People starting out in their first home based business adventure almost always suffer information overload in early stages of trying to get their business up and running. I often refer to this as "taking a drink from a fire hose syndrome".

For first time home business entrepreneur there will be a great deal of "newness" to virtually all aspects of getting their business started. When you combine all of this "newness" along with natural sense of excitement and eagerness, it is easy to understand how people can easily fall prey to feeling of being overwhelmed and lost.

To a degree, confusion/frustration/overload situation frequently encountered in initial startup phase is often similar to old saying about trying to run before learning to walk.

The steepness (is that a word?) of learning curve depends not only upon particular type of business that is being undertaken, but also upon background and skills of person starting business. In any event, when first starting out, people will usually try to move forward too quickly.

I would like to conclude this article with a mention of Accounting and Taxation needs of your business.

Accounting / Bookkeeping

The business entity concept provides that accounting for a business or organization be kept separate from personal affairs of its owner, or from any other business or organization.

This means that owner of a business should not place any personal assets on business balance sheet.

The balance sheet of business must reflect financial position of business alone. Accordingly, two of first things you should do is;

- Open a separate bank (checking or savings) account for business.

- Setup an accounting program for your business. Whether you do it yourself, buy accounting software, or hire an outside source to take care of accounting and taxation for you.

Accounting and Tax Software

Many small businesses, especially home-based businesses, do their own accounting and bookkeeping.

Small businesses are also now exploring idea of using a tax software program to prepare their returns.

Software packages offer convenience, good prices (in most cases) and organization, but can they really replace personal touch of an accountant or CPA?

The use of tax software is a personal decision for each business to make.

=>Accounting Software For Small Business - Every small business needs to know where money went and is going.

Your accounting system may be as simple as using a spreadsheet (Excel, Lotus, etc.), or you may need to purchase accounting software.

There are many accounting programs on market these days, from very inexpensive and simple to very expensive and complex.