Running a business empire from home might sound like an impossible task: after all, you need a professional office space, right? 

Well, don’t jump to conclusions too quickly. It turns out that more and more people are finding that they can run enterprises from the comfort of their homes, simply by coordinating everything from a distance. 

Here’s how it works, step by step: 

Step 1: Set Up An Online Brand

The first step is to set up a digital presence online. The form this takes depends heavily on the type of business you intend to run. But usually, it involves ad placements, a social media presence and, of course, a website. 

Don’t publish it until you’re ready to go, but do set it up in advance. 

Step 2: Build Your Supplier Relationships

If you have suppliers, the next step is to build relationships with them. You don’t need a commercial premise of your own to manage stock. Instead, you can simply run this through a third-party company that provides warehousing and fulfillment. 

Step 3: Explore Hiring Remote Employees

If you’re going to run a business from home, you’ll need to look into hiring remote employees. Most companies do this by only paying remote workers for tasks they complete successfully. 

So, for instance, if you’re thinking of starting an essay-writing service, you might only pay contractors for the projects they complete successfully, a week in arrears. 

How you structure this depends very much on your industry and the level of trust you have in your people. However, if you can’t think of a work-based method of testing people, you can always conduct traditional interviews via Skype. 

Step 4: Set Up Remote Worker Management Tools

The next step is to think about which free project management tools you’ll need to use to make your project a success. This stage usually involves downloading an industry-specific platform that allows you to assign work, adjust schedules, track employee location and may payments. 

Step 5: Consider How Workers Will Travel

Next, you’ll want to think about how your workers will get around (if that’s a necessary part of your business). Should they use their own cars? Or do you require other modes of transport. 

Some companies, for instance, find that using bicycles is a better option, especially for food delivery. 

Flex Fleet’s commercial truck rental options are also worth considering. Having the ability to use vehicles on an ad hoc basis can really help some business models. 

Step 6: Ask Yourself If Your System Is Complete

Finally, ask yourself whether your business processes are complete and can be run from home. With a combination of remote working and delivery, you’ll find that they can, but that’s by no means guaranteed. Think through the customer process and how it will come across at their end. Ask yourself whether you would be happy with the level of service, or if you could enhance it in some way. 

After you go through that process, it’s time to publish your site and launch your brand. Good luck!