What Is A Home Based Business?

Definition (as defined in Wikipedia):
A home business (or "home-based business" or "HBB") is a small business that operates from the business owner's home office. In addition to location, home businesses are usually defined by having a very small number of employees, usually all immediate family of the business owner, in which case it is also a family business. Home businesses generally lack shop frontage, customer parking and street advertising signs. Such businesses are sometimes prohibited by residential zoning regulations.[1]

The prospect of working from home as gained credibility over the years. Home offices can now compete with small commercial businesses and save on rent in the process. Faxes, high speed internet connections, dedicated home telephone lines, and cell phones help to make a home-based business a reality.

A home-based business is not to be confused with a work-at-home scheme. A work-at-home scheme is a get-rich-quick scheme in which a victim is lured by an offer to be employed at home; very often doing some simple task in a minimal amount of time with a large amount of income that far exceeds the market rate for the type of work. The true purpose of such an offer is for the perpetrator to extort money from the victim, either by charging a fee to join the scheme, or requiring the victim to invest in products whose resale value is misrepresented.[1]
For more information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Work-at-Home_scheme

Advantages of a home-based business:
• Work from home
• Low overhead
• Flexibility
• Tax advantages
• Be your own boss (this can be good and bad)

Disadvantages:
• Requires self-discipline
• Can have more distractions


Types of home-based businesses
There a two basic types of businesses, conventional and non-conventional. A conventional business might be providing services such as catering, wedding planning, accounting, private investigation, window washing, car detailing, real estate, house cleaning, consulting…the list goes on. Or you might sell health products, beauty products, candles, gifts, etc. through a direct sales company. There are many reputable direct sales companies to choose from. An excellent resource is the Direct Selling Association’s website: www.dsa.com and www.directselling411.com where you will find lots of information on direct sales and a list of reputable Direct Selling companies. Be cautious if a company that you are considering is not a member of the DSA.

The other type of business is a non-conventional type called Network Marketing, which literally is “social networking.” It is also known as “Relationship Marketing” or Multi-level Marketing (MLM). Several of these reputable companies are members of the DSA. Network Marketing is the most misunderstood industry and is quickly becoming mainstream for several reasons. I will discuss these reasons in my next post.