Is a Home Shop Right for Me?
Pros & Cons of Working from Home
Admittedly, it is not for everyone. When creating a home-based business lifestyle for yourselves, you have to weigh the advantages of working for yourself with its drawbacks. No two lists will be the same as we all have different circumstances.
Your personal temperment will play a huge role in deciding whether or not self-employment is right for you. You must realize that there will not be anyone telling you what to do. So, I recommend you honestly analyze your own:
Work Ethics - How did you learn to work? Do you take initiative to do tasks before you are asked to? Can you consistantly produce a quality product or service?
Flexibility - Can you experiment with new ideas and suggestions with an open mind? Can you arrange time?
Organization - Can you locate things you need, without wasting time searching? Your methods are your own.
Motivation - Can you bring yourself out of a lazy funk? Do you get the harder things done first, so the rest will be easy?
Visualization - Can you picture yourself successfully supporting yourself? Do you make things in your head before putting them to paper or hand?
Determination - Will you persist when things take a dump? Can you learn from your own errors, as well as others’?
Limitations - Can you admit that you do not know and cannot do everything?
These, I consider to be good start starting points for looking inward to see if work-from-home is right for you. There are many other important personal considerations, so you’ll have to prioritize your life according to your own, individual circumstances.
Pondering Pros & Cons
Pros
PRO - Coffee. In ten minutes, I can make a french-press pot of really good coffee, the way I want it, for less than a dollar. Compare that with a dodgy cup of convenience store mud or that $3.00 Caffè Americano from Starbucks that stands a chance of being dumped on your lap when the idiot in front of you slams on their brakes.
PRO - Food is a major joy of life for us. Julie and I are both excellent cooks and love to eat it. Regardless of how busy we are, we all have to eat. A sandwich/leftovers/snack break with your mate offers time to stay connected with what is going on in each other’s lives and discuss ongoing and future projects, news of the world, social commitments or unavoidable appointments. The cost of an at-home lunch is likely to be a tenth of what you would pay eating out.
PRO - Being at home also allows us to plan and cook evening meals. One pot meals are a favorite and we can thaw, prep and assemble them so that by the end of the day, when we are worn out from work, we only have to pop it in the oven or do the final throw-together in 15 minutes.
PRO - Automobile costs are practically non-existent. We average less than 50 miles a week with our paid off, little pick-em-up truck. We go to the local grocery and doctor’s appointments with a biannual trip to the Hardwood Lumber store 30 miles away. Gas prices don’t really affect us. Insurance companies give discounts for our non-driving habits. Oil changes are only once a year and other maintenance costs are negligible. Tires last a long time.
PRO - Home security. Since we are obviously at the house most of the time, any would-be thieves would consider our home to be low on their target list. Stupider invaders of “occupied-dwellings” are rare in our area and will be met with unexpected defenses if they ever try it here. Our neighbors all watch out for each other and know we are home most of the time to help if they need it.
PRO - Mail. 100% of our products are shipped via USPS and fit in our mail box. During the holidays, all of my packages may not fit in our box, but you can always arrange for a pickup or drop-off. Our post office is very dependable and only a mile up the street, so Julie may sometimes have to make the journey if we’re shipping a bunch. Our carrier deserves our utmost respect and we try to treat her well throughout the year.
PRO - Supplies. With the current state of the internet, we can order and have delivered (sometimes within hours) just about anything we require. Two positive things that resulted from the covid shut down is that companies have learned to deliver at low costs and customers getting more comfortable to buying securely on-line.
PRO - Communications are more readily available than ever. During waking hours, I am contactable via email, text messages, Facebook Messenger, and other internet based platforms. Even when we are buried in orders, I usually check-in and reply within a few hours. We rarely answer calls from numbers that are unknown to our phone. However, I do return voicemails to non-spammy voicemails.
PRO - Customer interactions. After years of dealing face-to-face with customers, we now do all of our business online. It streamlines production. Even friends and family that want some of our work are encouraged to place orders through our Etsy store and are delivered by USPS unless we plan to see them soon. We never have customers stopping by our house. This policy practically eliminates miscommunications about what they desire and reduces expectations of deep discounts. If discounts are warranted, I can quickly create a private “Reserved” listing for them to purchase on Etsy or issue a refund.
