Introduction
I am here writing an article on how and where you could start setting up your own e-commerce business. But I thought it might be a good idea to first look if it actually is a good thing for you to be an entrepreneur on the World Wide Web and in that way earn money from your home.
Most people probably only see the good sides and listen to the cliche statements like “my freedom is the most important thing for me “, “I can do what I want” and “I want to be my own boss” that are the first arguments you hear when you ask why people like to start their own business.
At the end of this article, I will provide you with a perfect opportunity to become your own boss and work from home. Check it out!
Pros and cons
Why is it that certain people work from home online and earn income and others do not? Here are some of the main pros and cons that each of us has to be aware of before taking a decision to do one or the other. In the end, I will give you the best available option on how to work from home on the internet. It is the best one as it diminishes most or all of the disadvantages mentioned. So, here we go.
Disadvantages of being an “own boss”
Structure
If you work for someone you will usually have to work within an organization with a certain structure. Someone is always there to tell you what to do and when. You will have to meet the company’s requirements, procedures, timelines and more. Everything will be in place already and you just have to adhere to the rules of your particular workplace.
Now your workplace is at home where you have no one who urges you on and you yourself need to get your things organized and preferably in the most efficient manner possible. It means that you will have to think of, plan and structure everything yourself. You cannot leave anything out or forget something important. You need to come up with your own working schedules, ethics etc.
Distraction
Believe me, there are 1001 things that can keep you from your work at home; your family members, your domestic responsibilities, visitors to your house, the telephone, people cleaning the house, all kinds of noises from outside your living place and many things more.
There are also your social media, where you keep getting phone messages, tweets, Facebook alerts, etc. that can cost half an hour or more at a time. Then there are other things like the weather, the “heavy” evening you had yesterday and the TV show you wanted to see. If you’re tempted by all this you will easily lose a few hours per day, which most of us cannot afford!
Surroundings
If you work at home, you will always sit in the same environment, the same room, the same view. Depending on the work you have to do, this can become quite boring very quickly. There will be no driving to and from work, no change of scenery nor will you have colleagues with whom you can get involved and socialize.
On the other hand, you obviously have no colleagues that can irritate you at home. But some people just need to relate to “other people” around them, especially at work. In such a case a lonely existence in your home is not really the right choice.
In some cases, it might do a lot of good to get out of your “trusted” environment to move somewhere to rent a small office so that your work and home can be kept separated.
Discipline
Besides a good structure to accomplish your day-to-day tasks successfully, discipline is probably the most important factor to bring your work to successful completion. At work you are told what to do, whether it is nice/less nice work, you’re doing it because you are told so. If you’re sitting at home, there is no one except you who will push yourself then and believe me there are a lot less pleasant aspects of being your own boss.
Think about the daily routine and the administrative side. Ok, you can outsource but 1) if you are just starting out, this can be a heavy financial cost and b) if you do not know the financial side of your business how can you go and run it optimally? You and only you can take the action to solve problems because no one else will do it for you.
And now the Benefits
The Freedom
You do what you want, wherever and whenever you want it. In the mornings you can start working whatever you look like, unwashed, in your pajamas, hey who is going to stop you or say you cannot? The time you woke up with an alarm clock (god, how I hated that) has gone passed; now you do not think every day to have to go to sleep.
Say you get up somewhere around 7:30 to 8:00 during the week, unless you’ve been working until late in the morning. You will then get up later and do not worry about an angry boss. You still had an urgent errand to run; you can just go, as nobody is stopping you. And, no traffic jams on the way to work.
No Boss
If you are self-employed then you really have no boss, other than your customers (after all they are the ones that pay you the money!). Nobody tells you what, when and where you MUST do something; you arrange your own work schedule. Let it be only your clients that put a certain pressure on you because many of us only then will “perform”. You should be able to impose deadlines on yourself and then stick to them.
No location Boundaries
Although most of us work from home, as an Internet entrepreneur you do not really need to be in one place. As long as you have a laptop and a telephone, you will be able to work from almost any place. You can do most of your work from any location on the globe long as you have an internet connection.
If you decide to stay somewhere else for a few weeks (maybe on the beach with a cocktail in your hand), then when you move, your business moves with you. All of this does have its limitations or problems if you sell physical products, but even then it is not impossible, to have one person at “base station”.
