Looking to earn your keep without a boss? Or maybe just looking for a little extra money to supplement your salary? Then welcome, you’re obviously my kind of person.
I and several friends have been working for ourselves for several years now so we do know what we’re talking about. First things first though, if you think it’s going to happen without some effort on your part you’re dreaming, best you get out of here right now.
Still with me? Right then, lets start with some facts on the Home Business phenomenon.
Never before have we seen such an interest in both work at home for others, sometimes known as telecommuting, and working for oneself in a home business. The widespread uptake of technology and internet penetration into ‘ordinary’ households have of course been catalysts but it also must be said that a large number of ordinary everyday folk are actively seeking alternatives to the traditional commute to work for someone else’s benefit. Naturally, many of these folk look at home business ownership as a potential solution.
In the western world at least, the notion of long term job security (or even job for life mentality) has all but disappeared. Company employers come and go, sometimes in relatively short periods, whether by deliberate intention, say to capitalise on a single business cycle, or to business failure, or perhaps to acquisition by another more powerful company who don’t then need the acquired staff.
The desire to work for oneself has in many cases been the result of a poor work experience in traditional business employment. A low level of job satisfaction can result from poor working environment, ‘difficult’ colleagues and management, stress from time pressures, unreasonable workloads and the like. Long or stressful commuting does not exactly contribute to a positive overall experience.
Of course there are those who simply want to be their own masters, perhaps spurred on by the success stories of self employed friends or the increasingly common belief that one cannot get wealthy while working for others – well in most jobs anyway.! A glance around a bookstore shows that theme to be a common one. Other folk just want to make a little extra from a home business to supplement their main incomes.
Starting a home business is not something to jump into lightly. In order to work at home effectively you will first need to organise yourself, your family and your surroundings. A home office or study may at first seem all you need, however just try working while the kids are running around or playing their favourite music loudly and repeatedly. You will need determination, discipline and some structured way of working in the home environment. If you are lucky you may find plenty of quiet work time while the kids are at school, if you are really lucky you might also be able to draft in the family to help in some way.
A look at the big picture presents some sobering thought. Experience shows the vast majority of small businesses fail in their first two years. To work at home successfully takes not just your determination but a great deal of homework first too. Failure often arises from a basic lack of research, experience at the venture itself or a lack of funds to get the business to the point of paying for itself (and your salary). Poor choices in the service or products offered, whether through insufficient market or insufficient margin will inevitably cause failure. The level of competition must be understood before any chance at success.
Nevertheless, there are countless success stories and no doubt it is those successes which provide the motivation for others determined to work at home. The rise of eBay, to pick on just one avenue, has led to a spike in home business ventures. The estimates vary but it is thought as many as 10,000 Australians currently make their living from eBay businesses. If we extrapolate the percentage of population there to say the USA or UK, it is clear that eBay home businesses alone are large in number.
So yes, that work at home business idea can be an option. Many folk have successful businesses from online auctions alone and that is just one of the very real opportunities for a work at home lifestyle
