You don’t have to be a high school senior or even a college senior to be dressed in your cap and gown. Your home based business deserves a graduation day too! I’m not talking about graduating out of your home,;I’m talking about graduating your business to the next level.

How do you know if your home based business needs to graduate?

You may need to keep running your business from the kitchen table because you’re not ready for a brick and mortar location yet. However your home based business needs to graduate if you do not have a:

dedicated business phone number

The problem: how do you maintain a home phone and a business phone without co-mingling them? Not to mention you are on a shoestring budget and don’t want the added expense of another phone line, right? Well I have a no-cost solution, Google Voice.

business domain (URL)

Using your Facebook fan page address is not the same as owning your business domain. As a matter of fact, neither is yourbusinessname.wordrpress.com,  yourbusinessname.blogger.com or yourbusinessname.posterous.com. You should have a domain that you can fully control and manage.

business email address

Okay let’s be clear on this one…stop using free email services like hotmail, yahoo, gmail to run your business. Why? Simply put, a lost marketing opportunity and credibility. With each email you send you are promoting a free service and not your brand.

professional website

There are many sites that will let you create a website for free. Guess what they look free too! Also using Facebook.com/yourbusinessname is not a professional website either. Think about this, what would you do if Facebook suddenly deleted your page? In this case, just because it’s free doesn’t mean it isn’t costing you.

business address

With today’s technology; Google maps, Google Earth, GPS  and navigation, potential customers with a smartphone can easily find you. Not only do these services provide the ability to zoom in where they can see your entire neighborhood, Google maps may include a picture of your house too. YIKES!

custom business card

Many businesses start off with the free cards from Vista Print. Sadly, you can spot them a mile away. For a few extra bucks you can still use Vista Print but upgrade to a design that is unique to your business.

Graduation day is here

What I am leading up to is this: just because you have a home based business doesn’t mean your potential customers should know it. From the outside, your home business should look just as professional as any other small business. One thing is for sure, with every graduation there is a party. Once you put these small business essentials in place it’s time to celebrate your success. Happy graduation!

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