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Is a Home Based Business Right for You?

Setting Up Your Home Office

One of the most important features of any home office is a door. You will find that you need to be able to close the door and separate work from home life. Have you seen the ads showing the mother with the kids playing in the background while she casually browses a spreadsheet on her computer? This is not how a successful home based business is run. Business at home or in an office has to be run in a similar fashion. Your home office needs to be free of distractions in order to concentrate on the business at hand.

The next obvious thing you will need is a desk. In my opinion your desk can never be too big. My wife and I work next to each other using two L-shaped desks. Our desks have the ability to be put together either right handed or left handed. This works great for us as I am left handed and my wife is right handed. Together our desks form a "T" shape that offers us a lot of counter space where the 2 branches of the L's meet. These desks also have overhead shelves to hold books, folders, and anything else we can think of to place there. Shop around and really test out each desk you view. See how the desk will look in your home office and see if it is possible for you to sit behind it for 6-8 hours a day. You should also have an idea of the equipment you will need for your business. Be sure that your desk can accomodate all the equipment you need to run your business. I myself needed a desk that could handle two computer monitors, for my business.

Another key element to being able to put in the long hours at "the office" is a comfy chair. Keep in mind that your rear is going to be in that chair for a long time each day, so it must be comfortable and supportive in order to keep you productive throughout the entire day.

Home Office Equipment

This is going to vary depending upon your business. My Wife and I own a Web Design Company, so our main pieces are our computers. Next on our list was the DSL modem and router to network our computers. This is very helpful in our business as we often need to grab files off of each other's computer. We also shopped around for a suitable phone system. We decided upon a multi-purpose phone that has a fax machine, cordless phone, and answering machine. Eventhough our business is mostly electronic, you may still have clients that do business the old fashion way which required us to have the fax machine.

Other items to consider might be cabinets in the closet for storing files and paper work. We removed the doors in the closet of our home office which also had the effect of opening up the room.

Deciding on the Right Home Based Business

Deciding what you would like to do is going to be a decision only you can make. Look within yourself, and see what motivates you. Along with analyzing what motivates you, you must also be honest with yourself on whether or not your motivation is a service others would want to pay you to do. Let's face it, you could love doing something, but if you have no one willing to pay you for it, you don't have much of a business. Drive and creativity are going to be your best assetts when working from home. It is your job to create new ways of expanding your business, and the drive will prevent you from hitting the snooze button in the morning.

One thing to consider when choosing your home based business is don't always believe the get rich quick schemes advertised. If it sounds too good to be true it usually is. Remember the only difference between home based business and conventional businesses is the location. A home based business is still going to require conventional business practices like marketing, customer service, and producing a quality service or product.

Like any new business it is going to take time to build up a clientelle or customer base, so you may need to keep your 9-5 at the office until you can afford to go out on your own full-time. You may be in a situation that you have been planning for this and have put some money away to be able to dedicate 100% of your time to your new home based business. Whatever you decide remember there are also going to be some obstacles to overcome.

Home Based Business Obstacles

One of the biggest obstacles to overcome is "closing up shop" at a decent hour. Initially my Wife and I worked nonstop building our business. We worked through most weekends, feeling guilty if we were not in the office. Well let me tell you, this got old really quick. There is nothing wrong with working hard, but you must know when to call it a day. We still go in the office on the weekends, but it is merely for recreation, like visiting our favorite website, or just reading an article online.

Another obsticle we had to overcome was letting the phone ring on the weekends without picking it up. Unlike other businesses, your clients might not see a problem with calling you up on the weekend for something because you work at home. Resist the temptation, it might be one of the factors that leads to early burn-out.

Where do I meet with new clients? This is another necessary part of business. We have found that there are businesses that will allow you to rent an office by the hour, day, week or just about anytime you need. My wife and I lucked out in the fact that ours is just down the street from where we live. Another choice you may want to consider is a local restaurant. Business meetings are conducted all the time while eating in convential businesses, so why not in a home based business.

Some of the other things to consider, are you will need to provide your own health insurance, and if this is your only source of income be sure to be up to date on all the taxes you will need to pay, most notable is self-employment tax. Your home utility bills will go up. We have to leave our computers on all day. That is like leaving two 400 watt light bulbs on all day. Along with the obvious power consumption of our computers and the other office equipment, they produce a lot of heat which requires us to use the AC more in the Summer.

Every business has its own set of requirements, so these considerations and extra expenses should be nothing new.

Home Based Business Rewards

Owning your own business can be very fulfilling. The most attractive part of home based businesses is the low initial start up cost. Most franchises today require huge amounts of working capitol and time just to open the doors. A moderate home business can be as simple as a desk, phone and a computer.

One of the greatest benefits of owning your own home based business is being able to work when you want. Obviously you need to be available when your clients need to reach you, but you also have the freedom to step out for lunch, or maybe you need to run to the store for something. Being in the Web Design industry a lot of our work can get done outside of the normal work day. If family happens to be in town, we are able to visit with them and still get some work done in the evening.

Home based businesses are not right for everyone. If you have the drive and a useful product or service to offer, it might be something to consider. Just be aware of what you are getting into before you tell your current boss where he/she can put their job.

Along with owning Graphic Web Design, Adem also enjoys writing, and sharing his knowledge on his site QooQe (http://www.qooqe.com), a How-to Information Resource Guide

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