Working From Home

There are advantages and disadvantages of selling from home.

The advantages, of course, are when you don’t have to fight traffic, no early morning rush, in the winter no driving in the snow, flexible schedule, you can work and do stuff at home, no fancy wardrobe….it all sounds great from the outside but there are many cons also that make working from home challenging when selling online.

The big one for most I think is the flow of inventory, if you have 500 items online you need to have a place at home to store those items and a system of finding them when they sell, in addition you have to take pictures, revise, access for questions. This is a major commitment of space in your home. I use a tote system. Larger volume consignor’s have their own totes to keep their stock separated. They are stack on shelves and are easily accessible. I use the see through type because I am a lazy labeller and it changes so fast. That way I only have to sort through the one tote to find an item. Shelves keep them separated so I don’t have to stack and unstuck all the time.

For shipping, I wrap and pack everything at a packing station. I have all my supplies for shipping and they are all off limits to my family, especially the scissors. I was forever looking for my scissors whenever I packed a parcel wasting very valuable time.

I keep tape, boxes, bags, fragile tags, markers, pens, boxes, shrink wrap, tubes, foam, peanuts, bubble envelopes, etc. I buy in bulk and use recycled wherever possible. I dumpster dive into recycling dumpsters for the right size boxes and always keep extra. You need a space for packing supplies and shipping, my husband created my packing space and it has streamlined my shipping and saved me a lot of time.

Which brings me to the next point about working from home. Respect for your business from your family. This is a big issue for people who work from home. It’s easy to be sidetracked by life and you can fill your day with numerous family responsibilities and needs, if you want to run a successful home business you have to dedicate time and focus to that business. Some things that may help are a dedicated office, office hours, a headset phone, and a gentle reminder to family and friends that you are “working’ during your chosen work time. I always tell myself – SELF – Would that get done if you had a real job outside the home? If the answer is no, I’m not doing it now either.

The other consideration is social interaction, its lonely working from home if you have family gone everyday. My other self employed friends and I have developed a text network of a sort and we all text each other and support each other. In addition there is Twitter and Facebook, but be careful, if you are a social person by nature, it’s easy to lose your day in the social network which might be good for you and promotion but doesn’t bulk up the bottom line. Commit at least four hours each day doing activities that directly bring revenue to your business.

Overall, working from home for me is better…the 15 minute snack and visit after school for me is worth the effort.