Building a successful home-based business - includes resources for the home-based business owner

Black Enterprise, Sept, 1997 by Wendy M. Beech

Brower has earned revenues of nearly $35,000. Typical annual gross revenues for a home-based international trade company are $35,000-$60,000 and up, depending on the product or service you are trading and your competition.

The international trade business is booming. Companies are finding that to remain competitive and stay successful, they must branch out into foreign lands. "Ninety percent of our people want to go into it, but they think it's so far above them," says Rudy Lewis, president of the NAHBB. "But it's a super area. It's real money and this is one area where African Americans can excel."

Darrin Wheeler, 31, owner of D.W. Leather Imports, (215) 228-6778, in Philadelphia, realized the potential of international trade while working as a sports agent in Cyprus, off the coast of Greece. Representing international basketball players, Wheeler says he grew fond of working with different countries. After leaving athletics in 1995, he began training to become a stockbroker and, last December, started a home-based international trade business part time. While his company is still in the development stages, Wheeler expects to begin importing lea-ther goods--including handbags, briefcases and wallets--from India and Thailand this year.

Since international business deals take longer to close, working in the import/export workday. Start-up costs range from $3,000-$10,000. This includes a fax machine, computer equipment, printer, copier and memberships in trade associations.

For more information about international trade, contact: Trade Information Center, 1401 Constitution Ave. NW, Room 7424, Washington, DC 20230; 800-USA-TRADE. Or contact: The International Association for Business Organizations, P.O. Box 30149, Baltimore, MD 21270; 410-581-1373.

THE ROYAL TREATMENT: HOME CLEANING SERVICE

Who has time to clean? Between work, the gym, dinner with friends and your usual five hours of sleep, there seems to be little time to wash windows and vacuum the carpet. But this lifestyle is making cleaning services very profitable ventures. In fact, home cleaning alone is a $92-million-a-year business. There are also many commercial cleaning franchises that can be purchased for as little as $5,000 and operated from the home. (See "15 Franchises for Under $50,000," this issue.)

Cleaning services are perhaps the easiest and cheapest businesses to start in the home. With less than $1,000, a few cleaning supplies (many of which you can get from your own cabinet) and just the knowledge of how to use a mop, some Mr. Clean and a bucket, you can open for business.

Mae Harbor, 50, owner of Royal Enterprise, (913) 334-4926, in Kansas City, Kansas, started her home cleaning company in April 1996, after being laid off from GST Steel, a manufacturing plant. She operates her part-time cleaning service along with another home-based business. "I clean Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday and keep Mondays and Fridays open for speaking engagements," says Harbor, who also owns Target Communication, a public speaking consulting company. While her public speaking company has yet to turn profitable, Harbor's home cleaning service generates about $2,500 per month. Typical revenues for a full-time person working alone range from $20,000-$30,000 annually.