Home-Based Micro-Business

At any given moment in the world millions of people are thinking about starting a new micro-business. They are people like you and me, motivated by the desire to be their own boss and to become financially independent. Some want the freedom and the flexibility of self-employment. Others want to make more money, and some are tired of making money for others. Some have lost their jobs, some are about to lose their jobs, and many others are simply tired of their jobs. A business of their own, frightening though it may be, sounds like a logical next step. An exciting next step. If only they can get started.

For most of these millions of people, starting a new micro-business will remain merely a dream, locked in the depths of their hearts and minds. It’s something to think about. Something to talk about around the kitchen table, especially with family and friends who share similar dreams. Unfortunately, few take the first bold step to actually start a business, any business! Few can muster the energy and commitment to begin.

Why?

For a variety of reasons, all of which may be valid. They think they don’t have the capital. They think they lack the experience. They think they don’t have the education, or they don’t know how. They don’t feel confident with their plan. They think they need money to make money. And, perhaps more often than not, they never start because a family member or friend told them they couldn’t do it: “You’d be crazy to try …. play it safe and stick with your job. So what if you’re miserable. At least you get a paycheck every week. Small businesses never amount to much of anything anyway.“

Does that sound familiar?

Around the world, and especially in the United States, there are plenty of people who start tiny micro-businesses with less than $10,000 (frequently much, much less). We call these enterprises micro-businesses, the people who start them micro-entrepreneurs, and the organizations that loan them start-up money are micro-lenders. These are important concepts to me. Micro-entrepreneurs are frequently overlooked simply because their businesses are tiny, but many of them contribute significantly to the American economy, and to several economies worldwide. Not to mention the fact that many micro-entrepreneurs generate sizable personal incomes, and they build businesses that can be kept in the family, or sold as valuable assets. I, for one, plan to do all that I can to focus attention on the burgening phenomenon of micro-enterprise.

Since the beginning of time, people have started businesses with small amounts of money. They begin modestly, without fanfare… and often without great expectations. Today, no one knows for sure how many micro-businesses exist, or how many are started each year, but the U.S. Small Business Administration reports that first-time entrepreneurs are responsible for 60 percent of business start-ups. Furthermore, the National Federation of Independent Business reports that people under the age of thirty-five launched 1.9 million businesses in 1996, representing nearly half of the businesses started in the U.S. that year. Three quarters of these young entrepreneurs started from scratch, with almost nothing!

Micro-entrepreneurs come from all walks of life. Male and female. People of color. Able-bodied and people with disabilities… and this include seniors as well. Some have business experience, but most do not. Some may be government dependent, but most are not. Some are young–even preteens–and some are old. Many are retired; they start micro-businesses for something to do, or to supplement their income. Micro-entrepreneurs are as likely to be high school dropouts as they are college graduates. Formal education is of no significance here. Many of them are employed full-time and start their micro-enterprises part-time. Frequently they work from home, a basement, a garage, or a truck.

Some own multiple enterprises.

Some work with partners, especially spouses. But most work alone, at least initially. Micro-entrepreneurs don’t necessarily register their businesses at first, especially if they work from home. They may or may not file for local or state licenses. Most micro-entrepreneurs, in fact, don’t know they are micro-entrepreneurs. And they may not even care. They think of an idea one day, and the next day they’re in business. With the exception of their prospective customers, they don’t really have to tell anyone what they’re doing.

In their smallest form, micro-businesses feed families, rescue victims from welfare rolls & unemployment, and replace shame with dignity. Some micro-businesses are intended to supplement a full-time income, or to pay college tuition, or to buy necessities, or even luxuries that would otherwise be out of reach. Many of these businesses remain small, others expand into regional or national operations, and some become international entities. According to the U.S. Agency for International Development, which supports its own Micro-Enterprise Initiative, micro-enterprises often employ a third or more of the labor force in lower-income countries.

There are few prerequisites for micro-entrepreneurs. Basically, they need an idea, a little bit of money, and most importantly, the overwhelming desire to get started. There’s nothing complicated about what they do. You’re not likely to read about them in the newspapers. They don’t announce the start-up of their businesses on radio and television, or even the Internet. They simply start. And regardless of how many people these micro-entrepreneurs employ initially, how much money they generate annually, or how many locations they start with, they all have the potential to grow and finish big. As big as they desire. Sometimes bigger than they can imagine. More often than most people know, as micro-businesses mature they create dozens, hundreds, and sometimes thousands of jobs, and they generate millions, sometimes billions of dollars in annual revenues.

In an age of corporate and social downsizing, hign unemployment, and in an era when people are moving back to smaller towns to simplify their lives, the day of the micro-entrepreneur has arrived. Or perhaps, more accurately, it has returned. It’s a new decade in a new millennium, and the stage has been set for micro-entrepreneurs. In the years to come, we can expect to see a wide proliferation of micro-enterprises worldwide.

