Home Based Business: Why Do We Do It?

Why do we do this to ourselves? Why are we out here working so hard to learn new things and explore home based business opportunities, when we could just settle into a steady job working for someone else until we retire? This is not a “here’s how this works” article. This is more of a philosophical thought that just needs to be said once in a while. So, on with a little philosophy!

Most people are perfectly content to live out their lives working a regular job. Maintain a steady income, buy a house, put money into your retirement, create a college fund for the kids. You get home from work at 5:30, tired, but with a general sense of satisfaction that you have put in a decent day’s work and all is basically right with the world.

Then dinner, make sure the kids did their homework… Maybe watch a movie or do a hobby, spend time with the spouse. On the weekends, play some softball, go see the grandparents, hang out with friends and head to the lake or take the kids to the Zoo. Once a year you take that accumulated vacation time and rent a cabin in the mountains or go to Disney World.

Same job, day in and day out. The people change occasionally, but that’s OK. There are always new friends to be made amid the shuffle and bustle of the HR department. The longer the time on the job, the greater the skill and knowledge. With that comes the respect of co-workers and gradual advances on pay and privilege.

Sometimes there’s grumbling and griping. The new boss is an idiot, or a co-worker just arrived from the planet “Huh?”. There is the occasional setback, sales are down so no Christmas bonus this year, or rumors of layoffs have begun to circulate once again. Overall, though, there is a deep-seated satisfaction that you are WORKING for a living, and that’s something that’s very important to do and have.

If you are one of that majority of people in this world who can work that daily grind for 30 or 40 years, retire, and call it a good thing, the more power to you! That’s because IT IS a good thing, and it is to be envied and respected. But then again, you wouldn’t be reading this article in the first place if you were satisfied and happy to be working for someone else.

But there those of us who simply cannot be entirely satisfied with that life, and that’s probably why you are reading this.

Always looking for Other Opportunities

For some of us, although we work for a living on the surface, we are simply never happy with it. There’s a longing for something more that is actually a physical heartache at times. We don’t know what it is most of the time, we just know that we need it and the need never goes away. We search for it by changing jobs, or changing relationships or both. Sometimes we even unconsciously keep the most important people in our lives pushed away at arms length, because we are so obsessed with our pursuit of something that perhaps we can’t even define. It’s an elusive but overwhelmingly annoying feeling that what we’re doing with our lives is simply not enough. We need something more!

If you haven’t guessed already, I’m one of those people that that need. As far back as I can remember, I was never happy holding a steady job. I was always looking for more, even though I didn’t know what that “more” was! I just knew I needed it. Is it something I was born with? I don’t know if it was that or something that I picked up while growing up, but either way, I DO KNOW that this need came from my parents. They both had the need too. BOTH OF THEM.

My Mother had a great career, but she was always doing other things on the side. She found an answer to her need through a series of home businesses. Back then, the big home business was the Parties! Tupperware, Rubbermaid, Park Lane Jewelry… you name it, she was into it and… she was GOOD AT IT. It wouldn’t be long after she began a new venture that she would become the Regional Manager for this or the Top Producer for that.

My Father had the need too, as I said. He worked himself practically into a coma supporting our family, and his combination of drive and need finally culminated in his actually buying out the last company he worked for. He took over that company and turned it into a viable, respected multi-state entity that employed a lot of people and had a solid reputation for quality and integrity thanks to his business reputation repair services. People always trusted my Dad, because he always kept his promises.

I don’t think they ever really understood how much I respected them for what they accomplished in their lives. How they started with very little, went out into the world on their own, risked everything, and never gave up. How they found answers to the need that I know from my own experience was so powerful and overwhelming for them both. It’s a wonderful thing to be able to actually do it, and their examples are a source of great pride and inspiration to me.

Home Based Business allows me to control my own Financial Security.

Through the years, boiled down to its most basic aspect, I’ve come to realize that my own personal need is for a financial security that does not depend on the ups and downs of someone else’s company or business. Financial independence for me, is not about how much I can put in the bank. It’s about the fact that whatever I earn, I did it MYSELF from something that I CREATED.

Yes of course, earning money is important. However, hungrily accumulating money just for the sake of accumulating is not important to me. Money is a tool. It’s what can be done with it and I do with it, that’s important.

For me, it’s like what my parents did for me. It’s about having enough to give my family a secure life. Paying for a solid college education for all my kids. Making sure that my grandchildren and those who come after them will be able to share in something of what I created. It’s also about being able to reach out and help people who need it whenever I see them. Could I do all that by working the daily grind all my life for someone else?

I could. Many people do. However, that doesn’t cover the entire scope of it for me. For some reason, I NEED to be able to do it myself. I need to be the one creating the things that bring in the income. Satisfying that need for me means financial security gained from something I created myself.

Wherever your own personal need comes from, you know it’s there, and you’re looking for a way to satisfy it. The fact that you’re reading this article is pretty good proof.

I’ve been in business online for many years now and I can tell you that I work harder at it than I never did when I worked for someone else. There are long hours, setbacks, ups and downs. There’s a lot to learn and you have to constantly plug away at your business, day after day. You can’t slack off when things look tough, and you can’t blame other people for your own occasional bad decisions.

Sometimes, you’ll question your own sanity for attempting something. And guess what? There’ll be folks who insist you’re downright crazy for even trying! 

Hey Dreamer, You Gotta Keep Your Day Job!

Now, if you quit your regular job and try to start a Home Based Business you really may be crazy! You need that steady income until your own business at least matches it, and you’re sure that you can sustain it. So, YOU NEED TO KEEP YOUR DAY JOB or look for one if you don’t have one right now. The beginning of any entrepreneurial venture has to be based on a solid foundation.

For a home based business, that foundation is your regular job while you build your business. So if you are planning on starting a home based business like selling products online, all you need to have is a laptop and a stable internet connection. What are you waiting for, start your home based business and make it grow!