hey!

are any of us out here that work from home or are self employed with a business that is registered with their state? care to share your experiences?

i am currently starting up a small home based business, and am thus far enjoying the journey. what is really stopping me from moving forward is the fact that i just lost my job SO supplies that i need to organize my files are limited. but my ideas are there and every day i devote time to the starting of my business.

i was looking for advice/stories/feeback/opinions concerning this endeavor by anyone who works for themselves. how do you handle healthcare issues? if you get sick, does anyone run your business for you? have you enrolled in state programs? did you request help from the minority and woman business office in your city/county?

share, share! what is your business, how long have you been doing it? do you struggle or find that business comes easily? how did you set up your business? is it in your home? someone else's home? a small office/setup space? your garage??

i also have to say that i have stopped shopping ALOT at big businesses...i support alot of small business now, moreso than ever before!

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wife, mom, doctor, lawyer, veternarian, friend, sibling, CEO, banker, advisor, chauffer, maid, interior decorator, artist, author, social worker, entertainer, video gamer, gymnast, gardener, scientist, genius, psychologist, psychic, sidekick, and superhero...all rolled into one!

My father started up a small manufacturing business out of our garage when I was about 10 years old. My husband and I now work for him along with 5 other people, and we have about a 14000 sq. foot workshop (I think it might be bigger, it's just a guess) along with a smaller shop that we just built last year after expanding our product line. Things have slowed down a little in the past few years, but we are leveling out at a very nice average. My dad has a lot of loyalty to the people who work for him, but we have been needing to get rid of someone for about a year and he just can't bring himself to do it because of the unemployment rate in our area. It really frustrates me because there is one guy in particular that walks all over him. If I was the one in charge he would have been gone a long time ago. He has been talking about downsizing even more and making it more of an exclusive family thing. We'll see what happens, but I love working with my dad and husband every day!

I don't really have any advice for someone starting out, since I was too young to really remember much. I remember doing a lot of the cleaning, shipping, and some clerical work as a tween/teen, so I guess I could advise to use all of your resources - including your kids! haha!

I wish you the best of luck!

We run a surf school. Our third bedroom is our "office", we store all the boards, wetsuits, etc in the garage and dh teaches the majority of the lessons (except in the summer when we have bigger groups and camps and we need to hire helpers). My dh works as an AD in a middle school, so he has summers off to teach as many lessons and camps as possible and he teaches a lesson or 2 most weekends through the year. The key to our business being successful is offering a service that had low start up costs. He had worked for another surf company, so he had an idea of what works well and what doesn't. We are a LLC (limited liability company), it works out better with taxes, we are taxed less on our profits. We found good deals on boards and other goods by working with companies and gaining their trust. Once we had the goods paid for and the permits cleared, it was all profit when just dh teaches the lesson ($100/person for 2.5 hr group lesson). It's a lot of work, but we make about 1/2 of what I made teaching and it really helps. Summers are craaaazzzy around here, but it's worth it (the ical is already filling up!) It took a few years to build up, but now it runs smoothly. The hardest part is the paperwork and bookkeeping, dh is always working on the computer filling in spreadsheets and keeping track of all deposits and expenses in the correct places. We also have a very reliable and fair CPA that we work with, he is so helpful and a lawyer to make sure all legal papers, waivers are up to date.

Dh has health insurance through work, ds and I have private plans with deductibles, we could not afford the dependant coverage through his work. One of our financial goals next year is to switch to dh's plan, a MUCH better deal overall if we can swing it monthly.

This is not dh's first small business. When I met him, he had designed and was marketing a skateboard truck. It was a fun business, he had a team of riders to take to contests, we went to big trade shows and had a booth, went to industry parties, and met and worked with some very successful pro riders. He had trucks in shops all over the world. He even made 2 skateboard films, one for promotional use and the other was sold in shops. The business didn't work out because the cost to make the trucks was $17/pair and they still only sell for about $20-25/pair, there's no profit in that after all the costs of paying team riders and making soft goods. He learned a lot about bookkeeping and investors (don't have too many, it makes taxes so complicated!).

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Both of us own a business, we're completely self-employed. Dh is a partner with my brother & father in an LLC run from my parents' home (executive recruiters). I have my Piano Studio here at our home and used to sell full-time on ebay.

They used a small inheritance to start-up the LLC. I started out teaching with my piano in the nursery! Over the years, I've moved and eventually renovated a walk-out basement into a large piano studio with it's own driveway/parking and entrance.

The main benefits are the ability to deduct business use of the home at tax time (I have a 600 sq. ft. piano studio). If I'm sick, I cancel lessons and lose the money for the day. Dh can work from home if he's sick. Health insurance is always tricky, we do have to find our own and it can be pretty expensive. Self-employment taxes are pretty hefty too. But, the business deduction for business use of the home does help offset this quite a bit. Deducting mileage related to the business also helps.

being self -employed is scary to me. I am so used to certainty of a paycheck.
I do run my own website and do okay with it but my husband works full time and he carries the health insurance so that is covered for me.

As, for getting sick. Really, that is not an option for me. I can be down for a day or two but if I got really sick, no one knows how to run my business. I have 1 part time employee and my husband that could run most of it but they do not know how the website works. So, I need to train one of them in case of an emergency.

Also, vacations are hard if you do not have someone trained to work while you are gone. We left last year for 1 week and I was so stressed out when we got home trying to get orders out.

It is all about putting things into motion to make sure the business can run without you.

Good luck,
Rebecca

I think that's great. Nowadays, the young people want to prove one's worth

I work from home and we live off dh's paycheck. We have really good health care through his job. As for getting sick, well it's kinda like being a mom, there's no replacement and no sick days. At least not for a while. ( My best advice in that dept. is to take good care of yourself, eat well, exercise to relieve stress, and get a good amount of sleep. I know easier said than done.)

The hardest parts for me have been getting customers(since I don't have a physical biz to drive by) and working when the dishes or laundry are calling my name. I try to get a few basic chores done before I start work or I work late at night. Since I work on my computer my kids think I'm 'playing' and don't always respect my space.

Good luck with your adventure.