Somewhere right now, perhaps in your own community, there’s a micro-business that’s headed for stardom in tomorrow’s business press. Perhaps it’s your business, or a business that you’re thinking about beginning.

The Fifteen Key Lessons… based on my personal experiences as a micro-entrepreneur, I’ll share with you the Fifteen Key Lessons that will help you start small… and finish big, if that’s what YOU want to do.

These lessons are:

1. Start Small. It’s better than never starting at all.
2. Earn a Few Nickles and Dimes. It’s good practice before you earn those dollars.
3. Begin With an Idea. There’s probably a good one right under your nose.
4. Think Like a Visionary. Always look for the Big Picture.
5. Keep the Faith. Believe in yourself and your business, even when others don’t.
6. Ready, Fire, Aim! If you think too much about it, you may never start.
7. Profit or Perish. Increase sales, decrease costs. Anything less and your business will perish.
8. Be Positive. The School of Hard Knocks will beat you down, but not if you keep a positive attitude.
9. Continuously Improve Your Business. It’s the best way to attract customers, and generate sales and profit.
10. Believe In Your People. Or they may get even with you!
11. Never Run Out of Money. It’s THE most important lesson in business.
12. Attract New Customers Every Day. Awareness, Trial, and Usage work every time.
13. Be Persistent: Don’t Give Up. You only fail if you quit.
14. Build a Brand Name! Earn your reputation.
15. Opportunity Waits for No One. Good or bad, breaks are what you make them.

Why are these lessons valuable? Because if you follow them, you are more likely to be successful in the development of your business. These are the lessons I learned, and they’re the same lessons that many other micro-entrepreneurs have learned and applied, too. If you plan to grow your business beyond a one- or two-person enterprise, there will be other lessons to learn, of course. But these Fifteen Key Lessons will help you get started and keep you focused.

Sometimes you fire first, and take aim later… it pays to believe in yourself and your business, even when no one else does.

Micro-entrepreneurs build businesses and people run them.

Whoever said it takes money to make money was dead wrong, and micro-entrepreneurs prove it every day.

As you’ll see, micro-entrepreneurs represent a good cross section of the American population. You’ll also discover that we share many commonalities. With only a few exceptions, we grew up in lower-to-middle-class homes where both parents had to work. All of us learned how to make money before we were teenagers – a couple started businesses in elementary school (and that includes me!). Most of us tolerated school, and several performed poorly. Some even suffer from dyslexia. Many never attended college; many others attended but did not graduate. Some of us began our businesses while we were in high school or  college, and many of us started our businesses before we were twenty. More than half of micro-entrepreneurs are women, while most of the men started their businesses with help from their wives. Feeling sorry for ourselves, or claiming to be victims of impoverishment, and sometimes cruel circumstances is not part of our routine. The world owes us nothing. Therefore, if we see an opportunity, we grabbed it. And we still do.

The most interesting common denominator that we share, however, is that we started our businesses with small amounts of money. A few had as much as $10,000, and some started with $5,000. All of the others, including me, started with much less than $5,000. At least half started with $200 or less! and some got started with loans from micro-lenders, which are quietly popping up across the United States. Most borrowed money from family members, and others borrowed money from a friend.

The other half started their micro-businesses with no money, or their own pocket money…

My real reason for writing these sites, pages and other tomes, beyond giving people the confidence to start a business, even if they don’t have much money, is to support the micro-enterprise movement that’s underway – not only in the United States, but elsewhere in the world too. In the third-world countries, people who have no business experience, and no collateral to borrow money, including the poorest of the poor, are able to get capital from several hundred organizations. It’s a relatively young movement that’s gaining momentum, and as it expands, it can potentially help tens of millions of people.

Some people may find it hard to believe that you can start a meaningful micro-business with just a little bit of money. I don’t blame them. Roll-ups, international buyouts, industry consolidations, and mega-companies are the meat and potatoes of the business press these days. There doesn’t seem to be much opportunity for the small enterprise. And yet, it exists. Small businesses abound. The small business is the backbone of the American economy – and it will continue to be the future of this country and many others. Small businesses create more jobs every year in the United States than do big businesses. As many as 50 million Americans now work from their homes, and the majority of them are small business owners. In the age of the mega-deal, there’s still room for the small businessperson. All you’ve got to do is look for it, then reach out and grab it.

I define micro-entrepreneurship as a one-person company that has a scalable business. That means no professional services; a one-person services company is a freelancer.

While there’s much to be said for plotting your course, you don’t want to let the planning process consume your will to get started.

That’s why it makes sense to start your business on a small scale, leaving yourself some wiggle room. If you make a mistake, if your aim is off, you can fix it and fire again – and adjust again, and again, as needed. If you’re willing to fire before you aim perfectly, you probably won’t hit your target precisely; but you’ll have taken that first step in the journey of a thousand miles.