PRO - Homework. In planning each day over my morning coffee, consideration is paid to home projects and mundane maintenance tasks that need doing. Summer here in Florida requires about 5 hours a week of yard work to maintain, unless we have an active hurricane season. Honey-dos are worked into the schedule, depending on business orders. I base all work time on my hourly shop rate (more about figuring this in a future blog). This helps to determine whether I should hire someone to do the job or do it myself, if I have the talents. I mostly leave plumbing and electrical work to pros.
PRO - Music and noise. Having no “Homeowners Association” is a huge boon to my mental stability. I can crank up the joiner/planer and vac when I need to. Depending on my mood, I can play soft background jazz or blast my rock while in my workshop. Shuffle play is my favorite as I never know what will pop up next. My playlists jump from Dean Martin to Primus. News and podcasts are another way of keeping my left-brain occupied while I work in right-brain. Still, I keep my noise levels minimal before 8:00 am for our few waking neighbors and wildlife.
PRO - No traffic stress. My 17 Step Commute takes about 20 seconds. Many people I know have commutes of an hour each way to work. That is an average of 10 hours a week (500 hours yearly) of stressful activity that they actually pay for but don’t get reimbursed for, in gas and vehicle wear. Plus, if drivers on your highways are anything like here in Central Florida, you are taking your life in your hands everytime you leave your driveway.
PRO - Family bonding. We do not have any children, but being at home strengthens our bonds with each other, our neighbors and pets, although our cats will tell you that they need no one (unless it’s a door or can of food opened). They are just jealous of our opposable thumbs…
PRO - By being at home all day, deliveries are received without worries of “porch pirates” that stalk UPS and FedEx trucks.
PRO - Every day is casual Friday! Our daily “uniforms” consist of cool, comfortable duds that are usually picked up at a local thrift store. Our good clothes hang in our closets until needed to venture out into the world to make the impression that we are “normal”.
PRO - Routines can be as you see fit. Schedule flexibility is one of the greatest “pros” about working for yourselves. While a general plan of daily activities is necessary to help keep you clicking along, it is your option to vary it. Outside appointments, weather and home projects are factors that tend to alter your routine, but all is manageable with a little forethought. Surprise visits from a second cousin (twice removed, for reasons we won’t get into), dropping in for 2+ weeks must be met with certain stipulations of how much time you can spend with them.
PRO - We are always “Employee of the Month” and get the best parking spot.
Cons
CON - Your erratic home-earned income may not rise to the level of a reliable but stagnant salary. Your health insurance and 401K will not be an automatic deduction from your paycheck. You alone are responsible if you want to pay for these perks.
CON - Company cars are your own to maintain.
CON - Accounting is totally on you, unless you can afford to hire (and trust) an accountant. It is my least favorite task and can be overwhelming if I fall behind on it. But, I have found that if I spend 15 to 30 minutes each day on income and expenditures on simple spreadsheets, it is a breeze at tax time and takes about 4 hours to do my federal return each April, using TurboTax. Still, it is not as easy as filing a W2 you get from an employer once a year.
CON - Time becomes meaningless. We have to consciously determine what day of the week it is. Hours and days slip by without event markers to label them or bosses to hold us accountable.
CON - You have no one else to blame when something goes wrong. Equipment failures, shortage of stock, power/internet outages and production mistakes are totally on YOU. You must convey delays to your clients and what you are doing about it. 99% of customers will totally understand. Those that don’t can always be refunded and canceled.
CON - Time off is never really “Off”. What we do is always “On”. Unless I set my Etsy shop to “Vacation Mode”, orders and their accompanying production timelines will continue. Even then, when you temporarily shut your store, messages need to be addressed and will continue.
Weigh Your Consequences
So, you see. This blog is top-heavy with “Pros”. You must come up with your own lists to determine if a home business is right for you. Factors such as having children, physical health, your location, and debt load will have to be seriously considered before making the jump.
If you are home employed and have any PROs or CONs that I have missed, please comment below and let us know. Your input may change lives.
Peace in Wood ~ Scott