When starting a business it is important that the owner be well informed and prepared for any challenge. Small Business Bible is a site intended to guide budding and experienced entrepreneurs who plan to start a new home based business or a small business firm. This site provides comprehensive, easy to understand information on how to start up, maintain and solve problems in small business. Each section of the site has a variety of articles related to specific areas of small business and includes little known tips and pieces of advice for business owners at any stage. E-commerce is a rapidly evolving business mechanism which allows small businesses to reach customers worldwide. It is essential that a small business owner understand the intricacies of how to handle business online and in person to be able to compete in a global market. Small Business Bible ensures that you learn everything about handling a small business from its inception. The information found in the articles will help you set up your business, decide what style of business is best for you, get funding for start up and expansion, handle stress, help with tax filing and even recover from business losses. Home-based Business Setup Setting up a successful home-based business needs organization, patience and professionalism. As a matter of fact a home-based business is popular only because it requires less setup cost. A home-based business setup provides an owner the flexibility and the freedom of creating his own schedule. The one issue of concern before starting a home-based business is the availability of resources necessary for the business. The Legal Side Find out the requirements of the state and the locality for authorization and zoning regulations. * Next choose a legal form and a business name to register your home-based business. * Consult an attorney who specializes in business law as to verify the procedure of registering your business. * Once you have all the information you need to start the business you need to address the issue of taxes since you will need to file taxes yearly. * You also need to obtain state permits and license if the products or services you put on the market are taxable. * Having all this information in place is only the first step in starting a business. The Need of a Business Plan For a successful home-based business setup, what you require is a good business plan. You need to write a good business plan which includes an account of what you are selling, who could be the potential clients, how much money you would need for its setup and an advance book-keeping of the income and expenses. Establishing Customer Base Once the business is up and running you need to find the customer base for your product or service. * Who, where and how are the questions that normally go through the minds of new entrepreneurs. It is necessary to start building a contact list of potential clients. * Once the client list is established, you should work on getting business referrals so that these clients will not assume that your business is a scam. Having the list and referrals in place will enable the customers to do the advertising for you, by recommending your product or services. Getting Paid after your Home-based business setup Every business experiences "slow-paying clients" who can make the process of business growth quite difficult. In this situation, you need: * To bait them by stating that your services with them will greatly improve when payments are made on time. * One way to eliminate this problem is to define payment terms in advance and having a percentage of the total money owed paid on order, and the balance on delivery. It is a good idea to have clients sign agreements that state the payments terms. The satisfaction earned through creating and operating a successful home-based business is wonderful and rewarding. Indeed a home-based business setup is a great relieve in your business life. Long Term Client Relationships All businesses, regardless of size, need clients. Keeping the clients you have is better then acquiring the new one. As a matter of fact it costs much more to get a new client then to make an existing client happy. Client relationship management (CRM) is about treating customers with respect and offering them services that cause them to make repeated transactions. And also about giving clients precisely what they want according to their personal preference. Good communication and human relation skills are requirements for good and long-term client relations. A long term client relationship strategy includes: * Deliver on your promises If the business cannot deliver on the product or services offered any other efforts made are useless. This simply means be sure you can follow through on your promises or claims or do not bother making them. When the focus is on the customer instead of on the products or services, a business can lose customers due to not keeping the most basic promises on products and services offered. To keep customers loyal, it is necessary to nurture them first by making sure that you deliver what you promise. * Treat your customers well It is important that you treat customers with the respect they deserve from the start. Building strong customer relationships requires that businesses treat their customers as long-term prospects from the very first transaction. Treating customers respectfully from the beginning can engender long-term customer loyalty. * Go beyond An ideal way to keep a customer for life is by consistently exceeding expectations and providing services that are always above par. Establishing criteria for what your customers can expect from your business gives a base from which to start and enables the business to find ways to improve upon its customer service. Customers are attracted to businesses that have a great product or services and treats them like royalty.