KESWiN Academy
Home business startup
16 minutes read

Home Business Startup: 5 Steps to Success

A home business startup can be an exciting way to earn money while working at home.  It can also be challenging, especially when you’re just beginning. Here are some things to consider before launching your own home business.  (Note:  these tips also helpful if you have been operating a home business for a while).

If you’re interested in starting a home business, there are some things you need to consider before jumping into the deep end.

First, you should determine what type of business you want to run.  Do you want to sell products or services?  Maybe you want to offer consulting services?  Or perhaps a combination of options.

Once you decide what kind of business you want to start, you’ll need to find out whether you have the skills needed to make it work.  You also need to think about where you’d like to do business.  Would you prefer to operate from home or would you rather open a brick-and-mortar location?

This mini-guide provides you with the 5 steps to starting (or growing) a successful home business.

Step 1. Create A Plan For Your Home Business

Before you launch your home business, make sure you have a plan.  You need to decide what type of business you want to run, whether it’s online or offline, and what products or services you’ll offer.  Then, determine where you will sell those products or services.  Next, figure out how much money you expect to make each month.  Last, but not least, assess whether you have what it takes to succeed on your own.  Or if you need to leverage off the expertise of a home business coach and support of like-minded peers. 

Hope Business Startup Planning

When you join KESWiN Academy, we take your through the Home Business Planning process.  This includes brainstorming ideas, researching the market, assessing for viability, and discovering what compliance requirements you need to meet.  You can also get feedback from our coaches and mentors, as well as from others in our friendly community.

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Step 2. Find The Right Products and Services That You Can Sell

Once you’ve decided what kind of business you want to start, you’ll need to find the right products and services to sell. 

As we continue to move through the economic downturn and limited supply issues in the world, it is a great time to really focus your product lines to a local market, especially if you can source or produce them locally as well.   Marketing and sales can be carried out online as well as offline. 

However, if you’re planning to predominantly sell products online, then research different websites that allow people to buy products.  This will give you ideas for your own business and may even help you identify items you can source, get manufactured or even resell. 

For example, you may be great at making custom designs to print on t-shirts, but you don’t want to manufacture the t-shirts or do the printing of them.    Or you could decide to write a non-fiction book, and choose print-on-demand platforms to manufacture and ship them for you.

In the early days of your home business startup, you might also consider selling services instead of products.  This may be a quicker path to income if you have the relevant skills and experiences to be of value to others.   

Our team inside KESWiN Academy have been sourcing and creating products for a wide range of markets over many years.  They also have worked in service-based fields as coaches, consultants, and mentors.  In other words, as a member you can fast track your success by leveraging off their experiences.

Step 3. Set Up an eCommerce Site for Your Home Business Startup

There are several options available when starting an eCommerce site.  While many are easy, turnkey systems, they also have hidden costs and risks.  Due to the fact that you are building your business on someone else’s “land” or servers.  This is often referred to as “The Cloud”.  But a more accurate term is “digital sharecropping“. 

For example, if you do something that the cloud server owners don’t like, they will close your account down in an instant.  This scenario leaves you locked out of your eCommerce site and unable to operate your business.  For more information on the risks, read this article on digital sharecropping.

Examples of digital sharecroppers are Shopify, Facebook, WordPress.com, Wix, Squarespace, Weebly, Amazon and eBay.  While they allow you to set up a free or low cost online store with multiple payment methods, you are completely beholden to them. 

In some cases, you never get your customer’s contact details, so it is also close to impossible to build repeat business with them.  Which is definitely not one of the steps to home business startup success!

Rather, we encourage you to “cut out the middle person” and build your own eCommerce site.  This way you will be fully in control of your online real estate, as well as have direct contact with your customers.  This makes it WIN/WIN for everyone involved.

Inside KESWiN Academy we teach you how to set up your own online shop using self-hosted WordPress and WooCommerce.  This is low cost, and when you follow our step-by-step training, it’s easy to do. 

Both of these options will help you build a successful eCommerce website for your home business startup.

Step 4. Start Marketing Your Product Or Service

Marketing is what will make your business succeed.  But it’s hard to know where to focus your marketing resources and efforts on.  Especially if they are limited, which for most home business startups is the case. 

Often most entrepreneurial endeavors fail due to lack of marketing investment.  If you don’t have the finances, then you need to put in the time. 

