Home Based Businesses Have An
Advantage
"Home businesses are not just the
realm of people without 'real' jobs who want to
earn extra cash. On the contrary, the study found
that while having fewer employees, home-based
business people on average had significantly
higher net worth than their workplace-bound
counterparts."
- A study by the SBA's Office of Advocacy.
"Technology is making it easier and
easier to manage more effectively, enabling the
entrepreneur, for example, to do expenses,
calculate profitability, and track the month's
projects all with a few keystrokes."
- Bruce Philips, SBA's Office of Economic
Research
In the past a home-based business was by
definition a very small business. This is
changing. Technology now facilitates handling
larger volumes of business with greater ease than
ever before.
Business owners now use their computer for
many tasks. It can answer the phone, and either
page them if they are out or announce the call.
If caller-id is available from the phone company,
then the client history can automatically show on
the computer screen; ready to type in today's
conversation. The computer can also keep track of
appointments and pop up a reminder on the screen
when it is time return a promised call.
Computers simplify the whole sales process -
from customizing standard sales letters with
specific prospect information, printing addresses
on hundreds of envelopes and sorting them by zip
code, to an interactive catalog on CD-ROM.
The WWW can also benefit a home-based
business. It permits a start-up or home-based
business to appear large. In fact, a small
business may have an advantage over a larger
business because the smaller business can respond
faster to a changing market.
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