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Home-based Businesses

Home-based Business Guide

  • FLO prepared the Home-based Business Guide to answer many of the questions you may have regarding starting and operating a home-based business.

Can a spouse set up a home-based business in any country?

FAM Regulations for Home-based Businesses Overseas

Home-based Business Career Development Program: Proven Tools and Techniques for Finding Legitimate Home-Based Jobs and Freelance Work on October 8, 2008 (9 a.m. - 4 p.m.) at the Foreign Service Institute, Arlington, VA
Open to Foreign Service Family Members and Department of State employess contemplating retirement) FLO, in partnership with the FSI Transition Center, is pleased to host the this workshop presented by Staff Centrix, publishers of the Rat Race Rebellion and 2-Second Commute. This workshop is designed to teach participants how to locate the legitimate employment and freelance leads - and how to spot the scams - and empower them to develop home-based careers that are family-friendly, financially rewarding, professionally satisfying, portable, and in pace with the rapidly-evolving needs of the 21st century marketplace. Specifically, participants will learn to determine if they are a good candidate for home-based work, to customize their resume, to conduct effective home-based job searches online, to find “telework friendly” companies that routinely hire home-based workers, and more. Register by emailing FSITCTraining@state.gov. You MUST be confirmed in order to attend this workshop. Read more

Home-based Business Web Sites

Business Plan Web Sites

  • Home Business Research.com - http://www.homebusinessresearch.com/index.html - information tools to build your home-based business.
  • Bplans.com - http://www.bplans.com/g - provides many resources to assist in the development of a business plan.
  • My Own Business.com - http://www.myownbusiness.org - offers a free course on starting your own business (plus several ones that are not free) plus the following sections: Business (B) Plan, B-Communications, B-Organizations, B-Insurance, Real Estate Location, Leasing, Accounting & Cash Flow, B-Loans & Finance, Ecommerce and Online marketing, B-Franchise, Small B-Marketing, and Expanding and Handling Problems.
  • New England Business Service (NEBS) has an interactive business planning tool that walks individuals through the steps of writing a business plan.
  • Palo Alto - http://www.paloalto.com - provides software, books, and interactive tools for business planning, marketing, and business growth. Planning software includes Business Plan Pro (US$99.95), Marketing Plan Pro (US$99.95 -"The easiest and most powerful way to write a business plan "), Cash Compass (US$149 -"Powerful financial management software that combines budgeting, planning, and forecasting").
  • Score.org - - http://www.score.org/template_gallery.html - provides a template gallery which contains real business plans and financial and accounting statements (e.g,"A Business Plan for a Start-Up Business", "Start-Up Expenses", etc.)
  • Small Business Administration - http://www.sba.gov/starting/indexbusplans.html - offers a tutorial and self-paced activity to produce a road map for a successful business plan. Also see http://www.sba.gov/starting_business/startup/guide.html for their complete Small Business Startup Guide intended to serve as a roadmap for starting your own business and includes numerous electronic links.
  • VentureCoach.com - http://www.venturecoach.com - a web site helping executives and leaders build world-class organizations and world-class careers.
  • The Wall Street Journal 's Center for Entrepreneurs - http://www.StartupJournal.com provides a free tool kit for establishing a mini-plan, plus sections on business ideas, franchising, financing, technology, and running a business.

Business Start-Ups Associations

  • Association of Small Business Development Centers - http://www.asbdc-us.org/
    Each Small Business Development Center around the country has its own personality, but they all share one mission - to help you grow your business.
  • National Association for the Self-Employed - http://www.nase.org/
    Here you can discuss issues important to business owners, and they offer a health insurance plan, too.
  • National Business Incubation Association - http://www.nbia.org/
    Incubators offer office space, telephone service and light manpower for a very small rent. They tend to help businesses that are likely to create jobs or provide some benefit to the community.
  • Service Corps of Retired Executives - http://www.score.org/
    This is an excellent place to go for advice and to find a mentor.

Information provided by the Family Liaison Office
Contact the Family Liaison Office

Home-based Business Courses and Workshops