Home Business: What to Consider

If you are looking to start a home business chances are that you have done a lot of research into this venture.  Starting a home business can be very profitable in more ways than one.  A lot of people believe that they have thought about everything that goes into a home business, only to find out that they have forgotten some very important aspects.  Below are a few things that you may have forgotten that you will definitely need to address before you get started.

1. Working at home is completely different than working in an office.  Many people forget that there are a lot of distractions that go along with working from home.  When you are running a home business you will have to contend with distractions such as the television and radio.  You will also have to be able to deal with any other family members that are going to be home with you.  Your kids may not be able to tell the difference between work time and play time.  This presents a lot of problems to people that run a home business. 

2. If you run a home business you are going to need to have a lot of self discipline.  You are going to be your only boss, which means that there will be nobody looking over your shoulder telling you what to do.  Without this sort of supervision many people end up slacking off. If you want to run a successful home business you need to be able to stay on track day in and day out.

3. When you run a home business you are responsible for all of your supplies.  Many people forget to budget for this.  Remember, if your computer crashes it is your responsibility to get it fixed.  You know longer have an IT team that you can call to help out.  You will also be responsible for buying your own supplies when you need them.

4. As a home business owner you are in charge of every facet of your business.  This means that you will not only have to make sales and take care of marketing, but you will also be in charge of accounts payable and accounts receivable.

5. Home business owners are in charge of their own taxes.  When you run a home business there are no taxes being deducted from your paycheck every month.  This means that if don’t want to go to jail you are going to have to pay your own taxes throughout the year.  This is usually too much for a home business owner to handle alone, so you will have to hire a professional to assist you. A home business can be very profitable, but make sure that you know exactly what you are getting into before you start.

5 Reasons Why You Need A Work-At-Home Schedule

One of the attractions of working at home is the vision of freedom it invokes -- no time clock, no time sheets, and no one to account to for how you spend your time. Yes, it is an attractive proposition, but like so many attractive propositions there is a heavy downside -- you are likely wasting a lot of time.

My husband spends time every day filling out these large spreadsheets to account for his day. He works for a large engineering company and his day often encompasses work on a variety of projects for different clients. He loathes the activity and I have always dismissed it as a waste of time -- that is until my home business recently took off and I realized there simply wasn't enough hours in the day to accomplish all my goals.

I now have my own spread sheet and agenda for the day and I have improved my productivity and reduced my stress immeasurably. If you don't think you need a schedule for your home business then think again -- and read on.

After a spate of relatively unproductive days when my "To Do" list seemed to grow exponentially every time I looked at it I knew something had to change.

Granted I was going through a rough patch. My home business was experiencing growing pains and taking up more than the usual time, my four-year-old was only in preschool part-time, my husband wasn't pulling his weight on the home front, and my extended family was experiencing a number of crises. But I'm also old enough to know there is never a perfect time in life -- you just live the one you've got. These are simply the problems I'm dealing with this year. Next year these problems will be traded in for new fresh ones.

After studying my time and chatting with some other work-at-home folks, I discovered five reasons to embrace the schedule:

1. It's too easy to waste time doing nonpriority tasks
2. It's too easy to get sidetracked or distracted from your current task
3. Unscheduled work time can often overlap into your free time until you don't have any free time at all
4. Your free time can overlap into your work time until you fall behind with important projects
5. Concentrating your time and effort on highest priority projects means more gets done

I'm not the only work at home business person encompassing the schedule. I recently took part in an online forum where men and womenhad moved to embrace it -- and found it more freeing than restrictive.  After all, you are still the one setting the schedule so you are free to schedule yourself off for a 3-hour lunch, an afternoon, or a whole day whenever you choose.

If you find it difficult setting up your schedule and priorities for the day and week then perhaps your significant other or a friend can help you set your schedule.