Am I Suitable for Such a Business?
The previous article gave you an idea of the type of businesses available to you online. You might already have some ideas, or you might have none, but let's put that on hold for a moment while we look inwards at you, the potential owner of a profitable home-based business. This article is about your perceptions of home-based businesses, and whether you are a good fit for such businesses.
Running home-based businesses has many advantages compared to working for an employer. Your daily commute takes just a few seconds from your bedroom to your home office and there's no need to worry about what you are going to wear. Your hours are flexible and your earning potential is only limited by your ability and hard work.
In some respects, a business based at home and conducts its business primarily online is a dream come true. But, an online business also comes with its own set of challenges. Other than the basic demand of hard work, ingenuity and perseverance, a home-based business makes unique demands that not everybody is prepared for, is able to or would want to meet.
Take a look at the items in the list below. It gives you a better idea of what you can expect from a home business should you want to give such businesses a go. It's about reasons that should NOT be why you are starting a home business, and the character and personality traits that are NOT so suitable for this type of business.
You Enjoy Socializing at the Water Cooler
Many home-based businesses, especially at the beginning, are run by only one person.... and that's you! While you may hire freelancers or contractors to handle part of your work, your interaction with them would probably be only in the online space. And even if you do meet them face to face, the social dynamics would be very different from what what you may be used to in a typical office environment.
If all of your working life has been spent in the office, then working at home in a small online business would be a huge difference in terms of social interaction. Some would thrive and welcome the chance to hear themselves think while others would be miserable from the lack of social interaction.
How would you fare?
You Work Best When There are Clear Step by Step Instructions
You are looking for an online business in which there are extremely clear instructions on what to do. You intend to follow the instructions to the letter, and should things not go according to plan, you expect that there will also be clear step by step instructions on how to remedy the situation.
If there is such an idiot proof business that can be started and run profitably, you can be sure that there are many who have already done it, and whatever profits there may have been would already have been severely diluted.
So, don't expect to find a turnkey business that you can just emulate. The best that you can do is to build from a suitable model, include your own ideas and start from there.
However you choose to start your business, it will be challenging. Some things will definitely not go according to plan so you will have to be on your toes, alert to what is happening and ready to react and even change course, if necessary.
You Think a Home-Based Business is Just Another Job
The Pareto Principle applies in a business just like in many other ventures and in life itself. In general, for home-based businesses, 10% will fail miserably, 10% will perform magnificently and the rest of the 80% will just get by. Treating your business just like a job might just get you into the 80% but to get into the 10% that performs well would take quite a bit more.
Or, look at it another way. Competition online is great with many of your competitors hungry and desperate for success. Every single one of them are working their butts off and many of them are smarter and more creative than you are. Do you think that anything less than a 100% effort from you would be enough to get your business to perform well?
You didn't start, or intend to start, an online business just to have it become just like another job, did you? In time, you will be able to relax. But, when you are just starting your Internet business, on the Internet in which the world is your competition, treating your business just like another job is not an option.
You Have a Strict Time Line for Success or You Need Money Fast
It is good to have a time line for success but some things happen in their own time. An online business is no walk in the park, and extra time has got to be budgeted for possible setbacks, mistakes and all the other issues that goes with starting and running a business, whether online or offline.
Make sure that you cater sufficient time and finance so that you can give this venture a fair chance. All too often, people give up too early, or are disappointed when their first try fails. Many a time, all that is needed is just a little more time, or enough finances for a second try after learning from the mistakes of the first.
So, if you have bills to pay and are short of cash, go out and look for a job, and leave online businesses for another better time.
You are not an Entrepreneur
You think that an entrepreneur is the guy who has a million dollar idea, approaches venture capitalists to get funding for his idea, and before you know it, his product is the talk of the town, his company is listed on the stock market and he is worth a gazillion dollars.
An entrepreneur can be defined simply as someone who explores new and better ways of doing things, especially when the old ways are not working well.
You may not be used to thinking of yourself as an entrepreneur, but a business is an entrepreneurial venture. If you start a home-based business, you would be an entrepreneur.
Can you think of yourself as an entrepreneur? If you can't, then half the battle is already lost.
Conclusion
Do you see yourself or your situation above?
Many employees that are great at their jobs but unhappy with their bosses quit their jobs and start their own businesses, only to find that running a successful business is not just about doing what they did in their jobs well but a lot more than that.
Or some might actually start and be running a home business successfully, only to find that they are miserable. They find that they miss socializing with their colleagues and the many and varied interactions that can only be found in a large company.
Before you start an online home-based business, do take the time and trouble to make sure that you have all the qualities needed to see your efforts culminate into a successful business. Ask yourself truthfully if you have what it takes or, better yet, ask some people who know you well and see what they say.
Introduction
What Type of Business Can I Start?
Am I Suitable for Such a Business?
How Much do I Need to Start a Home Business?
How do I Start?