HOW TO ACHIEVE EXCELLENCE IN SALES

  Most people are always striving to better themselves. It ' s the
 " American Way ". For proof, check the sales figures on the
 number of self - improvement books touched each year. This is not a
 pitch for you to jump in and start selling these kinds of books,
 but it is a indication of people ' s awareness that in order to
 better themselves, they have to continue essential their
 personal selling ab abilities.
 To excel in any selling situation, you must have confidence, and
 confidence comes, first and foremost, from knowledge. You have
 to know and recognize yourself and your goals. You have to
 identify and accept your weaknesses as well as your primo
 talents. This requires a all heart of personal honesty that not
 everyone is capable of exercising.
In addition to deliberate yourself, you must continue learning
 about people. Just as with yourself, you must be caring,
 forbearing and laudatory with others. In any sales effort, you
 must accept other people as they are, not as you would like for
 them to be. One of the most monotonous faults of sales people is
 umbrage when the prospective customer is slow to apprehend
 or make a adjustment. The successful salesperson handles these
 situations the same as he would if he were asking a bobby-soxer for a
 date, or even applying for a new task.

 Learning your product, making a clear presentation to all around
 prospects, and closing more sales will take a lot less time once
 you know your own capabilities and failings, and penetrate and
 care about the prospects you are calling upon.

 Our society is predicated upon selling, and all of us are
 selling something all the time. We move up or stand still in
 direct relation to our sales efforts. Everyone is included,
 whether we ' re attempting to be a alter ego to a co - labourer, a
 neighbor, or selling multi - million dollar real estate projects.
 Accepting these facts will enable you to fathom that there
 is no such material as a born salesman. Indeed, in selling, we all
 begin at the same starting line, and we all have the same finish
 line as the intention - a successful sale.

 Most assuredly, anyone can sell anything to anybody. As a
 qualification to this statement, let us say that some things are
 easier to sell than others, and some people work harder at
 selling than others. But regardless of what you ' re selling, or
 even how you ' re attempting to sell it, the odds are in your
 favor. If you make your presentation to enough people, you ' ll
 find a buyer. The problem with most people seems to be in
 making contact - getting their sales presentation seen by, read
 by, or heard by enough people. But this really shouldn ' t be a
 problem, as we ' ll clear up next. There is a problem of
 ill humor, but this too can be harnessed to work in the
 salesperson ' s favor.

 We have established that we ' re all sales people in one way or
 another. So whether we ' re attempting to move up from forklift
 driver to warehouse administrator, waitress to hostess, salesman to
 sales employer or from mail order dealer to shepherd of the
 largest sales formulation in the world, it ' s inordinately important
 that we continue learning.

 Getting up out of bed in the morning; doing what has to be done
 in order to sell more units of your product; keeping records,
 updating your materials; regulation the direction of further sales
 efforts; and all the while evolution your own knowledge - - - all
 this very positively requires a great deal of personal
 motivation, discipline, and energy. But then the awards can be
 beyond your wildest dreams, for make no mistake about it, the
 selling profession is the highest paid occupation in the world!

 Selling is gargantuan. It demands the greatest of your
 creativity and productive thinking. The more success you want,
 and the more possessed you are to achieving your goals, the more
 you ' ll sell. Hundreds of people the world over become
 millionaires each month through selling. Many of them were flat
 broke and unable to find a " regular " task when they began their
 selling careers. Yet they ' ve done it, and you can do it too!

 Call up, it ' s the surest way to all the wealth you could ever
 want. You get paid according to your own efforts, skill, and
 knowledge of people. If you ' re ready to become affluent, then think
 seriously about selling a product or service ( preferably
 something exclusively yours ) - something that you " pull out of
 your brain "; something that you write, manufacture or produce
 for the godsend of other people. But fault this, the want ads
 are full of opportunities for challenging sales people. You can
 start there, study, learn from experience, and watch for the
 chance that will allow you to move ahead by leaps and mentality.

