Financial Preparation - Critical Considerations When Deciding to Start Your Own Home Based Business

  Written by Eric Walker on Dec 2, 2008 11:33 am

Read More: Discipline  |  Personal Development

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This blog post has nothing to do with marketing, not really.

This post has everything to do with getting ready to get ready to build a successful home based business. This is an area I see that many do not consider when deciding to get into a home based business opportunity for themselves. 

I want to tell my own story of financial preparation. This is has proven to be my first success.

When I decided to start my own home based business on the internet, I was teaching 8th grade English. I was making a comfortable salary, full benefits and summers off. But for me, it wasn't enough. I'd grown stale on it. To be a teacher, you must put all of yourself into it. There is no off day. Each day, ever fiber of your being has to be invested. At least, that's the code I always taught by.

And it's this code that has benefitted me as it pertains to learning internet network marketing using the attraction-based model. So I decided I just wouldn't have enough energy to try and do both.

I wanted to resign and go for my goal of being self employed, working from home with even more flexibility. I have never bought into the notion that we work for 30 years to retire, play golf and die. Instead, I have a picture of several mini-retirements spread out over the span of 30 years. I don't ever really want to actually retire.

So this is what I set out to do...this is what I'm doing now. But there had to be preparation. I just can't stress this aspect enough.

This is where I tell you of my successful preparation. These are things I've done, and currently doing to begin a life of mini-retirements. It's my hope that you can use this as a guide for determining your own style of financial preparation.

The general rule is that you don't quit your "day job" until your home based business has matched your salary for at least three consecutive months.

I'll be the first to admit, I broke this rule. But then again, I decided that I was going to be successful. I also spent three months preparing to resign.

I was going to invest my entire being into internet network marketing just as I had done as a teacher, but I had to prepare, and clear the way.

I was giving up my livelihod for a goal that gets failed by approximately 97 percent of the people who try. There is truth in the law of averages. I knew there were economic realities to consider.

Here were the nuts and bolts of my financial preparation plan.

1. I had two cars. One of which was newer, and I was making monthly payments. The other was older, which was pay'd off. What did I do? I sold the newer car, and with the small profit I made, I bought a moped. Doing this eliminated a car payment, and provided a vehicle that gets 100 miles to the gallon. This is practical for me, as I live close to a city with limited parking.

2. I capitalized on my skills. I can write stories all day long. I began free lance writing. I first started writing articles for my local newspaper, then started writing for Marketing Merge as a content contributor. I call this grocery money and paying the internet bill.

3. Speaking of groceries, like gas, it's another petty but essential cost that is rising rising rising. And I'm a healthy person. I like the expensive organic apples, the hydroponic tomatoes and the free range chicken. I buy granola that costs $6. So I got a part time job working at a Natural Health Food Center. Makes sense right!? I get 30-45 percent discounts on all food and supplements.

4. That membership of mine to the health club had to go. How could I justify paying $85 per month plus an annual $225 fee to work out? So what did I do? I got a job at my gym. That's part-time job number two. And now, instead of me paying them to sweat. They pay me, and I work out for free. It's a priviledge of employment.

These jobs aren't glamorous, but they're almost no-brainers, which allows me to keep my entire being focused on learning internet network marketing and building my home based business. These jobs don't require that I be giving 100 percent of myself day in and day out. There is no pressure.

5. I also substitute teach. This is the best thing about being a certified teacher who knows the system. I have made enough relationships with teachers and principals over the years that I know where I can "get in." So I also substitute teach two or three days a week. The nice thing about this is that at the end of the day, I know I don't have to come back the next.

The facts are that most people can substitute teach if they have at least 90 credit hours. It doesn't always require a teachers certificate (every state is different). I have met several real estate agents in the staff room.

The other good thing (for me) about substitute teaching is that it keeps me familiar and fresh-faced with administrators and staff in the event that I decide I must return. Never burn a bridge that you may have to travel back across.

Lastly, I sought to eliminate many other extra things. No more cable television. That one hurt a little, as I enjoyed my Sportscenter, and mid-week baseball games. Even little things like Rhapsody, an online music service - gone. That useless membership to GDI - gone. I promised Kaitlin Rose we'd keep the Netflix. Instead of Sunday breakfast at the hip corner restaurant where the line wraps around the sidewalk, I griddle pancakes and pour coffee out of my french press. Small sacrifices save money.

I set a timeline before I even began. I told myself that I'd give it a one year committment. I told myself I had one year to break even and cover my monthly expenses. I've been successful with that.

The point of this blog post is to encourage thoughtful planning about your financial situation before you begin to go into business for yourself, even if it is a home based business.

I feel it should be treated just like any brick and mortar business where the costs are so much more. Impending financial doom is ahead of us. It's important beginners batten down the hatches and be financially prepared to move forward with our aggressive financial goals.

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Need a little extra help getting a plan, getting organized and getting going? I've learned to manage my life and my business as if it were my own elementary classroom. I start with the basics and build on them. Set up a no cost consultation with EricWalkerMarketing to get an assessment of where and how to get started with your own home business. 

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