How Home-Based Business Entrepreneurs Think

By Dinar P. Wiria-Atmadja
Posted Friday, September 10, 2004

Too many people are trying to start their home businesses with an ordinary employee's way of thinking. This has become a common reason why not long after sitting down and giving it a fair look into even the most lucrative business opportunity they bump into, they put it away and decide not to take any chances.

What has happened here is that the most lucrative business opportunity has been looked into by an ordinary 9-to-5-worker, who appears NOT to be business-minded.

If you are like most people, you have probably considered starting your own business yourself. But above all, you have to understand that to make into a successful Business Entrepreneur, one has to change their way of thinking first.

1. Do not expect fast cash!

Besides gambling or winning a lottery, working as an employee is the only way to get 'fast' cash… 'fast' as in 'in-25-working-days'. This kind of cash is always certain to come in as long as you work from 9 to 5 for your boss. But as you probably already know it, as soon as you stop, the money stops.

True entrepreneurship-minded people know that it takes time to develop an 'attack plan' for their businesses. It takes time to build a strong and solid business, which delivers ongoing income through many years.

True Business Entrepreneurs hold on to this truth, "We reap what we sow, but the harvest is never in the same season as the planting."

2. Aim for Job Security or Financial Security?

Employees would rather have job-security. Why? Simple: the income is secure. As long as you loyally work from 9 to 5, you will for certain get your cash! The problem with a typical job is that when you stop, the money stops.

The stark fact is: one day you might get sick and won't be able to go back to work. Sooner or later you will retire. Companies get broke and have to release their employees. No matter what the situation, as soon as you stop working, the money will stop coming.

So much for secure income…!

A job with secure income is necessary for those who has not set up their own business yet. True. But a true Business Entrepreneur won't settle merely for job-security. He aims for much more, such as financial security. No, he won't have fast cash. And no, he won't have any secure income yet - at least not in the beginning. And often, he won't have any income at all from his new business for the first few months.

Business entrepreneurs think of the big picture. What they do is building assets from which his money will come in month after month, year after year from work he is doing now! The money will not come now. It might not even come for the next few months. But as soon as his business is up and running, it will keep generating income for him, even when he chooses to stop working!

And that is financial security!

3. Generate Passive Income

Financial freedom is not measured by how much money you earn by working, but how much money comes in with only little or no work at all. This later kind of income is called passive income. This fact has been known for decades by real wealthy people.

Successful and wealthy entrepreneurs do only little work and sometimes it is even possible to do the work only once but still generate recurring income on it. Imagine a song or a book writer. They write their songs or books once but get paid forever on it. This do-it-once-get-paid-forever type of income is called residual income.

Most people who have attained financial freedom have other people working to generate income for them. Earning money by other people's effort is called leveraged income.

As hard as it may seem, to create leveraged income, you need to have your own business where other people work to generate income for you. Any business. Whether it is a traditional business, franchise, small business, internet based or home based.

Employees work to generate secure income. Business Entrepreneurs work to build assets with income streams which generates for him ongoing passive income (either residual or leverage income or both). In other words Business Entrepreneurs work to build himself -what I would call- a 'money-machine' which is designed to generate ongoing income.

Whereas the Employee can not stop working because otherwise he will lose his income, the Business Entrepreneur will have money coming in constantly, even when he chooses not to work, simply because it is his assets that generate residual and leverage income for him.

4. Investments

It is common for people who seek job security to hesitate to invest. The reason is understandable: for some of us the risks of investing in a business are just too much to handle.

A true Business Entrepreneur understands that in order to build -what I would call- a 'money-machine', investments are necessary. There is just no such things as businesses without investments. He knows that it takes time and effort to develop a successful business. But he also knows that investing money is just as important!

Sometimes it takes the Business Entrepreneur a year or two before he can finally reap the big success. Sometimes even a bit more. It takes a couple of years of investing time, effort and money. But this is not too hard for him to handle. A true Entrepreneur thinks long term. He knows that in the end, his working and money investing will finally pay off!

A Home Based Business Entrepreneur would only have to invest just 5-10 hours a week for a couple of years and he would only have to make low budget investments into his home based business. And at the end of the time of working and investing, our Entrepreneur would have turned it into a significant amount of residual income stream!

I'm not talking about money that comes in today and is gone tomorrow but income that keeps coming in month after month, year after year… money that -as Gery Carson has put it- "when you've left this planet continues to provide for your spouse, children, or grandchildren."

By then you would think that all your valuable time and money you have spent would be worth it.

Commonly an ordinary employee, who fears too much to invest, works hard to receive his pay check every month. Most likely he even retires broke. Before he knows it, he leaves the planet with nothing to leave for his family.

A true Business Entrepreneur is prepared to invest. He knows by investing in his business he is building assets that would generate passive and residual income for him throughout his years on this planet and the years of his grandchildren.

About the Author
Dinar P. Wiria-Atmadja is a home-business entrepreneur who lives in Jakarta, Indonesia, and the owner of (http://www.financialfreedomawaits.com)