Let’s suppose you want to earn a few extra bucks developing your hobby into a home-based business. How do you get started, where do you get help, and what should you do next? Here are a few answers.

FIND YOUR CUSTOMERS
Finding customers who are willing to buy your product or service is your first task. Let’s say you are an illustrator with lots of experience in drawing/painting horses. So where do you find people willing to buy your horse art? At horse shows is one answer, but setting up a booth at something like this is expensive. A better answer is to find customers through publications horse-owners regularly read!

Finding these publications is easy. Go to your B-school library, public library or your state library and ask to see the SRDS (Standard Rate & Data Services) book on publications. The SRDS book contains mail lists and lists of publications, including books that horse lovers, veterinarians, stable owners, show promoters, feed merchants, and similar people read and subscribe to. Studying this book will show you that however esoteric your hobby, there are probably thousands of people out there with your same interest. These people are your potential customers.

ADVERTISING YOUR SERVICE/PRODUCT
Your next step is one of two: either advertise in the publication(s), or rent their mailing list. Either way, your goal is to put your products or services in front of the people who might want to purchase your offering.

In today’s market, I would suggest you rent the mailing list, develop a dynamite direct mail offering (see other Success Tips on this website for ideas) and point readers to your website. Yes, this means setting up a website, but this is a no-brainer these days.

WHAT TO OFFER
The first and most important thing to offer is a free newsletter. Offering a free newsletter that is published weekly will get your prospective buyer coming back to you week after week, and sooner or later, they will buy! By the way, monthly won’t cut it, do this on a weekly basis! Maintain an archive of past newsletters on your website, but don’t publish the most recent until your email letter has been in distribution for at least a week. Have a newsletter signup page for those people who stumble onto your site. Most email packages, including the one that came with your computer, allow you to send mail to hundreds of subscribers without much trouble. When you get into the thousands, you will need to hire an email distribution firm, but that is for later.
A tip: Be sure to use your email package’s BCC method of mailing or you will be giving everyone your complete email list!

The second thing you offer is what you do. In our example of a horse illustrator, you might offer a hand-drawn or painted picture of the viewer’s horse. For example you could make an offer like this. “Send me a photo of your horse and I’ll paint a 2’ X 3’ rendition suitable for framing for only $XXX.XX.” You could also let people know you would like to illustrate their newsletters, books, sales materials and so forth. Use your imagination!

COSTS
Outside of the cost of a WebSite (minimal cost these days), your main cost will be the mail lists, the mailing you make, and the cost of postage. Before you jump in with both feet, ask around . . . you may discover one publication that stands out head and shoulders above the others. In other words, spend your money wisely! Again, check out other Success Tips on this website for ideas.

THE LAW
Please, before you spend a penny, check with your state and local agencies to see if you need a permit to do business from your home. Some cities want tax money from you, and every federal and state government wants part of your profits, so do it right the first time. This website contains help for these tasks.