Home Based Christian Businesses

Are you hoping to find home based Christian businesses? Working from home is a great blessing and to be able to incorporate your values and beliefs is even better. We hope you find valuable information on our website to assist you in your search for a home based Christian business.

Do you want to supplement your income or just need a little extra cash for those special things in life? Do you want to make a living that supports your family while remaining at home? There are many options available but you must do your research and use common sense. If something sounds to good to be true it usually is. In your research you might come across an idea or two that would help you in deciding to start your own home based business. Whatever you decide, start your own business or begin working for another company that started their own home based business, pray and let the Lord guide you in your decision.

If you're already having doubts, then working from home may not be for you. While running a home-based business offers tremendous freedom and flexibility, it also requires a high degree of motivation, self-discipline and organization. Especially if you're used to working for a big corporation where you have a well-defined job description, employees who report to you or a manager who closely supervises your work, you may find it difficult to make the transition to being your own home-based boss. If, on the other hand, your job gives you a fair degree of independence and you're chafing at the bit for more, working from home could be exactly what you're looking for.

Ask yourself the following five questions to find out if you're really ready to work from home:

1. Am I a jack-of-all-trades? Unlike working at a big corporation that has resources and specialists to send bills, fix computer problems and deal with problem employees, home-based business owners typically have to figure things out on their own. This means mastering the skills necessary to do your own bookkeeping, tech support and hiring/firing—or finding a competent bookkeeper, computer technician or HR service to help you. Even though there are now many outsourced services for small and home-based business owners, a solid grasp of QuickBooks, Microsoft Office and the Internet will make you more self-sufficient and cut down on professional services fees.

2. Am I comfortable setting my own schedule? If you're used to showing up at an office every morning, operating in an environment without set hours or an employer-imposed schedule can be a difficult adjustment. While everybody claims to want freedom, the truth is that most people are creatures of habit and routine. That's why it's a good idea to create some sort of schedule—even if it's artificial—to break up your day. For example, if you start your day at 9 a.m., you could spend the first hour checking your e-mail messages and making cold calls, then tackle two hours of work before lunch. After lunch, you could make another round of calls, then put in another four hours of work before signing off for the day. Generally, it's a good idea to work the same hours that your clients do.

3. Am I good at setting goals? Just like creating a schedule can help structure your time, setting goals can give you milestones to shoot for and tangible rewards for achieving them. For example, when I was a home-based freelance writer, my first goal was to make as much as I'd been making at my old newspaper job. (Fortunately, that wasn't too difficult.) Then I started raising the bar by $1,000 per month. Before long, I had eight newspaper and magazine clients paying me a total of $8,000 per month. As a reward for my hard work and self-discipline, I would sometimes sneak off to see a movie in the middle of the day—the ultimate writer's holiday!

4. Am I easily distracted? Some of the biggest challenges of working from home are the constant distractions. While there may be fewer meetings and less workplace gossip, there will be plenty of other things that compete for your attention, from kids and pets to housework, television and, of course, the refrigerator. It's a good idea to set up your home office in a room with a door to keep intrusions to a minimum.

5. Am I able to call it quits at the end of the day? No matter how much work still needs to get done, it's important to be able to call an end to your day. Even if you go back to the computer after dinner to check your e-mail or do some writing, it's important to set aside some time for your family and yourself. Unfortunately, many people who start working from home discover an inner workaholic they never knew was there. While you may need to put in extra hours initially to get your business off the ground, it's also important to strike a balance between your work and family responsibilities.

Just because you own a home based business doesn't mean you're out of luck when it comes to raising money from traditional sources. In fact, banks and investors generally don't care where you run your business, as long as you're making money.

Back at my old company, NetCreations, we got a $100,000 credit line from Citibank when we were still a five-person business operating out of my house. All the bank wanted to see was our previous years' tax returns and a list of our accounts receivable (customer payables). The same goes for investors, especially those who invest in startups and early-stage businesses. In fact, a savvy investor may like the idea that you're saving money on office space and investing it in people and products instead.

Here are five road-tested strategies to raise money for your home-based business:

· Bust open your piggybank. The first place to look for expansion capital is your own personal savings. After all, if you don't believe in your business strongly enough to invest in it, why should anyone else put money in? Personal savings typically consists of cash, stocks and bonds, home equity, an insurance policy or a retirement plan. But you don't have to sell your assets in order to tap your personal savings. If you own securities, for example, you may be able to borrow against them by taking out a low-interest margin loan with your stockbroker. If you own a home, you can take out a home equity loan on the part of the mortgage that you've already paid off. You can also borrow against cash-value life insurance, your 401(k) retirement plan and your individual retirement plan (IRA).

· Take out a credit line. While companies often take out bank loans to acquire property, equipment, furniture and other big-tickets items, businesses often turn to short-term credit lines to finance working capital needs. If your company has been in business for several years and you're showing consistent profits, you may be an excellent candidate for a credit line. Unlike a loan that locks you into monthly payments, a credit line allows you to withdraw money when you need it—say, to cover this week's payroll or to pay your bills until a big check clears—then replace the money when cash becomes available. You only pay interest on the money you borrow. While you may never have to use the line, you'll sleep better at night knowing that it's there.

· Put it on your card. Many successful businesses have financed their growth with credit cards. While banks generally want to see a two- or three-year track record of profitability before they'll lend you money, credit cards let you buy what you need right now. But beware: Though the low introductory rates can be tempting, eventually you're going to have to pay the piper—at rates that are often in the high double-digits. Credit cards should be used for routine purchases like office supplies and phone bills, not for buying big-tickets items like computers and office furniture.

· Go ask Mom and Dad. If you've exhausted your personal savings and you need more money than the bank or credit card company is willing to lend you, it may be time to look for outside investors. This involves selling a piece of your company in exchange for the cash you need to take your business to the next level. Friends and family are generally the best place to start when raising equity capital. They tend to ask fewer questions and are typically more concerned about helping you succeed than they are about getting a huge return on their money. On the other hand, if your business goes bust, you might not get invited to next year's Thanksgiving dinner.

· Talk to VCs and angels. Once you've tapped your friends and family, the next step is to approach angel investors—high net worth individuals such as your doctor, your lawyer or a successful businessperson in your community. Often, these angels form clubs and hold regular meetings to listen to companies' pitches. Companies looking for bigger infusions of cash often turn to venture capital firms—companies that raise money to invest in startups and small businesses with the potential for rapid growth. The advantage of taking venture capital is that it lets you grow your company faster and take bigger risks than you could afford to take on your own. The downside is that you may need to give away so much equity that there isn't too much left when you sell your company or take it public. Also, venture capitalists typically want to get their money in and out of your business in three to five years—whether you still want to run it or not.

Rosalind Resnick is the founder and CEO of Axxess Business Centers Inc., a storefront consulting firm for startups and small businesses. She is a former business and computer journalist who built her Internet marketing company, NetCreations Inc., from a two-person home-based startup to a public company with $58 million in annual sales.

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