Why a home business might just be the passion project you need

Female entrepreneurs across the country are finding a new way of exploring their business-owning dreams – home businesses. 

Now one of the fastest-growing forms of startup in the world, home businesses are giving these entrepreneurs the autonomy and creative freedom to make their visions a reality. But just why are they so popular and are they right for everyone?

While being your own boss and spending Mondays in your pyjamas sounds nice, running a business from your own living space has its own set of challenges.

That being said, a home business might just be the passion project you need to re-vitalise your career and get your life back on the track to success. 

You’re feeling lost in work

The 9-5 grind isn’t for everyone.

So many of us have been there. A boring office job where you spend the majority of your day staring out the window dreaming of doing anything else. Late nights answering emails, annoying colleagues and meetings that you’re tired of reminding people could really be an email. 

We live in a society where a good portion of us don’t enjoy our work and strive to follow a seemingly unattainable dream. For many, reaching that dream could require taking a risk and starting a home business. 

Not only does a home business help you escape the drudgery of adhering to someone else’s schedule and rules, but you have total freedom to cover where the business is heading and what you personally spend your time on. 

Most home businesses will start as something you have to do in your spare time before you can quit your job and commit to it full time.

However, that time spent in the evenings and on weekends getting your business established might just be the medicine you need to make your day job easier to get through – safe in the knowledge you’ll be able to leave it all behind soon. 

It doesn’t even have to be a replacement for work. A home business can be a way of reconnecting with a certain skill or passion once again. A chance to prove to yourself you can still paint, write or do anything you used to be so passionate about. 

Even if it doesn’t take off, pursuing a home business can give you the experience and CV padding to lift you out of a frustrating career -— as it has for so many small businessmen and women before

You can follow a dream

We all have a dream tucked away somewhere in the back of our mind. 

It might be a life goal, somewhere we want to visit or a business idea — whatever it is, what’s important in life is getting the chance to realise it. So few of us actually get to achieve that. 

Opening and running a home business gives you the opportunity to follow that dream in a low-pressure and low-risk environment. You’ll get what you put into it and get a chance to prove to yourself that dream was attainable. 

Many home businesses are, at their core, examples of professionals indulging in a passion. Online store platforms such as Etsy are a key example of this — where thousands of artists and entrepreneurs have been able to follow their craft dreams and bring joy to the world one pin badge at a time. 

Whatever your dream, a home business can be a brilliant opportunity to follow it in a way starting a traditional enterprise never could. 

There are hundreds of businesses that started in a bedroom based on a dream. The free educational resource Crash Course, the veteran-owned business VA Claim Pros, and some of the biggest companies in the world today were forged from small beginnings by people who wanted to help other people just like them.

This could even just be the first step in a long journey to reach your dream, allowing you to meet vital contacts and learn more about something you’re passionate about.

As a passion project, few things open you up to the challenges, realities and opportunities the world has to offer quite like running a home business. It’s far from a case of being trapped in your bedroom. 

You’ll learn new skills

Many people look at starting a business as the finish line, but the truth is it’s only the beginning. 

While opening the doors to your business (home-based or otherwise) can feel like the monumental achievement at the end of a significant struggle, it is very regularly the start of a new struggle that will require you to learn a copious amount of new skills to navigate. 

That shouldn’t be looked upon as a negative though. 

While the process of running a home business does demand a greater degree of knowledge surrounding issues such as financial management, creative outlay and understanding new technologies – it’s always a brilliant learning experience.

Home businesses owners doing it themselves will have to understand how to navigate social media platforms, apply creative flourishes to make their website and marketing stand out, and have the technical skills to make changes when systems break and they can’t afford a professional. 

Everything about a home business is about doing it yourself and learning the skills along the way to make that possible. This is, much like touched upon earlier, crucial for strengthening yourself career-wise and having the skill set to compete in the modern employment marketplace. 

The pressure and challenges of a home business aren’t for everyone, but for the people crying out for a new vision, purpose or alternative revenue stream, they can be a saviour. If you’re feeling lost in life or experiencing a new sense of drive, give running an operation from your bedroom a go. 

Photo by Yoel Peterson