If you are thinking about starting a home business, you must realize something about life. Life has a certain balance: there is no pleasure without pain, and no pros without cons. The following are the advantages and disadvantages of home businesses.
Pros: Independence. You do what you want, whenever you want. No one else can mess up your hard work, and you don't have to depend on anyone but yourself. Your days of being told what to do are over. And there's also no dress code! Many people who work from home admit to sitting around in their pajamas all day, or even working naked.
Con: No Security. However, with independence comes responsibility. There is no one to back you up if you do badly one day – if you don't make money for the business, then you don't get paid. People like certainty in their lives (which is why they spend a lot on insurance) – it can be hard to live with that last step toward performance-related payouts. You may find yourself quickly wishing you had a regular salary again.
Pros: Flexible Working. You decide your working hours. If you want to have Wednesday off and work Saturday, then there's nothing stopping you. If you want to get up early and cram all your work in in the morning so you can have the afternoon off, then hey, you're the boss. Such flexibility can be a huge relief after years of nine to five years of work.
Con: The Work Never Ends. When you work from home, it can be tempting to keep track of things, even when you decide not to work. The only person who can handle a crisis is you – and they tend to happen in the middle of the night, or on your days off.
Pros: Saves All the Money. Everything you earn is yours to keep. Working somewhere where cash is handled can be downright disheartening, and realizing that the income for the day adds up to a hundred times more than what you're receiving. You know that someone got rich off your back, but it's not you – working from home makes you a fat cat at the top.
Con: Does Everything. Not all money is profit, you see. This goes to things like marketing, management, stock control, shipping, and so on. Suddenly you have to manage everything that goes on in your business – you deal with suppliers on one side and customers on the other, you have to do all the budgeting and expenses, and you become your own marketing department. You can also handle all the fun tax problems.
Pros: No More Traveling. Travel is expensive, painful, and can feel like a waste of time – just think of all the time and money most people spend traveling to and from work. When you have a home business, you just wake up and are right next door to your workplace – isn't that convenient?
Cons: Less One Room. Your home can feel much smaller when you have to set aside one room as your 'home office'. When you're not working, it just sits there, useless, and meanwhile your kids are annoyed at how small their bedroom is.
Pro: Healthier Lifestyle. When you only have an hour-long lunch break to do everything you need to do, you can end up running to the ground and not eating properly. Working from home allows you to do your chores whenever you want, and eat good food every day.
Cons: Lonely. If you're the only person in the house during the day, it avoids distractions – but it can also feel very lonely. If you are the type of person who likes to be around other people, you could start to experience depression.
But…
If you talk to anyone who works from home, they'll probably tell you that, for them, the advantages far outweigh the cons. Once you've done your own thing and feel great, it's hard to get back into the life of the paycheck – and remember, it's a lot easier to deal with your problems when running a home business than it is to deal with any problems you might have at work.
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