Without question the greatest lure for starting and running a business is the fact that you become your own boss. Of course, this is only partly true, for the simple reason that your customers will always be your bosses. I have been self-employed in various ventures for a number of years, with the majority being operated from my home. For me the lure of self-employment is the freedom, hands down. It is not so much the potential to generate a substantial income or the ability to grow equity, it is simply the sense of freedom and independence that being the boss affords. This means setting your own schedule, working at your own pace and earning what you wish. As long as you get the work done, satisfy your customers and clients and meet your deadlines, you can work in your bathrobe if you so choose, if no one is coming over for a meeting. More significantly, you will not have play office politics.



While it may not be a good reason to start a business solely on the prospect of making big bucks, it is true that the majority of people do have the potential to make more money by owning and creating a business than they do working for a paycheck. This is because when you are working for someone else; there are just a limited number of hours in a day for which to earn an hourly wage or a commission. This is the primary reason why most people cannot get wealthy as a traditional employee unless they invest their money in something independent of their work. Trading time for money will never get anyone rich.

On the other hand, whenever you have a business of your own, you can multiply yourself by hiring others to increase the overall revenue of your business. This will in turn multiply the number of your customers who will buy your goods or services, you can duplicate your business model and open in new geographical areas, and you can duplicate and expand the number of products that you sell. Once you have built a business that is generating revenues and profits, duplicating what works can greatly increase your personal income and equity.

Regardless of whether you scale up your business or not, you can still set your own wages, work more hours to finish a project when required, and maintain complete control of that project. Too often in a business, you will have to wait for nine other departments to get on board before you can finish a task. Working on your own, you can determine how long each task will take, charge accordingly, and complete the job on your own if it is feasible.

Having the ability to create your own work environment and the ability to be flexible in how you operate the business are two more of the major advantages of starting and operating a business from home. For starters, instead of spending time commuting to and from work, you can use this would be commuting time to get work done or have more time to do as you wish.

The average employee commutes at least one hour each day. That is five hours a week in which you have flexibility to do as you choose. If you like, you can walk the dog at noon, be there to pick up the kids right after school, be at home to let the plumber or electrician in, take your car for repairs, and do a plethora of other personal needs on your schedule, without hurting your business responsibilities. And there is no boss or employer that you have to ask, or vacation days that you have to burn.

You also have the opportunity to work in an office setting of your choice, decorate as you like, and decide which high-tech and no-tech appliances are to your liking. For the millions of people who have moved from cubicles to home offices, these personal choices are a major factor. In addition, those who are green conscious can regulate their own heat, turn off unused lights and even go solar-powered if desired. While lots of businesses today are joining the green environmental movement, there are also lots who are not. As your own boss, you are free to do so and experience that joy of doing something wonderful for Mother Nature in your little piece of the world.

Operating a business from home also qualifies you for any number of the tax benefits associated with operating a business, even if you work a regular job and operate your business only part time. As soon as you open for business, a portion of your utility bills are tax-deductible against business revenues, part of your transportation expenses (which is proportional to the amount of time and mileage your car was used for business purposes) are tax-deductible, and any books or publications that you bought for your business can be deducted for educational purposes. Even though you will pay some self-employment taxes, you can usually greatly benefit by many more deductions with a home-based business.