And as many of us learned the hard way, growing a business without a business plan is like driving in the dark. And so when I came across these two articles from a successful businesswoman, I wanted to be sure and reprint them for you here – with permission, of course!

Take heed, this is very important if you’re planning on having a serious, long-term, and successful home-based business.

Establishing A Prosperous Small Business Marketing Plan
by Nancy Barnett

Anybody considering about starting their own organization needs to first think about the needs of the consumer. Your small business ought to always be centered around providing a solution to a distinct segment. The error that many new entrepreneurs make is not preparing the path they desire to follow. A small business marketing plan will be an essential component of producing a business.

The initial element of your small business marketing plan is going to assist you to simplify your target market. You will need to do some research and find out as much as you can about the individuals who should purchase your products or services. The more you know about them and the better solution you can provide them with.

Then, you may want to think about the products and services you offer. How are you going to price them and what can you provide them that another business can not? The key is to give your clients something they can not obtain anywhere else, whether it is a particular product or service or the fact that you can give them better customer service than anyone else. Make yourself stand out and you will find the results much better.

You will then want to come up with a variety of marketing strategies for your business. No matter how great your products or services are, you are only going to be successful if you let your target market know what you are offering. The key is to drive the traffic to your website, where they can get all the information they need to make a good buying decision.

Creating a successful small business marketing plan is going to take some time and it will require you to do some study. Nevertheless, the more work you put into it, the more favorable your results will be. It will certainly help you to plan out the path that you are going to take your small business and can provide you with step by step guidelines for your achievement.

Small Business Financing: Recognizing The Demands of Your Company
by Nancy Barnett

Quite a few companies may discover they are experiencing a variety of conditions that require them to obtain more money to successfully manage their business. The particular difficulty that many business owners encounter is deciding which option is going to best suit their needs. The following information may help each business owner to understand which financing options may be the right choice for their own particular circumstance.

Many businesses frequently use business credit cards to help them with the smaller expenses that come up. Keep in mind, if you are going to use a credit card, you do want to make certain the interest rate is low and it can offer you rewards, such as cash back on your purchases. Otherwise, you will find your small business financing plan is only going to put you in the hole.

For any circumstances that require a larger amount of money, you may want to open up a business line of credit with your bank. The best thing about this type of financing is that you only have to pay interest on the amount of money you actually spend. For example, if your line of credit was $5,000 and you only used $3,000 of it, you only have to pay interest on the $3,000. Not only that, you can continue to borrow as you need it, instead of taking the full amount out at once.

Depending on the type of business you own, you may also be eligible for small business financing that will allow you to get a low interest rate. A large loan could certainly come in handy when you are first starting your business and need to come up with the initial investment or if you are planning to expand an already existing business. However, with this type of financing, you will need collateral to secure your loan.

As soon as you require funding for your small business, take the time to do your investigation before you hop into anything. Understanding the right kind of financing for your circumstances can be essential and can be the deciding factor on whether or not your business becomes the success you need.

Need help with your small business financing? The ERMA Institute, LLC is dedicated to supporting the Small Business Owner through the process of Starting a New Business or Helping an Established Business Grow by providing a comprehensive collection of services specifically designed to meet the needs of the Small Business Owner.

For you to take home-based business tax deductions your office must be the principal place you do your business or meet with clients. For example, you can not take home business tax deductions if you are an employee who telecommutes one day a week. As a regular employee you can not take this kind of deduction unless your employer has designated you a full time remote employee and does not reimburse you for any of the office expenses. If, however, you are self employed and you use a portion of your home for an office you can deduct the percentage of your mortgage or lease, utilities and taxes in proportion to the space of your office. If your office is ten percent of the total space of your house then you can deduct ten percent of the above mentioned expenses. You will need to use IRS Form 8829 to calculate your home office deduction and then report that figure on Schedule C line 30.

