|
By Bob Crane
As enticing as it sounds working from home is not for everyone. You have to do a realistic evaluation of yourself before you can really answer whether it is right for you or not. Owning a home business offers many benefits that a traditional job does not. For one thing, being self-employed you have a lot of autonomy and flexibility in your work schedule that will allow for taking care of family matters as they arise...things such as picking up the children or taking them where they need to go during a normal work hours. Also, as many baby boomers are finding out, taking a senior family member to an appointment or just being available if they need you. The freedom of not having to report to a job allows you to easily plan your work schedule around your family needs.
Even though working a home business isn't always easy it is definitely more rewarding than trying to juggle your time and spread yourself thin keeping up with your family needs while working for a company. Nowadays you do not get any equity built up in a company for going above and beyond doing your job or even just doing a good job. You could work hard for weeks, months, and sometimes years and just get let go at a moments notice with nothing to show for your efforts. As a self-employed person, even though it can be a challenge at times at the end of the day you still have your business.
To determine if a home business is for you ask yourself the following questions:
1) Are you able to plan your days, and weeks and stick by your plan? To be successful on your own you have to be self-motivated to do what is necessary just like you would if you worked for a company. You have to plan your time and keep to your schedule to be successful.
2) Keep your expectations realistic. If you are working on a model business, such as, network marketing, or a franchise where all of the heavy lifting is already done for you be careful that you don't make the mistake of thinking that you don't have to work that hard. Thinking like that will only set you up for failure. Even though network marketing and franchise businesses already have a working business model in place they still require work on your part to succeed.
3) Do your homework on the type of business that you would like to operate from home. With hundreds of different business opportunities being offered you have to pick one that appeals to you and one you feel passionate about working on. Working with a product or company that you don't really like will make it much harder to succeed at if you will be able to succeed at all.
4) Are you able to set goals and see that they get completed on time? Being your own boss requires you to be able to set both long and short term goals and prioritize them according to their needs and your business needs.
5) Are you financially responsible? Running a business, unlike a job, requires you to make an investment to get it up and running. To be successful you will have to have the discipline to keep the available funds on hand to invest in your business should the need arise. You shouldn't go spend all of your profits without first setting some money aside to run your business.
If you have been working a job your whole working life and have never tried to run a business before you are going to have to change the way you look at work. The job mentality of coming to work and doing your job and leaving it at the end of the day won't work with your own business. You just can't walk away from it and forget about it until the next day. It is your responsibility to see that the needs of your business are met every day. Before you undertake a new business you really have to know why you want to do it in the first place and have a strong reason to do so. Make a list of your "whys" so you can refer back to it when you feel discouraged that will keep you mindful of why you started a business in the first place.
|
