Starting From Nowhere Part 2 - Choosing The Best Home Business

Choosing The Best Home Business - A Question In Two Parts

Deciding whether starting a home business would be the right thing for you is bound to be tricky if you have never run a business before. The decision is really in two parts: you have to decide whether running a home-based business is the right thing for you and also what type of business would be best.

Finding the solution to the second part of the question will usually automatically answer the first part. Answering one question will usually give the solution to both. I'll explain how that works in a moment, but first lets look at the two parts of the question separately.

Many people shy away from the idea of running a home business. They need to make an income and they want to work from home but the minute you refer to this as a home-based business, they will back off. The talk of being self-employed, sole trader, or business owner seems to bring out the inner mouse in some people. I have to admit that I showed definite mouse-tendencies when working at home was what I wanted: I wanted a job I could do working at home, I had no ambitions to have my own business and the idea seemed very complicated and scary.

Look around at the people you know who are working from home. Examples of the ones I can think of myself right away are: the man who does the Kleeneze round, the lady who sells cosmetics from a catalogue, the lady who minds a couple of kids while their parents are at work, the man who cares for my neighbours' garden, the lady who painted the outside of my house, the home tutor,the window-cleaner.

If I were to sit and think about this, I would come up with many more examples including most of the repair men I have ever called out because they all seem to work under franchises. It’s only when you start thinking about working at home for yourself that you realise how many other people are already doing that very thing successfully. Then the penny drops! Of course, these people who are working at home are each running a home-based business.

The sort of things that scare most people about starting a home business are not knowing where to start and worry about what is involved in dealing with things like paying taxes and getting permits and licences. My big worry was about dealing with paying tax as a self-employed person. As I had previously worked as a bookkeeper for a small business, I fully sympathise with anyone who gets an attack of this kind of self-doubt. The trick is to recognise this stumbling block for the irrational fear it is and then use it as a step up.

It is better to start with the second part of our double question and try to think what type of home business would be best for you. The way to do that is to think about what you would like to do day and day out for years to come. Do you have a passion in life and a desire to devote more time to it? Do you have a hobby that could be the basis for your own business? Do you currently have a job that you could do as a self-employed person? Once you know what sort of thing you would like to be doing, the decision as to whether a home business would be right for you will be pretty much answered.

After making that giant leap, the next step is to find your niche, and we'll look at that in the next instalment.

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Choosing The Best Home Business
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