Written By Doreen Dilger, The Home Based Business Coach


Understanding what type of business you have is an important aspect of reaching the right audience, paying your taxes, and marketing and advertising your business. Many different types of businesses are available to choose from. But what type of business are you?

* Home-Based Business – This doesn’t necessary mean you have a super small business; it just means that your operation is run from your home office. You can have many types of business within this category, from a really large business to a small one. Today, due to technology you can outsource distribution, marketing, advertising, and pretty much everything in between.

* Online Business – An online business means that your business exists only online. You may have an office in your home, or you may rent office space, but you usually do not have any physical products and likely deal more with information, digital books and software. An online business can become a multi-million dollar business.

* Information Business – In this type of business you use online and offline methods to distribute the information that you create. You may run ads online, sign up on many different affiliate sites like ClickBank.com, and you may run advertisements in newspapers and ads. Your information can be digital or print. This is a very lucrative business that can earn an enormous amount of money.

* Franchise Business – This type of business can be bricks and mortar but there are also home-based and online franchises that you can buy into. It’s sort of like buying yourself a job that has all the processes and ideas in place. You follow the directions and you can create a very successful business.

* Woman-Owned Business – While there isn’t anything inherently different from a business run by a man over one run by a woman, because women-owned businesses are more rare there are special considerations the government may give you in terms of business loans. If you are a woman-owned business, it's good to certify yourself as such. Any type of business can be woman owned.

But what it really comes down to is how to choose between these types of business entities.

Read through the following descriptions to help you choose which type of business entity you want to pick. If you’re not sure it’s always best to consult with a professional or your local SCORE chapter.

* Sole Proprietor – This is the easiest business format to get involved in. You can start a sole proprietorship today just by saying you are one. There is no special tax information you need; it’s just cash based, money in and money out taxation. When money is earned it’s counted as income, and when money is spent it’s counted as an expense. 

You can technically use your social security number but it is highly recommended that you obtain a tax ID number. If you’re in the USA that number is called an EIN or Employer Identification number. The name can be confusing because if you do not plan to have employees you may feel like you can’t or should not get one. But that is not true. Getting an EIN is free, fast, and can save you from identity theft. You can get an EIN online.

* Partnership or LLC – You can start an LLC without having a partnership, but if you are in partnership with anyone you will need to form at least an LLC to protect you both. When you form an LLC it offers some protection against your personal assets being taken if you are sued and can spell out the terms of a partnership. 

* INC – If you plan to run a very large business, forming an INC might be for you. But, you’ll be subject to double taxation, the shareholders are owners, and you cannot choose how to be taxed at tax time like with an LLC. This structure is best for large businesses or certain licensed professionals who are not permitted to operate as an LLC.

Understanding what type of business you are is an important component in knowing how you will proceed in any part of your business - whether it is management, taxation, marketing, sales or understanding your audience.


About the Author:  Doreen Dilger – Time Management, Productivity & Organizing Expert, also known as “The Home Based Business Coach.”    I coach entrepreneurs who work from home on how to achieve their lifestyle business , a business on your own terms (how much money you make, how much time you spend working in and on your business, and how much time you spend on you and your family) .  I coach my clients on how to implement simple & proven time management, productivity and organizing strategies and systems. By creating a plan that is supported by systems it will allow you to implement  the tools you need to create your lifestyle business. 

If you are feeling overwhelmed and frustrated in your business and need a few tips to help you get out of your rut Schedule your FREE Power up Productivity call with The Home Based Business Coach go to https://www.timetrade.com/book/YP93C

By Doreen Dilger - The Home Based Business Coach

Delegation is an important skill for any business owner to master, but it’s especially important for small business owners who have very little time and extra money to devote to bottlenecks, accidental duplication of efforts, and missed deadlines. 

If you learn to delegate well, you’ll have more time to devote your energy to more important tasks, provide employment for another person, and (since it’s likely someone else can do the tasks better than you) make yourself look even more amazing due to the good choices you make.

Identify Blocks to Delegation 

One of the first things to do is figure out what causes you to be fearful of delegation. Usually the reasons have to do with perfectionism, self-protection, lack of a workable system in place and being unsure of which tasks to delegate.

Set Up a Fail-Safe System

Before you even start delegating, it’s important to set up a system of some sort - like Basecamp or another online project management system. Keep in mind some of the people you outsource to may have their own system which you can use. This is especially true of online business managers or project managers.

Streamline Your Processes

Go through the processes you use to do the tasks now, and write them down so that you can figure out how to streamline the processes. However, do keep in mind that contractors are mostly concerned with deliverables, so this process is more for your benefit to find out what types of things you can delegate. An example would be repetitive tasks like email management. 

Hire the Right People for the Job

When you know what tasks you want to outsource, it’s important to find the right people for the job or task. To get the most bang for your buck, choose someone to do it who likes doing it, wants to do it, and considers it their expertise. In other words, don’t expect to hire someone who can do everything perfectly. Hire several people to do one or two things each perfectly.

Give Clear Instructions

Provide the contractor with the requirements, deadlines, scope of authority, purpose, goals and objectives, potential problems, and tools available to them (if any are needed such as passwords and sign-on information). 

Ask for Feedback

Open up the communication by asking the contractor if they have any questions based on your instructions. That way they won’t be worried about asking anything even if it’s "stupid." The worst thing you can do is criticize a contractor for asking a question. And of course, you need to get back to them quickly with your answers. 

Focus on Deliverables

In many cases, contractors want you to focus more on deadlines and deliverables than too many details. How they get something done should not be as important as the result of what they got done.

Give Constructive Feedback

As often as is practicable give feedback to your contractors. This is especially true if you would like something done differently than what they turned in but you still want to keep working with the person. Give the feedback by giving compliments on what is good, then what could be better, and finally something good again to help build up the confidence of the contractor.

Allow for Mistakes

The fact is, no one is perfect and contractors will sometimes misunderstand directions. As long as something isn’t blatant such as constant missed deadlines, poor quality of work and so forth, sometimes people make mistakes. If your contractors are afraid of making mistakes, sometimes it will stifle their creativity. So be open to new ideas and potential mistakes, while also being clear on your expectations. 

Finally, the best way to become a master delegator is to let go and just do it. Start with something small such as outsourcing your email customer service, eBook writing, report writing, blog post writing, article writing, social media marketing, and graphic design for projects. Write a list of everything that needs to be done to launch one of your products and try to outsource as much of as you can to see how it comes together. The more you do it, the more you’ll want to do it.

I would love to hear your feedback or tips on delegation.  Please leave them in the comment section of this blog.

Until next time...here's to your success!

Doreen