Are you looking to work from home? You may be looking to pivot to an online business during these unprecedented times if your face-to-face business has changed.

Or you may be looking for a way to help gain some stability and security for the future by adding another string to your financial bow. Or perhaps you are looking to return to work after a career break and want to be your own boss.

If you have a business idea yourself or able to access some skills training to set yourself up as a business, there are a lot of support available from Connected Women to help you.

For those looking at all the options available to you whatever your age, based on my experience of having worked from home partnered with an online wellbeing business for nearly 5 years, here are some tips to help you make the right decision for you when it comes to a home-based business.

Here are questions to ask yourself if you are considering starting a home-based business. These are the questions I asked myself before linking arms with a home-based online company to have my own business but never be on my own:

• What am I interested in enough to want to share information to help others and build a leveraged income?
• Do I want to start from scratch with my own idea or would partnering with an established company serve me better so that I don’t have to reinvent the wheel?
• If I’m partnering with an umbrella company, is the infrastructure already in place in the countries I want to work in?
• What support and ongoing training will I get as I start my home-based business? Is this training effective and is it free?
• How experienced and innovative are the board members of the company I’m looking at?
• Are the products or services offered by the company I’m researching unique, affordable and consumable?
• Is the market sector I’m exploring saturated online and/or on the high street (future proofing for when life gets back to normal) so that I can be confident that there’s room for future growth?
• Am I happy being a product of the product or service I’d be representing?
• Do I enjoy working with people online as well as face to face?
•  What’s the financial status of the company I’m considering e.g. is the company listed on a stock exchange or is it family run?
• What stage of the business life cycle is the company I’m researching in at the moment?
• How would I earn money and what proof is there that it is possible to make a leveraged income if I do the work e.g. an income disclosure statement?
• Is the company I’m checking out a member of the Direct Selling Association?
• How long has the company been operating in my country/region? Is the company new to my country so I’ll have the advantage of the launch momentum?
• Who are the main competitors (if any) to this company?
• Is being part of a global, regional and local community of people in the same company important to me?Personal DevelopmentWorking from home gives you a fabulous opportunity to undertake some personal development by going back to being a student. Whether you prefer to read a hard copy or Kindle version, watch a video on YouTube or listen to an audiobook, check out this list of ten of my favourites and ask friends for their recommendations:

  1. 168 hours: You Have More Time Than You Think by Laura Vanderkam
  2. The Compound Effect by Darren Hardy
  3. The Slight Edge by Jeff Olsen
  4. Network Marketing: The View From Venus by Carrie Dickie
  5. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey
  6. Go Pro by Eric Worre
  7. Daring Greatly by Brené Brown
  8. Attitude is Everything – Jeff Keller
  9. The 15 Invaluable Laws of Growth by John C Maxwell
  10. The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz

  I hope these tips and book recommendations prove useful to you and you find the right home-based business which works for you, your family and your future. Good luck!

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