Gartner Dataquest reports a proliferation of home-based and micro-businesses in the US big enough to spur growth in information technology and remote support industries. More and more, individual workers are transitioning from traditional employment into work as independent contractors, small business owners, or freelancers.

The ideal location for many of these new businesses is not an office park or retail center--it is in a home office where commute time is traded for more time with friends and family and greater productivity in work hours.

Nonetheless, the road to becoming an entrepreneur may be difficult, even when it is in the comfort of home. Although entrepreneurs make more money in the long-term when compared to their equally-skilled, traditionally-employed counterparts, there are many years where the salary-versus-earnings gap is too large for many to hold on to the dream of independence. 50% of all businesses that start will still end in failure.

However, with careful planning mixed with practical action, you may be able to minimize such negative results and gain control over your earnings. There are numerous ways home-based businesses are executed, either as the only revenue stream for the entrepreneur, as a side business in addition to traditional employment, or as one of many entrepreneurial revenue streams. But no matter how you decide to run your business(es), a similar basic structure to startup and eventual operation can be used to ensure you’re organized to face the challenges of being a business owner.


Consider Before You Begin

Before you begin, the Small Business Administration and other business support service organizations suggest considering the following about yourself before getting started:

• Are you self-motivated?
• Even if you are at home, can you manage the day-to-day responsibilities of a business?
• Can you maintain your own schedule?
• Are you able to deal with the sometimes isolative effects of working at home?

If you have always been self-disciplined with your time and responsibilities, have always sought your own opportunities without external pressure, and don’t mind working alone for what sometimes will be days or hours, then a home-based startup may work for you.

On the other hand, if you prefer to have “outside motivation”, would prefer a set schedule, do not want to deal with the accounting, sales, management or other hassles of being your own boss, and may need another environment outside of your home to be productive, you may want reconsider the home-based business, or look for alternatives.
If you decide you want to take the independent route, these budgeting-help.com articles can help:

• Home Business Startup: Know Your Name (and Who Else Should, Too!)
• Writing a Home Business Plan
• Home Business Alternatives: Buying a Business
• Managing your Business
• Business Scams

References

Dataquest, Inc. Gartner Group Reports: Computer Industry and Management Information Systems

Robert Fairlie. Self-employment, entrepreneurship and the NLSY79. Monthly Labor Review.

Small Business Development. How to Start a Home-Made Business