START A BUSINESS FROM HOME
One of the biggest questions you’ll need to answer as you formulate plans to start your business is where you will locate it. Will you work from home or set up an office, storefront or other commercial space? If you’re trying to decide whether to start a home-based business vs. brick and mortar business, each option has pluses and minuses.
A home business is a venture, that you can start and operate using your own home as your base of operations, or even operate on the run, without the need to be bound to your home. In addition, it uses small number of employees usually immediate family members
There are advantages and disadvantages to consider when deciding whether a home-based business is right for you.
Home Businesses Can Be Great! How?
- The need to commute is nonexistent. You’ll have no commuting-related expenses, whether by automobile or mass transit.
- You can multitask. Since you’re home, you can make productive use of your downtime do some domestic chores at the same time. While you’re on hold with a client, you can sort the laundry for instance.
- You have more control over your schedule. If you’re a morning person, you can get up early and start your workday, before your children wake up and prepare for school. Prefer evenings? When the house is quiet is the perfect time to work on your next client presentation. It’s difficult to keep such flexible hours when you’re in an office complex. Should you have a half hour free, you can actually use that time to work instead of getting to work.
- You don’t have to pay rent. Other than possibly upgrading your internet service to allow for more speed, working from home won’t cost you any more than your current living expenses. Find an unused space in the house, you can work from your guest room, or your dining room table. Your apartment rent won’t change, and you’re utilizing the space you have anyway to actually make money.
- The startup cost is lower. Working out of your home significantly cuts the amount of money you will need to get started, even if you don’t plan to keep the business there for long. Without the expense and commitment of signing a lease, buying furniture, and installing a commercial phone system, computers and other office equipment, you can jump right in and get going with your plans. Use your cell phone for a while, and make do with your home computer for now. If and when the business grows, you can then decide if you’d like to keep it at home or move out.
- There are no office politics and dress code. It’s true, you can work in your pajamas if you want to and feel more productive in it. Depending on whether you have any employees working with you at home, no one knows what you’re wearing and no one cares. Similarly, there’s no office pecking order and no gamesmanship from other workers.
- You are a role model. Of course, this is true whether you dutifully pack your attach case and leave home for an office every day or work out of your house, but if you have children, your commitment and hard work is a terrific example and can be a powerful influence in how they dedicate themselves in their own lives. When you work from home, they actually get to see you at work, and understand the discipline, focus, and effort involved. This can reap benefits for your family far beyond the paycheck you earn.
Pit falls to watch for!
- It can be lonely. Without coworkers, you can occasionally feel isolated and alone. Now, some people may work best with fewer distractions, but even then, from time to time we like to share a joke. You may a schedule time during your work day to meet a client face-to face. Just don’t spend every work moment at home by yourself.
- You’re in charge. While being accountable only to yourself is a wonderful thing, it also requires great dedication, motivation and self-discipline. If you are the type of worker who thrives on feedback and the energy of others, working at home can be quite challenging. You’ll also need to be able to say no to the distractions of your surroundings. It’s tougher to get started and easier to procrastinate when working at home.
- Boundaries can be overstepped. Similarly, your family will need to respect your boundaries, and the lines can sometimes blur. It may look like you’re not working even when you are. It may be easier for family and friends to take you less seriously when you work from home, so you need to be vigilant about maintaining a proper separation and level of professionalism, and teach everyone to respect your time and space.
- Your clients may need convincing. Like it or not, there is something about an office that says “professional.” Unless you’ve got a separate entrance and a truly dedicated office space, home-based businesses don’t lend themselves especially well toward visits from current or potential customers.
- It’s not cost-free. Even though you might be saving on rent, you will need to keep your home office space cool for the day, which means running the air conditioner when you otherwise might not. You will also need the office supplies and equipment to carry out the business at hand. Your computer will need to be able to run whatever software you might require, and you’ll likely want a separate business landline installed or possibly another cell phone to handle business calls.
- Expansion is limited. If your goal is to stay a sole practitioner, this is not a problem. But if success for your business requires additional employees, you will likely outgrow the space you have at home. Moreover, do you even want employees in your home? You sacrifice a great deal of privacy and personal space when you allow others to work with you, especially if you don’t have dedicated space in your home.
Start Today! Some Amazing Ideas.
While there are plenty of ways to go about starting a home-based business, the following are some of the most approachable paths to creating a home business for yourself:
- Buy products in bulk and sell them online
- Sell homemade products
- Offer online services
- Teach online classes
- Grow an audience you can monetize
- Sell unwanted items
- Viewing Centre
- Catering services
- Baking services (bread, cakes, meat pies etc)
- Computer repair services
- Professional services
- Fish farming
- Poultry farming
- Boutique
- Marketing affiliate programs
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