Let’s face it: Computers are here to stay. Like them or not, they are valuable tools that can find customers, manage products and services, track income and expenses, and open dozens of new opportunities for your home business. So, no matter what your experience – or inexperience – with computers, you must know how to use them to increase profits. Your competitors do!

Computers are simply tools that can do mundane work – add and subtract, write and read, and store information – faster and easier than people can. As efficient tools they can free you up to do more creative work. Computer software today can manage projects, help with checking, make writing and marketing easier, and many other tasks. They can also take you to the new world of the Internet were millions of dollars of products and services are bought and sold each day, much of it by home-based businesses. The following chapters will give you specifics of using computers to increase profits for each of the more than one hundred home businesses outlined on this website.

A successful home-based business, like any other business, requires careful planning. Just as you wouldn’t travel to an unfamiliar destination without a road map, you can’t meet your business goals without a carefully planned approach. As you consider a home-based business, give plenty of thought to the seven questions and their answers in each of the profiles. This will help you determine if a particular opportunity is the right one for you. Now let’s move on to the specific home business profiles.