Our Home Based Business

Our home based business started 40 months ago, five months after our journey to a simpler lifestyle.

Our first question was could we Make Money From Home. When we first started our home based business, we looked at many different home business opportunities, including an internet home business or an online home business. We considered working from home to produce someone else's products. Some of the home based businesses and especially the internet home businesses sound too good to be true - a word of caution, if they sound too good to be true, they usually are!

After considering many different home based businesses, we ended up going back to our original plan - a craft business and an internet business, both allowing us to work from home.

We had been working at our internet home business for many years, the difference is that we only did it when we had the time. When you are working full time and raising a family, you don't have much time. But, we are thankful that we did start this home business years ago as we now could devote the time and energy to further develop it.

Our online home business is developing and maintaining our websites. This website is one of them. It shares our experiences, and hopefully gives people encouragement that yes, you can live a simple life and work at home, and earn an income.

Our other business is a craft business where we produce glass products: stained glass and fused glass.

Looking back at our beginning we can now see more than one mistake that we made with our home based businesses:

- we lacked focus in our craft business, we were producing all kinds of products, we had no theme
- for the online business we did not take the time to learn proper techniques
- while we did work everyday, we had no sense of urgency
- our bookkeeping was too relaxed
- we did not develop a business plan
- we financed the business incorrectly.

Now, 40 months later, things have changed! We now:

- we now have a business plan, which provides us with a sense of urgency
- we now have focus - both of our home based businesses are focused - motivational products/information or glass related
- we have read, taken courses and now understand what it means to run an online business. Our knowledge of our internet business has increased substantially.
- we now have better practices for our books, we have all the receipts, we record all allowable transactions
- we have changed how the business is financed so it is no longer a drain on our personal resources

Our home based businesses are providing us with an income to live a comfortable life. Are we rich? No. Are we happy? Absolutely. (remember the saying, "money doesn't buy happiness")

We would never go back to corporate life where someone else controls your life. We love our home based business. We work hard, but we see the rewards of our work.

Are there challenges with working at home? You bet, but like all challenges we have found solutions. As Michael F. Staley said, "There is no challenge more challenging than the challenge to improve yourself."

One of the best pieces of advice we could give someone who wants to start a home based business, or wants to start an internet home business is to start it part time while you still have the income from your full time job. Then when the time is right you will have a head-start on developing your home based business further. And don't be discouraged if you make a mistake, fix it and move on - that is how we learn!

You may ask what are the best home based business opportunities? Our answer to that is, what do you love doing? Your answer to that question should help you decide what it is you want to do.

Or, you may ask how do I start a home based business? There are many excellent websites that provide information on starting a home based business. Start researching them now.

Our journey continues……