text: 5 Tips To Running a Business From Home - Missing Sleep
  5 Tips To Running a Business From Home
  October 23, 2014 January 28, 2018 - Karen Langridge
  We've probably all thought about it, and running a business from home seems like a great idea to many. The ability to be at home and working when suits you allows you to be there for the family, and make work fit around your life – rather than the other way round.
  The challenge is that for many, finding a way to earn money from home is hard. Here, we'll give you 5 tips to running a business from home that will hopefully put you on the path to success!
  1. Thinking of an original idea
  This is probably the hardest part of all in running a business from home. Original ideas are hard to come by. Start by making a list of all the things you're good at and interested in. Next, tick the ones that people would pay for – whether it's as a service or as a product.
  For instance, if you're great at writing you may consider running your own blog site, or becoming a copywriter for other companies. If you're crafty, you might decide to make a great product that people will want to buy. But personally I love my blog!
  Whatever it is try to make it as original as possible. Chances are though, someone might have already done what you're doing. If so, don't worry – try to make it unique by the way you brand your proposition, or make it so that's a little original at least in your local area so you have an area of difference.
  This one might sound a little scary. If you're planning on running a business from home, then chances are you want to keep costs down and understandably so. You can get a long way on word of mouth marketing, but at some point you are going to need to spend a little money to get things going.
  If you're creating something digitally or have brochures or price lists, consider getting a branded USB from USBmakers to send out, or if you really are on a budget get your business cards and marketing materials designed on Fiverr (where everything literally costs peanuts!).
  3. Find your sales channels
  Think about where you're going to sell your products or services. If you've got a crafty product, you might want to try selling it on eBay, Pinterest, or Etsy, whereas if you've got a service to offer you might want to join some freelance sites. Sites like People Per Hour and Freelancer are great for selling copywriting, design, and other useful service skills.
  Get yourself a website built to be the home of your brand. You don't have to spend a fortune on this – Googleing something like 'free website tools' will give you plenty of options to get started. If you really want to go to town then consider using WordPress – this allows you to find themes and customise them simply to get a great looking, unique site to suit your needs.
  5. Be the face
  No matter what kind of business you create from home – you need to make sure that you're the face of it. It doesn't matter if people are buying products or services – they will be buying into you and your ideas so make sure you have you face on the site, explain your story, and give them a reason to buy!
  Video is great at putting points across too so consider what you can do video wise if you have a camera or a webcam to get something filmed.
  It's not easy setting up a business from home, but the benefits can be overwhelming, particularly if you're a mum. If you've got any time spare, give it a try and hopefully these 5 tips will stand you in good stead in your efforts!