There are lots of reasons why you should own a home based business, the main one is to make money. There are plenty of benefits to having a home based business, the ability to work at home, spend more time with family members, and create a greater income than you could ever have thought possible. Now, with all of these benefits, you must remember the things needed to start a home based business.(1) What kind of home based business are you interested in? What areas of expertise do you have? What abilities and interests will help guide you towards setting up the best home based business for you.(2) You really need to take into consideration the amount of time you have to devote to your business, and what amount of time you need to devote to your family. Remember that owning and beginning a business is more time consuming in the beginning. Allow yourself plenty of time to be with your family and to enjoy the things you like to do.(3) Have you planned out a strategy for beginning your new business. To make money, you must spend money in your business. Fortunately internet businesses have low start up cost. Talk to a financial expert on ways to adjust your personal budget with that of your business. Where should you put profits from your home business? Should they go back into the business or into a different account? These are important questions you need to ask to maximize your income.Lastly, what kind of marketing strategy do you have? Are you talking to as many people as you possible can? Business cards, flyers, telephones, and social media (Twitter, Facebook, etc.) are all important resources. When you work at home, it is essential that you take advantage of all the tools and resources at you disposal. The initiative you take to use these tools and resources will pay off in with new ideas, new ways to use current technology, and new marketing strategies to make more money online. With just a little effort and planning, you can make money online!

Estimating your assets value:

Typically, one of the first questions a business owner will ask me is, “how much will the assets bring at an auction”. After taking the time to review the assets, the auctioneer should give the client a conservative estimate of the sale based upon his experience and the current market trends. It is important that the company give realistic expectations so the seller can make informed decisions based on their best interest.

Compensation and Expenses:

Is the company you are considering working for you or against you? The agreement you decide may determine this.

A business owner should carefully consider how the auction company is compensated. The most common commission structures include: straight commission, outright purchase of assets, guaranteed base with a split above to both auctioneer and seller, guaranteed base with anything above going to auctioneer or a flat fee structure.

In a straight commission structure, the company is paid an agreed upon percentage of the total sale.

In an outright purchase agreement, the auctioneer simply becomes your end buyer. The company purchases your assets and relocates them. While this can be an option in some unique situations, keep in mind that they will want to purchase your assets at a very reduced price to make a profit at a later date.

In a minimum base guarantee, the auction company guarantees the seller that the auction will generate a minimum amount of sales. Anything above that amount either goes to the auction company or split with the seller. While a seller might feel more comfortable doing an auction knowing that he is guaranteed a minimum amount for his sale, keep in mind that it is the best interest of the auction company to secure a minimum base price as low as possible in order reduce their financial liability to the seller and secure higher compensation for the sale.

In a flat fee structure, the auctioneer agrees to show up for the sale and call the auction. There is no incentive for the auctioneer to get the best prices for your assets. The auction company is compensated regardless of the outcome of your sale.

What is the best option for business owners? In my experience, an agreed upon straight commission structure. This puts the responsibility on the auction company to offer the best outcome for everyone involved. There is an incentive for the auction company to work hard for both parties, set up and run a professional sale, get the highest bid and sell every item on the inventory. Successful auctions translate to a higher bottom line for both the seller and the auction company.

Auction Expenses:

In most auction agreements the expenses to conduct an auction are passed to the seller. If the auction company pays for the expenses, it is simply absorbed in higher commission rates.

All expenses should be agreed upon in advance in a written contract. Typical expenses will include the costs of advertising, labor, legal fees, travel, equipment rentals, security, postage and printing. A reputable auction company will be able to estimate all expenses based upon their experience in previous auctions. An agreement should be actual costs charged as expenses, not an estimated amount.

Advertising is typically the highest cost in conducting an auction. The auction company needs to set up an advertising campaign that will promote the sale to its best advantage and not overspend to simply advertise the auction company.

Once the auction is complete, the auction company should provide a complete breakdown of all expenses to the seller, including copies of receipts within the auction summary report.

Buyer’s Premium:

What is a buyer’s premium? If you attend auctions regularly, you are very familiar with this term. The auction company charges a fee to the buyer when they buy an item at auction.

