Tips for Running a Business from Your Home

In today’s economic climate, it’s tough for one parent to stay at home with the kids, relying upon just one income. However, thanks to technology there is an alternative. It’s easier than ever before to set up a home-based business; giving parents the opportunity to stay at home with the kids without losing an income.

Here, you’ll discover some of the best tips for running a business from your home and making it a success.

Take care of the legalities

If you want to be able to run your business without any nasty surprises, it’s important to sort out the legalities early on. This means, making sure you register as self-employed within three months of setting up the business, as well as hiring an accountant.

Even if you’re great with numbers, hiring an accountant is still a great idea as it frees up time for you to focus on simply running your business and looking after the kids. Anything which saves you time and stress is worth taking advantage of!

Check Out Your Customer Acquisition Costs

There’s an old saying that you have to speculate to accumulate, and this is certainly true when it comes to your small business. You need to spend in order to attract customers, whether this be through click thru ads, Facebook marketing, blogger marketing, or even more traditional methods. Common Thread Co explain why average customer acquisition cost ecommerce increases as you expand your business, saying:-

In short, all ecommerce customer acquisition costs mount over time. As you scale, new shoppers get more expensive to reach, attract, and convert.

Why? Because the larger your audience, the more product-market fit wanes and the faster your ad creative needs to adapt.

In short, once you have attracted your target market, you need to target everyone else, and this is less defined than your initial ads.

Your marketing budget needs to reflect this, look carefully at whether you go for Cost per Mille (CPM) ads, Cost per Click (CPC) & Pay per Click (PPC) or Cost per Action (CPA) or Cost per Results (CPR).

Choose the right delivery service

If you’re selling products through EBay or Amazon for example, you’re going to need a great delivery service. Customers expect fast, problem-free deliveries which means you’re going to need to be super-organised to keep them happy.

It’s a good idea to hire an independent delivery service such as Whistl, to ensure your orders are delivered safely and on time. This won’t just keep your customers happy, it will also increase the likelihood of customers returning to your store. Having a good delivery service in place is paramount to your success, particularly when you start to get a lot of orders in.

Make sure you take care of you

Another great tip is to ensure you’re taking some time during the day to take care of you. When you work from home, it’s hard to switch off meaning you can quickly end up getting burnt out. This isn’t good for you or the kids. So, always take a little time out to do something enjoyable and relaxing. This will keep your batteries recharged, enabling you to better balance your home and work life. You can reduce some of the pressure, and certainly some of the admin, by employing a company like https://www.yourvirtualofficelondon.co.uk/. Services such as this can handle calls and emails quickly and efficiently, while also taking care of tasks like mail forwarding, so that you can take some time for yourself, and still watch your business grow.

The above is just some of the most important tips to follow when you’re a work-from-home parent. It’s difficult, but with a little planning ahead, it’s totally possible to generate a decent income while being there to raise the kids.

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