Social media marketing, for instance, is a popular marketing tool  It can be cheap and rewarding from a financial perspective.  But it also requires you being active online for a huge portion of your day, especially if you allow comments.  While comments increase interaction with potential customers, it can also attract trolls, which require monitoring.  So the downside is that it takes your attention away from in and on your business, making sales, etc.

Once you’ve decided what kind of business you want to start, you’ll need to find the right products and services to sell. 

As we continue to move through the economic downturn and limited supply issues in the world, it is a great time to really focus your product lines to a local market, especially if you can source or produce them locally as well.   Marketing and sales can be carried out online as well as offline. 

Other types of low cost online marketing include content marketing (content being blog posts, podcasts, videos and so on), Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), email/newsletter marketing, etc.

Of course, you can also explore paid advertising with Facebook, Google Adwords and other platforms.  This can quickly get expensive though, especially if you don’t choose the right strategy.

Offline options include in-person networking events, local and community newspaper advertising, letterbox drops, directories, signage, and so on.  Again, costs can range from low cost to beyond the reach of a home business startup.

Fortunately at KESWiN Academy we provide marketing training to help you identify which combination is affordable and effective for you. 

Step 4. Grow Your Home Business Startup Over Time

There are several different options available when it comes to running a home business.

  • Start with a small business and then expand as your business grows.
  • Purchase an existing business and add new products or services.
  • Begin with no business at all and build one up from scratch.

Whether you choose to start and grow your home business startup part-time while in paid employment, or jumping in boots and all as a full-time venture is also something to consider.  It may be best to work this as a “Plan B” side gig until it replaces your existing income.  Or you may be suddenly unemployed (and possibly “unemployable”) and need to make this a success as soon as possible.

Either way, as you get started working on your plan, it is important to look at the long-term vision.  You want to build on your success, and plan on growing it.  Possibly you may even consider scaling up in the future as your customer base expands, maybe even taking on employees to help you.

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Bonus Step!  Join a Supportive Community

Whether you are a start-up venture or have been going a while, being part of a like-minded, supportive community keeps you accountable and on track. 

Ideally look for a place where you can ask and gets answers, access step-by-step training, and have access to coaches and experienced mentors.  People who have already “been there, done that” can guide you over obstacles, and fast-track your way to success.

One example of a supportive community is KESWiN Academy.  We have been working with home business owners and solopreneurs since 2008.  In fact, we were one of the online membership community pioneers, mentoring individuals to set up and grow online businesses.  Our clients have been all ages (even in their 80s), from all walks of life and residing all over the globe. 

Consequently, over the years we have developed extensive experience and training in brand development, content and email marketing, WordPress and eCommerce, digital and print book publishing, and other related topics.

Our friendly online community includes a social network, live topic specific workshops and Q&As, interactive group coaching, tailored training courses, an extensive library of articles and downloadable guides, and lots more!

Note: this article’s focus was for an earlier version of KESWiN Academy that mentored members through the non-fiction book writing, publishing, home business building, and marketing journey. We still do offer this service to members. However, as from 2026 our mission is more focused on personal growth and self-actualisation which has similar heroic calls to adventure as the authorship or entrepreneurial journey does. So whether you want to write a non-fiction book, build a home business, or have some other big goal to discover, clarify, enhance and share your hidden treasure, we may be a good fit for you. If you feel this is the case, click here to learn more about KESWiN Academy and our membership.

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KESWiN Academy Team (KAT) articles offer you examples of the training, coaching and support we offer our members. Each article is written by the best person on our team to provide you with information on the specific topic posted. They have an extremely high level of knowledge, experience, skill-sets and wisdom on the subject they are writing about. You are assured that they have traveled the path ahead of you, and can help you avoid the pain and pitfalls that potentially lie in wait for you. If you like the content of the articles, please share with others. Better still, join us inside KESWiN Academy to have direct access to our KATs, Trainers, Coaches and Mentors.

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About KESWiN Academy’s SI Community Membership

We call this “Self-Invested (SI)” Training, as you are, first and foremost, investing in your most important asset – yourself.  However, you are never alone as there will always be real people in our community or on our team able to answer questions, keep you accountable, or cheer you on. 

Plus Deb runs weekly live and interactive coaching calls via Zoom, which you can jump on to get  real-time assistance, find inspiration, or become empowered by adopting strategies that have helped others. 

Our member area has an activity feed, along with topic specific groups with discussion forums, and full access to the PQ Library (see below). There is also SI Community Member Only content, workshops, courses, downloads, templates, events, exclusive offers, and more. 

