While offices are opening back up, many employees don’t want to return after experiencing (and loving) a flexible work schedule for the last eighteen months. In a recent survey highlighted in a Fortune article, 2,700 office workers across nine countries were polled and more than a third would quit their job if they were forced to go back into the office full time. What does this mean? “To me, the eternal optimist, this spells opportunity, specifically for the would-be entrepreneur who wants to build a home-based business and is willing to do the hard work necessary to turn it into something wildly successful,” says Gayle Martz, an entrepreneur and author of IT’S IN THE BAG, a business book that outlines how she started a multi-million dollar business from nothing. Martz built the Sherpa Pet Trading Company into a major international business and the name SHERPA into a recognizable global brand at a time when she had virtually no home, no money, and was out of a job as an airline hostess.

If you are entrepreneurial-minded, Martz offers advice that could help you start that business in her book IT’S IN THE BAG. While she doesn’t have an MBA, she did survive and thrive in the pet industry for over thirty years. “I began at the bottom, was knocked around, and kept on climbing the mountain until I achieved success. Believe me, if I could do it, so can you—and if you have a home, you may be starting with more than I did!” says Martz.

Martz believes businesses need to be guided by basic principles. In her experience, a solid foundation for a business is composed of these four main elements:

Bulletproof Business Plan

An idea is not a business plan. “Even if you have the most original idea in the world, it means nothing without a proper foundation,” says Martz. Part of this foundation is a business plan. This will be a strategic tool for entrepreneurs. Network with your contacts and also search the internet for guidance, tutorials, and professionals to assist with making a business plan.

Financial Clarity

“One thing I cannot stress enough: get a terrific accountant whom you trust, and even then, don’t trust that person blindly,” says Martz. It is critical to know and understand the financials of your own company, so make it a habit to go over the books regularly and if you don’t understand something, ask your accountant. “If your finances aren’t on the up and up, your company will be on the down and down,” says Martz.

Trustworthy Employees

Do not rush the process of hiring an employee. Take time to check out their experience and interview them to make sure they see your vision and will be willing to work hard alongside you to make it come true. “My mother would always tell me to be skeptical, not impulsive when hiring employees,” says Martz.

Strong Marketing and Media Strategy

“Your website needs to be perfect, your social media marketing plan forged in steel, your connections solid,” says Martz. Being active and engaging on all the social media platforms is very important. Target your market and find your community to help spread the word about what you are doing.

If you are thinking of starting an innovative business and would welcome some inspiration and guidance, check out the book IT’S IN THE BAG that is available in paperback and on audiobook.

© 2020 Silver Disobedience Inc.