 Here are some guidelines that will indubitably improve your gross
 sales, and quite naturally, your gross income. I like to call
 them the Strategic Salesmanship Commandments. Look them over;
 give some thinking to each of them; and transform those that you can
 to your own selling efforts.

 1. If the product you ' re selling is something your prospect can
 dominion in his hands, get it into his hands as quickly as possible.
 In other words, get the prospect " into the act ". Let him feel
 it, weigh it, admire it.

 2. Don ' t stand or sit alongside your prospect. Instead, face
 him while you ' re pointing out the important advantages of your
 product. This will enable you to watch his facial expressions
 and determine whether and when you should go for the close. In
 handling sales literature, hold it by the top of the page, at
 the proper angle, so that your prospect can read it as you ' re
 highlighting the important points.

 Regarding your sales literature, don ' t release your hold on it,
 because you want to control the specific parts you want the
 prospect to read. In other words, you want the prospect to read
 or see only the parts of the sales material you ' re telling him
 about at a given time.

 3. With prospects who won ' t talk with you: When you can get no
 feedback to yours sales presentation, you must dramatize your
 presentation to get him involved. Stop and ask questions such
 as, " Now, don ' t you agree that this product can help you or
 would be of benefit to you? " After you ' ve asked a question such
 as this, stop talking and wait for the prospect to answer. It ' s
 a proven fact that following such a question, the one who talks
 first will lose, so don ' t say anything until after the prospect
 has given you some kind of answer. Wait him out!

 4. Prospects who are themselves sales people, and prospects who
 imagine they know a lot about selling sometimes present
 difficult selling obstacles, especially for the novice. But
 believe me, these prospects can be the easiest of all to sell.
 Simply give your sales presentation, and instead of trying for a
 close, toss out a challenge such as, " I don ' t know, Mr.
 Prospect - after watching your reactions to what I ' ve been
 showing and telling you about my product, I ' m very doubtful as
 to how this product can truthfully be of benefit to you ".

 Then wait a few seconds, just looking at him and waiting for him
 to say something. Then, start packing up your sales materials
 as if you are about to leave. In almost every instance, your
 " tough nut " will quickly ask you, Why? These people are
 generally so filled with their own importance, that they just
 have to prove you wrong. When they start on this tangent, they
 will sell themselves. The more skeptical you are relative to
 their ability to make your product work to their benefit, the
 more they ' ll demand that you sell it to them.

 If you find that this prospect will not rise to your challenge,
 then go ahead with the packing of your sales materials and leave
 quickly. Some people are so convinced of their own importance
 that it is a poor use of your valuable time to attempt to
 convince them.

 5. Remember that in selling, time is money! Therefore, you
 must allocate only so much time to each prospect. The prospect
 who asks you to call back next week, or wants to ramble on about
 similar products, prices or previous experiences, is costing you
 money. Learn to quickly get your prospect interested in, and
 wanting your product, and then systematically present your sales
 pitch through to the close, when he signs on the dotted line,
 and reaches for his checkbook.

 After the introductory call on your prospect, you should be
 selling products and collecting money. Any callbacks should be
 only for reorders, or to sell him related products from your
 line. In other words, you can waste an introductory call on a
 prospect to qualify him, but you ' re going to be wasting money if
 you continue calling on him to sell him the first unit of your
 product. When faced with a reply such as, " Your product looks
 pretty good, but I ' ll have to give some thought ", you should
 quickly jump in and ask him what specifically about your product
 does he feel he needs to give more thought. Let him explain,
 and that ' s when you go back into your sales presentation and
 make everything crystal clear for him. If he still balks, then
 you can either tell him that you think he product will really
 benefit him, or it ' s purchase be to his benefit.

 You must spend as much time as possible calling on new
 prospects. Therefore, your first call should be a selling call
 with follow - up calls by mail or telephone ( once every month or
 so in person ) to sign him for re - orders and other items from
 your product line.\
 6. Review your sales presentation, your sales materials, and
 your prospecting efforts. Make sure you have a " door - opener "
 that arouses interest and " forces " a purchase the first time
 around. This can be a $2 interest stimulator so that you can
 show him your full line, or a special marked - down price on an
 item that everybody wants; but the important thing is to get
 the prospect on your " buying customer " list, and then follow up
 via mail or telephone with related, but more profitable products
 you have to offer.

