Starting a home business is the dream for many. The flexibility to work when you want, on what you want, and the unlimited earning potential are all very attractive pulls to going self-employed and working from your own home.
But for the majority, fear stops them from making this dream a reality. There are countless reasons that people give when asked why they don’t take the leap. In this article, we cover four of the most common excuses and offer advice on how to get around them.
I Don’t Have the Skills
The fear of lacking the relevant skills to set up your home business is a very real one. For example, you may be an excellent writer, but you lack the crucial skills to run a successful business — like sales, marketing, finance and account management.
But rarely does anyone employed have the opportunity to develop all these skills. So, how do people do it?
Moving from employee to self-employed should be taken in incremental steps. It is a good idea to start building your business skills in your spare time whilst still being able to rely on your steady income. This means when you drop the day job to go full-time self-employed, you already have some experience in these areas.
Ultimately, most self-employed people learn on the job and learn quickly. You will be surprised how rapidly you develop these crucial skills once you are in a sink or swim situation.
I Don’t Deal Well with Rejection
Rejection is something that most self-employed people deal with on a daily basis. You may find yourself spending time, energy and other resources on securing sales which ultimately fall through. This can be hard to deal with.
There is no magic solution to dealing with rejection. But it is ultimately something that gets easier with time. Being self-employed you will learn that rejection is all part of the process of becoming a success; those who learn to embrace it ultimately find their business growing rapidly.
I Can’t Afford It
Although technology is making setting up on your own increasingly more affordable, it is undeniable that you will need some capital to set up on your own. This may be needed for tools such as computers, printers and software, materials or products or just the admin costs of setting up your own business.
You may also want to have some cash in the bank when you start your home business to cover living costs during the period you believe it will take you to become profitable.
As we mentioned in the previous point, it is worthwhile incrementally moving towards starting a home business. This gives you the opportunity to start saving cash from your day job to cover any costs when you go self-employed.
In many circumstances, you may need to quickly access more cash to cover business costs or to make an investment in your business. There is a range of funding options available to business owners, each differing based on your individual circumstances. Specialist loans, such as those provided by Instant Lolly, may also be accessible to those who do not meet the criteria of mainstream lenders.
Inconsistent income can also be a fear of those who dream of going self-employed. Saving before taking the leap or taking a business loan can be ways to mitigate this risk. Ultimately, you should spend time to work out how much money you need to live on and seek to spend only the minimum when you start your home business, setting aside a cash reserve for hard months.
I’m Not Highly Motivated
This can be a real issue for someone who is self-employed. It takes a serious amount of self-discipline to get up and work hard every day when you don’t have a manager or boss prompting you to do so.
For some, they will always lack the level of self-motivation needed to start a home business. But many surprise themselves with how motivated they become when the benefits of hard work are so great and the consequences of not working hard are so severe.
It is clear that there are many legitimate reasons why people do not take the leap from employee to starting a home business. But ultimately these reasons are hurdles that countless others in the same position as you have conquered and reached self-employed success.
