Work from Home - Advantages and Disadvantages.

Working from home has its own set of advantages and disadvantages. A home business or a work from home job is not for everyone. The grass always looks greener o­n the other side, everyone wants to try a new lifestyle, everyone wants change in their life. The fact is that the work at home career is suited o­nly to a certain type of people, it has its own pros and cons.

Is it in your nature to work at home or will you feel uncomfortable in a few years and feel that your corporate job was better ? Read this article if you have a job and want to know if quitting your job to work from home is the right choice for you. Or you may have just lost your job and are wondering if you should explore the options to work at home or look for another job.

Most people o­nly care about the bottom line that is how much money they can make. Then it does not matter if they work at home or in the office, all that matters is where they can earn more money. The reality is that you can make money both at home and in office, and this should not be the criteria to decide. While working at home seems cheaper because it has savings in tax, travel expense, office furniture, wardrobe expense etc. this is a very minor concern. It is true that running your own business has higher earning potential when compared to a job, that comes with a higher risk of failure and more responsibility, This article is not about business vs job because in both cases you can work from an office or work from your home. So having taken money out of the picture lets move o­n the the greater issues.

The greatest advantage of working from home is Freedom. This means that there is no boss pushing you to work, not fixed times of work, no deadlines except those you make yourself, no commute in traffic, no dressing up or making an impression. o­n the other hand the greatest disadvantage of working from home is Loneliness. This means that there is no social life, no office parties, no group lunches, no promotions, no praise, no competition, no security, no o­ne but yourself to blame if something goes wrong !

If you work at home you will have lots of time but this means boredom if you have nothing that will keep you occupied.

If you work at home you get to be with your family but this means they can sometimes get o­n your nerves and they may ask you to run chores for them since you are available ... If you have children great, you get to play with them, but you can be sure of disturbances  when you are working at home ! If you are alone, then you got to love your loneliness, because that can kill you or liberate you !

Self Motivation is absolutely required when you decide to work from home. When you work at home, you have no boss who will direct you or push you when you are going slow. You are your own boss.

In my experience, the majority of people who quit their jobs and start working from home never return to a corporate job because the freedom they enjoy far outweighs the benefits of being part of a company. Nevertheless, there are a few people who return to the the industry grind because they are not suited to the work at home lifestyle.

Try to Answer The Following Questions Truthfully to find out if you have what it takes to work from home

1. Do you need to be told what to do ?

2. Do you need company of colleagues around you ?

3. Do you need praise or appreciation of your work to feel good ?

4. Would you rather do o­ne specialized task and leave the rest to   others?

5. Have you become too accustomed to facilities provided by your company that you cannot get at home ?

6. Do you need the security of getting your paycheck even if you make a few mistakes?

7. Would you like to keep your work life and personal life separate ?

If you answered yes to any of those then you may not be ready to start working at home.

On the other hand,

1. Are you self motivated, passionate and get things done o­n your own ?

2. Do you love your privacy and have no need for chit chat ?

3. Are you self reliant and are not swayed much by the praise or criticism of colleagues ?

4. Can you execute a project from start to finish, having the tenacity to solve any problems that may arise ?

5. Is your home environment suitable to work from comfortably ?

6. Can you risk not being paid if you make a few mistakes ?

7. Would you like to live naturally without having to put o­n a suit for work ?

If you answered yes to these then you have what it takes to work from home.

Suguna Poultry to expand in south India

Suguna, a poultry brand plans to open 500 outlets by the end of 2012-13 in the region of Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka. For this the company has join hands with Francorp. 

P. Rajan Mathews, Business Head, Daily Fressh, Suguna Poultry Farm Ltd, said: “Daily Fressh is the innovative venture of Suguna in franchised retailing of poultry and meat products in the most possible hygienic and clean offering in all forms such as fresh and frozen meat, ready to cook and ready to eat meat products with allied products such as spice mixes, herbs etc. Daily Fressh will create a new shopping experience for the poultry and meat lovers nearest to their home and create clean surroundings inside the cities. The association with Francorp will enable Suguna to create new shopping experience for the consumers.”

Gaurav Marya, Managing Director, Francorp opined: “According to the study India produces around three million tons of broiler meat and about 2.86 million tons of eggs annually and south India accounts for the majority of the total poultry production. I am elated to get associated with Suguna for its franchise expansion. The overall review and recommendation program will be provided to them with adept results.”

Suguna ranks among the top ten poultry companies worldwide. With operations in 11 states across India, it offers a range of poultry products and services.

Business opportunities in India

There are plenty of exciting business opportunities in India. We have started a list of business ideas for those entrepreneurs who are interested in Internet ventures, outsourcing technology, e-commerce opportunities, software development opportunities, business trends and other business ideas. We hope to add to this list as we find case studies in Bangalore, India.

• Online Customer Support From India
• E-Commerce Export Opportunities In India
• Export Animations, multimedia, Graphics Or Other Content Products
• Export Data Services
• Start A Software Company
• E-Commerce Business Opportunities Within India
• Future Topics...

1. ONLINE CUSTOMER SUPPORT FROM INDIA

There is a company in Bangalore that has pioneered this idea. Aditi (www.aditi.com) provides email customer support for Real Media. The customer in America who needs support will have his problem solved via email by a team of Indians. The Internet has opened the door for this type of opportunity. It really is true that the geographic barriers are coming down.

