Working at Home vs. Home Based Business

I have a home based business, and one of the most frustrating things that I am finding is determining who is looking for a serious home business, or who would like to work for an employer from home, and not be the boss.

How do you assess whether or not you would prefer a home based business, or if you would prefer to work at home for somebody else? Well, here are some of the differences I've outlined.

1. You are held accountable to a boss vs. you ARE the boss.

2. You have deadlines to meet vs. you make your own hours and set your own deadlines.

3. You're paid by the hour, or weekly, or by contract (or by how much you produce in services or goods) as determined by you and an employer vs. you are paid in
relation to your success. Some businesses start out with no profit for several years; others start out with a profit right away. This factor will be determined by the
type of business you select.

4. Your home office is often set up by your employer in terms of what you need and how many hours a week you work vs. you set up your home office, decide on your schedule, your management techniques, etc.

5. You are NOT typically paid if you take a week or day off vs. you will get paid whether or not you work - if your business is productive. This is usually determined
largely by YOUR effort and the type of business you choose.

6. You may or may not be provided with sick pay vs. you can take sick days off and still pay yourself.

7. A small percentage of work from home offers include things like medical coverage/insurance, etc. vs. you would provide your own medical coverage through self-employed insurance agencies, etc.

8. Sometimes it takes a long time for a legitimate home job position to become available vs. it is easier to research and start your own home business.

9. A legitimate work at home employment offer will NOT cost you anything to get started vs. a legitimate business opportunity will have some sort of investment. It is
your responsibility to understand what the investment includes.

Here are a few home-based business statistics for you:

Nearly half of the 17 million small businesses in the United States were home based, according to a recent report released by the Commerce Department's Census Bureau.

Most small business owners worked less than 40 hours a week.

If you think men are tech-savvy and women are technophobes, think again.

A study of small businesses by the Los Angeles Times and the University of Southern California, found that 36 percent of female-owned businesses have Web pages, versus only 29 percent of male run companies.

Women are leading the home-based business charge.

The average income for the employed is just $26,000 per year, while the average home business income is over $50,000.

20% of home-business owners earn more than $75,000 the first year.

Home-based businesses have a better success rate than traditional small businesses ...

90% of traditional small businesses fail within the first 5 years.

Home-based businesses contribute 382 billion dollars annually to our economy and create an estimated 8,000 new jobs daily.

Home-based businesses are eligible for many income tax deductions that an average 'employee' or small business owner would not qualify for!

More than 25 million people already own a home-based business.

Here are a few 'work from home' job statistics:

According to IDC, a research firm in Framingham, Mass, the number of people who are employed at home should grow from 10 million in 1999 to 13.5 million in 2003.

People who work at home are 20% more productive than office workers outside the home.

People who work from home for employers work longer hours than those who work outside the home, averaging approximately 11 hours a day.

HOW do I find the right home business or work from home job for me? Which direction do I take in my research?

The fact is, before I take any kind of a journey, I really believe it is up to yourself to find out all of the information first before you start out on the journey. Find out which route you would like to take, THEN start the journey. There are so many individuals out there that don't know what they want, or there are so many that know what they want, but don't want to pay money. If you purchased a franchise, it would cost alot more money than starting your own business. Do some soul searching...find out what you want out of life, and then GO FOR IT!!!