When you make up your mind that you want to work from home, the first question that will usually pop into your mind is how do I go about this?, should I start looking for work from home job? or should I start a home business?.

The jury is still out there as to what is the best route to take, for some people it is a difficult decision to make especially if you are coming from a place where you were working outside your home and had a stable income which you brought into your home. What this means is that you already have a lifestyle which you have set up your home and of course choosing to work from home means that you are putting that lifestyle into a jeopardy because you will move from a place of stable income to unstable income or perhaps just one income from your hubby.

In today’s post, I will be comparing the Home business and the work from home Job, the Pro’s and Con’s perhaps this may help some of you who may be ambulating on what route to take.

First of all, before you decide to make the decision of working from home, you must make some certain preparations, I do know some people tend to jump in with both feet to either swim or sink. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t this is because needs are different and makeups are different.

There will be those who will take the option of choosing to work from home without taking time to plan things out perhaps because they fear that If they take the time to plan things out, they may procrastinate and never make that decision.

While some like to plan their approach, they save up some money to cushion the times they will be taking to build their business from home before resigning from their jobs.
I will prefer that you plan your route before ever you make that decision to quit your job and start working from home, this may mean cutting down on some niceties in other  to save up your money to help cushion your family needs while you build your business or find work from home jobs that will replace your initial income.

This planning ahead of time will help you stay true to what you are working on and prevent you from running into financial stress which may force you to return to your former job.
It is also much easier to run your business or work from home when you don’t have to worry about finances at least for the beginning stage until things kick off.
If you are already a stay at home mom, it makes your decision easier because you may not need to do extra planning since you are already used to living on one income anyway. You may have to perhaps save up some income or initial capital outlay that you will need to start your business though.

Having highlighted the thoughts above here are the pros and cons of starting a Home Business versus a Work from home Job in other to earn your income from home.

Pro’s of a work at Home Job
-You can apply the skills you already have on a job that is immediately available and begin to earn almost immediately once you are able to secure a job. ( often times to shorten this time lapse of looking for a  work from home job, its best to start looking and secure one before you resign your day job)

-You do not have to have an initial cash outlay hence you can start on virtually zero cash except for perhaps money spent on registering on Job sites that specialize in hiring for remote positions.

-You do not need to draw up a business plan or a strategic marketing plan for your work at  home job since you will be trading your skills for money.

-Other people set your targets and there are specific tasks which you are set to deliver and your work is finished for the day. Your work is not continuous till when you are tired as in a Home business

-You get some benefits such as Health insurance if it applies to your job.

-You can choose to take a  holiday if your work is a freelance job meaning you choose when you work and when you don’t.

-Your remuneration is fixed and you know exactly how much you will earn at the end of the month.

Con’s of Work from home jobs
-There are a lot of scam work at home Job sites out there, therefore it takes a lot of time to sift out the genuine ones, this often takes time. To learn about the genuine ones read my post on 10 best sites for work from home jobs.

-There is a limit to how much you can earn per month since you trade time for money, you will have to work for a certain amount of hours before you can earn your desired amount.

-Your income is entirely dependent on the company you work for, meaning that should there be a shift in purpose and you don’t fit in you will lose your job and income.

-Because it takes time to find what works in the work at home job market, you may find your self-waiting for a while without any income at all. What this means is that you situational change is out of your control.

-For the same skills which you may have been paid more when you had to clock into the office, you may be paid less and if you are in a dire position you may find that you are working more for less pay.

Pros of starting a  Home Based Business
-You are your own boss so you can control how much you earn from your business, hence there is no limit to how much you can earn.

-You do not have to clock in with any supervisor so you can set your own time and work at your own pace

-There is no cap on how much you can earn since you can scale your business as it grows and expands.

-You can apply the skills you already have to your new business especially if your home business ties into what was your career before you quit your job to work from home, hence shorten your learning curve in running your business. Time to profit will also be shortened.

-There is freedom of doing whatsoever helps your business to excel without having to check in with a company to see if it fits into their organizational goals.

-You don’t have to look for a job or depend on someone hiring you for you to create your own income, you already have a job so you get on with it.

-You are in control of your own destiny.

Cons of  Starting a Home-based business
-You may need some initial capital to start your business, and because business takes time to grow, it may mean that you will run for a time without any income coming in at all.

-You may not begin to earn immediately you begin to work unlike the work at home job option that you get paid once you start working.

-There is no fixed task that says your job has ended for the day you may find that you are continuously working until you get tired. You are sort of the business and the business is you, this means that you have to be super self-motivated to keep at it until it begins to yield a return.

-If your business should fail, you may have to return to a day job because you will probably need money to foot your bills.

-A home business takes a lot of planning and a strategic input coupled with a lot of marketing before it can take off and sometimes this may take longer than you expected.

-Sometimes you will have to invest resources, money, time and energy to learn how to run your business properly in other for you to see a difference and begin to make a profit.

Having laid out the pros and cons associated with choosing either route when deciding to work from home, I have to say that the good thing about these options is that they can be combined, there is no hard and fast rule that says you must stick to one.

Some people in other to meet up with their financial needs may choose to take a part-time work from home jobs while they slowly build their business to replace their former income.
For some, especially if you are a stay at home mom, you may choose to build your home business slowly while still maintaining the lifestyle you had before until you begin to see profit in your business
For whatever route you choose to take or the combination thereof, what matters is doing what makes it easy to pursue and attain your dreams of being a stay at home mom who is doing what she loves and at the same time taking care of your loved ones.

Do you have any other Pros and cons of starting a Home Based Business versus a work from home Job? drop your comment below