The Potential: The business potential in this type venture is the cost savings of running a business in India. There is a huge labor pool of good quality English speakers who can easily handle customer support for web sites like RealMedia. The cost to hire someone to do this is about US $150-$200 per month. You can expect to hire a very nice English speaker who has had some computer training. Furthermore he or she will have a pleasant attitude, as most Indians are warm and friendly.

The Downside: The risk is that the customers will not be served well if the Indian staff is not trained properly. The staff needs to understand the mindset of the American customer. This can easily be overcome as long as the potential problem is recognized.

 

2. E-COMMERCE EXPORT OPPORTUNITIES IN INDIA

There are plenty of things that can be purchased and exported. One young man has sought out unusual coffee and spices and now has an e-commerce site where he sells these items through the mail. Perhaps it is not even necessary to purchase and warehouse anything. Partnering and establishing joint ventures with Indian companies would give you the opportunity to handle a variety of products without the risk and cost. You could simply create a website that sells the products. This is not much different than Amazon.com. Do you realize they don't publish books? They just sell other's. Often they have the book sent to the customer directly from the publisher eliminating the shipping and storage. 

The Potential: The potential is to find a niche market. Perhaps this could be in the area of health care products, herbs or plants that are only found in India.

The Downside: The risk is that the product may not sell. Fortunately the Internet can be used to test the market before taking much risk. It is much easier to find the demand for items and then meet that demand than to start with the product. India has plenty of products that can be tested on the market.

3. EXPORT ANIMATIONS, MULTIMEDIA, GRAPHICS OR OTHER CONTENT PRODUCTS

Again this idea utilizes the skilled creative labor force in India. We have not been able to find a case study of a company doing this in India. 

The Potential: The potential is to fill the huge demand for quality content that the web is creating.

The Downside: The downside is that it requires careful supervision to assure that the product communicates effectively to a Western audience. For example, a Westerner's taste for colors is different to that of an Indian.

4. EXPORT DATA SERVICES

Any kind of outsourcing of data entry or data conversion is a good candidate for a successful start up business in India. The hottest thing these days in Bangalore is medical transcription. Doctors and hospitals in the USA send their audio transcriptions via the Internet to Bangalore, India. They send the audio file at 5:00pm which is around 5.00am in India. The workers can do their work so that the Doctor has the text document the next morning. In Bangalore you can find good examples of companies already doing this. Go to Yahoo and type in "data entry India" or "data conversion India". You will be startled by the amount of information that is available.

The Potential: The potential for this type of business venture is great. Many of the Bangalore companies are growing and adding employees quickly. The reason there is such a global demand for this kind of work is because companies want to have their documents in a digital format. This conversion may include scanning the document into the computer and then going one-step further and tagging and indexing them in HTML SGML or XML so that it can be put on the Internet and easily retrieved. The entrepreneurs who are willing to joint venture with Indian partners to start up a business like this will not only make money but will be doing a great service for India by providing high quality skilled jobs.

The Downside: The risk is in, not maintaining top quality work for the client. This has been a complaint of many clients.

 

5. START A SOFTWARE COMPANY

There is nothing new about this. There are plenty of success stories. Bangalore already has at least 600 software companies. Most of these are Indian owned and non-resident Indians have started a few of them. For a list of Bangalore software companies you can go to resource page. Government of India and especially Karnataka (the state in which Bangalore is), is encouraging foreign involvement and investment and has turned on the green light to hi-tech companies. They have even created some tax incentives for this industry. 

The Potential: The potential is for the development of quality software using the extremely intelligent labor force in India at a lower cost. Cost savings can be found in rent, insurance etc. High quality programmers can be hired for 25%-50% of the cost of the same software programmers in the West. For a good example look at gseindia.com and read the history of this high end Swedish/Indian Software Company.

The Downside: The downside is that there are inefficiencies related to working in India i.e.: erratic power, government bureaucracy, poor Internet connections etc. Unless the cost saving is considerable, many of the problems related to doing business in India will offset the benefit.

6. E-COMMERCE BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES WITHIN INDIA

The consumer market is huge and expanding. It is not only growing by sheer population growth but also because the improving economy is producing a growing class of people with disposable income. Furthermore this potential market is relatively untouched. It is only in the past few years that many consumer products have become available in India. 

The Potential: The potential is to get involved early in the e-commerce boom. As of now there are only a handful of companies involved. The potential is limited for the next year or two (see below). But keep in mind that China had only 600,000 Internet users in November 1997 and by October of 1999 China has about 4 million users (And the big advantage that India has over China is the common use of the English language.). The same growth of the Internet will happen in India. 

The Downside: There are some serious obstacles in the way. Few people are used to the idea of mail order. It may take one or two years for the trust to be established between the customer and the company. Also the middle class is 50-70 million but only about 1 million have direct access to the Internet, only 1 in 36 Indians have a phone and most don't have a credit card.

Home Office -Cost Effective Method

If you are debating whether to set up an office in your home or lease commercial space, think quite seriously about keeping the office in your home if you can. 

Unless you are operating a retail store or expect clients to regularly visit your office, your face to the world will be your products, your services, your literature, and your marketing. Spend money in areas that your customers will really appreciate. 

The cost of setting up a commercial office is more expensive than just the cost of a lease. Even if you are not remodeling you will, undoubtedly, undertake a few leasehold improvements. You might install additional electrical outlets, put in new carpeting or, at the very least, paint the place. If you haven’t previously leased commercial space, you will have to place deposits with the phone, electric, and maybe even the heating fuel company. And your fixtures and furnishings expenditures for a commercial space will probably be more than they would be for a home office.