Start & Run a Real Home-Based Business (Paperback)

~ Dan Furman (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

All over North America, people who want more control over their lives are starting home-based businesses. Despite the obvious attractions of independence and convenience, there are many risks to be aware of.Start & Run a Real Home-Based Business offers step-by-step advice, from selecting the type of business to run, to marketing and growing the business. The book comes with a CD-ROM loaded with worksheets, forms, and documents to help the entrepreneur get started.Furman's tips can be applied to many different types of home-based businesses, including computer services, plumbing services, daycares, hair salons, electricians, and numerous others. Furman gives 'real world' advice from the trenches, with tips and pointers to help the entrepreneur succeed.The book provides additional advice on how to deal with the common problems that arise when working from your home, such as how to get your family on board.This book is for anyone who has considered a part-time or full-time home-based business.

From the Back Cover

Whether you want to work at home on your computer, open a daycare, start a local service (like a plumber, computer consultant, pet sitter, etc), or anything else, then Start and Run a Real Home Based Business is what you've been waiting for.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 232 pages
• Publisher: Self Counsel Press; 2 Pap/Cdr edition (January 15, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1551808668
• ISBN-13: 978-1551808666
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 8.2 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #150,624 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It reads like the story of my life., September 9, 2007

By	Jen (San Diego) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Start & Run a Real Home-based Business (Paperback)

Person wants to start a new business, makes silly mistakes and loses the business. Person starts again, makes fewer mistakes but the business still doesn't survive. Person finally learns from their mistakes and enjoys a thriving business.

Who here with their own business hasn't experienced that loss and learning? That's the story in this book.

I found this book to be very informative and a breath of fresh air. The writing is concise, practical, and funny. It's also very believable. Gone are the flowcharts promising a 24.5 percent return on your investment. Gone are the get rich quick promises. What's left in it's place is a solid guide to starting AND keeping your own business.

Parts of the book may be obvious to some people. The author presses the need to become familiar with the internet. That may be obvious to you and I but our friend who makes jewelery may never think about that. We know blurry photocopied fliers taped to the laundrymat cork board isn't as professional as business cards but there's still people who do that. There's tips on collecting money from clients, keeping good records, why personal hygenie is a must (hard to believe people will show up to a job interview dirty and smelling of cigarette smoke), and why you should be nice to your competition.

I really enjoy this author's book because I believe he's done his time in the business trenches. I've had several businesses myself and the experiences mentioned with the author or the author's friends are mirrored with mine. I charged too less, I thought of advertising as an expense and cut back (forgetting that without it, I wouldn't have customers), didn't keep my records as neat as I should have and a few other mistakes that are too embarrassing to mention now. This book will help you avoid those mistakes.

PROS

Easy to follow and understand advice.
Lack of corporate speak.
Real world advice.
Good writing samples to use.
Very funny writing.

CONS

None really. I would have liked more information on Internet marketing only because I felt the author is knowledgeable in it. However Internet marketing changes so rapidly, any information could be obsolete quickly. What the author mentions is more than some books mention so it would be unfair to chastise him. I suspect he left the ones he know would be around for a while and that's still very good. I figure I have to put at least One Con for balance so there it is.

I'm very happy with this book. I plan on buying a few copies and giving them to my business owner friends as gifts.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very helpful (and surprisingly entertaining) book, September 2, 2007

By	Elizabeth Struk (new york) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Start & Run a Real Home-based Business (Paperback)

I've read quite a few home-based business books, and this one is the most helpful I've come across for many reasons. First, it's easy to read. Short, concise paragraphs... not pages upon pages reiterating the same information in different ways (I don't have time for that)! It also goes into helpful topics you don't usually find in a business how-to book, like why it's important to keep your car clean (I'm not kidding! Read it and you'll see). The books author Dan Furman does a surprisingly wonderful thing in this book - he makes you laugh! I couldn't put the book down, simply because it was so entertaining. I've never actually enjoyed reading a "business" book before. I wish all informational books could be written this way. You can also pick it up and thumb through it with ease, finding useful information at any point. I highly recommend this book!

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars As the owner of a successful Homebased business..., October 6, 2008

By	Richard A. Roark - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Start & Run a Real Home-based Business (Paperback)

As the owner of a successful and well-established home-based business, I continue to read on the subject. I found this to be a very interesting and well-written book. The sections on marketing and establshing financial systems and price points were particularly well done.

The weakness to this book is that it did not address people with a business/corporate background (other than computer skills). If anyone has such a background (as do I), the executive search/recruiting field is one to strongly consider. For thorough information, the book Search and Placement! A Handbook for Success by Larry Nobles and Steven Finkel is the only comprehensive foundational work.

That said, those without that background should find this book to be of definite worth.