If you have a separate building or structure used in your business (garage for storage or as a shipping area) you can deduct all of the necessary expenses related to that structure. It no longer is an automatic audit for those who claim a home office deduction on their taxes. As long as you follow the rules spelled out by the IRS you can rest easy that your return will go through without a hitch. In addition to being able to take a percentage of your total home expenses for your office there are several additional business tax deductions you can take.

Since 2008 you can now deduct the full purchase price of any office furniture or equipment you have purchased instead of having to depreciate it over seven years using the IRS tax tables. You still can depreciate it over time if you want to have deductions over that seven year period, but you will actually achieve a greater tax benefit now by deducting it all because the IRS limit for this deduction was increased to a maximum of $250,000 from $125,000 in 2008.

Computer equipment and software has also been added to the one hundred percent deductible category without the need for depreciation. Make sure to claim all of your office supplies including ink and toner for your printers, paper, envelopes, paper clips, etc. Keep all of your receipts to back up your claim in a separate file. You can also deduct your own health insurance as a self employed business person, but not your spouse’s unless they are an employee of the business.

Things to spend on:

A good computer. You’re going to spend a ton of time on your computer so you want to make sure you have a good one. You don’t have to have the top of the line thing but having a good working computer is a strong investment.

Some good training. There are a ton of things to do online but unless you know what to do with them it doesn’t matter. If your upline isn’t providing you with some good training about how to marketing online. Investing in a training course could be a very wise choice.

A trip to your yearly convention. Many people don’t want to spend the money on going to their companies big meeting but anyone who has ever been to one will tell you it’s well worth the money!

Things to save on:

Leads. Buying big lists of leads can get really expensive and honestly you can contact just as many people online using free methods. For many people leads are a huge part of their budget. You take that out and you’ll have a whole lot more money to spend each month!

Expensive ads.

Don’t waste your money with magazine or newspaper ads. They’re way to expensive and you may not get a single sign up from them. Instead try free classifieds online. You may not get anything there either but they’re FREE!

Google adwords.

Some people swear by PPC (Pay Per Click) and Google Adwords, but if you don’t know how to use them they can be a massive waste of time and money. Skip adwords at least until you have a bigger budget and you’ll save a ton of money each month.

Knowing when to spend and when to save can help you stick to your budget and build your business more effectively.

If you are a part of a good home based business and you’re working hard every week to achieve your goals there is no doubt that you will find success. So the question is… are you ready for success when it comes?

For some people becoming extremely successful can end up even worse than no success at all. Why do I say that? Because making more money opens the doors for you to make more mistakes. Start taking the steps now to prepare yourself for your impending success.

Don’t raise your cost of living completely

Many people raise their cost of living way too much once they start making money. Yes, it’s natural to want to enjoy a nicer car or house or take more vacations. But, try to live under your means not AT them and certainly not over them.

You see this with famous people all the time. They go from meager lives to lives or extravagance and pretty soon they are living well over what they can afford. You may think this could never happen to you but it’s easy to do. Don’t make this mistake… remember you can be rich and still living paycheck to paycheck and nobody wants that.

Save, save, save!

When you have a steady paycheck coming in it might be hard to remember to save a little but it’s a must if you want to be prepared. Remember no matter how much you’re making now it could always change! This is not to scare you but it’s always better to have more money saved than you need than not to have enough.

Try to save at least 15% – 20% from your paycheck every month. That way if anything should happen you know you’ll be covered.

Make smart investments, not foolish ones

Investing your money is a good idea as long as you know what you’re investing in. Don’t go into something without really checking it out first.

Taxes

Make sure you are doing your taxes correctly and not cheating the government out of a dime! It will come back and bite you in the rear if you aren’t doing your taxes correctly with your new found income. This is the one thing you don’t want to ignore if you don’t listen to anything else in this article.

Make sure you’re ready for all the success you’re going to be having with your home based business. Follow these tips and strap yourself in because your home based business is going to be the ride of a lifetime!