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The Best Time to Start a Home Business is NOW!
by Donna Schwartz Mills, The ParentPrenuer Club

I love reading success stories. The good ones always include accounts of adversities that were overcome and teem with lessons I can apply to my own home business. Best of all, they inspire me. If Ben and Jerry can start an ice cream empire with a five dollar investment, just think what I can do! So I eat up all the Top 500 lists published by the glossy business magazines...  which is how I came across this interesting statistic:

Nearly half of the companies on the Inc. 500 list were started from home!

Think about it - not long ago, guys like Thomas Massie, CEO of SensAble Technologies( #211) and Edy Bedoya of EBC (#81) were building computer gadgets out of their dorm rooms (although not together). And we all know the story of Michael Dell (not on the list - he's too big).

But it's not just high-tech. Corporation #32, Twin Hills Collectables, started out as a hobby of owner Steve Halsell. He earned $8,000 his first year selling die-cast replicas of NASCAR cars and $200,000 the next - At which point, his boss told him he should quit his day job because it was costing him too much money. His 1998 sales revenues reached $8 million.

These stories underline the fact that there has never been a better time to start a home business: 500,000 new ones are launched each year, and that number is expected to grow, thanks to new tax rules that make working from home more cost-effective than ever. Affordable technology makes it possible to offer products and services that rival those of big corporations.

That same technology is rapidly becoming a staple in households where owning a computer was unthinkable just five years ago -- in new yet familiar forms, like TV's and telephones -- creating new markets.

The companies on the Inc. list share some things in common. One is a founder/owner with vision; someone who identifies a need, has a good idea and the courage to run with it. Another is perseverance. Bedoya's story is especially moving: a Peruvian immigrant, he arrived in the States in the mid-80's with just $100 in his pocket. After his first job -- cleaning toilets in a restaurant -- he worked his way up to dishwasher and finally to head chef before switching gears and entering the jewelry business. A few years later, his car was stolen - along with all of his money, credit cards and inventory. By this time, Bedoya had enrolled in a college work-study program to earn a degree, and this is when he discovered computers. Six months later, he was in business buying and reselling parts. In 1998, his company's revenues reached $13 million.

Successful businesspeople also know how to get the capital they need to launch and maintain their ventures. The Internet has recently become a force in funding startups; several underwriting organizations have sprouted online to help match investors with projects. Some good places to start the search are Commercial Finance Online and Garage.com. 

Interestingly, almost 200 of the companies on this year's Inc. List were capitalized with investments of under $10,000. And 79 were founded just five years ago.

Anything is possible, even becoming the subject of your own Success Story.

Donna Schwartz Mills is the editor of the ParentPreneur Club, an online resource for moms and dads with home-based businesses and those who are thinking of starting a home-based business. She can be reached at donna@parentpreneurclub.com.

Copyright 2000 Donna Schwartz Mills - All rights reserved.

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