across.
Once approved, it takes a full month before you see your first unemployment paycheck, but then you will receive several back paychecks, which will help enormously. But, until then, you will have a month to suffer until that payment comes in. Every state handles the unemployment process differently, so it is up to you to find out what to do and how to do it. Do not feel guilty about accepting unemployment insurance: It’s your tax money.
No matter which route you’ve taken to the decision to start your own home-based business, most likely you are feeling that there has to be more to life; that you want to live a richer, fuller life, and that you want to be in control of what happens to you. You’re tired of bosses who run you around and tell you to do things that really don’t make sense and are not efficient in accomplishing your work. Not only that, but the threat of being fired or laid off without any input is humiliating and degrading.
After age 50, the threat of being fired looms especially large, since employers often are prejudiced against older workers and prefer to hire younger people. Therefore, if you lose your 9-to-5 job, it is difficult to find another. Setting up your own business may be a more viable option than looking for another job, since age doesn’t matter and you won’t have to answer to anyone else.
Being a business owner changes your whole mindset. While there is fear of the unknown, it is still a liberating feeling to think you can be in control of making your own money while doing work that you enjoy—and you can do so for the rest of your life, if you so choose. It is not an easy path, especially in the beginning when you are trying to put it all together. There does come the day, however, when you can finally take that vacation you’ve always wanted, or buy that car or house you’ve dreamed about.
HOW THIS BOOK CAN HELP
In the chapters ahead, you will find some ideas for home-based businesses that could bring you the kind of schedule and financial freedom you have only dreamed of. You will learn about businesses such as freelancing, coaching, Internet marketing, and selling imports and exports, among others.
These are not get-rich-quick schemes but real businesses that will require hard work, planning, and organization to make them succeed. To help you, this book provides ideas about how to set up your business, organize your home office, market your services, and operate as a virtual company.
You’ve spent decades working for someone else; let the information in this book help you strike out on a new path. It’s not too late.
STRAIGHT TALK FROM BOB
What’s scarier than starting your own business?
In my opinion, it’s having a 9-to-5 job!
What makes me say so?
Well, there has been a huge “paradigm shift” (forgive the jargon) in employment that has turned the work world upside down. When I was a young lad fresh out of college in the late ’70s, getting a corporate job—like I did—was the safe, secure thing to do.
Entrepreneurs, by comparison, were seen as crazy risk-takers—gambling their futures on uncertain ventures.
Today, it’s quite the opposite.
By starting their own companies, entrepreneurs take control of their work life. They protect themselves from pink slips by being business owners, because they are their own bosses. Meanwhile, the 9-to-5 world has become a shaky and uncertain place. The old “guaranteed” job security of the 1970s is gone.
So, what can you do about it now? If you are in your 50s or 60s, you are easing toward retirement or perhaps you’re already retired. Or, maybe you’ve been downsized—or even pushed out by a company after you’ve given it decades of your best work. Starting a home-based business can provide the extra income you need to live on now and fill your coffers so that you can achieve your retirement investing goal.
If you are in your 70s, 80s, and beyond, you are almost certainly retired from full-time work, which usually means you no longer have much income outside of Social Security or pensions. You may be living more frugally than you’d like. Operating your own small business can put thousands of dollars of extra cash into your pocket to supplement your pension and Social Security.
Regardless of age, there are very few of us in today’s economy who couldn’t use more money. Launching your own small business is one of the surest ways to earn the extra income you need.
2
Home-Based Business Opportunity #1: Freelancing
By the time we’ve reached 50, most of us have been through the wringer several times in life, so we have plenty of experience we can share with other people about what to do, how to act, and how to run a business. If you’ve worked for others over your lifetime, surely you’ve run across a boss or two who just didn’t get it when it came to running a business or who couldn’t keep repeat customers—let alone loyal employees. You also know tons about customer service and business operations and best practices, in part from having observed the mistakes others made. So, how about parlaying that experience, or portions of it, into a business all your own? Now you can be your own boss and have fun doing it.
In fact, it doesn’t matter if you’ve spent many years in one type of business or if you’ve been involved in several businesses and careers over your life. You can always find a way to create a home-based business as a freelancer based upon those experiences.
Then again, maybe you don’t want to revisit any of those former jobs or professions. Instead, you have a hobby that you would love to develop into an expert-level gig and make money with your expertise. So, go ahead, build a business around it, and enjoy doing what you love most. You’ve got a whole new life ahead of you!
WHAT CAN YOU DO?
You can work as a freelancer in many different fields. The following list should give you some ideas:
•Accountant
•Architect
•Attorney
•Blogger
•Computer programmer
•Contractor
•Copywriter
•Desktop publisher
•Editor
•Graphic designer
•Illustrator
•Journalist
•Linguist
•Magazine article writer
•Photographer
•Project manager
•Researcher
•Social networker
•Statistician
•Videographer
•Web designer
•Web marketer
IS THIS FOR ME?
It’s pretty easy to hang out your shingle as a freelancer. But don’t just jump right in without thinking a few things through. Before you actually start freelancing, you need to attend to a few planning issues. First, plan out what you want to do, then create a marketing plan and a business plan, set goals, arrange your financial setup with a bank for the money you’ll make as a freelancer, and determine what tools you’ll need to accomplish all of those steps.