That’s often the first question popping up in your mind if you want to do something online.
Am I right?
I am sure there are pros and cons to both of these options, but the question you need to ask yourself is what is the end goal for you?
To earn a livable income from home or anywhere, totally location independent. Right?!!
I have many friends who want to venture into starting a home business, but they fear the risk or doubt the legitimacy.
There are also some who frown at work-at-home jobs and don’t like the idea of juggling work and family at the same time. Today, I want to share some of my views about choosing a home business or a work-at-home job.
Why should you read about my views? I have been working from home remotely for some time now, and I am a business owner as well.
Ready for the debate? Let’s go!
Flexibility
Hands down, this is why we all choose a home business/work-at-home job. And when it comes to work-at-home jobs the flexibility depends on your choice. For example, if you are a stay-at-home mom with kids, work-at-home phone jobs might not be for you.
Some of the roles might need you to work only at night or at a particular time. Regardless, there are many choices if you want to go online.
Home businesses have a different approach; you decide your work schedule, the amount of work you take on, and how you want to work on your projects. As a business owner, I believe that flexibility is slightly higher when compared to work-at-home jobs. But the amount of work you have to put in to grow your business is more. So, eventually, it levels out.
Legitimacy
I have been working from home for over eight years now, and I have come across scams in both work-at-home jobs and home businesses.
What I have learned over the years is you need to be careful not to fall for these scams. While I agree that an average person can quickly fall for these scams, if you search in the right way, you can find legitimate work-at-home jobs or home businesses.
If someone tells you that you can earn over $10,000 a month doing simple data entry tasks, would you believe it? I wouldn’t. But there are work-at-home technical or virtual assisting jobs where you can make around that much, and these are very legitimate.
Home businesses also have a lousy reputation when it comes to authenticity. But not all home businesses are scams. For example, flipping is a less well-known home business that can give you a six-figure income. The thing you need to keep in mind is that you need to do your research and test the waters first.
Related:
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Expertise
Contrary to the popular belief that home businesses require some knowledge in a field, many online companies have become incredibly successful. These do not require any skill. But there is one golden rule: you have to work hard to grow your business.
You will need to learn things as you go along the way. For example, home businesses like bookkeeping and transcription are quite popular and profitable. The best part is they don’t require any prior experience.
With work-at-home jobs, the case is different. You might need some formal education and experience, for some jobs at least.
There are jobs that might not require any prior work experience such as chat agents, tutoring, and search engine evaluation. The bottom line is you will have to sift through the companies to find the jobs that don’t require any expertise.
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Income
This is the exciting part, isn’t it?!
I firmly believe that if you love what you are doing, then money will follow, sooner or later. There is no argument about high paying work-at-home jobs.
Though many of you would not agree with me, there are work-at-home jobs that pay big bucks. It depends on your monetary expectations and your expertise.
The most available jobs like customer service, sales, and phone jobs have average pay. You can also find many extra income earning gigs on the side. So it depends on you and if you want to juggle between your job and side gigs.
On the other hand, the majority of home businesses have the upper hand here. Whether it is blogging, scoping, or flipping, the money potential is unbelievable. Don’t believe me? I earned over $36,000 in the first year alone of my blogging business. I know it is not much, but the potential to grow is absolutely infinite.
Financial Security
I would go with the work-at-home job with this one. Financial safety is the most important thing that you need to consider when you are deciding to change jobs or shift focus onto a home business.
Financial security is the primary factor that cause many people to turn away from home businesses. A work-at-home job can be very financially secure, giving you a stable income.
Any business has the risk of failing or not growing at the rate you expect it to. Being prepared for the ups and downs of a business is necessary, and you need to accept the fact that you will have to take risks.
So, it’s a personal choice that might depend on your lifestyle, your family set up and many other things.
Investment
This is a plain simple fact.
No work-at-home job requires investment. This is an easy option if you are looking to start something without paying anything upfront.
Home businesses do require some form of investment at the start. This is reasonably logical as you potentially stand to earn a lot more than you invest. Though there are many factors you need to consider before you even see the returns.
I started my blog with the least investment, and the best part is that if blogging is your thing, you can start it for much less than I did, just $2.95/month. That’s dirt cheap, in my opinion, for the returns I am getting.
It is a relative choice depending on your circumstances to choose a home business or a work-at-home job regarding investment.
Growth
There is no one who has all the answers for this. I have seen a lot of growth in work-at-home jobs; for example, you can become a team lead or remote manager even if you start in a smaller role.
This might depend on the companies you work for and the positions you choose. For example, famous remote companies like Automattic and Zapier have tremendous growth potential.
I also agree that there is no limit to the growth that you can achieve in your home business. I know many online entrepreneurs or home business owners who have grown their businesses from zero to seven figures and are incredibly successful.
Growth for me does not only mean income but more at a personal level where you build your skills, network with others and achieve bigger goals in a community. And that is possible in both the work options.
Choosing between a work-at-home job or a home business depends on a lot of factors.
Personally, I love working from home at my job, and my business is my passion. I have been lucky to be able to juggle my job and business, though I have my totally crazy days. But I would not change this for anything. What about you?
So what is your take on this? Which one do you prefer?
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