Did you ever think about working from home?

What it would be like to get out of that daily grind and commute? To simply walk with your coffee cup, across the living room, over to the computer and start your day? I did; a lot. I spent over 25 years out in the world, running non-profits as their Executive Director. I loved what I did for all those years, but nonprofit management is a tough gig.

At some point every day, I thought about what I could do from home to get me off this ride and still pay all the bills. In 2007, when cyberspace truly came to town, I knew eventually I’d be able to pull it off. It took seven more years for me to take that step, but I took it and I’ll never look back. As for my commute, it went from 70 miles a day to about 7 feet.

So, what is a home-based business, you ask?

According to Entrepreneur Magazine’s online encyclopedia, it’s “a business whose primary office is in the owner’s home. The business can be any size or any type as long as the office itself is located in a home.” Broad, yet straight forward.

The negative undertone that the term “cottage industry” once imbued is all but gone. Times have changed. Even as recent as five years ago, if you said you worked from home, eyebrows would raise and a slightly-smirkish expression would appear on faces seeming to ask, “And how’s that working out for you?”

Fast forward to today

Today when you mention working from home, eyebrows still go up but now the accompanying expression is curiosity, with just slight glazing of envy. They want to know how you’re doing it – cuz they want that life, too.

The truth is that two out of three companies begin in the home. Garages aren’t just for bands, they’ve also launched Apple Computer, Baskin-Robbins ice cream, and Hallmark cards, to name a few. My grandmother used to say, “you don’t have to be a genius your whole life, just thirty seconds.” And today with the precision and strength of the franchise industry, you don’t even need to be a genius for 30-seconds; all you need is the passion to be an entrepreneur.

It’s easier than you think

If you’re the next Steve Jobs, welcome to the party! But you don’t have to invent the iPhone to own and run a successful home-based business. With today’s internet, running a virtual company from home is happening all over the world.

More than one-third of the franchises in my portfolio, are either home-based or can be operated from home until expansion dictates a move. These are established, successful businesses, operating in 15 different industries and there’s over 180 of them. They range from $10,000 to $4mil and produce on average a 67% – 85% net return on the revenue they generate. Even on the lower end of that buy-in, you can be earning in the upper five-figures working from a laptop anywhere there’s Wi-Fi.

More people are choosing to run a home-based business than ever before. Last year, Susan Ward wrote on home-based businesses for the balance, “with sophisticated software programs offering applications in desktop publishing, database management, financial management, and word processing…cellular phones, pagers, voice-mail systems, and toll-free telephone numbers have enhanced the ability of home-based business owners to remain connected to the outside business world.”

In today’s home-based business world, there are a wide variety of interesting industries to choose from:

• Automotive
• Business Services
• Sports/Fitness
• Child Services
• Cleaning Services
• Repair & Restoration
• Health Services
• Technology Services
• Senior Services
• Home Improvement/Maintenance Services
• Food/Beverage
• Retail
• Financial Services

Whatever the reason is that has you considering leaving the corporate world, a look at the home-based franchise industry may provide the impetus for the next chapter of your life. Passion, desire and a little courage is all it takes or as Paul and Sarah Edwards noted in their book Working from Home, successful home-based business owners are usually good at what they do and enjoy doing it.

Picture yourself here

If you believe yourself to be flexible, independent, and self-sufficient, then transitioning into a home-based business may be right for you. Like to learn more? Let’s talk.