Can You Really Make Money From Home
Home Based Businesses: Can You Really Make Money From Home?
I used to wonder whether or not a true income could be earned from working at home. And then my curiosity got the better of me and I thought I would see whether or not I could supplement my full time income with a home based business. What I found out was actually mind boggling. Not only can you make a decent second income by working for yourself from the comfort of your own living room, you can actually make a good living at it. There are literally thousands of opportunities out there for someone just like you to make a first or second income working from home via a home based business. You just simply need to know where to look.
1). Freelancing. The reason that I chose to list this one first is simply because this is the opportunity that I took advantage of when I a started the "Second Income Experiment." In addition to my full time job a risk and compliance manager at a large nation bank, am a freelance writer. I like writing, which is a good thing since being a freelance writer requires you do do a great deal of it. Of course, I'm no Nicholas Sparks or Stephen King, so instead of writing for pleasure, I write for money. I started out writing for a few "revenue sharing sites like Associated Content and Helium, which paid me anywhere from a few cents to a couple of bucks for each article. And then I joined a writer's forum and signed up for some writer's job boards. Now, I'm proud to say that after a LOT of hard work and a few bumps along the way, I write for mostly private clients and average about $1000-$1500 a month in secondary income. What's really nice about my freelance career is the flexibility of my schedule. As I mentioned before, I do have a full time work schedule, but on top of that I have two kids, a husband and a household to take care of. Being able to work in my downtime is a huge benefit for me. Of course it doesn't hurt that I get paid via PayPal on a weekly basis. But, as with any situation in life, the upside always comes with a downside. In most freelancing situations, you are a contractor not an employee, so you'll have to pay taxes on your earning at the end of the year. You may also run into unscrupulous clients who don't pay you for your work. So far, I've been extremely fortunate that I have not experiencing any non-paying gigs, but I know people who have. It's an unfortunate fact of being self employed. Now, don't think for one second that freelancing is confined to writing. If you can do it, you can sell it. I have friends that are freelance photographers. My husband actually created a contract business around home remodeling. I even know a few people that have made some serious cash as mystery shoppers and Internet reviewers! 2). Consulting. While many people use freelancing and consulting interchangeably, the truth is there's a difference. The main difference between freelancing and consulting is that consultants are paid to share their knowledge instead of producing a physical product. For example, many police officers supplement their somewhat lacking full time income with freelance security gigs. This type of situation requires the officer to spend a defined amount of time actually providing security. Now, if the police officer determined that there just simply aren't enough hours in the day to work two jobs, he or she could make money by becoming a security consultant. Instead of putting himself on the front line as a security guard or body guard, he could simply help the client design a security system based on his or her working knowledge of what criminals are thinking and how they take advantage of vulnerabilities. There are virtually no start up costs in becoming a consultant, with the exception of registering your business with your city/county of operation. By Sandra Parker - Sandra Parker is a freelance writer and aspiring novelist.|
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