

Blake Stockton is a staff writer at Fit Small Business focusing on how to start brick-and-mortar and online businesses. He is a frequent guest lecturer at several undergraduate business and MBA classes at University of North Florida. Prior to joining Fit Small Business, Blake consulted with over 700 small biz owners and assisted with starting and growing their businesses.
While you can start a home business on budget, it's not likely you'll build a profitable one without incurring some expense. Calculate your startup costs — the amount of money you need to open up shop. It's okay if you don't know specific costs, but you want to get as close as possible, perhaps even over-estimate expenses. Here are common start-up expenses:

If you know multiple languages, then this is the job on our home-based business ideas list for you. As a translator, you can service businesses and clients in a number of different ways. You can translate articles, press releases, ebooks, or other written work. You might also translate videos, podcasts, or contribute to international closed captions for a variety of visual products. Moreover, you might connect with international businesses to serve as a translator for meetings or phone calls.

Once you’ve registered your home business as a legal entity, the next step is to open a business bank account. Having a business bank account effectively separates your personal and business expenses so you can avoid cash flow issues. Additionally, separating personal and business finances helps to ensure a smoother federal tax audit, if one were to ever occur.