What sort of business is best to start part time?
"All the personal services," says Reiners, "and
all the functions that can be easily outsourced." Steer clear
of trying to set up any manufacturing part time, as the big outlay
of capital for both production and distribution is prohibitively
expensive.
How am I going to fit a part-time business into my
schedule?
Content Continues Below
"You need to forcibly schedule your day," says
Knitowski, who juggled family, school, a full-time job and his
start-up. "The best thing I found was to schedule meetings in
my personal life the same way I would business or school."
This is especially important for those part-timers who do their
work at home. "It's very easy to become a home owner
rather than a home worker," warns Reiners. When you schedule
time to work on your business at home, work on your business.
Where can I get information to help me plan?
Besides business-planning courses and books, there are a myriad
of resources and organizations to assist you. Sikora got 35 percent
of his start-up help from websites and e-mail correspondence from
those he met online. "I've gotten a lot of helpful ideas,
suggestions and leads from people I've never met
face-to-face."
Reiners recommends trade associations (many offer free
literature on starting businesses in their fields), libraries,
SBDCs (at a university near you), local and state chambers of
commerce and the Census (great for marketing data).
Also keep in mind that fledgling entrepreneurs often lack focus
in the planning stages. They have "the desire to be all things
to all people but the lack of time and ability to do so," says
Reiners. Narrow your business so you have a market realistically
suited to your product or service.
But What Can I Do?
Here are some of the best homebased businesses to start and run
part-time:
- Know tons of spelling and grammatical rules?
Editing/proofreading
- Believe cleanliness is next to godliness? Cleaning
services
- Enjoy conjuring order from chaos? Professional organizer
- Got a second language under your belt?
Translator/interpreter
- Want to put that college degree to use? Tutoring
(computer/scholastic)
- Think you can do better than last night's atrocious
business reception? Meeting and event planning
-from The Best Home Businesses for the 21st Century by
Paul and Sarah Edwards
Part Time to Big Time
- Mary Kay Ash discovered her talent for selling when she took
part-time work peddling encyclopedias to support her family-she
sold a three month quota in a day and a half. She would later
parlay this knack into her own multimillion-dollar Mary Kay
Cosmetics.
- Taking time away from a never-to-be-finished med-school degree,
Michael Dell spent his spare time refurbishing old computers for
resale from his University of Texas, Austin, dorm room. The
cash-cow hobby evolved into Dell Computer Corp., a nearly $96
billion computer systems company.
- Eileen Ford was working full time as a stylist (at two jobs!)
when her first child was born. For an infusion of household
capital, she took on extra work as an agent for a few models. Her
part-time work eventually blossomed into the world-famous Ford
Modeling Agency, which she co-founded with her husband, Jerry.
--from Radicals & Visionaries by Thaddeus
Wawro
Page
1 | 2