One of the downsides of working in a small or home based business is the lack of quality information flowing through your businesses. Less interaction with people means less opportunity to keep up with the business world.
The best way to move into the business world and out of the office (without actually leaving it) is through the reading of current business literature. We are very fortunate to have available to us some highly informative magazines that are specific to the Australian market.
BRW is a heavyweight in the business world. It has sections covering Lifestyle, Investment, Health and Property. It concentrates on Australian business as it is impacted on by the world and describes itself as “..the leading business magazine examining the trends and opportunities shaping Australian business. In news, analysis and opinion we focus on the innovators, entrepreneurs and strategies driving growth and profit in large and small Australian businesses.”
This is another great magazine. What I love about it is that it discusses business and technology from a ‘how to’ perspective. There is a lot of great content and you don’t have to be a business veteran to understand it. The best thing is that you can subscribe for only $2 per issue!
My Business Magazine says that it “features a range of useful business advice and information from our business experts in areas of marketing, business development, financial management, retailing, taxation and investment. In addition, our team of journalists profile successful small businesses to uncover the lessons to be learnt as people build their exciting businesses.”
It has sections on technology, online business, financing your business, retailing and marketing as well as a section that they call business coaching which helps readers to work on their business.
Women’s Network Australia Magazine
As the name suggests, this is a magazine for women in business and it is put out by Women’s Network Australia.
We know that there will always be differences in the way people see the world and that often this may be gender based. This magazine tackles business from a woman’s perspective. Readers describe the mag as ‘full of good tips and tools” and “really relatable”.
The articles are written by women and some of them will be familiar to you through your online travels. They know exactly what it is like to be a woman in small business so the content is directly relevant to you and your business.
“Providing sound financial and business development advice, Australian Business Solutions does not assume its readers already have unlimited resources on which to grow. If offers practical “how-to’s” in every area of business from sales, marketing and
finance right through to innovation, staff management and the law, without doing so in ten thousand word academic articles.”
The website lets you have a sneak peek into the magazine before you subscribe so that you know what you are getting.
For those of you in franchise businesses you should be reading magazines on that topic. This magazine is full of information about new franchises and how to manage the franchise you have. It is THE magazine for the franchise industry. While you are there have a good look around the website. That is the kind of thing you will find in the mag.
Just because you work from home doesn’t mean that you can know what is happening in the world. If you want to be truly successful you have to keep up-to-date within your industry. These magazines open the door to the business world for you. Make sure you subscribe to at least one of them.
There really is no limit other than your imagination to the type of business you can launch. Here are a couple of examples I have just read about today which might inspire you in your home business ideas.
Kim Pyke is a Victoria mother of 5 who loves celebrity gossip magazines and now runs a business cutting out and collecting images and clippings of A listers which she sells on ebay. Who would have thought that would make her enough money to pay for her overseas family holiday each year?
The second example was actually an article on how Americans are now starting to spend money again on their pets and how that surely was a sign that the recession was over. What I found amazing however was that the interviewee, a former bartender from New York, can make up to $30,000 a month selling pet products such as matching wedding costumes for dogs! $30,000 a month from pet products - unbelievable!!!!!!
I clearly remember the first time I ‘got it’. I had been feeling unfulfilled and bored with my job for ages and longed to do something interesting and fun and stimulating but had no idea what. Anyway, on this particular day we were driving through a town and I started really taking notice of all the buildings outside – mechanics, warehouses, cafes, retail stores. It suddenly hit me that probably 90% of those businesses had been started by one person. One person who was no different to you or I apart from the fact that they had decided to take a risk and take control of their own future by starting their own business.
People who start their own businesses are no different to anyone else – the majority aren’t born with any big advantage (ok some are but a lot aren’t) over the rest of us. The only difference is that at some point in their life they decided to take an idea they had and run with it.
The main thing you need to start your own business isn’t money or an original idea – it’s confidence. If you really believe you can do it then you will. Once you have that confidence in yourself and your business idea, you will be amazed at how others will believe in you too.
