When I was right out of college, the only way I thought I would be able to get a job was working in an office. Because that’s what you do, right? Wake up, commute, go to work, commute back, go home. In my mind, working from home was limited to nannies, and multi level sellers of the Tupperware kind. It took me a few years to realize that there are actually plenty of cool jobs you can do from home. And real ways to make money!
What you might think right now is, you don’t even have an idea about a potential home business. But if you think about what you really like to do, there might be a ton of ideas. You can freelance, write copy for big companies in your field, fix computers or design websites. Don’t have time? You can start in the evenings after work, instead of watching TV, and dedicate an hour or two to your new idea, then if it shows promise and you want to get more involved, you can reduce your hours at work, and work four days a week, or get a part time job instead, until you are able to quit for good and be your own boss!
You don’t have to be 100% virtual when working from home. You can also sell a real product thanks to an online presence. For example, one of my friends makes beautiful purses. She sells them online, and sometimes goes to a craft fair. Another one makes custom birthday cakes, and all the kids are raving about it. She is pretty active online too, and when she delivers a cake, there are usually a dozen moms around, which are just as many more potential clients.
And even if your job traditionally takes place in an office or a shop, you can move it to your place. Lately I have seen chefs make a career at home by shipping paleo and other specific diet meals all over the country, frozen and ready for people to eat. If you have a garage, you can be a home mechanic and open your very own car repair shop. I have seen a florist who only takes orders online, working from home, then assembles and delivers the bouquets all over town. You can check some home business opportunities over here.
There are so many benefits in working from home. You can save a lot of money in commute, clothing, lunches out… that you can pour into your business to make it grow faster. You can take care of your kids when they’re sick, or schedule a coffee date with your girlfriends in the middle of the afternoon. And you can limit the costs of your business by not having an office. Part of your rent or mortgage can actually become tax deductible!
But in order to make your home business work and hold the distance, you need to treat it like the business it is. Not a side hustle, not a fun project, it is what is going to pay your bills. So you need to look professional for your customers.
And it starts with your online image. A bare bones website done with the skills you learned in 1999 won’t cut it. Your website needs to be mobile friendly, intuitive, and quick to load. You can use a website builder such as Wix to save hours and hours trying to code yourself. Like for accounting and other specific tasks, if you are not an expert, it is much better to delegate. Wix’s website builder will offer you a range of templates that are niche specific, such as online store, plumber or real estate. Then you can customize it to make it your own. Make sure you spend time clicking on every page and every widget to make sure everything functions properly.
With Wix, no need to be a professional designer. Once you have picked a template, you will be guided through the next steps, depending on your type of business. Say you are building an online store. Wix will offer plenty of options to describe every product, enter your stocks, selling prices and conditions, and you can even set up online payments.
You can also check this cool Youtube tutorial to make sure you thought about everything before you make your first website.
Setting up a website with Wix will take a little while to get ready, but you will save a ton of money compared to hiring a web designer and no one has your best interest at heart more than you do, so you will be able to ensure the site has everything you ever dreamed of.
Once you are ready and your Wix site is live, don’t be shy! Tell anyone who would listen about your business. You never know when that can snowball and land you your first client. People often say you should spend 20% of your time creating (your product, your services…) and 80% promoting. While that might not apply to every business, the more you spread the word, the more likely you are to take off quickly. Good luck!