Keys to Success for Home Inventory Service Business Owners

A recent visitor to the Home Inventory Business Forum asked for advice for someone considering getting into the business. I responded with my opinion of the skills required for success.

In my opinion, these are:

** Your business skills. There is a fairly significant ramp-up period before you'll begin to generate steady income, so your ability to control expenses while increasing your profile (i.e., advertising investment) is critical. Cash flow will be the key in the first six months.

** Your marketing and sales abilities. Simply put: If you're not comfortable selling yourself, this is not the business for you. At least initially, you ARE your business. You are asking strangers to let you into their homes and you'll list every (well, not EVERY) worldly possession they own. If you can't build credibility with prospects, you won't have customers. If you can't build relationships with prospective referral sources, you'll struggle ... because frankly, early on you'll get most of your clients from personal relationships or referrals, not from your website or any advertising you do.

** Persistence. Every business owner on here will tell you that they ran into roadblocks as they worked to launch their home inventory service business. It could be technical things -- computer or software issues, an equipment malfunction -- or cash flow problems (investing in your startup with no promise of immediate revenues) or even overcoming your own hesitations about running your own business (that one usually comes with the filing of your first tax return -- or paying your first estimated tax payment -- if you've never been self-employed before).