 If you accept our statement that there are no born salesmen, you
 can readily absorb these " commandments ". Study them, as well as
 all the material in this report. When you realize your first
 successes, you will truly know that " salesmen are MADE - not
 born ".
 

HOW TO GET FREE RADIO ADVERTISEMENT

 The greatest expense you ' re alertness to incur in conducting a
 successful business is advertising.

 You have to advertise. Your business cannot wax and flourish
 unless you advertise. Advertising is the " get-up-and-go - claret " of any
 profitable business. And regardless of where or how your
 advertise, it ' s vim to cost you in some form or another.

 Every successful business is built upon, and continues to thrive,
 primarily, on good advertising. The top companies in the world
 allocate millions of dollars annually to their advertising
 budget. of course, when starting from a garage, basement or
 bake house drink, you can ' t quite match their advertising
 efforts - - - at least not in the creation. But there is a way you
 can approximate their maneuvers without purely spending their
 friendly of money. And that ' s through " P. I " Advertising.

 " P. I. " stands for per inquiry. This benevolent of advertising most
 regularly associated with broadcasting, where you pay only for
 the responses you get to your advertising message. It ' s very
 popular - - rather akin to bartering - - and is used by many more
 advertisers than most people realize. The advantages of PI
 Advertising are all in favor of the advertiser because with this
 generous of an advertising arrangement, you can pay only for the
 results the advertising produces.

 To get in on this " free " advertising, start with a loose bract
 log, and about 100 sheets of filling paper. Next, either
 appointment your public library and start poring through the Broadcast
 Yearbook on radio stations in the U. S., or Standard Ratio and Data
 Services Directory on Spot Radio. Both these publications will
 give you just about all the information you could ever want about
 licensed stations.

 An easier way might be to call or interview one of your local radio
 stations, and ask to borrow ( and take home with you ) their
 current copy of either of these volumes. To purchase them
 outright will cost $50 to $75.

 Once you have a copy of either of these publications, select the
 state or states you want to work first. It ' s usually best to
 begin in your own state and work foreign from there. If you have
 a unbeaten manual, you might want to start first with those
 states reporting the most unemployment.

 Use some old fashioned stale sense. Who are the people most
 likely to be interested in your offer, and where are the largest
 concentrations of these people? You wouldn ' t attempt to sell
 windshield de - solidify canisters in Florida, or suntan lotion in
 Minnesota during the winter months, would you?

 At any rate, once you ' ve got your onset " target " area decided
 upon, go through the radio listings for the cities and towns in
 that area, and jot down in your notepad the names of general
 mangers, the station call letters, and addresses. be sure to list
 the telephone numbers as well.

 On the first try, list only one radio station per compass. Pick out
 the station people most interested in your product would be
 listening to. This can be determined by the programming
 description contained within the date block about the station in
 the Broadcasting Yearbook or the SRDS Directory.

 The first contact should be in the way of introducing yourself,
 and inquest if they would think over a PI Advertising hike.
 You tell the station manger that you have a product you perceive will
 sell very well in his market, and would like to test it before
 happening ahead with a paid advertising program. You must hastily
 point out that your product sells for, say $5, and that during
 this test, you would allow him 50 % of that for each response his
 station pulls for you. Tell that you handle corporeality for
 him: the writing of the commercials, all accounting and
 bookkeeping, plus any refunds or complaints that come in. In
 other words all he has to do is schedule your commercials on his
 log, and give them his " best shot. " When the responses come in,
 he counts them, and forwards them on to you for fulfillment. You
 make out a check for payment to him, and everybody is happy.

 If you ' ve contacted him by phone, and he agrees to look over your
 material, tell him thank you and promise to get a complete
 " package " in the mail to him now. Then do just that.
 Write a short cover letter, place it on top of your " ready - to - go "
 PI Advertising Package, and get it in the mail to him without
 delay.

