Start & Run a Gift Basket Business. Mardi Foster-Walker

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СКАЧАТЬ home-based business is a unique blend of family, skills, and lifestyle. To make the blend rich and prosperous, each must be considered independently. Will your gift basket business suit your home environment? Do you have sufficient space to work undisturbed? Does working from home suit your personal style?

      Think carefully.

      1. The business and your home

      Ideally, you have a separate room where, at the end of the day, you can shut the door (and lock it from inquisitive children). There needs to be enough space for supplies, inventory, and record keeping. Walk through your home with new eyes and visualize where you could set up a place of business. Many residential floor plans make no allowances for workspace.

      See if there is enough privacy. You need to work uninterrupted. Figure out where your business telephone will be. You must be able to have uninterrupted telephone conversations — they are essential to your business. A door ensures that you can separate your business from housework.

      Think about noise. Will your business create intolerable noise or will other people’s noise be intolerable for your business? Most inside doors are hollow and easily allow sound to pass through. If there is potential friction over noise, it may be worthwhile to install a solid core door.

      Your business should be compatible with the area you live in and cause no annoyance to your neighbors. Some area residents have closed down home-based businesses they view as a nuisance.

      Remember to consider your family situation. How will you deal with child care, chores, time with your spouse, friends, etc.?

      Whether or not you decide to base your business in your home also depends on the local zoning restrictions in your community (discussed further in chapter 11 on legal requirements) and the rental agreement you have with your landlord if you do not own your place of residence.

      Consider your company image. There has been a growth in the number of home-based businesses in the last ten years, and the idea has become much more widely accepted. However, some people will not take seriously a business operating out of the home and it is important to follow a few guidelines that will make your home-based business look more professional.

      For instance, install a separate telephone line and do not let children or other family members answer that line. If you are unable to take a call, use the answering machine or a voice messaging service. Use a post office box number as your business address if your home address is obviously a residential area or an apartment building.

      If you anticipate having clients visit your home office, make sure you have a designated space, close to the entrance, that is only for business and decorated accordingly. If you do not have that type of space available, it would be wise not to invite clients to your home. Meet them outside of your home office.

      The primary advantage to running a business out of your home is the small capital outlay necessary to get started. Having a lower overhead should free up money that you can use to invest in inventory and to promote and market your business.

      Converting a spare bedroom or den on the ground floor of your home would be the ideal situation. A basement or attic is not as preferable because of accessibility problems and stairs. You will need an area to physically make the baskets, an office area, and a storage area. In order to have all three of these components in the same space, you would need approximately 400 square feet of space. If you do not have that much space to designate to your business, consider having your inventory and supplies storage in the garage or basement and your office in another area of the house.

      The business of making gift packages and baskets can create a lot of mess, and you should have a work area that can be kept out of sight. Generally your customers will never see your work space, so it is unnecessary to invest in expensive furniture and decor. Use your capital to market your business.

      There are numerous tax advantages to having your business in the home. To take full advantage of these tax breaks, your home-based operation must take up an entire room, which is devoted solely for the purpose of your business. These tax advantages are discussed in further detail in chapter 12 on accounting and taxes.

      2. The business and your family

      Most often the spouse who chooses to work at home is the one with primary responsibility for child care. Blending the two tasks is no easy matter, particularly with very young children. The needs of the children and the demands of the business are often at odds with each other.

      Doing some advance thinking and preparing for it will help you deal with the conflict. Understand from the beginning that simply working at home may not completely eliminate child care concerns — although at first, when the demands of the business are small and you can easily adjust your schedule to conform to that of the children, it may seem so. This could change rapidly. It is best to think about how you will handle child care well in advance of starting your business. If your children are very young, you might consider these options:

      (a) Work around your children’s schedules

      (b) Work while your children are in school

      (c) Hire in-home care

      (d) Take your children to out-of-home care

      Your need for child care while running your business will depend on several factors, notably your financial objectives, the time required to meet those objectives, and the ages of your children. The children, however, regardless of age, will be affected by your decision to start your business from the home. Tell your children as openly as you can about your plans. Younger children need to understand, for example, that your gift basket supplies are not available for their art work. Older children can understand the importance of your work and help out by assuming more household duties.

      And while it is crucial to explain to family members the importance of your work, it is equally crucial that you balance the time between your work and family. It is sometimes difficult to leave a home-based business behind. Many home-based business operators find themselves going back to work after dinner, late at night, or on weekends.

      For your sake and that of your family, don’t turn yourself into a home workaholic. This is another reason for that separate, self-contained work space. Closing that door at the end of your work time gives you a clear dividing line between work and family needs.

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