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Home Business Possibilities 1
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Reprinted with permission from Janet Attard* Copyright 2004. All rights reserved.
In a word, Yes! Millions of people make money working from home. They derive make money from a wide variety of endeavors, tapping away at home computer keyboards, tinkering with gadgets in slightly musty basements, loading boxes or barrels or tools into vans or garages, or engaging in any number of other activities, all in pursuit of one common goal—making money at home.
Who works at home?
Almost everyone works at home, or so it often seems! Teenagers do. Young parents do. Artists, writers and web designers often do. Middle-aged managers tired of the rat race do. And then there's the growing number of retirees and early retirees who are starting businesses because they've bored, or they need extra money to supplement their pension.
There's that guy up the street who has a little wallpapering business on the side, the woman around the corner who translates scientific papers into German, your sister in Chicago who works as a freelance direct mail copywriter, and your brother-in-law in California who leads corporate training seminars.
Others include the auto mechanic who makes house calls, the homebased typist your company hires occasionally, the woman who does your taxes every year, the computer consultant who just installed a new inventory system in your company's warehouse, the retiree who set up and maintains your web site, and the young man in a suburban New York community who grew his "little" newspaper delivery route into an enterprise so profitable that it let him put aside enough money to pay for his college education and make a down payment on a condominium he purchased for rental income—before he turned 18. (Because of his age, the young man's parents had to co-sign the contract. Not surprisingly, this individual went on to become an accountant.)
And, let's not forget your old school pal Jim Douglas. Jim is that guy you haven't seen in 15 years who called last week just to say hello—and to share information with you about a wonderful business opportunity he's discovered that could help you save for a financially secure retirement.
How many homebased and small offices are there in the United States?
The truth is that no one really knows. Until recently, the government and most big businesses didn't take home businesses seriously. So, home businesses weren't counted as a separate statistical category. They were lumped in with the self-employed. Furthermore, part-time home businesses don't get counted at all by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). For BLS statistics, the employment status of an individual is based on the individual's primary source of income.
Being self-employed doesn't necessarily mean running a home business, however. For government purposes, the term "self-employment" means that a business is operating as a sole proprietorship (single owner) rather than as a corporation, LLC or partnership. Many business owners who rent space in office buildings or who have retail shops operate them as sole proprietorships, and many home businesses operate as either a corporation, partnership, or LLC. So, self-employment figures aren't accurate for determining the number of home businesses in the country.
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