Working from home seems to be the thing many people want to do these days. It’s a great goal but can you just set up
the business without marketing for a home business? My answer from personal experience is a resounding NO!
Owning my Own Business
I had my first taste of working at home when I started my first business. My company lasted one and a half years and it ended in failure.
Oh, and did I tell you I ended up in trouble with the IRS?
I did complete several quality projects but I quickly learned a valuable lesson. It doesn’t matter if you work for a company or work out of your house. If you are starting up a business, you had better plan on AT LEAST one third of your time being spent on marketing new projects and new clients.
Owning your own business takes hard work and it takes a lot more money than you might think.
Depending on your business, you may have significant equipment and software costs. Ten years ago it took at least $12,000 of income each month to make ends meet, and I was the only employee. There were some months when no money came in and other months when I felt like I could head to Hawaii for a much-needed vacation.
I really enjoyed owning my own company so why did it fail?
My Company Failed Because of Marketing or the Lack of it.
I had some good clients and I was producing some great projects but projects and clients come and go.
I was so busy working night and day to get my projects out on time that I didn’t realize that the projects were coming to an end.
By the time I realized I did not have near enough projects under contract, it was too late. The bills were pilling up and my wife was stressing out. That is not a winning combination, at least not for me.
I did some marketing but I remember telling some friends, after I had to go back to work for another company, that I should have marketed three (3) times as much I did. This is probably different for everyone as some of you may be talented marketers or have such a great product to sell, that everyone is trying to knock your door down to get what you have.
But, did I tell you I am an engineer and I don’t know many engineers who are great at marketing?
My Bottom Line for All of You
It does not matter what kind of business you are starting but don’t just think because you are working out of your house and your overhead costs are low that you don’t need to market much.
Everyone’s marketing will be different but if you want to succeed long term than you must market, and probably market way more than you think.
So, plan ahead for success and make sure that a well-thought-out marketing strategy is not the last thing you do, but the first thing.
Please leave a Comment Below or Email Me if you have any questions.
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I like your webs site and it digs into our emotions and sends a chill through my spine about making changes in your life and the things we must think of first before we start a business, preparation is important. Right on the money with mentioning marketing as we can become lazy with marketing thinking that the content will market by itself. This is an excellent heads up to always keep in mind marketing for without marketing we are dead.I like how you have stressed the marketing and made it very important point that people will not forget.
Somethings are just easy to write about even if it is a painful experience because we live through them. I don’t consider myself an expert by any means but I love trying new things and will keep pushing on until I find success.
Marketing is just not something I love to do but I sure found out how important it is. I think if you love what you do than you will find a way to enjoy those things that we may struggle with.
My other thought is there are some things I absolutely love and am passionate about and marketing comes easy to me on these things. Maybe that’s something to keep in mind. Find things you are passionate about to build your business around.
Starting your own business can be very stressful for you and your family. Sorry to hear that your business didn’t work out, but it sounds like you learned a lot from that experience. I have known a lot of people with a similar story to yours. I know there are crazy statistics on how many businesses fail in the first, second, third years, etc.
It’s great if you can start a business while you are still working and when you get so busy with your own business, you can quit your regular job. Of course, that would take a tremendous amount of time and effort. As you said, marketing is key. You can have the best product or service out there, but if nobody is aware of it, what good is it? I wish you the best of luck moving forward.
You are right on about learning a lot from that experience and how so many other business also fail.
That experience has not made me shy of starting another business, but just smarter about how to go about it. I am still focused on having freedom and flexibility in the workplace and also being financially independent in the future.
Thank you for stopping buy and sharing.
I agree that marketing yourself or business is vital to success. I also know from experience that you get nothing out of this without hard work. Chasing quick fixes, and get rich quick schemes is something I am all to familiar with.
The idea of ‘build it and they will come’ is too simplistic, so again I agree, marketing is vital.
The thing that I think many of us miss online is that we still need to market ourselves here. That marketing may come in the form of social media, talking to friends and family, getting involved in forums or maybe more importantly, getting involved with a community online that can help you learn and to give encouragement. Please feel free to add other forms of online marketing.
Thanks for the informative and helpful post, Rick! You really got it, Rick, that most people love to start home based business these days but wouldn’t care about the marketing aspect of it.
People just want to start it and become rich overnight whereas it doesn’t work that way. From my own experience in business, it doesn’t take a little effort to get to the top but a lot of efforts. I drive tons of traffic from multiple sources such as forums, social media, social bookmarking sites and the rest.
Cheers,
Israel Olatunji
It’s too bad that many of us fall into the get rich quick category and don’t want to work hard for anything. But that is how most good things come; through hard work and dedication. I feel so focused to move ahead with a plan for my future that includes hard work and financial independence. Thank you so much for your insight and advice.
Hi,
what you are saying is common sense. Sadly for you, you failed, but of course, after you have your website going, you have to concentrate on traffic. Traffic gets customers, and many customers means may sales, and now we are talking about money.
Why you don’t try again? Now, since you know by experience what is need to be successful, you may have better luck next time.
My past failure was also a great learning experience. I want to start a business again but I really don’t want it to be in civil engineering. My real talents and desires fall elsewhere. Thank you for the comments. It is helpful to see other people’s advice and view point.