Every day thousands of people in the United States and around the world choose to work from home. They may choose to provide some service, such as a housekeeping or cleaning service. They may have more technical capabilities and aspirations, so perhaps they provide investment advice or serve in some way as a broker for various goods and services.
Many people who wanted to work from home used to go with some type of network marketing business, like Avon, Tupperware, or Amway. Today, the business world has discovered the Internet, and the opportunity to work from home often includes some form of home-based Internet business.
However, whether the business is conducted door-to-door or over the Internet, anyone thinking of getting involved in a business that allows them to work from home should consider the following areas. These four simple areas have been the downfall of many potential entrepreneurs.
Have you done the research?
When listing the reasons why small businesses fail, the lack of knowledge and understanding of business in general and the chosen business in particular is highlighted.
Many people believe that their great idea that will allow them to work from home will be so obvious and obvious that people will fight their way to their door. They can imagine the flow of money and envision a rich and prosperous life, usually with little work associated with it.
The truth is that any new business has to go through a “take off” period. While there are many, many opportunities to make a home business work for you, it is realistic to assume that it will take time and effort to grow the business to the point where it will earn significant income.
It is important to gain in-depth knowledge not only about your chosen business, but also about the business in general. You may have had a great idea, but if you choose the wrong placement, spend money on ineffective advertising, or pay unnecessary business costs, you may not see the revenue you expected, or you may see a huge revenue stream. only to flow back to break even.
It’s also a truism that most new business owners have to put in prodigious amounts of time and effort. If a business has a physical location, the new owner may be the person whose face you see from opening to closing because you can’t afford to hire employees at first. If the business is an Internet business, the owner may have to spend large amounts of “sweat equity” to get the business website listed on search engines or directories. Many new internet entrepreneurs go as far as to learn HTML and SEO (search engine optimization) techniques because they cannot afford the services of professionals.
While a business that allows someone to work from home also generally allows some freedom as to when, where, and how business should be conducted, it is still a business and cannot be played like a game.
Do you have the personality?
People who are successful in businesses that allow them to work from home often take risks. Often they must leave behind the security of a paycheck and an organization that supports them. You may be surprised at how easy it is to state what the company says about their product when you get your paycheck and how hard it is to make statements of fact about the product YOU are selling, especially if you are a distributor or representative. independent. of a company whose offices you have never seen.
Someone who wishes to work from home often has visions of NOT having a boss breathing over their shoulder, or setting their own hours. However, many people NEED a boss to provide guidance and a company timeline and operating procedures to structure their actions. Once he leaves the comfort and security of the job he once had, he becomes responsible for scheduling, structure, evaluations, etc. You become responsible for all actions, errors, and omissions. If you’ve never been in this situation before, you’ll be surprised how important it can be.
As I used to tell some of my students, when you start a business for yourself, you may become the boss, but you’ll also find out what a good employee you are. If you had trouble reporting to work at someone else’s workplace, chances are you’re having trouble reporting to your own.
Do you have the resources?
Resources are not merely physical in nature. We’re not just talking about having enough storage space, or a warm room to work in during the cold winter months. Even if you have a business that doesn’t require you to work from home, you’ll need a place to sit, a phone to use, perhaps a computer, and/or other resources. Even if you’re selling Avon door-to-door, there will be records to keep, orders to make, phone calls to make, etc.
Two resources that are critically important are time and money.
Again, one of the most common contributing causes of small business failure is that not enough money has been set aside. This often goes back to the fact, mentioned above, that no research has been done. Another reason is often unrealistic expectations on the part of the new entrepreneur. Unfortunately, this is all too common among network marketing and multi-level marketing companies due to unrealistic claims made by people looking to recruit others into their downline business.
As mentioned above, it can take time for income to start coming in, and there can be a learning phase during which the new entrepreneur makes mistakes and perhaps spends too much money. This brings us to the other necessary resource… time.
The reality is that most new businesses will need time to develop and grow to the point where they are essentially self-sufficient. In the case of network marketing businesses and multi-level marketing models, this time period can be years. I often cite the cases of two friends of mine who became millionaires with two different network marketing businesses. In both cases, it took each of them three years to become self-sufficient and another year to achieve millionaire status.
Are you organized enough?
Many people go into a new business without the right mindset. This is incredibly important for someone hoping to work from home. As mentioned above, when transitioning from a 9 to 5 job to a personal business of some kind, people often find themselves without guidance or structure in their work processes. Many of us don’t realize how much of what we do to be successful at work depends on prior trial and error from the company, or the experience and training available in the structured workplace.
Once on our own, we become responsible for sales records, inventory responsibility, customer satisfaction, order fulfillment, just to name a few areas. Of particular importance is the management of fiscal information.
In addition, the new entrepreneur must keep personally abreast of changes in marketing techniques, changes in products and services, and changes in competing products and marketing techniques, just to touch on a few topics.
Finally, while the type of business you can work from home has the potential for great rewards, it can also impose great responsibility. You must carefully consider not only your anticipated business but also yourself before committing time and resources to the task.