hard workerWhy do we do this to ourselves? Why are we out there working so hard to learn new things and explore home-based business opportunities, when we could just settle in to a steady job, working for someone else, until we retire?

This is not one a “here’s how this or that works” post. This is a more philosophical kind of post about something that just needs to be said once in a while. So, on with a little philosophy!

Most people are perfectly content to live out their lives working a regular job. Maintain a steady income, buy a house, put money away in the Company 401K plan, create a College Fund for the kids. Get home from work at 5:30, tired, but with a general sense of satisfaction that they have put in a decent day’s work and all is basically right with the world.

Get dinner on the table; make sure the kids have done their homework. Maybe watch a movie, or putter around with a hobby. Spend some time with the spouse. On the weekends, play a little softball, go see the Grandparents, hang out with a couple of friends, jump on a Jet Ski, take the kids to the Zoo.

Once a year, take that accumulated vacation time and rent a cottage somewhere, or maybe once every few years blow a stack of cash and go to Disney World.

Same job, day in and day out. The people change occasionally, but that’s all right. There are always new friends to be made amid the shuffle and bustle that comes out of the Personnel Department. The longer the time on the job, the greater the skill and knowledge. With that comes the respect of co-workers, and gradual advances in pay and privilege.

Sometimes there’s grumbling and griping. The new boss is an idiot, or there’s a co-worker who just arrived from the planet “Huh?”. The occasional setback; the Company’s sales are down, so there’s no Christmas Bonus this year, or rumors of layoffs have begun to circulate once again.

Overall, though, there’s a deep-seated satisfaction that one is Working For A Living, and that’s something that’s very important to have.

If you’re one of that majority of people in this world who can work the daily grind for thirty or forty years, retire, and call it a good thing, then more power to you. It IS a good thing. I envy and respect you, I really do. But then, you wouldn’t be reading this post in the first place, so you’d never know that. Sometimes I wish I could be happy to be Working For A Living for someone else!

There are those of us who simply cannot be entirely satisfied with that life, and that’s probably why you are here reading this.

For some of us, although we Work For A Living on the surface, we are simply never happy with it. There’s a longing for something more that is actually a physical heartache at times. Many times we don’t know what it is; we just know that we need it, and the need never goes away. We search for it by changing jobs, or changing relationships, or both. Sometimes we even unconsciously keep the most important people in our lives pushed away, at arm’s length, because we are so obsessed with our pursuit of something that perhaps we can’t even define. It’s an elusive but overwhelmingly annoying feeling that what we’re doing with our lives is simply not enough. We need something more!

If you haven’t guessed already, I’m one of those people with that need. As far back as I can remember, I was never happy simply holding a steady job. I was always looking for more, even though I could not define what more was. I didn’t even know if more was good; I just knew I needed it.

I don’t know if that need is something I was simply born with, or something that I picked up while growing up. I DO know, however, that either way, it came from my parents.

They both had the need, too. Both of them. My Mother had a good career, but she was always doing other things on the side. She found an answer to her need through a series of home businesses.

Back then, the big home business was the Party Plan. Tupperware, Rubbermaid, Park Lane Jewelry…you name it, she was into it. And she was good at it. It wouldn’t be long after she began a new venture that she would become the Regional Manager for this or that, or the Top Producer for the other.

My Father had the need too, as I said. He worked himself practically into a coma supporting our family, and his combination of drive and need finally culminated in his actually buying the last company he worked for. He took over that company and turned it into a viable, respected multi-state entity that employed a lot of people and had a solid reputation for quality and integrity tanks to this business reputation repair services. People always trusted my Dad, because he always kept his promises.

I don’t think he ever really understood how much I respected him and my Mother for what they accomplished in their lives. How they started with very little, went out into the world on their own, risked everything, and never gave up. How they found answers to the need that I know from my own experience was so powerful and overwhelming for them both. It’s a wonderful thing to be able to actually do it, and their examples are a source of great pride and inspiration for me.

Through the years, boiled down to it’s most basic aspect, I’ve come to realize that my own personal need is for a financial security that does not depend on the ups and downs of someone else’s company or business.

Financial independence, for me, is not about how much money I can put in the bank. It’s about the fact that whatever I earn, I did it MYSELF. From something I CREATED.

Yes, of course, it’s partly about earning money. However, hungrily accumulating money just for the sake of accumulating it is NOT important to me. Money is just a tool. It’s what can be done with it, and what I actually do with it, that’s important.

For me, it’s about having enough to give my family a secure life. Paying for a solid college education for all my kids. Making sure that many years from now my grandchildren, and those who come after them, will be able to share in something of what I created. It’s also about being able to reach out and to help people who need it whenever I see them. Could I do all that by Working For A Living? Working the daily grind all my life for someone else?

Yes, I could, and many people do. However, that doesn’t cover the entire scope of it for me. For some reason, I need to be able to do it myself. I need to be the one creating the things that bring in the income. So satisfying that need, for me, means financial security gained from something I created myself.

Wherever your own personal need comes from, you know it’s there, and you’re looking for a way to satisfy it. The fact that you’re reading this post is pretty good proof.

I’ve been in business on the Internet for many years now, and I can tell you that I work harder at it than I ever did when I worked for someone else. There are long hours, setbacks, ups and downs. There’s a lot to learn, and you have to constantly plug away at your business, day after day. You can’t slack off when things look tough, and you can’t blame other people for your own occasional bad decisions.

There will be times when you think you might have been crazy to try it in the first place. There will be people who tell you ARE crazy for trying it in the first place!

Now, if you quit your regular job too, try and start a Home-based business, you may BE crazy! You need that steady income, until your own business at least matches it, and you’re sure you can sustain it. So, you do need to keep the day job, or look for one if you don’t have one right now. The beginning of any entrepreneurial venture has to be based on a solid foundation. 

For home-based business, that foundation is a regular job while you build your business. So, if you are planning to start a home-based business like selling online, all you need to have is a laptop and a stable internet connection. What are you waiting for, start your home-based business and make it grow!!!

7 thoughts on “Home Based Business: Why Do We Do It?”
  1. Wow. Couldn’t agree with this article more. It really hit home. So many valuable points in this article. Even if you never do make it to the point where you can depend solely on your home business income, having your own home business will help you succeed in other facets of your life, especially your career.

    I’ve said it time and time again that the experience and knowledge I’ve gotten out of running my own online businesses have proven to be so much more valuable than anything I’ve learned in my 4+ years of school.

    Thanks for the great read.

  2. Hey there! Just wanted to say I love reading through your blog and
    look forward to all your posts! Keep up the superb work!

  3. Thank you for your attention to detail and great writing style. Your professionalism shows in your article. I like your interesting views and appreciate your unique ideas. This is quality.

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