Editor’s note: This article was first published in March 2018; the statement that the two biggest companies around today were born in a garage reflects 2018.
Many people dream of having their own business without ever leaving home, but the truth is that it doesn’t suit everyone. I know plenty of people who started a business from home and, a few months later, decided to rent an office even though they didn’t need one, simply because they felt the walls were closing in on them. They had a physical need for contact with people on the way to work, for set hours, and so on.
From my own experience, I can tell you that as the days go by you start to feel a kind of loneliness, although nothing that can’t be fixed with a positive attitude and the awareness that we have the chance to be far more productive.
So home-based businesses are not for everyone.
See also: 18 business ideas with no investment or very little money
Before you start, ask yourself whether you could really handle it, or whether your plan is to do it temporarily until you make the jump to an office outside your home. Without a doubt, if we want to start a business with no money, doing it from home is the best way to begin.
Some tips for starting a business from home
1. Be patient and get ready to be consistent and persistent
When we start a business from home, we do so knowing that we are going to invest very little, and as a general rule, businesses in which we don’t invest much, or that we start with very limited financial resources, tend to take a little longer to get going (there are exceptions). You won’t see results overnight, so patience, consistency and persistence will be your greatest weapons for success in this “job”.
2. Don’t hide the fact that you work from home
For some reason, running a business from home is still, for many people, a synonym for being unemployed, doing odd jobs and trying your luck. That leads many to lie about where their business is based, as if they would be ashamed for a client to find out that their office isn’t in a business building. It’s not that you have to go around announcing to potential clients that your office is at home, but if they ask, tell them the truth.
There’s nothing wrong with it as long as you are a serious and honest entrepreneur. Besides, the two biggest companies around today were born in a garage. I know, that example has been done to death, so if it’s any consolation, hundreds of doctors, financial advisers and lawyers who holiday in the Cayman Islands run their profitable businesses from their own homes. That said, make sure your company’s website is as professional as those of the “premier league” companies.
3. Be disciplined so you don’t fall into the trap of working from home
What is the curse of the person who has a business at home? Simply this: people knowing that you are at home, because you run the risk of becoming the errand boy and, in some cases, the neighbourhood caretaker.
It all starts with “Since you’re not going anywhere, could you pop to the supermarket for some milk?”. Another day your neighbour will say: “Since you’re at home, I’ll leave you my keys in case the electrician comes. I have to go to work.” Before you know it, you’re doing everything except working, and unproductive hours are just that: unproductive hours.
See also: How to find the perfect product to sell in your online business
4. Properly separate your workspace from the rest of the house
Don’t make the mistake of working in the living room or just anywhere. Try to set up an office in the basement or in a spare bedroom, and perhaps you should invest in partitioning off part of the house, where you can have your computer, a printer and silence, and where, if needed, you can receive a client in that makeshift office without having to do business while the client watches your children play or your partner do the dishes.
5. Know the tools you should use to speed up your business’s growth
Before you embark on this adventure, you need a concrete strategy. That’s no different from any other kind of business. In this case, you need to know which free or low-cost tools can help you grow your business faster. We gave some advice on this, along with some low-budget marketing tools.
6. Even more discipline
Having your office at home has other drawbacks: it would be very easy to slip into neglect, laziness and a sedentary lifestyle. Set yourself schedules, both for running the business and for exercising or going out for a coffee. You could burn out sooner than you think.
7. Watch out for social media addiction
We know that social networks (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn…) are must-have marketing tools for a business, but there may come a point where we overdo the time we spend with people on social media, and time flies when we’re having fun. At the end of the day you may find yourself wondering whether you did anything other than hang out on Facebook and Twitter, or who knows what other sites.
8. Learn to switch off
You run the risk of working 16 hours a day, seven days a week, even if not all of that time is productive. Pick a day on which you make yourself not turn on the computer and stay off Facebook and Twitter. Letting your mind rest and disconnecting for at least 24 full hours is the best way I know to improve productivity. If you can’t give it up even for 24 hours, my friend, you don’t have a home business, you have an addiction :). Seriously, switch off.
Here are 16 business ideas you can start from home.
See also: 41 profitable businesses you can start
Featured image: Sean MacEntee, CC BY 2.0, via Flickr.