My Conclusion
A long time ago, I came to the conclusion, that working for myself, being my own boss, would be the best alternative for me. I just did not have the ideas to accomplish this. Why go to the internet and be liable to the enormous amounts of scammers there? Can I overcome most of the disadvantages of working at home and earn a reasonable living? Can I get enough support and guidance to start my own profitable business?
Wealthy Affiliate
And then, about a year ago, I came across Wealthy Affiliate and all of my questions above were answered. A scam free online education platform for everybody who wants to start their own internet business. Want to set up a website in a couple of minutes? Want to know how to fill it with the correct content? How to attract traffic to your site? How to monetize your site?
You can do the same!
In a matter of weeks, all these questions will be answered by the many training modules, tutorials, chats, Q&A forum, private messaging and more. I see you asking, what would this have to cost? Nothing at all for the first full week of joining through the link in my review below! After that, it will be a monthly or yearly fee that is probably the lowest in the world for this kind of education. If you are interested, you can read all about this unique opportunity in my personal review here.
Furthermore you can come back to me with any questions you have about this topic and I will take care to reply within 24 hours.
Hello Jerry,
I have really benefited from this article. Indeed working from home and being your own boss also has it own disadvantages. Of course, I will say it is the best decision to take for one to decide he want to work from home.
However, as you mention, it also requires some level of discipline to be able able to achieve your goals since there is no boss control in this.
I personally do not have any problem about feeling bored at all. I can stay at home and work without feeling bored.
So like you said, to me, working online from home is the best option for me. I’m currently thinking about where to start this online home business and I think I try Wealthy Affiliate as you recommended to see how their program works.
Thanks a lot for sharing this article with me.
Hi Stephen, just make sure that working from home you have a quiet place, where you can also sit undisturbed. No children or wife too close, no phone calls, house calls, no distractions at all. Believe me, I am talking from experience.
If you try WA through the direct access link I have given in my article about them, I will personally welcome you and guide you through the first steps within this amazing community.
Hey Jerry,
I love working from home, it’s given me the time and flexibility to think and work at my own pace. However one challenge I do face is that sometimes I do feel lazy to wake up.
I have to regularly yell at myself to get up motivated and finish my work but I guess everyone have their own ways to cross that obstacle. Other than that, it’s everyone’s dream to work at home, productivity has never been better!
Hi Riaz, In reading your comment, I think that in your case working from home is the ideal thing to do. Waking up early is not an issue with me as I have two boys who will take care of that. However, sometimes when they are back from school, I wish I were somewhere else (lol)!
Hi Jerry,
Thanks for this post. It pointed out many truths about myself for the time being. I have started my journey as an online marketer this past summer. Even though I have enjoyed every step of it, of being my own boss and develop the strong foundation that brings me a passive income for many years to come (hopefully), I also found it challenging to discipline my own employee (me)!
I feel that’s is the area that I need to master the most. I would often find myself spending hours being on social medias, distracted by a football game on TV, or simply postponing a task to tomorrow instead of working on my business now, as I have nobody to supervise me. I understand freedom comes with responsibility. Thank you for the wake-up call. Enjoyed your article and now I’ll get back to my work 🙂
Yuko
Hi Yuko, thanks for your reaction. I am glad the article was of some help to you. Even when you would be home alone, there still are a lot of distractions, which you have to cope with. If you can manage your time well, this will greatly help. What benefits me most is that I stick to a strict schedule every day/week. Cheers, Jerry
Hi Jerry,
I enjoyed reading this article informing of the pros and cons of being your own boss. Then going even further and explaining how you got to where you are today. Wealthy Affiliate is unlike anything I have seen since I have been trying to find a way to work at home. As you have stated you have the training, tutorials, Q and A, and you have a great community of people to help you out. This is a community that from the beginning, you feel right at home and everything is positively in your favor. I have only been a member since the beginner of September this year and I already have a running profitable website.
Yours Truly,
Carlton
Thanks Carlton, I very much appreciate your quick reaction and the information given by you confirming Wealthy Affiliate’s awesomeness. They really are the best there is and their support 24/7 is unique. Sometimes I have answers to my questions within minutes! Cheers, Jerry