Tax Bead-Time Cometh, gives you her insight into what works for her. Tammy also mentions why she has begun having an accountant prepare her taxes.

Tammy posted again when her taxes were nearly finished, Bead Taxes Almost Done. Here she mentions where you can find forms on-line at the IRS site and why she uses Schedule C as a check list as she gathers her tax information.

Do you have information to share about taxes for home businesses?

Depending on the complexity of your home business, you may find you can do the bookkeeping yourself (perhaps with the help of systems like Quicken and Turbo Tax).  Or you may need the aid of an accountant to help set you up and then do the final tax preparation.

If you hire any employees, then you will have more work to do and probably will want to get an accountant’s advice.  Generally we think of home businesses as family run operations.  However, some home businesses do hire one or more employees.  With emplooyees, you have (in the US) W-2 forms to give to employees by January 31 and file with the federal government, also with some state governments.

Also, in the US, when you use independent self-employeed persons (those who own their own businesses but do some contract work for you), you have to send them 1099-Misc Income forms if you’ve paid them $600 or more.  These also must be filed with the government (Federal and often state).  They have a deadline, too, and should be mailed to the independent contractor by January 31 and filed with the government by the end of February.  (There are monetary penalties for missing W-2 and 1099-Misc deadlines.)

As tax time approaches (and some of you in the US may have filed your taxes already), you’ll want to check to see if you have all your necessary forms and whether you’ve given out those required.

(Check the IRS (Internal Revenue Service) web site for the exact information about these and any other tax questions, especially if you don’t have an accountant to consult.)

            There also are a variety of tax guides you can consult concerning taxes for a home or small business.

Depending on the type of business you’re operating from or in your home, your office space and needs will vary.  However, there are some basic needs most everyone has when determining their office space and the equipment you’ll be using.

More and more home businesses these days are operating out of a smaller space in the home because you’re not involved in maintaining a shop.  That’s because they so often involve Internet ventures.

At Today’s Mompreneur, check out Let’s Get That Home Office Setup for some very basic home office ideas.  You’ll need to take these and adjust them for your needs.  But it’s something to start with.

If you don’t have a separate room for your office, start with part of one room, a corner that can be set apart with a room divider.  Also, a laptop can handle so much of what you need to do with a computer, that space that once was required for a large desktop computer can be utilized for other needs.

According the the AARP Bulletin, 7.4 million baby boomers are self-employed. This translates into almost half of the self-employed people in this country.

“Older Americans are the new entrepreneurs,” states writer Carole Fleck.

Research seems to indicate, according to this article, that during the next 10 years, more people 50 and older, particularly those 65 and older, will become involved in a business of their own.

Some of the information found in “Start-Ups for Grownups” includes interviews of older business owners, check list for starting your business, and a list of resources. This could help you as you research a home business of your own.

I discovered an excellent article at Suzanne Falter-Barns’ Get Known Now web site about how to micro-niche your business for more effective marketing.  Suzanne explains what this type of marketing is and why it’s so important for your business.

She gives you specific tips on how to really know your potential customers rather than simply categorizing them in general terms, such as age group, gender, where they live, occupation, etc.  In order to best reach customers/clients, you should get even more specific in their needs, likes and dislikes and what they do.  

Another article by Suzanne gives you additional information about the power of micro marketing, an area that’s achieving importance on reaching one’s customers.