 If you ' re turned down, and he is not interested in " captivating on "
 any PI Advertising, just tell him thanks, make a code in your
 notebook by his name, and go to your next call. Contacting these
 people by phone is by far the quickest, least expensive and most
 productive method of " exploring " for those stations willing to
 think over your PI proposal. In some cases though, event
 will deem it to be less expensive to make this initial contact by
 letter or postcard.

 In that case, simply address you card or letter to the person you
 are trying to contact. Your letter should be factual in tone,
 straight forward and complete. Present all the details in logical
 order on one page, precisely typed on letterhead paper, and sent
 in a letterhead envelope. ( Rubber - stamped letterheads just won ' t
 get former a first glance. ) Ideally, you should include a
 self - addressed and stamped postcard with spaces for irrefutable or
 negative check marks in answer to your questions: Will you or
 won ' t you over my material and consider a mutually profitable
 " Per Inquiry " advertising campaign on your station?

 Once you have an agreement from your contact at the radio station
 that they will look over your materials and give serious
 consideration for a PI program, move quickly, getting your cover
 letter and package off by First Class mail, perhaps even Special
 Delivery.

 What this means is at the same time you organize your " radio
 station notebook, " you ' ll also want to organize your advertising
 package. Have it all put together and ready to mail just as soon
 as you have a positive response. Don ' t allow time for that
 interest in your program to cool down.

 You ' ll need a follow - up letter. Write one to fit all situations;
 have 250 copies printed, and then when you ' re ready to send out a
 package, all you ' ll have to do is fill in the business salutation
 and sign it. If you spoke of different arrangements or a specific
 matter was discussed in your initial contact, however, type a
 different letter incorporating comments or answers to the points
 discussed. This personal touch won ' t take long, and could pay
 dividends!


 You ' ll also need at least to thirty - second commercials and two
 sixty - second commercials. You could write these up, and have 250
 copies printed and organized as a part of your PI Advertising
 Package.

 You should also have some sort of advertising contract written
 up, detailing everything about your program, and how everything
 is to be handled; how and when payment to the radio station is to
 be made, plus special paragraphs relative to refunds, complaints,
 and liabilities. All this can be very quickly written up and
 printed in lots of 250 or more on carbonless multi - part snap - out
 business forms.

 Finally, you should include a self - addressed and stamped postcard
 the radio station can use to let you know that they are going to
 use your PI Advertising program, when they will start running
 your commercials on the air, and how often, during which time
 periods. Again, you simply type out the wording in the form you
 want to use on these " reply postcards, and have copies printed
 for your use in these mailings.

 To review this program: Your first step is the initial contact
 after searching through the SRDS or Broadcasting Yearbook. Actual
 contact with the stations is by phone or mail. When turned down,
 simply say thanks, and go to the nest station on the list. For
 those who want to know more about your proposal, you immediately
 get a PI Advertising Package off to them via the fastest way
 possible. Don ' t let the interest wane.

 Your Advertising Package should contain the following:
 1. Cover letter
 2. Sample brochure, product literature
 3. Thirty - second and sixty - second commercials
 4. PI Advertising Contract
 5. Self - addressed, stamped postcard for station
 acknowledgement and
 acceptance of your program.


 Before you ask why you need an acknowledgement postcard when you
 have already given them a contact, remember that everything about
 business changes from day to day - - - conditions change, people get
 busy, and other things come up. the station manager may sign a
 contract with your advertising to begin the 1st of March. The
 contract is signed on the 1st of January, but when March 1 rolls
 around, he may have forgotten, been replaced, or even decided
 against running your program. A lot of paper seemingly " covering
 all the minute details " can be very impressive to many radio
 station managers, and convince them that your company is a good
 one to do business with.

 Let ' s say that right now you ' re impatient to get started with
 your own PI Advertising campaign. Before you " jump off the deep
 end, " remember this: Radio station people are just as
 professional and dedicated as anyone else in business - - - even more
 so in some instances - - so be sure you have a product or service
 that lends itself well to selling via radio inquiry system.

