Considerations when Starting Your Own Home Business. Everyone is drawn to the attraction that an Internet home based business offers. You can be your own boss and you don’t have to commute to work everyday. However, family can be one of the biggest attractions as well as distractions from a home based business. A home based business allows you to be home more often, but at the same time, your work time can be taken up with family responsibilities.

Another factor that you should consider is you will be transitioning to a completely different working environment. You will change from a people filled environment to a solitude work environment in your home. There are many factors you should think about when deciding to start a home based business. These factors will help you to decide if a home based business is right or wrong for you.

The first thing you should factor in is your personality. Are you the type of person who prefers to work alone or gets more work done when alone? Or do you prefer to work with people and become more motivated when you work with others? You should consider these very important questions before starting a home based business.

After this, if you still want to start your business then you should be sure to set your goals. You should know as much as possible about your business. An estimate on how much money you are going to spend and what your potential for profit is will help you in designing your goals. By being prepared, you can know what you can achieve and have your eyes set on a future goal.

For the best preparation, you should try talking to experts who have a business type similar to yours. Do thorough research on the business you are trying to start. This way you will be fully prepared for anything that may happen once you start your business.

One of the biggest and most important factors to consider is whether your home business is going to meet your financial needs. You should be sure your business is going to provide a steady, stable income that will meet all your needs.

It is also very important to make sure you are starting a business you are going to enjoy. Enjoying your job is the key factor that will help your business in the end. If you are not interested in your job after a few weeks or months, you won’t be progressing much with your business.

Once you have started your home business there are still several things you should consider to help keep your business running smoothly. The most important of these is your working environment organization. You should be very organized with every aspect of your working environment. Everyone should be within arms reach and the area void of distractions. It should clearly be an office, but yet comfortable.

In addition, you want to keep a well-organized work schedule. Make sure you daily schedule is well thought out as far in advance as possible. If you stray from your schedule and let daily distraction get to you then you will soon have a backlog of work, which will cause you to become stressed.

In your schedule, make sure you provide for breaks and meal scheduling. You don’t want to be in front of your computer alone in a room for more than two hours. Missing breaks or meals will cause a strain on your body and can lead to many illnesses.

There are many benefits to a home based Internet business. While you may not have the same job security as other businesses and you can have lonely times, it is a rewarding career. Just follow the suggestions here and you come to enjoy your home based business.

Here’s some opportunities you may want to consider…

Winning the Name Game

Why Incorporate?

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Registering Your Business Name

Finding and registering your business name is an essential first step in creating your own distinctive brand.

Check for Availability of Your Business Name

After you come up with a list of possible names for your new venture, make sure that you find an available business name. For one thing, you don’t want anyone to confuse your business with another company. And you certainly want to avoid any situation where some big corporation decides that you’re infringing on its name and then gives you a lot of legal grief.

Below you’ll find a guide to determining availability and registering your name.

  • Research names in government databases and on the Internet To make sure your business is never confused with another company, conduct a thorough name and trademark search. To find out whether your proposed business name is available, start with the alphabetical business listings in the White Pages. If the names you like aren’t there, continue your search using:
    • Fictitious name databases, which can be found in your county clerk’s office and should hold all the names under which local companies do business. In some states, there are statewide fictitious name databases. When you decide on a name, you’ll want to register it this way, too. If a name you like is already taken by someone else in a different part of the state, but not in your county, you may be able to use it as well. Ask the people who work for the county clerk’s office or the people in your state’s secretary of state office.
    • Corporation, limited liability corporation (LLC), and limited partnership name databases, which can be found in state filing offices and are now often online. Whether or not your business is one of these types of companies, you’ll want to make sure that the name you want isn’t taken by some other company in these databases. Why? These companies can be a pain when they think a name comes close to what they call themselves. Searching these databases can avoid potential problems.
    • The Internet is a superb research tool. It may not always give you access to business names in government databases, but using popular search engines will help you narrow your list of names. It also helps to use advanced search options you’ll find with these services, or you may get information about things that have little to do with a family business.

As you do your research, keep in mind that even if a business in another state or county has the same name you want, it doesn’t mean a particular name is off-limits. You may only need to make sure that a particular name isn’t trademarked and doesn’t represent a company offering the same things as your business.

  • Researching trademarked names will protect your business And speaking of trademarks, that little ™ symbol often stands for something pretty big. Legally it can stand for a word, phrase, design, or symbol used to market a product or service-if the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) says so. Most states register trademarks for regional businesses through their secretary of state offices. Also, you should know that the ™ symbol means that a company claims ownership of a particular name, while an ® symbol means that the name has been registered and is definitely owned by someone else.
  • Getting your business online means reserving a name on the Internet If you plan on having a Web site for your business, then you’ll want to have a domain name that will at least reflect part of the name of your new venture. Because people increasingly look online for businesses, what you discover on the Internet may help you narrow down your naming choices. You may also want to consider going back to your earlier research to see if any of the business names you’re considering are already used as Web site addresses. All of this also helps keep other businesses from horning in on what you plan to offer.
  • Registering your business name makes it official You’re going to feel like celebrating once you find an available and appropriate name, because your business idea will have just taken an important first step toward becoming reality. In fact, if you plan to run a sole proprietorship or general partnership, you may already be there if your business name is the same as your own given name, as in “Henry Gorman, Balloon Artist.

If you plan on operating under a name that isn’t the same as your own, you’ll need to register a fictitious business name with your county clerk. And if you’re starting a corporation, LLC, or limited partnership, your official business name will be automatically registered when you file your articles of incorporation, articles of organization, or statement of limited partnership with your state filing office

You may also want to trademark your business name (and, later, the logos and other designs you use to represent your venture) in your state or on the federal level.
Courtesy of www.JumpUp –a free website and community from MyCorporation, Intuit that helps new businesses start and succeed.