From the category archives:

Small Business

How To Work From Home And Start A Home Business

by Stacey Doyle on October 19, 2008 in Small Business, Web Sites and Tools

You may want to start a home business or a side business. Or you may want to telecommute to save on gas. Those who’d like to work from home may find these resources worthwhile.

work from home resources, home business
Photo by Squirrel Dude

Why work at home? The reasons are varied and many. You can save significantly on transportation, child care and clothing costs by doing so. With these basic costs in mind, you can save anywhere from $200 to $500 weekly by taking your work home, and in addition, you could earn an income if you’re planning to establish a home business. What’s not to like? :)

So what do you need to be able to work at home effectively?

“Work From Home” Requirements

Set Up A Good Work Space

Whether you’re building a sustainable home business as your main source of income, trying to develop a side business, or simply wanting to telecommute, there are a few requirements you’ll need to address:

A quiet place to work. You need a designated office area to give your work the serious attention it deserves. A work space can be a closet, designated corner, basement or garage. If you can, avoid working on the busy dining room table if you’ve got other family members sharing the space (and surface) with you.

You’ll need some basic equipment. You must have a telephone, computer with Internet access, copier and printer to work at home. Depending on your job responsibilities, you may need additional equipment such as a fax machine, digital camera and web cam.

Self-motivation is key to success. When you work at home, there is no boss nagging you to get stuff done so you’ll need to be self-motivated to accomplish your to-do list.

Creating a work space and getting motivated cost little more than an investment of time and effort. Basic equipment may cost anywhere from $500 to $2,000 to get started. If you spend an average amount of $1,000 to set up your home office, you’ll earn back your investment in less than four weeks with what you save by working at home. Not only that — there are additional tax benefits you may qualify for with the proper set up!

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Why Work At Home? Compelling Reasons For Staying Home To Work

by Stacey Doyle on October 6, 2008 in Job and Career, Small Business

What’s so great about having to work at home? After all, wouldn’t you want to get out of the house and have a life away from the family once in a while? It’s a wonderful thing, after all, to have a social network at work and to get face time with colleagues and superiors as you nurture your career. That may be the case, but there are some really great advantages to conducting your business in your own residence and many compelling reasons for staying home to work.

work at home, work from home
Photo by scslade

 
Let’s consider a few of them:

The Financial Costs Of Working Outside The Home

In today’s economic climate, our budgets have just gotten much tighter and it’s clear that working somewhere else can get expensive. Consider all the expenses and the daily costs of working in another location if you do any type of general office work:

Apparel for the job.

When you work at home, nobody knows you are taking a conference call in your pajamas. Let me just state the obvious that when you work in the office, you’ll need to look the part and be ready for business; professional attire such as suits and career outfits can get quite expensive. Add the matching accessories, shoes, hosiery or even cosmetics, and it may cost you at least $70 weekly to remain properly dressed for business outside the home versus the $15 weekly for stay-at-home comfortable clothing. Money saved working at home: $55 a week. Your mileage here may vary depending on your shopping habits and where you live, but the cost comparisons between office and work spending would still be relevant.

Getting lunch at work.

Let’s face it, we all have good intentions of brown bagging our lunch. We may even take our lunch to work three or four days every week. If you do, it costs money to package your lunch, buy thermal lunch bags and get beverage to-go cups. Inevitably you will go out to lunch at least once a week because everyone else does. It’s been my experience to consider the low-end of taking and buying lunch at work to be around $40 weekly. When I stay home, I can make a quick sandwich or bowl of cereal, totaling about $10 weekly. Money saved working at home: $30 a week.

Transportation costs.

If you work in the city and need to take trains, subways and cabs to get to work, transportation costs can get unpredictable and pricey. If you have your own car, you have to deal with the rising cost of gas as well as the cost of insurance, registration and car maintenance. Whether you drive or take public transportation, a conservative estimate of such weekly costs is $75. When you work at home, there are no transportation costs. Money saved working at home: $75 a week.

Child care.

Even though you work at home, you may still need child care to get your job done. Depending on your responsibilities, child care costs can be eliminated or minimized. Consider that the weekly cost of full-time child care for one child is about $180. If you only require part-time child care, the cost may be trimmed to $100, or even half of the full-time costs. Money saved working at home: $80 a week.

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