 Anything can be sold, and sold easily with any method you decide
 upon, providing you present it from the right angle. " hello out
 there!
 Who wants to buy a mailing list for 10 cents a thousand names? "
 wouldn ' t even be allowed on the air. However, if you have the
 addresses of the top 100 movie stars, and you put together an
 idea enabling the people to write to them direct, you might have
 a winner, and sell a lot of mailing lists of the stars.

 At the bottom line, a lot is riding on the content of your
 commercial - - - the benefits you suggest to the listener, and how
 easy it is for him to enjoy those benefits. For instance, if you
 have a new book on how to find jobs when there aren ' t any jobs:
 You want to talk to people who are desperately searching for
 employment. You have to appeal to them in words that not only
 " perk up " their ears, but cause them to feel that whatever it is
 that you ' re offering will solve their problems. It ' s the product,
 and in writing of the advertising message about that product are
 going to bring in those responses.

 Radio station managers are sales people, and sales people the
 world over will be sold on your idea if you put your selling
 package together properly. And if the responses come in your
 first offer, you have set yourself up for an entire series of
 successes. Success has a " ripple effect, " but you have to start
 on that first one. We wish you success!

HOW TO START A PROFITABLE HOME - BASED BUSINESS

 In these days, it ' s becoming increasingly difficult to make ends
 just with just one source of income. In consequence, more and more people
 are investigating the possibilities of starting their own
 extra - income business. Most of these part - time endeavors are
 in process and operated from the comfort and privacy of the home.

 Most of these people are making the extra money they need. Some
 have wisely and carefully built these extra income efforts into
 full - time, very profitable businesses. Others are just keeping
 persevering, having fun, and enjoying high spirits as never before. The
 important fact is that they are doing something other than
 waiting for the government to give them a handout; they are
 essential their lot in vivacity, and you can do it, too!

 The fields of mail order selling, multi - level marketing, and
 in - home party sales have never been more popular. If any of
 these kinds of extra income cogent ideas appeal to you, then
 you owe it to yourself to check them out. But these aren ' t the
 only fields of endeavor you can start and operate from home,
 with mini or no investment, and learn as you go.

 If you type, you can start a home - based typing service; if you
 have a convey or have access to a trailer, you can start a
 clean - up / hauling service. Simply collecting old newspapers from
 your neighbors can get you commenced in the paper recycling
 business. More than a few powerful housewifes have start up
 success and fortune by starting home and / or apartment cleaning
 services. If you have a field full of flowers, you can make good
 extra money by supplying fresh cut flowers to restaurants and
 help in your area on a regular basis. You might turn a
 ceramics hobby into a auspicious characteristic coffee mug
 business. What I ' m saying is that in materiality, there ' s literally
 no boundary to the ways you can start and operate a profitable extra
 income business from your home.

 The first existent you must do, however, is some basic market
 research. Find out for yourself, first - hand, just how many
 people there are in your area who are interested in your
 proposed product or service, and would be " willing to stand in
 line and pay money for it ". This is declared as defining your
 market and pinpointing your customers. If after checking
 around, talking about your idea with a whole lot of people over
 a name of one to three months, you get the idea that these
 people would be paying customers, your next effort should be
 directed toward the " detailing " of your business plan. The more
 precise and detailed your plan - covering all the bases relating
 to how you ' ll do everything that needs to be done - the easier
 it ' s going to be for you to attain success. Such a plan should
 show you start - up investment needs, your advertising plan, your
 production costs and procedure, your sales program, and how your
 time will be allocated. Too often, enthusiastic and ambitious
 entrepreneur jump in on an extra income project and suddenly
 find that the costs are beyond their abilities, and the time
 requirements more than they can meet. It pays to lay it all out
 on paper before you get involved, and the clearer you can " see "
 everything before you start, the better your chances for success.

 Now, assuming you ' ve got your market targeted, you know who your
 customers are going to be and how you ' re going to reach them
 with your product or service. And you have all your costs as
 well as time requirements itemized. The next step is to set
 your plan in motion and start making money.