The buyer’s premium has been around since the 1980′s and is standard auction practice. It was first used by auction houses to help offset costs of running brick and mortar permanent auction facilities. Since then, it has spread to all aspects of the auction industry. It is prominent in online auctions and allows auction companies to cover added expenses incurred from online sales.

It is the responsibility of the auction company to provide clear disclosure of the buyer’s premium to both the buyers and the sellers. Those not familiar with auctions are often taken back by the buyer’s premium. They looked upon it as an under handed way for the auction company to make more money. Reputable auction companies will provide full disclosure within the auction contract, advertisement and bidder registration.

Typically, an auction company will charge online buyers a higher buyer’s premium percentage than those attending an auction in person. Extra fees are incurred with online bidding and are charged accordingly to online buyers. This provides the seller a level playing field for both online buyers and those attending the auction in person. Without the buyer’s premium, there is no way to do this.

Pre-Sales:

We’ve all been there. We’re looking forward to attending an auction only to find that some items were sold prior to the auction date.

As an auctioneer with over thirty-six years of experience, I can honestly state that pre-sales will hurt an auction. When a company decides to liquidate their assets, it is easy to sell off high-end pieces of equipment through online sources, equipment vendors or to other businesses. The seller receives instant cash and avoids paying a commission to an auction company.

Auctioneer’s find themselves appearing to acting in a self-serving capacity when potential clients say they are planning to sell off parts of their inventory prior to an auction. It’s hard not to consider the auctioneer’s commission when they warn you not to pre-sell anything. Yes, the auctioneer wants to earn a commission on those sales but it is more important that the auctioneer protect the sale from potential negative backlash that comes from pre-selling. The buying public knows when an auction has been “cherry picked” prior to the sale and it reflects in their bidding. It becomes a sale of “leftovers” and that impacts prices.

A buyer who purchases prior to the auction usually does not attend the sale. They already bought equipment at a good price with no competition. If they do attend the auction, they tend to let others know of their great pre-sale purchases which again, impacts prices and the overall excitement of the sale.

It is important to understand that auctions work best with a complete inventory. You want competition on your higher end equipment. The easy to sell items make it possible to gain respectable prices for hard to sell items.

When a business owner decides to liquidate their equipment assets, there is only one opportunity to do it right. Hiring a reputable auction company will assist you with a professional, orderly and timely liquidation.

OK – so only about 2500 people in the world can pronounce the name of the volcano that had the entire globe at a near-standstill for travel in the skies. If you had been among those stranded how would your home based small business have fared?Let’s say you’re on a business trip, you’ve got a sitter with the kids at home, you’ve taken your mate with you and you’re supposed to be home Saturday. That leaves Sunday to recuperate and Monday to start a very busy at home based business week. Instead, along comes Eyjafjallajokull, spewing ash into the skies covering half of Europe and grounding planes all over the world for days.All of a sudden you’re faced with spending an extra 5 days waiting for dust to settle. No way you’ll be home before Thursday. So you faced with additional expenses:
five days more lodging,
five days more food,
five days more transportation — unless you’d rather wait those five days on a cot with 10,000 of your closest friends with zero privacy, zero quiet, and almost zero cleanliness.Add to that the cost of the sitter for your kids — assuming you could find someone who could have stayed with them longer.The point is, if you have a JOB — it would be tough. But if you have set up a system to earn extra money from home to go with that job, these unforeseen added expenses would be much easier to stomach.But if you’ve created the life-style you desire with a top home based business, chances are, your work from home company would be just fine without you for a few days. If you’ve set up multiple streams of cash, like we teach, you’ll still be making enough money to support the extra expenses. And the kids? Well, we imagine you’ve got a great support system that can help take care of them in your absence.And any good top home based business is set up with Skype so you can check in “real time” to let the kids know when you’ll be home.One of the biggest benefits of having an at home based business, that you’ve set up well, is that it will weather most storms — even the occasional volcano.By the way, its pronounced: AY-yah-fyah-lah-YOH-kutl. Can I buy a vowel?