HOW TO START A HOME-BASED RESUME WRITING BUSINESS
Do you find yourself at work daydreaming of running a home-based
business, only to become paralyzed by the fear of start-up costs
and how to get started? If you are a good listener who enjoys
helping people and have skills in the areas of researching,
writing, and formatting documents on the computer, you might
want to consider becoming a resume writer. Make no mistake - the
industry is huge and competitive, and you will not get rich
quickly. You can depend on a steady income if you work hard, but
it won't be immediate. The national salary average for a
home-based resume writer ranges from $25,000 to $100,000
depending on how much marketing you do, how many clients you can
manage weekly, how much you charge, and if you are working for
yourself, in partnership with someone, or employing
subcontractors to write your clients' resumes and cover letters.
GETTING STARTED
If you are currently working and are not in a financial position
to take a risk, keep your job and start slowly by working only
in the evenings and on weekend. As a home-based entrepreneur,
you must feel comfortable bringing clients into your home. If
you have small children and your home does not have a separate
entrance, make sure someone is able to watch your children to
avoid interruption. Make sure your family is supportive and is
willing to keep the house clean and quiet when you know you are
expecting a client. If you are not comfortable with meeting
clients in person, you can decide to work strictly over the
Internet. Some resume writes meet at local libraries and coffee
shops to conduct their client in-take interviews.
START-UP COSTS
To succeed as a resume writer does require a lot of
determination and hard work, but it does not have to cost an
unreasonable amount of money to get started. Start up costs will
vary depending on your investment. To begin, you will want to
purchase an up-to-date computer with high-speed Internet access
and a good word processor such as MS Word or WordPerfect.
Ideally, you should have a wireless laptop so you can sit
somewhere comfortably when you work or for when you want to take
your computer on the road for whatever reason. You will also
need a laser printer, a desktop or internal fax (such as
e-fax.com), and a second telephone line if you live with people
who use the phone a lot. Supplies include toner and resume paper
(http://www.southworth.com) if you are providing resume prints
to clients (usually local resume services; Internet-based
clients are satisfied with the electronic version of their
resume). Mailing clients hard prints of their resumes is an
added cost to them and you since you must charge tax on a
tangible item. Good resume paper averages three to ten cents per
sheet and postage costs depend on how many prints you are
sending (can be a lot if the resume is two pages).
MARKETING YOUR BUSINESS
There are two sure-fire ways to generate new business. If you
are looking to start small, local advertising in the Yellow
Pages is the best way to get started. At first you can begin
with an in-column print ad (simply having a commercial telephone
number gives you a free line listing in the Yellow Pages under
your business category, but will not generate as much business
and an ad would) and eventually graduate to display ads with
color or large black print ads. Often, the charge goes directly
on your monthly phone bill. The other way is to launch a
website. Unless you can do your own website, you will need to
hire a web designer. Cost range from $200 a page and up for a
basic website - and will increase significantly depending on
what you want done. You will need to tell your web designer what
you want the website to say and how you want it to look and work
for you, so be sure to do your homework by looking at other
websites to get a feel for content and design. After you have a
website developed, potential clients must be able to find you on
the Internet. That involves Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
techniques. This is the difference between coming up in Google,
Yahoo, and MSN one page 1 or 150. You can do Internet research
on SEO strategies and teach yourself the necessary skills
(recommended for the small business owner) or you can hire
someone to do it for you. SEO costs range, and can be as much as
$3,000 to get started and as much as $1,000 a month to maintain
and increase your page ranking. There is also SEO software on
the market that you can purchase to help you manage the process.
DEVELOPING YOUR SKILLS
Client relationships and the art of resume writing and cover
letter writing are probably the hardest part of all. There are
so many occupations out there that you must have a general
understanding of most of them to engage in a good conversation
with a job seeker. They must be made to feel confident that you
know what you are talking about and will be able to do their
resume and cover letter. And, it is important that you know what
you are doing in order to develop a good resume. Today's job
seeker is very savvy and is capable of writing a fairly decent
resume using a vast array of free information available to them
in resume sample books and on the Internet. They hire
professional resume writers because they need someone to provide
consultative advice and to write a resume and cover letter in
way that they cannot. You can visit many free Internet sites
such as the Occupational Outlook Handbook or rent resume sample
books from the library to study various job types, client
situations, and wording. The best way to learn is working
directly with clients. They will tell you what you need to know
simply by answering your questions and telling you what they do,
which should include their accomplishments.
A slow, but effective and affordable way to get started is to
volunteer your free resume writing services. Who wouldn't take
advantage of that, considering today's professional resume
writer charges anywhere from $89 for a very basic resume to
$1,500 for a comprehensive executive resume. You can advertising
your free services at your local community college, library, and
homeless shelter, as well as help friends, family, and
neighbors.
Once you have gained a working knowledge of various occupational
areas and have mastered the art of interviewing clients, you
will need to have very good word processing and document
formatting skills so you can create an attractive resume. You
will also need to have a knowledge of the resume writing process
so you can strategically lay the resume out on paper in the
proper manner. For example, you should know that the Education
section for a new college graduate is the first section before
work experience unless their work experience is extensive. In
short, you need to know what will sell your client (job seeker)
to a hiring company. This is why the resume is called a
marketing tool.
When you are done creating the resume, the client will let you
know if they are happy with the results and will work with you
on revisions. When it is finalized, it is recommended to only
send an email version of the resume to clients because they need
to learn how to modify their resumes if they want to ensure a
successful job search campaign (this is something you must teach
them). This is the more affordable and efficient solution for
both you and your clients because the hard prints quickly become
obsolete. You should never send a cover letter in hardcopy
because the cover letter must be personally addressed to the
hiring manager/company. This should only be provided in
electronic form i.e. email or disk/CD. Another very important
form of the resume the client will need is a plain text version
(ASCII). You will need to learn how to convert and format the
resume to plain text so the client can upload their resume to
major job boards such as monster.com, hotjobs.com, and
careerbuilder.com.
DEFINING YOUR BUSINESS
A resume writer falls into two categories - a resume generalist
or niche market. A resume generalist writes for all occupational
disciplines and a niche market resume writer specializes in one
such occupation such as teachers or career level such college
students. If you decide to target a niche market, you will be
expected to have an expertise in this area. So be sure to master
everything you need to know in that occupational area. You might
not get as much business as a generalist would in the beginning,
but as the years progress you will grow your niche business if
you work hard and smart.
ESTABLISHING CREDIBILITY
Job seekers need to know they can trust you before paying you.
One way is to establish yourself with resume writing
organizations. They include the National Resume Writers'
Association (nrwaweb.com), the Professional Association of
Resume Writers (parw.com), Career Masters Institute
(cminstitute.com), and the Professional Resume Writers and
Research Association (prwra.com). Annual memberships range from
$150 to $175. You will have the opportunity to network with
other resume writers on an e-list, have access to monthly
newsletters, attend annual conventions (conventions are a few
hundred dollars to attend), and get certified by taking (tough)
certifying tests to get certified as a professional resume
writer. Each organization has their own guidelines. Modest test
taking fees average a couple of hundred dollars and the average
first-time pass rate is 50% with the opportunity to re-test
without having to pay additional fees. After that, the wait time
is generally six month or a year to test again for a fee.
LEGAL CONSIDERATIONS
Check with your local Chamber of Commerce and accountant to set
up your business structure, business registration, and taxes.