Entrepreneurs stop here – there is no need to look further if
you want opportunity from home. Being able
to have the ability to find a stream or for that matter, multiple streams of
income from a source other than the “typical nine to five” is enticing to nearly
everyone. But the question remains; is
that really possible?
For about the last 10 years I have heard more and more about
the ability to make money from the comfort of your own home – and of course I
would love to have that freedom! Who
wouldn’t want to choose when they start and when they are off for the day? I remember when I was younger and I started a
job working at a local equipment rental facility and at age 16 I had a tough
schedule. I went to school until 2:00pm
then started my shift at 3:00pm until 7:30pm on Monday’s through Friday’s. On Saturday I worked from 7:00am until 6:00pm
with a day off on Sunday. Looking back I
can safely say that it was a good experience but I certainly remember wishing
that I could come in later one morning or leave earlier in the day. Later in my career and after I graduated
college I worked my way up the corporate ladder and became the boss of a team
of people. I remember often times the
employees might ask to leave early but I realized soon into the process that if
you allowed one person to do that you may have to share that privilege. So in an effort to lead by example and
because I was the boss, I stayed with the team every night I worked insisting
on being the last one out the door.
Night after night leaving the office at 8:30pm, or sometimes later became routine.
This story is relevant because I started with
two important questions at the beginning of this article:
1) Is
it really possible to create and maintain multiple streams of income while
working from home?
2) Who
wouldn’t want the opportunity to be their own boss and call the shots from
home?
Let me answer these questions in reverse order. Who wouldn’t want to be the boss…of
themselves? I suspect some would like
the freedom that goes along with that opportunity likewise, just as many might
shy away. The meat and potatoes of the
truthful part becomes – is it worth it; financially or perhaps mentally? I read all over the internet recently that
95% of people, who start an online business, fail. In other words, they fail to meet the necessary
requirements of their personal or professional life to maintain the current “work
from home” business forcing the idea, dream and ultimately in most cases, the
businesses to completely dwindle to nothing.
The freedoms that most people may think you have by working and truly making a living from home probably were
not as free as they thought. Or perhaps, the opposite was true.
Too much freedom in choice has proved time and time again
that more difficult decisions rise from it -
For example, let’s go house shopping together and look for a
2 bedroom 1 bathroom home for $200,000?
So “we” (we’re a couple for this example J) meet with our agent at her office and
the agent outlines a plan of attack for the day; to go look at 3 homes that fit
our budget and criteria. After we make
it through the open houses in a couple of short hours we get in the car together
and drive back to our agents office so we can be dropped off to think about the
homes we saw. On the seemingly long drive
to the office we saw a “for sale” sign in front of a home that was absolutely
perfect but, we didn’t know how much it was or if we liked the inside. Luckily we were near the agents’ office by
this time so we noted the address and she got us the information on pricing and
what not – and this home was about $25,000 more than what we were hoping to
spend. Nonetheless, we set up an
appointment and looked at it right away. Unfortunately, because it was over our budget
we had to put a little more time into this decision. We anxiously jumped into the agents’ car and drove
back to the office to discuss a plan. We
decided it would be best to stick to our budget on this one so the agent set up
to show us a few more houses the following day to see if we could find
anything. We began our day at a nice
home that was only $10,000 more than our budget but it had an extra
bedroom and a great backyard. We then
toured another home that was $6,000 more than our budget but it was a 4 bedroom
and had an extra bathroom as well.
Finally, the last home was a 2 bedroom 1 bathroom with a little, tiny
backyard and a small kitchen priced at $198,000 – right in line!
Ok, let’s stop our story and ask ourselves this question – what
would you want to do next? Would you
want to see more homes? Would you stay
in line with your budget? Would you put
an offer on one of the first couple homes?
Or – has confusion set in with a few more questions in your head than
when you started? You may not have known
that for only $6,000 more you could get 2 more bedrooms – and now that might
become worth it for your situation, right?
But, all the decisions and choices sometimes make it harder to make up
your mind. Perhaps you would insist to
see every listing within a 50 mile radius to determine the value and potential
ownership costs for years to come?
The original point to this article was to clarify that if you
truly want to work successfully from home you will have to be disciplined
enough to stick to your plan, goals and schedule. But that
is not for everyone…some people need to be managed while others make
better managers. Either one is great –
in fact, you must have both to make up a larger business.
What’s the point – You may have the freedom to be at home but
over a very quick period of time that could all be lost because the freedom
confused the purpose.
My plan is to actively look at and suggest opportunities
online and review my experiences with them. I just want to share opportunities.
Here is one I think is worth checking out:
