While lots of new home businesses launch every day, the truth is that many are failing.
One main reason for home business failure has to do with a lack of discipline. Working for someone else whether inside the home or commuting, allows one to have a set schedule and daily tasks that they need to follow. When you work for yourself, you have to set your own goals and objectives, and have the discipline to follow your plan.
Anyone can start a home business, but that doesn’t mean that everyone should. Some people who started and closed their businesses should never have gone to work for themselves to begin with. Many lack the dedication to follow through and keep up the pace that is necessary to be successful.
Some people are simply seduced by ads and word of mouth when they hear others talk about how great and freeing it is to work for themselves in their own home. A home business is a great opportunity for some but others need to have a boss prodding them to get through the day, or someone else who can tell them what needs to be done.
After the excitement has worn off of starting your own home business, it will quickly become clear that it’s not fun and games. Everything depends on you. From taking orders, handling sales calls, customer service, running a website, collecting money and mailing packages – it all rests on your shoulders. If your business grows, you can hire an extra set of hands to deal with the backlog, but in the beginning to keep costs down, most home businesses are run by the people who created them.
Quitting your regular job to work at home because you expect to have lots of free time and extra money to spend is a huge myth that causes many to quit. A business that is just starting up will take up a lot of your time. To handle all of the work, you can easily find yourself working well into the early morning hours. You can also start to spend less time with your family as you strive to build your business.
Extra money to spend is something that you will often not see for months or years because you will need to pay bills for your business and home costs, and you will need to spend more money in marketing and development to grow your home business.
When people advertise stories about working from home, they will tell you about the glitz and glamour. You will be told that you can roll out of bed at any time and work in your pajamas. This is a bad idea because every business needs to run on a consistent schedule if it is going to be successful long-term.
All of this said, there is a new breed of home business opportunity called affiliate marketing where you can simply join an existing business or business opportunity who will provide all the products and marketing materials for you. They will even handle all of the order processing, payment collections, product shipping and customer service on your behalf. In fact, some of the affiliate programs that I am building my own home business online with are shown here on my website (check them out).
Whether you are building a traditional home business, or an affiliate marketing based home business, nothing will take the place of personal discipline and having a daily action plan that you follow to get the word out and grow your business successfully. If you have the inner-discipline required to make your own daily plan (and follow it), there are few freedoms greater than that of being able to call your own shots and work for yourself from the comfort and convenience of home!
