“I think running a home business is going to be the wave of the future now, if it isn’t already,” says Dorothy Thompson, an author/publisher who has become an e-marketing specialist, operating her business from her home.

“People are realizing that it takes more than one or two pay checks (if they’re married) to bring in a decent income anymore,” she explained.  “And I believe women are making up a huge part of that home business force.” 

Over the next couple of days, I’ll be interviewing Dorothy about her e-marketing business, Pump Up Your Online Book Promotion, and learn how her career has evolved from author to publisher to columnist to marketing specialist.  I’ve discovered Dorothy has tips many home businesses can utilize in this Internet age.

A round-up of “Happenings in the Business Channel” appears at b5media today and features posts from the various blogs included in this channel.  From Home Biz Notes, we learn “Smiles are simple, but undervalued.  Mary Emma, at Home Biz Notes, discusses the importance of greeting your customers with a smile to brighten their day and yours, as well.”

The Business Channel also announced the launch of six new blogs!   So the wide array of information available here is increasing by leaps and bounds.

The question posed by a reader at Grow Your Writing Business impelled me to write a post in answer her query and for Yvonne Russell to seek answers, too.   Yvonne has set up a “Just Ask” feature at Grow Your Writing Business and asked me to be one of her “experts” in answering questions.

I consider this an honor and hope I can be of help to her readers and mine in answering questions about operating a business at or from home, as well as work one can do at home for another business.   In today’s world, with jobs being uncertain at traditional businesses, more people are seeking work at or from home and establishing their own businesses. 

(I know because, some years ago, I was let go from my position as a PR person and newsletter editor for a corporation when the manager who hired me retired.) 

Businesses value loyal customers who return again and again for products and services, as well as spread the word about you.   You’ll find small gestures, sometimes things you hardly think about, will make all the difference in the world to the other person.

Sincere notes of appreciation to customers, to suppliers, to people who’ve helped you so often are neglected.  Just about everyone enjoys receiving a note you’ve taken time to send, one you’ve personalized, not just a form letterso often sent in these whirlwind times.  Sending an e-mail is great, too, and sometimes is the only way to reach that person.

However,  send a handwritten note, if it’s logistically feasible.  For instance, recently, my husband and I opened a checking account at a different bank.  A few days later we received a handwritten note from the bank executive who handled this for us.  We’ve never had this happen before in all years we’ve done banking for ourselves and my mom when she had Alzheimer’s. 

At Art Biz Blog, Alyson Stanfield mentions a note of appreciation and small gift she received from a musician she mentioned a few weeks ago.  In spite of a busy life, this young woman took time to thank Alyson, and “make a fan for life.” 

Why not use this practice to reach out to your public and make them “fans”, or loyal customers for life?   You don’t necessarily have to send a gift…it’s not always practical.  But a sincere note of thanks, a gesture that you appreciate them, often makes them feel great.                                  Also, as mentioned in the title of this book, Customer Loyalty is Priceless.  And being truly appreciative of your customers helps make their day, as well as yours.

When I visited Yvonne’s blog, Grow Your Writing Business, where she mentioned her interview at Home Biz Notes, I found a question from one of her readers.  This lady wanted to know about working from home.

“I would like to work from home, but I do not want to own my own business.  Do you have any suggestions?”

Her query got me thinking about this variation of a home business, working from home, but working for someone else.  I’ve discovered that more companies are doing outsourcing…right in their backyard and over the Internet nowadays. 

If you’re interested in this type of work…being a home worker, as it once was called, check in your area to see if there are any companies that set people up to work for them…but in their own home.  There is a business near my hometown that makes dolls and sends sewing out to workers in their homes.  Another company that made unique pillows started in a woman’s home.  As she developed more business than she could handle, she sent work to women in their homes.  This lasted until she moved to a large building and had everything made there.

I have a friend who started working for a company (solving customer’s cable set-up problems or something similar).  However,  after she was trained and had worked at the business location for awhile, they set her up to do this in her home.  She has to work specific hours (not at her own whim) and take calls from customers.  She says they’re setting up more of their employees to do this. 

One of the smaller, yet growing, airlines started by using homeworkers to make reservations.  They work from their homes around the country.

Instead of outsourcing to another country, a number of companies are following suit and looking for people to work for them from their homes. 

“Your server is down.  The electricity is off.  Your computer has a glitch,” are all announcements we dread to hear if our home business depends on today’s technology.

All of these occurred in our household recently, in addition to b5media having some downtime.  So occasionally my blog posts were rather irratic in April.

A friend in another state, who also conducts business utilizing the Internet, had server and computer glitches this past week, too.  “It made me realize how much we depend on technology for business these days, ” she remarked.

*If you depend on the Internet for receiving or placing orders, it can mean loss of business.

*Viewers who visit your site and find it down/inaccessible may not return or take awhile before visiting again.

*If you post online at a site or blog, your material may not be so frequent.

*In a world where editors, print and online ones, want your material sent via e-mail, as mine do, having technical problems can mean delays or missing deadlines.

