Ah, the beautiful dream of working for yourself out of your very own
home!
Ah, What could be better, right? Well it turns out there are major pros
and cons to having your own work at home business.
Here I will provide the fundamentals of working from home that you
should consider before making the leap.
1. Work in your PJ’s.
Pro: This is as good as it gets, right? Getting up and doing your
work in your PJ’s and slippers. Sounds good and often it is good. Being
able to do work anytime in any clothing is handy.
Con: The reality for many people is that your level of productivity
is often judged by how you are dressed.
Yes, you can work in your pajamas, but once you’re doing this for a
while, you’ll probably find that you get a little more motivation from
getting out and exercising first, showering, and putting on clean clothes
before starting work.
No. 2 Boss
Pro: It’s true that your boss is not in your home looking over
shoulder.
Con: However, we all have a “boss,” someone that we answer to:
Bloggers have their audience to please.
Freelancers and service providers have their clients to please.
Product sellers have their customers to please.
Writers have their editors, publishers, and readers to please.
Inventors have their end-user to please.
In fact, we all have ourselves, family, and financial needs that we
must live up to.
3. Your Own Schedule.
Pro: This is a major benefit. You can decide when you work. You
can take time off whenever you wish. Doctor appointments? No problem. Your
child is sick? You’re already home to take care of them. --- But there is
a catch.
Con: You need to make up the time somewhere. The work must be done.
You can make it up on nights and weekends, but then balancing work and
home can become quite challenging.
If you have a family you might run into resentment of the extra time
you spend doing work. If you’re single, this is less of a problem in terms
of people putting demands on you, but you certainly run the risk of work
edging out your personal time. So you need to think about how you will
define the line between work and home life. And it’s not as easy as you
might think.
4. No Limits on Income.
Pro: No longer will you have to wait for some silly arranged
timeframe in order to be eligible for a raise. The quality of your
work will determine your income. By working hard and smart, you’ll have
unlimited earnings potential. Really.
Con: This is not easy, or automatic. You will need to have an
intelligent business plan. You will need to adjust your plan as you
progress, especially when you hit roadblocks and plateaus, which will
inevitably happen.
You will need to be super organized, focused, and persistent. Income is
especially hard in the beginning, so what you gain in upside potential you
lose in security of income, retirement plans, health insurance and other
benefits.
5. No More Office Politics.
Pro: You won’t have to schmooze for that promotion. You will
make your own promotions. You won’t have to watch Suzy-Q and Dapper-Dan
get ahead because they are good at working office relationships. But….
Con: No matter how hard your work, you may watch competitors
get ahead. You may lose clients, contracts, readers, deals, etc because
you are not working smart enough on the relationship building front.
The bottom line is politics is not good or bad. It just is. The only
question is how you navigate and leverage it. Politics is human relations.
It doesn’t mean you have to bend your morals. But it may mean that you
need to work with someone you’re not crazy about in order to bring about a
mutually beneficial outcome.
6. You Think You'll Work Less Hours. It Will Be Easier.
Pro: Perhaps ultimately you will work less and it may be easier
down the road. Maybe you’ll design your life so you only work 4 hours per
week. Or it may be that you choose to live on a lower income. In that case
you might work less sooner rather than later.
Con: But, for most of us, starting a business means hard work and
long hours! Of course those hours are all for your business so that’s a
beautiful thing. But it’s also your time and money at stake too.
Work is work and it must get done. The other good thing is that if you
are choosing the right business, i.e. something you love, then the work
will feel like play. That’s a great thing.
In The Final Analysis, Just How Will You Meet these Challenges?
Two words: Business Planning. The best way to meet these challenges is to
have a business plan. It doesn’t have to be formal if you’re not sharing
it with financiers, but you’ll do yourself a favor by having as much
detail as is necessary to be ready to take the plunge.
The Bottom Line
This article is not meant to discourage you from pursuing your dream of
starting your own work at home business, but rather to prepare you for the
realities, both good and bad, so that you can decide whether you’ll be
comfortable with this decision.
If you do make the decision you’ll be able to plan how you will handle
these challenges.
Having a home based business can be wonderful, but it’s not for
everyone. The other thing to consider is that if things don’t work out you
can always go back to working for someone else, but for now, perish the
thought.
Bob Walker
Remember, your future is up to
you, 
