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• Dispelling The Myths of Home Based Businesses

Dispelling The Myths of Home Based Businesses

written on October 29, 2008 by Jeanne Bluffstone

IF  YOU ATTENDED COSE'S SMALL BUSINESS CONFERECE LAST WEEK - and I hope you did - you heard some critical information about home based businesses.  In their new study "Home Based Businesses:  Dispelling the Myths" COSE burst the misconceptions and confirmed the truths we all knew.   "Home based businesses are born of desire, not desperation."

WE KNEW IT AND NOW EVERYONE ELSE DOES TOO-- we're mature, solid, successful businesses thriving in non-traditional environments we're driving our own fates, directing our own futures, because that's the way we want it.   

TIME WAS WHEN HAVING AN OFFICE AT HOME WAS CONSIDERED A BUSINESS DETRIMENT.  Now, as home based business we're viewed as smart, savvy and directed, writing our own roadmaps to success on our own terms.  The report called us, "as experienced, as profitable, as stable and as focused on growth and success as non-home based businesses in our community," Yep, home based business has grown up!

IF YOU REALLY WANT TO FEEL A SENSE OF INCLUSION, read on.  According to the Survey:

• 40% of the respondents said they started a home based business because they stopped enjoying working for someone else. Sound familiar?
• 43% had been in business since 1987 or before. That's me too; I went into business in 1986.
• 65% started the business with their own savings.
• 74% had a college degree or better.
• 58% were between the ages of 31 and 50 when they started the business.

IT ALL FITS.  I am the profile and so are you. I had no idea I was so mainstream.  And I thought I was unique.

I HAVE LEARNED THAT IT'S GOOD TO BE PART OF A GROUP, BUT I ALSO LIKE WORKING BY MYSELF.  I like knowing I'm not alone in my efforts and the challenges of serving clients and growing a business. I like the freedom of working from my home and I use it as a marketing tool to let my clients know how available I really am to them.

CONTACT ME: I'd like to know why you are a home based business.  What works for you and what doesn't? How do you recharge your thinking and get new ideas?  Do you work daytime and evenings as I do, or do you work traditional hours?  Send me your feedback and I'll share it with others in the Home Based Network.