I'm genuinely curious about something, and you can consider this a spinoff of the work at home scam thread. Why are people so reluctant to consider (or never even seem to consider) starting their own business or freelancing when they need extra money and want to WAH?
I see so many posts about people wanting to WAH and wanting to know if this or that is a scam, or they're willing to work crazy hours for little money at things like Cha Cha or survey taking.
Why the reluctance to start your own gig? You have much more control over the income, can do something you actually like, and have a bit more freedom with the work in general. Is it fear? Is it just that it's too much work to start your own thing? Lack of knowledge about business (which can be overcome, BTW)?
I just don't get why people are so willing to "settle" for the low paying, scammy, hard to find, WAH jobs. Most people have some skill or hobby that they can monetize, so why not do it?
It's what I did many years ago and I've never looked back, or regretted it. I just wonder why people would rather do crap work than strive to find something they genuinely enjoy and which can actually pay them a decent amount of money.
Well, for one thing I personally have no interest in owning my own business. I am no salesperson -- and, to some extent, every business owner has to be a salesperson. It wouldn't be enjoyable for me at all.
You make it sound as if the world is divided into people who work at crap jobs for pennies and people who own their own business. This is blatantly false. Many of us work in traditional jobs and are quite happy with our situations.
When you work for yourself, you have to take care of many things that may not be evident at first-glance: Your own health and life insurance, your own retirement plan, paying "both sides" of your Social Security, managing your facilities and perhaps other employees, finding clients, dealing with times when you have no work (and thus no pay), managing client complaints, perhaps dealing with lawsuits when things go badly. Yes, I
could do these things, but they aren't really the things I do best.
Not everyone has a skill that lends itself to a small business or an idea for a new product. Not all hobbies translate into work, and -- even if your hobby is something for which people will pay -- people only pay for good quality. I know three people who would like to be full-time photographers. Two of them have real talent; the third doesn't, but she thinks she does. Of the three, only one really has the business sense to market the product, promote the product, follow through with the sales. And what's enjoyable as a hobby often becomes work when you take it on 40 hours a week. My husband used to work with a guy who enjoyed raising birds. He began selling them, and pretty soon it was a business -- but although he loved the birds, he didn't love customer calls, dealing with money, etc. He gave up the hobby altogether.
Having a hobby for which people will pay doesn't always mean you have the business acumen to pull off a business. I'm thinking of another guy with whom my husband worked -- this has been years ago. Back then, the area in which they worked had a shortage of lunch restaurants. You literally couldn't get in and out of a place in an hour, so he developed a dream for a retirement job: He thought he'd open a little deli selling sandwiches and salads, open only for lunch. He was in the right area, and he had a great idea. He and his wife both took out all their retirement funds, and they rented a small shop. Their food was
wonderful, but they failed miserably. Not being business people, they didn't know the right questions to ask, and they didn't know how to price their product. They changed prices several times in the first weeks, which angered their customers. I mean, if you pay $4 for a Reuben today, and next week you go back expecting the same low price but you find that the sandwich has been marked up to $7, you're going to notice and question. They also -- and this was downright stupid -- signed a long-term lease for a shop without realizing that they couldn't put a big sign out by the road to bring in business. No one visits a business of which they're unaware. He failed miserably, and now he has no retirement funds.
Bouncing off that topic, starting a business usually requires money. Even people who have it available may be reluctant to risk losing it. Years ago I used to make custom cakes -- never all that many because I also had a full-time job. I was really good at it, but I realized quickly that only wedding cakes were profitable. Flour, eggs and sugar are cheap to buy, but I spent much of my profit on new supplies (you'd be amazed just how many cake pans and cake stands I own). If I were doing this full-time, those supplies would've been used and would've been worthwhile -- this was not true for me on a part-time basis.
Many of these businesses you're suggesting are internet-based. To be really successful in such a business, you need to be able to communicate well through the written word. This is a skill that's diminishing; how many internet posters genuinely believe
alot is a word, have no idea how to use pronouns, and just plain don't write well? Also, to be successful in such a business, you have to know how to create a webpage, collect payment over the internet, etc. Think about it: Ebay is successful because the average user doesn't have to create the wheel to make these things happen -- the structure is provided.
You've found something that works for you, but your mistake is in thinking that we're all alike. Owning your own business works for you and is enjoyable for you, but that doesn't mean it'll work for everyone else.