Work from home job? Business? How do you decide?
It's a big decision to stay home with your family, rather thancontinue in a traditional job outside the home. There are manychoices you must make if you decide to work from home, and manypitfalls to avoid.The first things to look at are your skills and interests.Working from home is in some ways more difficult than workingoutside the home (but more fun, since you don't have to leaveyour children), so do what you love if at all possible.Next, decide if you are interested in a ...
...job or a business. Youwill need to consider the hours you want to work as well. Manyjobs need you during traditional business hours; others allowyou to work your own. Likewise, many home businesses needregular hours, others, such as party plans, require a great dealof evening and weekend work.Consider how much money you can invest. If you want a work athome job, you should not have to pay to get the job itself, butsome do have other investments required. For example, inaddition to running my website, I do medical transcription. Thisrequired that I get appropriate reference books, and I rent aDictaphone from my employer. Do not pay to get the job under anycircumstance. Just remember that you wouldn't pay for atraditional outside the home job. Businesses, on the other hand,often require some sort of investment, depending on the kind ofbusiness. Some may even have monthly costs, such as for websitesor supplies. Know what you can afford.Think about how much interaction with other people you want. Ifyou're not interested in telling everyone you meet about whatyou do, a business may not be for you, particularly if you haveto sell things in person.Take a look around your home and figure out what you can use foroffice space. You will need a place you can keep all yourbusiness supplies and work in relative peace. Remember, if youtake a job taking calls, most employers require that you nothave children yelling in the background. Even if you can haveyour kids around, you will get more done in a peacefulenvironment.Become familiar with the various resources to determine if anopportunity is legitimate. Some good ones arehttp://www.wahm.com, http://www.homewiththekids.com,http://www.ripoffreport.com, http://www.bbb.org, andhttp://www.ftc.gov.Find out if you need to take any special classes for your job.Once again using medical transcription as an example, I had tostudy for months in order to be qualified for this job. Goodmedical transcription courses can run from several hundred to afew thousand dollars.Talk to your family about your plans. Make sure you will havetheir support. A lack of support is an easy way to fail.If you choose a business, you will have to decide whether tostrike out on your own or join an existing one. There are manyexcellent opportunities either way. You can join a party planand have regular time away from your family, which many workfrom home parents need or sell products or services online.Be aware of any legal issues facing your home job or business.Some cities still do not allow home businesses, and you may haveto ask for a variance. Many will require some sort of license,depending on the kind of business you are starting. Check withyour local city hall.Whatever you decide to do in the end, whether work a home job ora business, make sure to network with other work at homeparents. They will understand the issues you are dealing witheven if what they are doing is different.
|
