• How-to

Home-based businesses offer the enviable combination of cheap start-up costs and the flexibility to work at your own time. While starting one and running it well means that you stick to business basics, there are a few other unique dos and don’ts you must cater to.

Check your local requirements
Every city has its own zoning and commercial space regulations that you must adhere to. In Mumbai, for example, no more than 25 percent of a residential space can be used for commercial purposes. Also, for running a business from home, you may require certain licenses and permissions. Check what the rules are in your city. You don’t want the law coming to your home and office at the same time.

Rent a box
A post box, that is. Why? Well, not all clients are comfortable working with someone who is running a business from home. A post box would give you a more corporate look. Use this post  box number on all your collateral. Also, it would be worth your time to check out virtual office services offered in India by vendors such as Regus and Imperial Servcorp.

Organize, Organize, Organize
Working from home can easily go from being comfortable to plain messy if you do not pay attention. Remember to segregate your workspace from other spaces in the house. Get yourself a filing cabinet. Get an all-in-one printer to save space. Get yourself a push-in board to keep those reminders in your face. Get yourself a small fridge to keep yourself in the office space. And please, don’t get a TV.

Get stationery
It is important that even though you are working out of home, you do not give that impression upon first contact. So, make sure that you have all the necessary stationery like letters, envelopes and business cards made in time—with the post box number we mentioned—and use them regularly. A corporate look will go a long way in soothing the nerves of those who don’t trust home-based businesses.

Meet and eat
Yes, now you really cannot be meeting clients at your home with a kid wailing in the background and the maid sweeping the floor. Hence, figure out a couple of nearby locations for your business meetings. It could be a coffee shop for meeting peers or a hotel lobby for meeting prospective clients. Better yet, try meeting people at their office. You could do with the exercise, too.

Keep all financial records
When you run a business from home, chances are that you would be running a proprietorship business. Your income from the proprietorship firm will get included in your personal income and will be taxed accordingly. However, you will be able to write off certain expenses incurred as part of running the enterprise. Do check with a good CA on what you can and cannot write off as an expense. And then, maintain all records for the same.

©Entrepreneur June 2010

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business, home-based, set up