A Home Business is simply a venture which is run from home on a small scale without buying or holding a lot of inventory. It is basically run “on the go”. A remote-friendly business in today's world where technology can effectively close the gap between the business owner, his suppliers and his customers.
With the advent of work from home culture, there has been an uprising in the number of home based businesses across the world. As per the data from the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, India had 167,076 new business set ups in FY22, a 7.5% increase from the 155,377 companies created in the previous year. The increase can be linked to the facts that home based businesses can be started with little or no funding, zero employees and complete work independence.
As per Forbes Insider, almost 30% of small businesses do not have a website. The business is conducted over social media websites which provides them a large user base. Facebook, Instagram and Youtube are the most popular choices for social media advertising. Most businesses are dependent on digital advertising for their growth and earn between 10 lakh to 20 lakh per annum with a high profit margin.
A home business is started for various reasons.
¨ Source of Income
Home Businesses can be started with minimal expense as they are run single handedly using the family members as resources and the house is used as an office space. In such a case, if the product or service is able to attract customers, it becomes an excellent source of income with negligible costs. They just need the right marketing and promotion to grow their user base.
¨ Home entrepreneurship for Identity
Many women with well drawn out education and careers leave everything post marriage to become full time home makers. For such women, there comes a time where they face the existential crisis. They question their worth in the society and even in their own house. At such times, home based business becomes their source of joy and identity. They put their heart and soul out not to make money but to give meaning to their life and use their strong background in a fruitful way.
¨ Passion turned into business
Home cooking, craft, music, dance, etc are some of the activities which women of the house have been doing since decades inside their safe abode as PASSION. Such activities are now getting entry into the mainstream with more and more women turning their passion into their work. Social media images and videos have made them realise that their passion can be appreciated by a wider audience.
¨ Earn while having Fun
We always say that one should enjoy their work. What is better than being able to earn while having fun! Turning a hobby into a business can shorten the learning curve on how to run a business if you’re already adept at doing the hobby. Plus, if people know about your hobby, you can get customers that much faster. During the pandemic, many people took up a skill to kill their free time off from work and soon the hobby turned into a full-time business.
All said and done, home businesses need as much seriousness and commitment as a full time job, maybe more. This is the reason many are not able to see the end of the road as they lack planning and foresightedness. Home businesses not only help the owner establish his base but also play an important role in a country’s economy and job structure. So, like any other venture, home business should be carefully planned, structured and executed with all due diligence and research to go last mile.
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