 Here is the most important " secret " of all, relating to starting
 and building a profitable home - based business, so read very
 carefully. Regardless of what kind of business you start, you
 must have the capital and the available time to sustain your
 business through the first six months of operation.
 Specifically, you must not count on receiving or spending any
 money coming in from your business on yourself or for your bills
 during those first six months. All the income from your
 business during those first six months should be reinvested in
 your business in order for it to grow and reach your planned
 first year potential.

 Once you ' ve passed that first six months milestone, you can set
 up a small monthly salary for yourself, and begin enjoying the
 fruits of your labor. But the first six months of operation for
 any business are critical, so do not plan to use any of the
 money you business generates for yourself during that period.

 If you ' ve got your business plan properly organized, and have
 implemented the plan, you should at the end of your first year
 be able to begin thinking about hiring other people to alleviate
 some of your workload. Remember this: Starting a successful
 business is not a means towards either a job for yourself or a
 way to keep busy. It should be regarded as the beginning of an
 enterprise that will grow and prosper, with you as the top dog.
 Eventually, you ' ll have other people doing all the work for you,
 even running the entire operation, while you vacation in the
 Bahamas or Hawaii and collect or receive regular income from
 your initial efforts.

 For more details on market research, business planning,
 advertising, selling, order fulfillment, and other aspects of
 home - based businesses, check with the distributor from whom you
 received this report.

LEGALITIES & TAX ADVANTAGES IN A HOME BUSINESS

 Every year, several thousand people develop an interest in " animation
 into business. " Many of these people have an idea, a product or a
 service they hope to nourish into an income forceful business
 which they can operate from their homes.

 If you are one of these people, here are some practical thoughts
 to see before undecided out the " Open for Business " sign.

 In areas zoned " Residential Only, " your proposed business could
 be illegal. In many areas, zoning restrictions rule out home
 businesses involving the coming and flurry of many customers,
 clients or employees. Many businesses that sell or even store
 anything for sale on the premises also fall into this lot.

 Be sure to check with your local zoning office to see how the
 ordinances in your particular area may modify your business
 plans. You may need a best permit to operate your business
 from your home; and you may find that making small changes in
 your plan will put you into the position of congregation zoning
 standards.

 Many communities grant home work permits for businesses
 involve typing, stitching, and teaching, but turn thumbs down on
 requests from photographers, interior decorators and home
 improvement businesses to be run from the home. And often, even
 if you are permitted to use your home for a liable business, there
 will be restrictions that you may need to take into
 consideration. By all means, work with your zoning people, and
 save yourself time, trouble and dollars.

 One of the requirements imposed might be off behaviour parking for
 your customers or patrons. And, symbols are often forbidden in
 residential districts. If you coach, there is partly always a
 limit on the number of students you may have at any one time.

 Recipient zoning search for your business, then, could be as
 simple as filling out an application, or it could involve a
 public constitutionality. The important points the zoning officials will
 study will center around how your business will impress the
 country. Will it increase the traffic noticeably on your
 plan? Will there be a substantial increase in commotion? And how
 will your neighbors endure about this business later their
 homes?

 To repeat, check into the zoning restrictions, and then check
 again to determine if you will need a town license. If you ' re
 selling something, you may need a vendor ' s license, and be
 required to collect sales taxes on your transactions. The sale
 tax requirement would corollary in the need for careful record
 keeping.

 Licensing can be an involved modus operandi, and depending upon the type
 of business, it could even involve the inspection of your home to
 determine if it meets with local health and building and coals
 codes. Should this be the case, you will need to bring your
 facilities up to the local standards. Usually this will involve
 some simple repairs or adjustments that you can either do
 personally, or hire out to a handyman at a nominal cost.

 Still more items to consult: Will your homeowner ' s insurance
 cover the property and liability in your new business? This must
 willingly be resolved, so be sure to chatter it over with your
 insurance agent.

