BUSINESS PLAN FOR A HOME BUSINESS

One of the best things you can do for yourself before you start your business is to sit down and write your business plan.

Many people who want to start a home business ask if they really NEED a business plan, to which I ask if they really NEED to start a home business.

Writing a business plan for your home based business should be considered essential for many reasons, the most obvious of which is that a business plan is required if you are going to seek funding.

A business plan will also help you gain focus and think through each aspect of your business. It will also help you remain focused when you get discouraged or feel overwhelmed. You can figure out how to deal with possible problems before they occur.

Business plans will vary widely, depending upon what type of business you have, so what may work well for one business may not be suitable for another.

Your business plan doesn't have to be very long, but does have to present you and your business, goals - both short and long term, intentions, and detailed information about your business, in the very best possible light.

Elements of a Business Plan Include:

Objectives

Answer the following questions:

What exactly do you want to accomplish? What are your goals for your business?

Describe your business

 

 What is it that you want to do? What products will you produce? What is your business philosophy?

Define your market

 

What market/s will you focus on? Is there a need for your product or service? Who are you selling to? Why will your business have a competitive edge over other businesses? Do you have a niche?

Draw up a plan of action

 

Explain how you intend to meet your goals. How will you produce the product/service? How will your customers receive your goods?

Define your staff, or suppliers, if any.

Make a time table. Do you expect to reach a certain goal in a specific amount of time?

Calculate your financial requirements

 

Capital costs. How much capital will you need to start-up? Give detailed information about how the capital will be spent on items such as equipment, furniture, appliances etc.

Other monthly costs such as license fees, electricity, transport, packaging, labor, etc.

Sales forecast. How much do you estimate your monthly income to be over the next 12 months? What profit will you make?

Sales and marketing strategy. How and to whom will you market your product?

Pricing. Is your pricing realistic? Is it competitive enough to attract buyers? Is it sustainable and will it yield a profit?

HOW TO USE A CANDY THERMOMETER AND COLD WATER TEST

Making candy requires a special touch. The following are a number of basic guidelines to help you be a successful candy maker.

Using a candy thermometer

If you use a thermometer it must measure up to 180 ˚C (350 ˚F). Test the thermometer before use by placing it in water and then bring the water to boil. The temperature of the water should be 100 ˚C or 212 ˚F at the coast. Make the necessary adjustments for places above sea level which should be a lower boiling point. The boiling point of water drops about 1 ˚C (2˚F) for every 300 m above sea level.

To prevent the glass of the thermometer to crack, first submerge into a glass of boiling water before putting it into boiling sugar syrup. After removing from the boiling syrup, place the thermometer back into the glass with hot water to cool down.

To get the best results, a candy thermometer is essential. However, if you don’t have one, don’t worry, the recipes that you will use are very simple and you can get away without using a thermometer by doing the cold water test. 

Cold water test

The cold water test can be performed to test the temperature of the mixture. Take a teaspoon full of boiling syrup and drop it into a bowl of very cold water. Put your hand in the water and make the drop into a ball. The degree of stiffness of the ball will give an indication of the temperature of the mixture.

Note of Caution: Please be careful when working with boiling sugar. It is extremely hot and care should be taken to avoid spilling and burning yourself.

The candy temperature chart (table 1) gives the different stages of sugar syrup and there uses in making different types of candy.

Table 1 - Temperature Chart (Sugar)

Stage		Temp	Description			Application
Thread	110˚C – 112˚C		The syrup drips from spoon, forms thin threads in water			Glace and candied fruits
Soft ball	11 ˚C -115˚C		Syrup forms ball while in water, but flattens when removed.			Fudge and Fondant
Firm ball	118 C – 120˚C		Syrup forms into firm ball but loses shape once pressed.			Caramels
Hard ball		121˚C – 130˚C		Syrup holds its ball shape, but remains sticky.	Divinity and marshmallows
Soft crack		132 ˚C –143˚C		Syrup will form firm but pliable threads	Nougat
Hard crack		149 ˚C –154˚C		The syrup will crack if you try to form it.	Brittles and lollipops
Caramel		154˚ C –170˚C		The syrup will turn golden brown.	Pralines

Candy Bouguets - a home business opportunity.

Candy bouquets have become popular as gifts and also has the potential to develop in a profitable home business.

If you want to learn how to make candy bouquets, why not have a look at this e-book written by Lana Glass. This 287 page book contains all the necessary information on how to create professional looking candy bouquets.

Improve your baking skills – start a home business

 Starting a home bake business is easier than you think. Maybe you think that you do not have the necessary baking skills to start a baking business. I have developed an e-book (Bake for Profit) setting out all that you will have to know to start such a business. This guide contains topics such as:

1.      What do you have to consider before you get started

2.      Tips for starting up your business and what baking tools and equipment you will require

3.      Some tried and tested cookie and candy recipes that you can use to start a profitable bake business

4.      How to cost your products

5.      How to promote your products

6.      How to find a market

If you need an extra income, a home bake business can be started immediately with minimum costs involved. There will always be a market for home made products, but to produce quality products you have to improve your skills.  With my e-guide you can avoid costly mistakes and get the right recipes that have been chosen for simplicity, quality and profitability. Making cookies and candy can be highly profitable, but then you must view it as a business and start out with a proper business plan. To be successful you will need more than just baking skills. Costing your products, promoting and marketing your products are all important business skills that are necessary to make money from a business venture.

Homemade candy - make money from home

Homemade candy has always been a firm favorite and if you have some knowledge of the basics involved in candy making, you will be surprised how easy most types of candy can be made from your home kitchen. Homemade candy offers a great opportunity to earn money from home. 

Homemade Fudge

The two basic ingredients of all candy are sugar and chocolate and you should know how to boil sugar and how to work with chocolate. Chocolate can be more difficult to work with and for home made candy, sugar is the simplest. If you are interested in starting a profitable home business, you could start with homemade candy. There are many recipes available but not all of them are suitable for business purposes. I have put together 25 well tested and tried recipes and all the recipes in this recipe book are sugar based. However, many types of candy can be covered with chocolate and for this reason some hints are given to melt chocolate and cover candy in liquid chocolate. I have put together this e-book to give you some background of both working with these ingredients and to provide you with some recipes that you can use to start your home candy business. The recipes can be described as traditional and are relatively easy to make.

Here is what you will find in this book:

·       

•      Candy basics

•       Types of candy

•       Tools needed to make candy

•       Twenty five delicious candy recipes

If you are interested in this wonderful opportunity to start a real home business, why not send me an e-mail to vanderwalt.nick@gmail.com and get this candy recipe book for the special offer of $9.99.