10 Free Resources to Start or Grow a Home Based Business
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Thinking about starting a home business or side business? My tongue-in-cheek checklist might let you know if you are ready for it - or go through a ‘real’ assessment to determine whether or not you are ready to start a business (warning, it’s pretty conservative, so don’t let it discourage you from continuing to prepare yourself for entrepreneurship).
So let’s say you’ve made the decision to start a business, or maybe you have even been in business for a while. I have found that the majority of home-based entrepreneurs I know and have met online have no idea how many free resources are out there to help you start or grow your business.
While I have nothing against paid help - and have paid for help in the past (and was glad I did!), the following resources are greatly under-used, in my humble opinion. So whether you’re just dreaming of business plans or have years of experience under your belt, the following links can help you run a better business:
- Free Web-Based Business Courses from the SBA
- Small Business Association Podcast also from the SBA
- Interactive Business Planner from the Government of Canada
- More Free Web-Based Business Courses from BusinessWeek
- Free Business Advice from SCORE - Online Q&A or find a location near you to ask in person
- Get access to leading entrepreneurs with Entrepreneur.com’s new Ask Entrepreneur feature
- Get Free Business Forms (be careful, sometimes you need state-specific forms in certain circumstances)
- Quicken has a free small business software version of QuickBooks available for PC users, or check out these free money management alternatives
- Microsoft has a free startup help center with both learning resources and hints on how to use their products for small businesses
- And there’s nothing more appealing about “free” than when its free money. IdeaCafe regularly gives away small business grants to deserving entrepreneurs.
Want more help with your Home Business? Check out the Home Based Business Group Writing Project. More free-ness!
Sparkplugging Founder Wendy Piersall is dang passionate about helping people start & grow a business while maintaining life balance (somehow).
Dawud Miracle has one focus: to help you get it. The it? How your website, and blog, can change the way you do business. You can find out more at 
Teresa Morrow manages online book publicity and event promotion for authors, speakers and writers with her company 
This is great Wendy and so timely- setting up a new blog on solohomebusiness so will refer back to this for resources
Great resources! I e-mailed this to my husband because he’s been talking about starting a home business. Thanks Wendy!
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Thank you Wendy. I’ve been toying around with an idea and these are great resources that I’m gonna need to explore.
Great resources for anyone starting out a business or even a business that you have started and just need some help with. Thank you so much for these great resources and tips.
Excellent set of links. Well done!
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Thank you for a great resource list. Reading through these sites can also help you get a better understanding of what is involved in owing a small business. It can also give you more idea of the questions you can ask if you do seek ‘paid’ help.
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Might I add one of the most powerful FREE resources at your disposal - your friends, family or acquaintances who are running businesses of their own. We all know a few, but we kind of shy away from asking them about starting a home based business. If we could have a few sit-down-and-talk sessions, we’d find nuggets of wisdom in each conversation that can either help us avoid those startup problems or niggling hassles we experience as new home business owners. For example, my wife and I run a home based food delivery service. We find that our suppliers are the best people to find out about cooking. They give us real, practical tips about how to cook certain types of veggie or keep it looking wonderfully green - things that you can take years to learn by trial and error because you’re just to proud to open your mouth and ask!
This is a great list. Thank you for the post.