 Tax deductions, which were once one of the beauties of engaging
 in a home business, are not what they once were. To be eligible
 for business related deductions today, you must use that part of
 your home claimed EXCLUSIVELY AND Ofttimes as either the
 principal footing of your business, or place reserved to reconciled
 patients, clients or customers.

 An interesting case in point: if you use your den or a spare
 come-hither as the principal place of business, working there from
 8: 00 to 5: 00 every day, but permit your progeny to watch TV in
 that room during evening hours, the IRS dictates that you cannot
 claim a deduction for that room as your office or place of
 business.

 There are, however, a couple of exceptions to the " exclusive use "
 rule. One is the storage on inventory in your home, where your
 home is the location of your trade or business, and your trade or
 business is the selling of products at retail or wholesale.
 According to the IRS, such storage space must be used on a
 REGULAR Basis, and be separately identifiable space.

 Another exception applies to daycare services that are provided
 for children, the elderly, or physically or mentally handicapped.
 This exception applies only if the owner of the facility complies
 with the state laws for licensing.

 To be eligible for business deductions, your business must be an
 activity undertaken with the intent of making profit. It ' s
 presumed you meet this requirement if your business makes a
 profit in any two years of a five - year period.

 Once you are this far along, you can deduct business expenses
 such as supplies, subscriptions to professional journals, and an
 allowance for the business use of your car or truck. You can also
 claim deductions for home related business expenses such as
 utilities, and in some cases, even a new paint job for your home.


 The IRS is going to treat the part of your home you use for
 business as though it were a separate piece of property. This
 means that you ' ll have to keep good records and take care not to
 mix business and personal matters. No specific method of record
 keeping is required, but your records must clearly justify and
 deductions you claim.

 You can begin by calculating what percentage of the house is used
 for business, Either by number of rooms or by area in square
 footage. Thus, if you use one of the five rooms for your
 business, the business portion is 20 percent. If you run your
 business out of a room that ' s 10 by 12 feet, and the total area
 of your home is 1, 200 square feet, the business space factor is
 10 percent.

 An extra computation is required if your business is a home day
 care center. This is one of the exempted activities in which the
 exclusive use rule doesn ' t apply. Check with your tax preparer
 and the IRS for an exact determination.

 If you ' re a renter, you can deduct the part of your rent which is
 attributable to the business share of your house or apartment.
 Homeowners can take a deduction based on the depreciation of the
 business portion of their house.

 There is a limit to the amount you can deduct. This is the amount
 equal to the gross income generated by the business, minus those
 home expenses you could deduct even if you weren ' t operating a
 business from your home. As an example, real estate taxes and
 mortgage interest are deductible regardless of any business
 activity in your home, so you must subtract from your business
 gross income the percentage that ' s allocable to the business
 portion of your home. You thus arrive at the maximum amount for
 home - related business deductions.

 If you are self - employed, you claim your business deductions on
 SCHEDULE C, PROFIT ( or LOSS ) for BUSINESS OR PROFESSION. The IRS
 emphasizes that claiming business - at - home deductions does not
 automatically trigger an audit on your tax return. Even so, it is
 always wise to keep meticulously within the proper guidelines,
 and of course keep detailed records if you claim business related
 expenses when you are working out of your home. You should
 discuss this aspect of your operation with your tax preparer or a
 person qualified in the field of small business tax requirements.

 If your business earnings aren ' t subject to withholding tax, and
 your estimated federal taxes are $100 or more, you ' ll probably be
 filing a Declaration of Estimated Tax, Form 1040 ES. To complete
 this form, you will have to estimate your income for the coming
 year and also make a computation of the income tax and
 self - employed tax you will owe.

 The self - employment taxes pay for Social Security coverage.
 If you have a salaried job covered by Social Security, the
 self - employment tax applies only to that amount of your home
 business income that, when added to your salary, reaches the
 current ceiling. When you file your Form 1040 - ES, which is due
 April 15, you must make the first of four equal installment
 payments on your estimated tax bill.

 Another good way to trim taxes is by setting up a Keogh plan or
 an Individual Retirement Account. With either of these, you can
 shelter some of your home business income from taxes by investing
 it for your retirement.