Woman: Web-based Business
Establishing an online business is one lucrative way of selling, marketing, and advertising the goods and services for your enterprise. Like any other business, the steps and resources needed to start a web-based business are the same. However, online business comes with extra legal and financial considerations in terms of privacy, copyright, security, and taxation.
The first step required by the woman is to choose domain name and then register it with certified registration authorities or Internet Domain Name Registration Services. This registration helps the business owner to take precautions on potential scams (Longenecker, 2008). The woman should seek assistance from The Federal Trade Commission, which is the body responsible for regulating e-commerce.
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The owner of the business needs to know the necessary steps needed to protect her customers from misuse of their personal information and identity theft. This privacy is very crucial for any business that collects financial data through credit reports or online sales. If the business operates in a state that charges taxes, the business owner should acquire a tax permit or register with the state revenue agency (Miller, 2002). The business woman would be responsible for collecting taxes from her customers according to the state jurisdiction.
As a female starting a web-based business has its advantages and disadvantages. The benefits include among others, the access to additional resources from women support organizations, serving as a role model for upcoming women entrepreneurs niche marketing, and their strong personality traits such as multi-tasking. However, threats of insecurity and difficulty in building traffic base for the customers are among the disadvantages of web-based business.
Veteran: Home-based Business
Starting a home-based business equally needs legal and financial resources in its start up. The Veteran might already have a product or an idea of what he is to market, before thinking of starting a business. The following are some of the resources that the veteran can exhaust in starting such a business.
The first step involves acquiring a work-at-home franchise through consultation with the Consumer Guide. As is the case with most businesses, starting capital is necessary for any business, and home-based business will need some funds to finance purchase of some business franchise, register the business, and to complete some legal requirements (Halloran, 2014). Since Federal agencies do not offer grants for establishing home-based business, acquiring low-interest rate loan would be necessary for the start up or through personal savings.
The veteran should acquire a legal structure for the business, after which the registration of the business takes place with the correct jurisdiction. Once everything is in place, the veteran should market the business in order to get in touch with the prospective customers (Shailer, 1989). Again, just as any other business, tax deductions are crucial. The business owner should use the correct resources to learn how to compute and file tax and expense deductions for the home-based business.
As a veteran, starting a home-based business is advantageous in that it is flexible in terms of time, low overhead cost needed, convenient, and saves time and cost of commuting. While starting, a home-based business may be convenient and cost-effective, some disadvantages are significant. Such disadvantages include distraction from family, possible zoning restrictions, isolation from distributors, and difficulty in taking off duty from work since the owner is always at work. Home-based business may raise security concerns to the owner hence exposing the family members from threats due to lack of privacy. There is also a challenge to the premises as the IRS requirements always dictate that the office should be separate from the family.
- Halloran, J. W. (2014). Your Small Business Adventure: Finding Your Niche and Growing a Successful Business. New York: ALA/Huron Street Press.
- Longenecker, J. G., Moore, C. Petty, W. J., and Palich, L. E. (2008). Small business management: launching and growing entrepreneurial ventures, 14th ed. New York: Cengage Learning.
- Miller, R. (2002). The Legal and E-Commerce Environment Today. London: Thomson Learning.
- Shailer, G. (1989). The Predictability of Small Enterprise Failures: Evidence and Issues, International Small Business Journal, 7(4): 54-58.
