Maybe it’s time to check out home-based business opportunities

If you have been paying attention to this blog lately, you might have considered working for yourself, even if you are currently employed.

I think that’s great insurance. The best time to investigate a home-based business is while you are still working. There is a wealth of information about this area and it will take some time to find a situation that is right for you. Your choices of customers, products and services are almost unlimited. You can narrow your choices by considering the hours you wish to spend, whether you wish to travel and by how much seed money you have.

There are excellent resources like Paul and Sarah Edwards who have been writing about working from home since 1985. Their book, The Best Home Businesses for People 50+, should be one of the first books you read if you are serious about working for yourself. They have done the research so you don’t have to. Their list of 70 business you can start from home barely scratches the surface of what is available, but their approach will set you up to analyze other opportunities successfully.

They do an excellent job of categorizing opportunities by factors such as:

Start-up cost
Overhead
Potential earnings
Computer Skills required
Deadline pressure
Flexible hours
Overall stress

They also cover skills required, what to charge, and the best ways to get business. After reading this book, you will be well-prepared to seek out an opportunity of your own if none of the busines models they discuss excite you.

I did not read Paul and Sarah’s book before launching my home-based businesses, because I learned of it only recently when they sent me a copy and congratulated me on publishing Danger Quicksand – have A Nice Day. I would have saved myself time and effort if I had known about this book earlier.

They are great role models for writers who self-publish. They have written something like 15 books about new and better ways to work and have sold one and a half million copies.

If you harbor yearnings to start your own business some day, you can do yourself a favor and see what Paul and Sarah have to say. It will be well worth your time.