How to Start a Home Business: A Savvy Step-By-Step Guide to Becoming Your Own Employer

Black Enterprise, March, 1996 by Rhonda Reynolds

Many people leave the corporate world to start their own ventures only to realize that many of the support services they had are no longer there, such as comprehensive health insurance.

To the rescue is the Independent Business Alliance, which provides products and services to small and home-based businesses. For a membership fee of $49 a year, every IBA member can qualify for health insurance, commercial insurance, financing, marketing support, and discounts on travel, long-distance services and computer and office equipment. Call 800-450-21BA.

The American Association of Home-based Businesses offers many of the same discount services as the IBA, including long-distance and 800-number telephone services. Prepaid legal services and management advice are also available to members. In addition, the association sponsors regional and national seminars and workshops on various business topics. An advocacy group keeps members informed of legislative, administrative and regulatory developments on Capitol Hill. Annual membership (which includes a bimonthly newsletter) is $90. Call 800-447-9710.

Other organizations include the National Association of Home-Based Businesses (410-363-3698) and the International Association of Home-based Businesses (800-414-2422).

For those people who merely dream of becoming an entrepreneur, How To Start A Home Business: A savvy, step-by-step guide to becoming your own employer by Michael Antoniak is an ideal read. Out of this 227-page book, you're more likely to get idealistic quotations than practical advice.

The table of contents suggests that Antoniak will cover a wide range of topics, including licensing, financing, advertising and marketing. However, the author manages to touch on every facet of entrepreneurship without offering any useful tips for the serious-minded business owner.

For example, take the chapter: "Options for Women Working At Home. " It runs about one page and offers such advice as "You cannot satisfactorily perform a full-time job and watch your children. You must adapt your work schedule to evening hours, hire a sitter for the hours you intend to work or wait until your children are old enough for school during the workday." No kidding! Entrepreneurial mothers aren't looking for Newt Gingrich-esque lectures; they want sensible tips on financing and diversifying their market.

The entire book is filled with such oversimplifications, all of which make this book a major disappointment.

Antoniak's basic information on setting up a home office or preparing for the IRS is worthwhile for those who have a sideline business that they are looking to write off on their tax returns. There's also an eight-page directory of small business groups at the end that is actually quite a valuable resource. But for the $12.50 price of the book, it would be much cheaper to photocopy that section at the library.