Business Advice For Women - Some Things to Consider If You Want to Work From Home

Written by admin on Thursday, April 22nd, 2010

More and more women are getting into business these days. In fact, more than half of all new small businesses are started buy women, so they make a considerable force in the market place. Many women start off with a home-based business and then move onto more. As time goes on, there are more things that can be done with the home based business, and a business woman coach can help take those women entrepreneurs in the right direction. This article gives some tips for these special entrepreneurs.

Working from home is becoming a more attractive proposition by the minute for all sorts of women. It used to be just stay-at-home-mums who worked from home as a way to earn some extra money for the family, without having to either work full time and/or leave the children in childcare.

However, as we move into the 21st century, things are changing. Many different types of women, from all careers, career levels and walks of life are opting for the lower stress option of working from home. Many companies can see the benefit of allowing their employees to work from home; benefits to them include lower costs in terms of physical space and equipment (because 2 people can share desks, pcs etc if they each work from home half the week) as well as increased productivity and staff retention. Benefits to the employee include no stressful commute, no office distractions and a shorter working day due to no travelling.

To work form home for yourself requires that you consider several things, not least of which is do you know what you want to do? If you want to start something small, with minimum (or no) outlay, then you could consider something like Party Plan, or a catalogue delivery business, or being a virtual call centre operative.

Party Plan

Party plan is a great option for those women who are sociable and friendly and who like talking to other women, either singly or in groups. As a party planner, you would arrange “parties” (demonstrations of your products) that you hold at customers houses. There is usually an incentive for women to be hostesses, which can take the form of a gift or a discount on her purchases. You would attend the party, demonstrate your product, take orders and payments and book more parties at each event.

The really good thing about party plan is there are literally hundreds of companies who offer opportunities like this. Whatever your interest, you can usually find a company within your area of interest that wants party planners! The most obvious ones are cosmetic companies, but there are kitchen items, food items (where your demo is a cooking session), candles, shoes, handbags - the list is almost endless.

The downside of this type of work is that is tends to be evening work - which might not fit in so comfortably for those women with family commitments. However, if you do have the option of working in the evenings, party plan, with the proper business planning and hard work, can be very profitable.

Catalogue Delivery

These type of positions usually involve delivering a catalogue in your neighbourhood several times a year and then returning a few days later to collect the catalogue and the order and payment. This work is great for those “outdoorsy” people who like to be outside whatever the weather. The sort of products that can be sold like this include cosmetics and fragrances and household items.

The downside of this type of work is that you may have to return to some houses several times to catch the householder at home. Again, with hard work and the right kind of business planning, this can be a lucrative business.

Virtual Call Assistant

Many call centres are realising that their telephone answering can be outsourced to people who want to work from home. To do this type of work you would need to have a pc, internet access and a telephone headset. A nice, clear speaking voice helps too, although having a strong accent is NOT a drawback. Some companies expect you to have a separate telephone line too, whilst others are happy for you to use Skype (a free online programme that cuts the costs of calls to fractions of a penny a minute www.skype.com ). This work can be very flexible in that most call centres operate from early in the morning until late at night 7 days a week and you are allowed to pick your own hours. There is often a minimum number of hours that you must do each week, although it does tend to be quite low - around 15 hours per week is not unusual. Some companies will pay you to train you, others expect you to invest the time to gain the skills without pay.

You must consider that to do this type of work you MUST have access to a quiet place to work, the sound of your children or pets in the background is a definite no-no! Another issue can be that many companies insist on some of your hours must be worked at the weekend. One issue I have heard of is that sometimes the company has “overstocked” on home workers and so hours can be limited, but I know that this is being looked at by these companies.

In Summary:

I hope that this has given you some food for thought. If you would like help with the goal setting and business planning element of any new business, a very affordable way of getting this is via my Online Business Planning programme.

The program launches on 1 December! Imagine how useful it will be to you to have access to 24/7 business planning software at an affordable price. To add your name to the list, visit http://www.fromthedeskofsarahshort.com

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Publish Date: 04/21/2010