Unconventional Work—It's Home-Based

Unconventional Work—It's Home-Based
by Yank Elliott, MBA & IAHBE Staff Writer

Summer is a season most marketing experts, especially those practicing on the Internet, say is the slowest time of the year. Look at it the positive way—the slowdown provides time for hardworking entrepreneurs to evaluate their businesses, make needed adjustments, and establish plans and goals for the coming months into the next business year. It is a good time for prospective new home business proprietors to finalize their new venture, put their infrastructure in place, and set up marketing plans to begin as soon as possible to be up and running when business on the Internet picks up in the fall.

Though no business is completely insulated from the national economy, home-based entrepreneurs enjoy some advantages. They have much lower overhead than large companies; there are usually no employees (or very few) to worry about, many such operations have little inventory on hand; and a lot of these are part-time so the owners may continue to have their regular jobs to support them. On the other side of this is the knowledge that if the company that employs you is hurt by the slow economy and you lose your job, you may be able to survive if you have a part-time home-based business. Looks like being a home-based entrepreneur is a win-win situation!

Here are some reasons you should consider starting and running your own business. The beauty of doing so is that you can begin on a part-time basis and run it as a sideline to your present job or occupation.

The following are myths about normal or “real” jobs that many people really believe. They are not true and you should be aware that believing them may ultimately cause you big financial distress. If any of these makes you nervous, maybe it’s time for you to look at a home-based opportunity.

***MYTH: Work hard and you will be rewarded.

TRUTH: What really happens in today’s work environment obsessed by the bottom line is your company may pay for training to give you more skills, but nobody guaranteed you more money, did they? Because you know how to do more things, a lot more “stuff” will be pushed upon you requiring more effort and more time but usually no more pay. Is this misleading and a disadvantage to you? You bet.

***MYTH: Be a loyal team player.

TRUTH: How loyal is your employer to you? All the smaller companies have completely eliminated retirement plans, and larger ones have reduced these plans toward nothing meaningful. Do you have health benefits, and are they going to continue? Will they go with you into retirement? The big companies are all drastically cutting every benefit; small ones will eventually eliminate them entirely. If you aren’t interested in self-employment, at least look for a better job on a continuing basis.

***MYTH: Stay with the same company until you retire, don’t jump around.

TRUTH: This is the worst advice anyone ever received. There is a real possibility your company will not survive until you retire, at least not under the same ownership. Besides, research by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (and others) indicates most workers change jobs or careers seven to 10 times in a lifetime. The data used are a bit old, so the current turnover could be somewhat higher. The point is DON’T TRY TO STAY WITH A COMPANY UNTIL RETIREMENT!

***MYTH: Be reluctant to ask for a raise.

TRUTH: As a former HR executive, I can tell you no company really wants to give anyone a raise. They put salary schedules in place simply to avoid litigation. The raises come only after some evaluation by various people, particularly your superior. If the superior doesn’t much care for you, there won’t be much of a raise. If you muddy the water when you really feel you should have more money, and you do it in a diplomatic manner, it’s likely you will get what you want, because your boss doesn’t want to argue with her boss. If you get fired, you probably have grounds for a lawsuit and you were going to be cut anyway. There’s no harm done by asking.

***MYTH: Look up to your boss and copy his actions.

TRUTH: This is more terrible advice. If your superior deserves to be copied, you will know it by their actions. Inability to get along with the boss is the main reason people change jobs.

***MYTH: Always work for an established firm; you really can’t make it on your own. You have to have a real job; all else is “pie in the sky.”

TRUTH: These are the standard observations of family and friends and are patently untrue. They result from two sources. First is the conventional worldview instilled in each of us at birth and strengthened by our schools, churches, and the media. If you are even considering your own business, you are to be congratulated; you have made a crack in the conventional worldview. The second source of negativism toward self-employment is the fact that your close associates don’t want you to be more successful than they are. It’s a jealousy thing which you should completely ignore. This is not to say you should not carefully examine whatever business you are considering. You should do all your due diligence, but avoid all the worldview and jealous naysayers like the plague.

***MYTH: You need a college degree to be really successful.

TRUTH: This is simply not true. You need to be able to read and write and know what 2 + 2 equals. The rest is in you. College may even be a drag on your ability if it teaches you conventional worldview.

***MYTH: When you retire you can enjoy your “golden years” with your company retirement plan and Social Security.

TRUTH: This will be tough, though not impossible. It depends on where you want to live and what you want to do in retirement. Relying on your company retirement plan and Social Security won’t work for most.