 Last, but not least, we have the KESWiN Academy social gathering place called the 4Cs Café for Community, Connection, Companionship and Conversation.  This is a great place to network, get to know and build friendships with other members from around the world. 

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About KESWiN Academy’s PQ Library Membership

PQ stands for “Personal Quest” Training. We realise that not everyone wants to share their personal growth and self-actualisation adventures with others. Some people prefer to travel solo. And that’s okay.

With this in mind, we produce a lot of exclusive member only content that is designed to inspire and empower you, even when travelling alone. We provide this as tips, strategies, stories, resources, templates, and more. This is available in multiple formats for you to watch, read, listen to, and even download. 

And every 3 months we publish a series of personal growth and self-actualisation articles in our Potentials Quarterly magazine. This is published in pdf format and delivered direct to members’ personal email inboxes.  Members can then save and read it at their leisure. We try to design it so that it can printed it out if you prefer (without using too much ink). 

Articles in the magazine, and content uploaded to the PQ Library come from a range of contributors, including our members who want to share insights and more from their journey.

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Testimonials About KESWiN Academy

At the start of this page we mentioned that there have been several iterations of KESWiN Academy, dating right back to 2008. The earlier versions were more focused on helping people build online businesses, develop writing and content marketing skills, publish books, and build multiple income streams. Group coaching has always been at the heart of these earlier versions, and there was always an element of personal growth as members identified their KESWiN in order to have the confidence to build their businesses. 

Therefore the testimonials we’ve published below have been gathered from members and clients over the past 17+ years. While many highlight aspects that are different to our current offering with the Academy, they are still valuable for you to look through. Because they are more about KESWiN Academy’s founder, Deb Donnell (who you will be working with), her coaching style, and, most importantly, what benefits members have received when working with her.

Also, as one of our goals is to help you create a life of freedom and autonomy, should you decide to build an online business, or write and publish a book further down the track, you can be confident that Deb and our team have the skills to coach you through this process too. In other words, KESWiN Academy is more than just a personal growth and self-actualisation community! It is a place where you can transform ideas and dreams into reality, no matter what they are!

“This is different to most typical training programs where you buy and listen to the training. One of the key differences is that learning and doing is incorporated into the program. There is a lot of interaction between members and trainers. As a result, you can ask questions. In addition, the people behind it have a genuine go-getter attitude. The material is never stale—it's always cutting edge, and that's fantastic. I feel pretty lucky to have been a part of the Academy. It's not easy—it takes work. But it's a great experience. Certainly, I recommend it to people looking to build an authoritative online presence.”
Dennis Roberts
Dennis RobertsUSA
“I’ve had a really good time as a member. I've learned about effective market research tools and business organization skills. Moreover, I built blogs, wrote articles and I now understand copyright information. Also, we set up social networks and used them as part of the strategy for successful soft marketing. Additionally, mastered a few technical skills, including how to set up a marketing funnel online. The list goes on! Consequently, being part of a small group provides an awesome learning environment where we can all find help, and help others too. We occasionally just socialize and have fun too. I’ve made some awesome friendships inside the Academy.”
Barb Schacher
Barb SchacherUSA
“Most products or coaches assume you know the basics of online marketing and technical terminology, and have technical skills. I know in the end we are each responsible for what we want to create. However, I don’t feel like I’m all alone. The short videos and interactive training events are very helpful. There is always someone available to help with an issue. I’m very grateful to have a safe place to build my income generating business. It makes the journey so much more enjoyable and easier.” (Name withheld at member’s request)
HS
HSUSA
“The Academy has made me really excited about writing! I just needed someone to get me in the habit and doing it. Now I feel like I am on a roll. The presentation on writing our “About Me” page was outstanding and helped me so much!”
Nicole Thomas
Nicole ThomasUSA
“There is too much information on the Internet about marketing. As a result, you can easily get confused about exactly where to start. However, with KESWiN™ Academy, you receive precise instructions in an easy to follow format. Best of all, being part of a group offers support and mentorship. Because it enables everyone to work together and feel part of a team. At the same time, we get to build our own business. Furthermore, the focus on writing helps make writing easier.”
Tania Wilder
Tania WilderAustralia
“The Academy is a safe environment, where I feel I can be myself and ask questions, or offer my ideas. I have a support system of honest, genuine, like-minded people from around the world, who don’t think I’m crazy or stupid to try something different. The training is broken down into small parts, so I can tackle a bit at a time. I have learned both fundamental techniques, and others that I would call advanced. Material is up-to-date and presented in an understandable format. It is so great to have people helping people succeed.”
Kris Newland
Kris NewlandUSA
“The training is a lot more dialogue than presentation. It has helped me transition from learning mode to doing mode. The modules in writing, market research, blogging and business management have been both instructional and hands-on practice. Even though I’m building my own business, I’m not doing it alone. I’m part of a community of people with similar goals. I find plenty of encouragement, peer support, and camaraderie within the network. The result-oriented leaders have high ethical standards, are knowledgeable, current, even cutting edge, and most of all, accessible.”
Bob Young
Bob YoungUSA
“Before I joined, I was just watching and listening to other online marketing training programs with no real plan. Isn’t that crazy? If I hadn’t joined the Academy, I would have hung up my dream by now. Because I had the opportunity to learn with others. Moreover, the trainers’ efforts to make our writing skills exceptional, and adapt the training to our needs is outstanding. Also, it’s powerful having made new friends with people from all over the world. Most importantly, they are willing to step up and help me without question.”
Marshall Joyce
Marshall JoyceUSA
“Writing challenges me. Therefore, I love the videos. I can stop them and move at my own pace. As a result, I get a better understanding. Also, the people are great! I am forming solid relationships. Best of all, I can get help from my peers as well as the trainers. Due to being a member, I have learned a lot about online marketing.”
Heather Hansen
Heather HansenCanada
“The Academy provides low-cost, state-of-the-art training. First of all, I have a road map to follow. Also, people I can connect with. In addition, the trainers are genuinely there for us. Furthermore, they give 120% to ensure we all succeed. They are helping us create businesses that are genuine and legitimate. There is no hype or in your face tactics. This training is so different to anything I’ve experienced before.”
Claire Newell
Claire NewellNew Zealand
“I was having trouble writing content for my blog and understanding social Internet marketing. However, the trainers helped me build up my confidence. Also, the group workshops are a safe place to ask questions and get help. As a result, we can immediately apply what we are learning. Most of all, I have fun building lasting relationships with other members. Most importantly, it’s value exceeds the affordable price I pay as a member.”
Lanette Passarelli
Lanette PassarelliUSA
“The Academy provides a fresh approach to learning online. Most importantly, the mentors and members are real people you can talk to and build lasting relationships with. Moreover, the training is professional and easy to follow. Also, being part of the interactive group workshops is fun. Best of all, you can get your questions answered immediately. Because quick answers are valuable when you have a problem you can't work out on your own.”
Corinne Floyd
Corinne FloydCanada
“Deb has helped me improve my writing skills tremendously. Now, I not only have the confidence to sit and write. But I also have the basic ability to communicate intelligibly while delivering some real value. This was a skill that was well beyond me prior to becoming a member.”
Tom Renfro
Tom RenfroUSA
“I am grateful that Deb took the time to show me how to write diamonds. Because I do believe within all of us there are diamonds that need to be put down on paper. Moreover, when they are inside of us, nobody sees or hears them. And just to think I almost didn't take this course! What a loss I would have experienced. As I write every day I feel a sense of who I am and who I might become. Keep those diamonds coming; there are many of us who need them.”
Greg Gust
Greg GustUSA
“Since joining the Academy, I’ve accomplished more and written more than I did before. Firstly, this is a supportive environment. Secondly, I have peers helping me gauge where I am in the training. As a result, I receive help when I need it. And we bounce ideas off each other. Finally, the knowledgeable trainers and coaches guide us through the Internet business maze. Most importantly, they demonstrate that they actually do care about us achieving our goals.”
Felicia Waren
Felicia WarenUSA
"The eBook Publishing Master Class encouraged me to finish writing my book, and then take the next step to get it published in both print and digital format. It was awesome to produce a real book for my business."
Dr Alan Fayter
Dr Alan FayterNZ
The Goal Setting Workshop was brilliant and thought provoking. It allowed me to become fluid with my writing, and also achieve my personal goal to move into my dream home.
Brenda M
Brenda MNew Zealand

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KESWiN™ Academy is a personal growth and self-actualisation online community with LIVE and interactive coaching, resources, friendships, and support with humans. Enjoy freedom from invasive AI and Chat-bots.

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