Whatever type of business you plan to run from home, there are certain pieces of equipment that you'll need to obtain and various things you'll have to do before you can launch yourself on an unsuspecting public.
Firstly, will your mortgage provider or your landlord allow you to run your business from your home? Check this out before you do anything else - there's no point making grand plans, spending lots of money of advertising and launching a business with a lot of fuss and fanfare only to find you're in breach of your mortgage contract and could potentially lose your home! Secondly, do you have space in your home for your type of business? If you're going to be selling physical products, or have a craft business, you'll need plenty of space to store your products, raw materials and packaging materials.
If you're going to be doing most of your work from a computer, you'll need less space - lots of people start out as 'kitchen table' entrepreneurs, but as your business grows, you may find you need more and more space to devote to it.
Don't forget to make space for filing, books and other equipment.
It's fair to say that you'll need a computer for any home-based business, plus broadband access and a phone line or mobile phone.
You can use free business lines that 'sit' on top of your home landline.
If you're not able to get to the phone during the day, you can use a telephone answering service who will answer the phone for you in the name of your business, take messages for you and pass them onto you by text or email.
With regards to broadband access, check out price comparison sites for the best deals.
If you already have a deal with a supplier for your telephone line, check whether they can provide a better value 'bundle' of services including broadband.
Shop around to find the best business insurance rates and always check to see which insurances are vital and which are just nice to have.
If you're offering beauty treatments, for example, you will almost certainly need public liability insurance.
Be aware that your home contents insurance will be unlikely to cover stock kept in a garage or shed, for example.
Whilst you might not make a lot of money to start off with (although here's hoping!), it's best to set up a business bank account as early as you can.
Again, research the different accounts on offer, see what charges you'll have to pay for different services and find out if any accounts come with useful extras that could save you a bit of extra cash.
Having separate accounts will make your doing your tax return much easier.