 *If your banking and bookkeeping are done online, there can be problems without technical access.

Solutions? 

*Try to have phone numbers you can call when your computer and related technical support is down.  In some cases, you can conduct your business via phone and fax.  You, at least, can let necessary contacts know what’s going on.

*When things are up and running, inform those necessary what’s been going on.

*Have a back-up computer in case one doesn’t work.  (We’ve found this necessary in our household.)

*Realize business downtime isn’t a challenge solely for Internet related and home businesses.  Traditional businesses experience downtime, slow times, loss of customers when weather and natural disasters occur…as happened twice in one week in our area (New England in the US) recently with first a blizzard, then rain storm with high winds. 

I became intrigued with the idea of taking your home business with you as you travel around the world and asked for more input from Yvonne Russell .  (Yvonne originally alerted me to this possibility which I mentioned in a previous post.)

So I interviewed Yvonne about this idea.  Incidentally, Yvonne’s blog, Grow Your Writing Business, provides information for writers about developing their business, which generally they conduct as a home business…and can take around your country and the world as they travel.  As with so many home businesses, principles used for one often can be utilized in another.  I know I’ve found useful suggestions at Yvonne’s blog for my writing business, as well as others.

MEA:  Yvonne, this is a very interesting idea, and practical, in the Internet age…taking one’s business to another country with them, as long as they have access to the Internet and e-mail.

Yvonne: In the home exchange scenario (discussed in the post mentioned above), they specifically look for an exchange home that offers high speed Internet access.  If you are a writer, IT specialist, online teacher, data entry operator, etc., it really doesn’t make too much difference where you are based geographically.  In this day and age, even apart from vacations, someone can live in e.g. Hong Kong and work for a company in Ireland…from home.

MEA: This is becoming more and more possible and probable, isn’t it?

Yvonne: A lot of people these days have business partnerships and run joint businesses with people they have never met.  I find it all quite fascinating, as it blends two things I’m very interested in – business and the people aspect of things.

MEA: I find the international aspect of business and home businesses fascinating, too, and think Yvonne has brought up some interesting ideas for all of us to think about…and perhaps incorporate into your businesses.

I’d enjoy hearing about other home businesses, ideas and tips about what has worked and not worked for you.  If you’d like to share, even be interviewed, do contact me.

(Incidentally, Yvonne just received the Thinking Blogger Award for her blog.)

When I wrote the previous post, Moving Your Home Business,  I was thinking mainly of moving to another part of the country where one lives…and the fact that nowadays it’s often possible to continue your home business when you change where you live.

However, Yvonne Russell, blogger at Grow Your Writing Business , reminded me in her comment to my post that people can take their home business with them to other parts of the world.  This first became apparent to Yvonne when she and her husband were exploring the idea of an overseas home exchange.  She noticed that many people wanted 3-6 month exchanges “with a view to taking their businesses with them.”

She expanded upon this further…“These days you can even combine an extended vacation with continuing to run your business, even in another country, depending on the nature of the business.” 

Then she explained more people seemed to prefer the e-newsletter nowadays.  This worked well for her because it was becoming very costly to send newsletters by mail.  For customers who didn’t have e-mail, she would have printed copies on the counter for them to pick up.

More businesses have been developing newsletters…whether it’s a shop where customers stop by or entirely an online business.  Developing a newsletter for your home business enables you to keep in contact with your customers, inform them of new products and happenings, as well as providing interesting related information.

*Keep your newsletters short.  People seem to want abbreviated versions these days.

*Use pictures and graphics whenever possible, also color.

*Include something of interest other than strictly product/service promotion. 

*Look at other newsletters and notice what catches your eye, either good or bad.  You won’t copy these newsletters, but see what is appealing and what you might want to avoid.  Then create something of your own.

*Put your own personality into the newsletter to make it unique as well as useful, along with letting people know about your product(s) and service(s). 

*Some newsletters, depending on your customer base, include additional information, such product tips, home care or yard care tips, history about specific products, recipes, time saving tips, bookkeeping tips, puzzles, appropriate jokes, something about your life, etc.

*Get feedback from customers.  Ask what they’d like to see in a newsletter.

At a business conference I attended recently, one point was emphasized...people nowadays are looking to home businesses for more security than the traditional job offers…or to provide security if their employment ends.

Then this morning I received an e-mail from a relative, telling me she lost her job, just short of 15 years of service, when there was a change of managers where she works.  Often job terminations are without notice.  A friend of my daughter walked into work one morning and was informed her job was terminated.  She could clean out her desk that day.  She was a good employee, she was told, but her job wasn’t needed any more. 

These aren’t unusual stories with changes in management, company mergers, budget tightening. 

        Loss of employment can cause emotional as well as financial strain.    So…more people are looking toward developing an income outside their job…before that job is terminated.  This often gives them the option of deciding to terminate their job on their time frame, or at least to have a padding if they do find themselves without employment.