Home based businesses are on the rise due to turbulence in the economic world. Lay-offs,downsizing and unemployment are part of our everyday vocabulary. Working for yourself has never sounded so good. Here are the important questions to ask yourself when considering this step in your career.
Skill Sets
What are your talents and skill sets? What have your life experiences taught you? If you have spent years in the advertising business and are a landscaping hobbyist, you have a few things under your belt that could be of great use. First, you have marketing and advertising experience that could lend insight into any business. Knowing how to have a presence in the business world is nearly as important as the service that you offer. Combine that with a hobby that has money making potential and you may have a business right there.
Interests Can Be a Staring Point For a Business
What are your interests? Do you enjoy reading and writing? Does history peak your interest? Maybe you enjoy reading about the civil war and dates and times really stick with you. This means that a job with a research base could be for you. Analytical minds are very useful for content writing, accounting, and book keeping, just to name a few ideas. Freelancing isn’t just for writers and artists. You can “freelance” any skill set.
Full-Time or Part-Time Work
Do you need a full time or part time work? Are you a stay at home Mom with a desire to jump start a business in your spare time or do you need to support your family on your income? This is a very important question to ask yourself. Businesses can take time to get up and running and money may not make an impressive appearance until you have established yourself. Do you already have a job that will make ends meet until you can make the switch? Figuring out what your needs are is going to determine the parameters in which you work at growing your business.
Do You Have The Time?
One last thing to ask yourself is how much time can you devote to this new business? With friends, family, kids, jobs and other commitments you may not have enough time to grow a business. Have your priorities in order so that you can organize you time. Time management is important here. Set aside blocks of time to devote to your work. Having your family on board with your decisions is paramount. When you already have commitments your business can seem like a distraction or waste of time to someone on the outside. Let people close to you in on your plans.
In the grand scheme of things it all boils down to passion and necessity. You will excel at what you are most passionate about and what is needed most by others. Take your time and make a business plan so that when you feel frustrated and lost you have a map to follow.