In addition to the myths surrounding “real” work, there are also daily frustrations that indicate you should consider getting out of the workplace trauma. Here are some of these frustrations you confront daily:

• No time. Recent studies show at least 18% of American workers are on the job 48 or more hours each week. The average is closer to 45 hours. This does not count commuting or hours worked at home off the clock. If you could include these, the working hours may very well exceed 60. Assuming only working five days, that’s 12 hours for work and eight hours for sleep (maybe) leaving only four hours to eat, be with your family, and take care of personal business or leisure. There is good reason to be frustrated; all these hours lead to eating disorders and high stress, all impacting health.
• Too many people making too many demands. Your boss and their boss, fellow employees, members of your work team, friends, and your family. This will cause members of your family to feel neglected, possibly leading to marital problems and even more stress.
• Need to impress the right people to advance in your job. Recent research says many employees work longer hours because the culture dictates it. If a few key employees work past quitting time, others may see long hours as the way to maintain job security. Others extend their workday in order to earn overtime pay, to qualify for a bonus, or in hopes of getting promoted. This leads to more possible health problems.
• Financial pressure from family to fulfill their limitless wants. This will cause an employee to continue at this exhausting pace to try and keep the family intact. This may not work; there are many sources that say “you can’t buy love.”

That’s enough of this discussion; you know what’s happening in your life much better than I. You may decide it’s best to get away from what you are doing and try something different. You don’t have to jump out all at once. Do your research on Google and in business magazines for ideas. When you find one that stirs some passion or emotion, examine it thoroughly and perhaps try to work it as a sideline to see what happens. If one does not work, try another. If you are serious about working for yourself at home, you will open an entirely new way to work with many advantages.

The best part of being a home-based entrepreneur is the unconventional work atmosphere. It’s a completely different lifestyle. It includes the ability to be in your office in 10 seconds or less. Maybe you are in your underwear and haven’t shaved yet. Who cares? Check the latest news, read your e-mail, perhaps write a preliminary plan for your day. Then make yourself presentable.

You can go to work barefooted in shorts every day. No shirt is required, gender makes no difference. You’re in your OWN HOME! A lot is said about “dress for success.” That may be of little importance. I prefer working with those who appreciate the quality of my products or services. If I must suck up to them with window dressing, they are not dependable repeat customers. They’ll go with someone who looks better next time. The caveat to this is you need to be reasonably presentable if you are using a webcam or video presentation. These projects amount to a face-to-face meeting, so don’t show in your underwear.

The best part of the work-at-home lifestyle is the ability to work when you want…or don’t work at all. If some necessity arises and you have to go to the store, will your boss give you a hard time? Probably not if you own your own business. The other side of this is if you don’t want to go anywhere you don’t have to. If it is raining or snowing, if there’s ice on the road, or maybe the wind is fierce, you don’t have to go anywhere to get paid.

It is most rewarding to know that you can support yourself financially working for yourself. The ideas are all yours and you get all the rewards. My advice is don’t stop with one Internet business, even part-time ones. They work for you all over the world all day every day. If you set them up properly, they will work even as you sleep.

As with all opportunities and business tools I discuss, there is a way to check on Google by entering something like, in this case, “home-based business sucks.” All I found on the first page were ads using this phrase as a “catch you” thing where they then offer their own opportunities. There was one complaint about a Dell computer, which is not a home-based thing. So it seems home-based work is a sound idea.

Fairly early in your self-employment deliberation, you need to decide if you want to get really big or stay in the home-based arena. Actually, there are thousands of Internet operations that bring in big bucks from pajama-clad entrepreneurs. But there are others, like eBay that have grown out of their original site. Pierre Omidyar sat down to write the code that would eventually evolve into what we know as eBay today. He first wanted to test his program by offering a broken laser pointer for sale. To his surprise it immediately sold for $14.83. The buyer said he collected broken laser pointers. Now we have the monster that is eBay. You need to stay in control. If the business gets too big for you, if it is profitable, you probably can find a buyer so you can begin again on a small scale. Everybody’s happy.

There are certainly many people, for whatever reason, who think they can never do anything like this. Please at least look into it. Quantum physics has introduced the unscientific idea that consciousness in each of us may have an influence on what happens to us and our surroundings at any given time. If this is true, and it seems to be, no matter what we think our circumstances are, if we have enough passion and emotion about an idea we should be able to make it work.

Working at home certainly is unconventional. TRY IT!