Finding the
Right Work@Home "Opportunity" for You (Part II)
To help you sort out your
options, here's a break-down of the four basic types of Home-Based
Businesses. Use them to start clearing a path to your home career
goals.
© 1997,
by Lisa M. Roberts
Today there are literally thousands of
independent careers that can be developed in the home. With so
many Home-Based Businesses (HBBs) in operation right now and
more surfacing every day, there are plenty to choose from and
plenty more to mix and match to make yours original.
As stressed in Finding
the Right Work-at-Home Opportunity, Part I, the key is to
find your idea on your own, not have someone else's idea find
you. Resist the temptation to answer ads that entice you to invest
in a business that's already established. For true autonomy and
to safeguard your investment, your home business or home career
should be born from your own pursuit. Even if you end up working
as part of someone else's business plan, you will take comfort
in knowing you stepped forward -- not backward -- into the position.
If you're not quite sure what
type of home business or home career is right for you, there
are a great many sources available today to help stimulate ideas.
From books, web sites, associations and magazines, to casual
conversation with just about anyone you know, the world seems
a-buzz with information on how to use today's technology to enjoy
a flexible career at home. Yet with all the hub-bub, it can be
hard to find a moment's peace to think clearly!
To help you sort out your options,
here's a break-down of the four basic types of HBBs. Use the
following categorizations -- and the list of marketable skills
you came up with in Part I -- to start clearing a path to your
home career goals.
The
Basic Four HBBs
A HBB sells either products
or services. Of the product-based HBBs, you can
sell manufactured goods or hand-made goods. Of
the service-based HBBs, you can sell hard skills
or soft skills. Combinations involving all four types
certainly exist, but for the sake of clarity we'll take a close
look at each separately.
Also for clarity's sake we'll
apply the "HBB Formula for Success" to sample
HBBs of each category. This concept takes the basic product or
service, adds a target market (specific client or customer),
and a niche (a specialty) to come up with a specific HBB. Use
such a formula to get to the root of your own idea, and then
consider branching out as your home career develops.
(1)
Selling Hard-Skill Services
Hard skills are practical skills,
skills that have a tangible end result. Any skill that involves
the operation of things (appliances, computers, what-have-you)
and data (factual information) usually fall into this category.
Because today's computer and
communications technology have created so many new "hard
skills" -- many of which are in high demand -- this is where
much of the excitement is stirring among the work-at-home community.
HBB owners in this category are breaking all kinds of boundaries
-- geographical (they can work anywhere, anytime), personality
(many have temperaments outside the traditional entrepreneurial
type) and professional (many come from the corporate world and
are headed back...often worth more than when they left!).
But in all the excitement let's
not forget the more standard hard skills with a rich history
in the HBB workforce that are still in great demand today. These
include such work-at-home professionals as accountants, bookkeepers,
typists, translators and copywriters, as well as independent
contract workers such as plumbers, electricians, handymen, landscapers
and roofers.
Basic Product/Service + Target
Market + Niche = HBB Owner
Programming + Children + Games
= Software Game Developer
Programming + Parents + Games = Educational Software Game Developer
(!)
Indexing + University Presses + Accounting = Accounting Textbook
Indexer
Web Design + Seniors + Families = Family Tree/Family Historian
Web Site Developer
Desktop Publisher + Non-Profit Organizations + Annual Conventions
= Convention Brochure Producer
(2)
Selling Soft-Skill Services
Soft skills are interpersonal
and critical thinking skills, skills that "reach out and
touch someone" or involve analysis of the "big picture."
Any type of teaching, counseling, consulting, managing or communicating
fall into this category, and HBBs of this type primarily involve
interaction with people or information (that gets delivered to
people).
Again, technology has boosted
the possibilities in this home-based arena too. For instance,
while before a SAHM licensed math teacher might have run a private
local tutoring service out of a separate wing of her home, now
she may be able to extend her services to the entire online community
through "classes" or "lessons" delivered
electronically. Plus new home businesses are emerging that strictly
serve the online community, such as PR agents who focus solely
on getting web sites media attention.
Basic Service + Target Market
+ Niche = HBB Owner
Financial Consulting + New
Parents + College = College Fund Financial Advisor
Publishing + Vegetarians + Newsletters = Vegetarian Newsletter
Publisher
Musician + Children + Piano = Piano Teacher
Writing + CEOs + Corporate Events = Executive Speech Writer
Event Planner + Brides + Modest Budgets = Creative Wedding Planner
Interior Design + Christians + Christmas = Christmas Tree Decorator
(3)
Selling Manufactured Products
Manufactured products are mostly
goods that are produced outside the home. They can be sold via
mail order, telemarketing, retail stores, special distribution
programs and direct sales.
The most popular type of business
in this category are what are known as Multi-Level Marketing
ventures (MLMs), aka Direct Sales, Network Marketing or "Party"
businesses. While some work@home parents do nicely in this line
of HBB, many more are in over their heads. The truth is that
even with reputable MLMs -- those that ask for a modest investment
or "membership fee" and offer strong support to their
consultants -- it still takes an ambitious, hard-working, enthusiastic
entrepreneur who is 100% commited to the product line to make
it all worthwhile. A cheery personality also goes a long way
in the "party" businesses that sell products mostly
through local neighborhood parties hosted by friends and relatives
of the HBB owner. Also needed are strong salesmanship, self-motivation
and public speaking skills. This, naturally, is the minority
of the overall workforce, so step slowly if you're moving in
this direction!
If you do think you have the
personality and drive for this type of home career, I have known
a few local work@home moms who are very happy with the following
Direct Sale companies:
- Pampered Chef
- Mary Kay Cosmetics
- Discovery Toys
- Creative Memories
(4)
Selling Handmade Products
A business that sells handmade
products is a labor of love. For men and women with talented
hands, the love for the work itself carries this type of business
to success. It takes craftsmanship, self-discipline, and a special
repertoire between the business owner and her customers for these
HBBs to thrive.
Selling handmade goods is like
gift-giving year-round -- tenderly creating a product, wrapping
it up and offering it to customers who to some degree share the
same passion. This is the "American Classic" version
of working from home, and is as popular today as it has ever
been.
Consider this classic the thread
that weaves HBBs throughout the ages!
Basic Product/Service + Target
Market + Niche = HBB Owner
Crafts + Home Owners + Holidays
= Year-round Holiday Wreath Maker
Tayloring + Children + Halloween = Children's Costume Maker
Painting + Proud Parents + Graduation Ceremonies = Graduation
Portrait Artist
Woodwork + Pet Owner + Pet = Bird or Doghouse Carpenter
Jeweler + Teens + Hair = Teen Hair Fashion Jeweler
Needlework + B&B Owners + Quilts = B&B Quilt Maker
Once you settle on the specific
product line or service of your HBB, you are ready to start making
preparations for its debut. Remember that selecting your home-based
career is a time not only to evaluate your marketable skills,
but to reflect on the contribution you always wanted to make
on your local community and perhaps on society at large. Throughout
your professional development, keep your personal mission in
the back of your mind and weave it through the information you
process on your way to an independent vocation. It will give
your home career heart and your bank account soul!
- © 1997 Lisa M. Roberts, all rights reserved. The above article
is an excerpt from How
to Raise A Family & A Career Under One Roof: A Parent's Guide
to Home Business, a title highly recommended by La Leche
League, Home Office Computing and the Family Christian
Bookclub. Order
your own copy today!
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