A Dose of Reality

You may be seeking a source which tells you what you want to hear. That it is simple to do this, that you can do so without money, time, compromise, or frustration. I will not tell you that. Anyone who does tell you that is lying. The reality is that it is hard, sometimes frantic, often less than what you want, but also highly rewarding and very much worth it. I will probably not tell you what you want to hear, but I will tell you the truth, and won't waste your time giving you hope where none exists. I will tell you what works when I know what that is.

You won't replace an income from a regular job right away. It will take some time to build up an in-home income. To expect to come home and begin making more than you make at a "regular" job is unrealistic. If you learn how to make more, it will take time, and committment.

No one will pay you to work at home as an employee, unless you are qualified - same as any other job. Many employers require that you put in several years with a company working in their offices before they'll hire you. The legit companies want you to have specific equipment, and require certain working conditions - they need to know that you actually CAN work at home. Oh, and then there is telemarketing... They list you as an employee, but pay you on a commission.

Envelope Stuffing jobs don't exist (if machines can do it faster and cheaper than you, why would they hire you?). You can buy a book telling you that they do, but in fact, the book just gives you names of companies that want you to do their mass mailing for them. You find the people to mail the packets to, and if the people buy something, you get paid a little. Average response is Statistically 1 in 100 if you have a reasonable product. Average amount that you earn from a purchase is $2. Cost of mailing 100 envelopes - $39 in stamps alone to mail, plus paper and envelopes. Not much money there.

You cannot come home from an outside job without some sacrifice and compromise. You must decide to give up something in order to do it - time, financial investment, unnecessary expenses, etc. And you will need to know how to live on less during the transition, or you will need to otherwise plan with savings.

You will not usually replace a full time income with a work at home income if you also combine it with raising a family. Usually because of savings realized from the elimination of work related expenses, about half the income is all that is genuinely needed. You cannot replace one job with full time mothering and work at home, and expect to make a full time income from it, at least not in the short term.

You will have to be better organized, and work steadily to make anything at all. There is no such thing as a job that does not require work. Promises of easy wealth are made by people who want your money. Persistence and Commitment DO pay off though, and case studies show that women can make a good income from the home.

Time will have to be carefully spent. You only have so many hours in a day. You cannot come home from the office and work an at home job of any kind and watch soap operas too. There simply is not enough time to waste any. You will have the benefit of being with your children when you could not if you worked outside the home, but you won't have the freedom to do things that the average homemaker does. The best of both worlds means choosing the most necessary elements of each, not the frivolous ones. You may have to give up hobbies. Your job may have to become your hobby - choose something you enjoy and this is not too hard!

Women learn to economize, and do without some luxuries. The natural savings of having Mom in the home cooking instead of eating lots of prepared foods or take-out, and the effect of Mom being home to monitor the home better will usually result in significant savings.

An income of $100 to $300 per month is reasonable within 6 months from a "shoestring startup", if you do it right. Higher incomes can result from greater investment (but only if the money is wisely used and time and work invested). Better results are realistically possible, depending on what you choose and how you do it. Where it grows from there depends on what you do with it, how you market, and how you adapt. My income varied from $400 to $1000 a month when things were going well, and I had limitations that most do not have on time, resources, and customer base. I know women who make much more than this, and whose sole source of income is from home business, but they worked hard to get to that point, and put everything they had behind it, whether that was determination and work, or equipment or financial resources.

Women who are creative about what they do, and find a niche to fill in the business market, can find work they can do, and a product that the world needs, and build up a successful business. It is more dependent on the attitude and determination of the person than on their initial skills, though the best combination is some existing skills or talents combined with a good attitude.

Successful businesses are founded on traditional business principles. That does not mean you have to be traditional in what you sell or the services you provide, just that you must have a solid foundation, and be established on solid business methods.

You must have the ability to go work hard, and do some things you are not fond of. Not that you have to work all the time at things you hate, or at things you find offensive. Just that no matter what the business, you need to do some paperwork, even if you hate it. You may love selling, but hate writing, or love writing, but hate mailing. You always have to do something you are not sure you want to do, as part of doing the work you DO want to do.

You must be flexible. Most businesses start out with what the owner wants, and end up with what the public wants. There is a period of evolution after creation during which the owner can adapt to fill a need if the business they want to do does not exactly have a high demand. Those kinds of opportunities for change will continue to occur throughout the course of your work, and seeing them and taking advantage of them can really pay off. Even major corporations have to evolve... Look at AT&T, GE, Chrysler, IBM, etc.

You must be committed. If you put up a website, it will take 6 months or more to get significant hits unless you pay for them (we mean paying for Google AdWords, we do NOT mean paying someone to register your site for you, which is just a waste of money!). This is a business statistic that we have seen proven time and time again. Business can pick up sooner if several forms of advertising are used in conjunction with a website. It does not mean that it will be 6 months before you can earn anything, just that statistically, it is about 6 months to be able to see the real potential. The business you get during the initial period will take twice as much effort to get as it will later. Keep your chin up and hang in there, it does indeed get better!

We can help you get ideas about businesses that work, who they work for, and what they require.

We can provide you with information on starting a business on a shoestring, and on organizing your home to make it work for you. We can also help you know what is a wise expenditure for startup, and what is throwing money down a hole.

We can help you get in contact with others who have been there to help you spot potential problems ahead of time.

We can let you know what kinds of things will take your money and not give you anything in return.

We will reply to your emails and offer individualized assistance.