Ideas & Opportunities

Q: My husband and I are thinking of putting up a small business . We already have something in mind and the plan is slowly starting to shape up. To save on start-up costs and monthly overhead, we initially thought about setting the business up in our own home. However, we are now having serious misgivings about this. Our house is in a very private residential area . We fear that the location might not be best in terms of attracting customers. On the other hand, if we lease commercial space, it might eat away our start-up capital. Please help.

A: Due to the economic slump , more and more entrepreneurs are considering small-scale businesses run from home. It is not a bad idea, although there are a number of things to consider before you jump into it.

What you have in mind is a microbusinesses, also sometimes called a mom-and-pop business. This simply means it is a business operated by a single family which typically has no employees other than the owners themselves. Its biggest advantages are obvious: no lease and no salaries to pay. A less obvious but still desirable advantage is there is less paperwork to do before you can start operations.

Now we come to the undesirables. There is just one big disadvantage as you say, and it is lack of visibility. With careful planning and a lot of creativity, it is something you can easily overcome.

With home-based businesses , foot traffic tends to be slow and far-between because they are not situated in the usual route of people who are looking to spend their money. The best  way to overcome this is of course by offering the highest quality product and service that your budget can afford. High quality sells itself through word of mouth . If you are careful to maintain a consistently high standard for your business, soon you’ll have the entire neighborhood buzzing about your product to their friends and relatives.  

The next best strategy is guerilla marketing . This is simply making use of creativity rather than big bucks to advertise your business. You could make flyers that you can print from your home computer, you could offer free samples to your neighbors, and if you’re techno-savvy you could even put up a free website for your business.

Bazaars are also a good way of introducing your product to the public. Mary Grace Café started this way, offering just delectable homemade cheese rolls and ensaymadas at first. Now it has around six major cafes in malls and other prime establishments.

The point is, start your business in a manner that your budget will allow, with most of the money going towards developing the quality of your product. Forget about that big shiny commercial space for now. That can come later, after you’ve already had consumers hooked to your product.