Copyright ฉ Anton Cheranev

http://www.myinstanthomebusiness.com

Working from home is a dream for many –

but actually going ahead and starting a home

business is very difficult. So what makes so

many people want to do it, and why would you

ever try such a crazy thing? Here are some common

reasons, and some things to consider.

You Can Build Your Great Idea.

It suddenly hit you like a bolt of lightning: you’ve

thought of a great business idea. This is perhaps the

number one reason that people go into business from

home: they’ve come up with something great that they

really believe in, but can’t afford to rent any business

premises. It does depend on what the business is, but

working from home is often ideal in these situations.

Remember, though, that even the best ideas take hard

work to become a reality. The kind of ideas that are

good for a home-based business are ones that can

become at least partly real quickly, and start bringing in

an income – you shouldn’t sit at home for a year working

on something that’s making you nothing whatsoever.

You Can Make Your Hobby a Job.

Most people have something that they’re really passionate

about, and would spend the rest of their life doing if they

could, just for the enjoyment of it. Getting paid for doing

what you love is obviously appealing – even if you only

earn a living wage, it’d be your idea of paradise.

Make sure, though, that you’d be able to take it if you had

to make a living from your passion. It’s the things we’re

closest to that hurt us the most – think of how you might

feel if no-one buys what you’ve made, or if they send it

back and with a note saying “what rubbish, I demand a

refund!” Can you cope with your hobby becoming commercial?

You’re Tired of Your Boss.

It seems like everyone hates their boss. They try to pretend

like they’re your friend, but they’re not fooling anyone, are

they? You’re forced to work to pointless deadlines and targets.

Anytime you spot a better way of doing something you’re

told that it’s impractical, or, worse, that it’s great but the
stupid

way of doing things is already ‘established’ and ‘policy’.

What you might not realise is that ‘being your own boss’

requires quite a lot of willpower. If there was no-one to make

you get up in the morning and do any work, would you?

Your home is supposed to be a place of rest and entertainment –

and when it’s full of the equipment and temptation to do
anything

but work, working there can be hard.

You Want to Spend More Time with Your Family.

You feel like all you do is go to work, come home, and then sit

around, too tired to do anything fun with your family. If you
have

children, they seem to be growing up so fast, and you’re missing
it

all – all because you have to go out and work.

Of course, the flipside here is that you might just end up

spending too much time with your family, while you’re trying to

work. When everyone knows you’ll be in the house all day,

they’ll probably ask you to do all sorts of unimportant things,

just because you’re available. It’s hard to say no,

and before you know it, you’re doing the job of a full-time

‘housewife’ instead of what you set out to do.

You Don’t Like Wasting Time and Money Commuting.

After all, once you get to the office, what is there anyway?
Offices are

dreary environments, and terrible to work in – travelling for
hours

there and back and spending a significant proportion of your
wages to

do it seems completely pointless (especially if you live in the
middle of

nowhere). If you could work from home, think of the time you’d
save…

and time is money, isn’t it?

Don’t be surprised, however, if you start to feel trapped in
your home,

since you never leave it. Can you find good ways to get away
from it all?

But Don’t Be Put Off.

While the list of warnings for working at home might look

long, a list of warnings about working in an office would

surely be longer. As long as you stay on your guard,

you can get all the benefits of working from home without

falling into any of the traps.

Outsourcing is the purchase of goods or services that were previously provided internally. Generally, it is used for a broad range of information technology functions that are selectively contracted to an external service provider.

For most companies, outsourcing is an interesting option, but they are reluctant to explore this option. Many companies are not even aware of outsourcing possibilities.

The decision to outsource is a difficult one that many executives now face. Outsourcing is a difficult issue. The perceived advantages of outsourcing include better control of costs, accountability and the ability to focus internal resources on more business critical tasks.

There are so many risks involved. If you neglect these risks, your business would suffer terribly. Here are some problems often encountered in outsourcing:

Communication is one of the most crucial issues in outsourcing. It can kill projects and the whole outsourcing relationship. There are various sources of communication problems, such as language barriers, inability to communicate bad news or problems, cultural differences, etc. Misunderstandings and language barriers are also contributing factors to communication problems. When work is outsourced the time spent on communication will increase considerably.

Global team management. When a software development team is dispersed globally, through many time zones, it is often difficult to manage and synchronize teams and pay attention to team and individual needs. Resources and time spent on these activities usually increases.

Cultural fit. Here we have to think of, among others, work ethics, work style and corporate culture as well as more general cultural issues. In some parts of the world 9:00 AM means around 9:00 AM which might not be sufficient enough for our purposes. We also have to consider the fact that weekly, public and religious holidays are at different times in different countries. This can cause quite serious timing problems and even communication breakdown. Cultural differences influence management and work style as well as the way people deal with problems, deadlines and stress.

Security: These days security concerns are paramount which influences off-shore outsourcing. Questions like “Is this a safe country or city?” are asked more often and people expect an elaborate and reassuring answer. These questions also relate to the general business climate and political stability in the country in question. But security could also mean other measures a company is taking or required to take in order to meet certain requirements. On-site access security: security cards are used to access the premises and also for instant personal identification, or the building has 24 hour guard for example. Network and IS security – measures could include hardware and software firewalls, virus protection, power supply, backup and fall back operation, fire control, redundant hardware and software, etc.

Training costs. At our outsourcing partner people often must be trained or re-trained to meet our requirements. It can be cross-cultural, general management, communication training for the top management, technology, process, project management, language training for the technical staff. In case training must be provided it will definitely increase our direct costs and can cause delays and timing problems.

Service level. There is a very real risk that while we are busy relocating our IT operation off-shore our service level at the home ground will drop. Clients are lost, new clients are not acquired because of dropping service level. And news travel fast to the competition. The fear from dropping service level is one of the main reasons why companies have decided not to go off-shore with their IT operation.

Employment. In these days, when unemployment in the IT sector returned to Europe and the US, employment became a very serious domestic and political issue. Social tension is growing against relocating jobs off-shore. The issue is often linked to globalization.

Staff turnover. Influence on staff turnover and other HR issues is very limited. It carries the risk, for instance, that one day a key project manager just leaves the company without any notice, leaving a gap behind which might cause delays and cost increase.

This would place you in a better leverage situation when choosing and transacting with outside service providers. The following problems will quell your fears and help you bravely take advantage of the benefits of outsourcing in the new global economy.