How to run a home based business

Many writers and bloggers are trying to turn a dream into a successful home based business. Working at home has many attractions, many benefits and can be very cost effective. There are, of course, many pitfalls too.

As far as I am concerned I’ve only been working at home on my writing and blogging for a little under three years. I’m not expert on the topic. My limited experience has shown up a few benefits.

Benefits of working at home:

1. No commuting (this is a fuzzy one for me; all my working life I was never more than 10 minutes from work, 30 minutes if I rode a bike).
2. You don’t have to dress up (and I will admit to writing while in my pyjamas; I couldn’t sleep is my excuse).
3. You can work when you feel like it with no boss to check up on you (unless your wife/husband/partner/dog/goldfish give you a hard time when you are not working).
4. You can eat and drink when you feel like it, not according to the company clock.
5. You can go for a walk, feed the bird, water the garden and check the letter box anytime you want to.

Disadvantages of working at home:

1. You need to be very self disciplined.
2. You need to be very self motivated.
3. It can be lonely sitting at the computer all day and night.
4. It can be very scary trying to make a living from your writing or blogging when there is little or no money coming in.
5. People get to know you are at home and will think nothing of phoning or calling in when you are trying to meet a deadline or the creative juices and ideas are flowing freely.

I am sure that with a little thought I could come up with many more advantages and disadvantages. I don’t need to because Tony D. Clark has an excellent blog called Success from the nest. It’s about working from home; he’s been doing it successfully for nearly 14 years so he must know a thing or two about how to make it all work.

Success from the nest has the added bonus of being illustrated by Tony’s own cartoons. Check them out.