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22 Insider Tips to Working from Home Successfully

Copyright October 2005 Gobala Krishnan  

Finance and Profitability

When you stop getting a paycheck at the end of the month, it can be both the most exciting and most terrifying thing at the same time. Here are some tips to avoid financial black holes: 

9. Be debt free first

If you want to start your own home based business, but you’re already straddled with huge amounts of credit card debts and loan repayments, make sure you clear all or a significant part of it first. It’s too risky carrying around all that debt on your shoulders when you start a business, where there is no safety net and fixed income to protect you. 

10.Correct any financial “bad habits”

If you run a credit card debt by spending lavishly, you need to correct this first before going full time in your own home based business. It really doesn’t matter how much money you can make by working at home. All that matters is how much money you keep at the end of the day. 

11.Don’t be afraid to explore new sources of income

There are more ways to make money out there than you can possibly imagine. Don’t dismiss any opportunity without thoroughly researching it, or you could be missing out on the opportunity to retire richer, earlier! I once ignored trying out paid autosurf programs simple because I was too lazy to study it. Two years down the road I realized that I passed up the opportunity to add an additional RM2,000 monthly to my income. Don’t do the same mistake! 

12.Plan and monitor your cash flow

If you don’t want to get up one day to find your wallet and bank account completely empty, plan your cash flow. Make a list of payments you will be receiving and the expenses you need to make. As an employee, the company plans WHEN and WHERE you get your money, but as an entrepreneur, you need to learn to master cash flow. Don’t confuse “cash flow” with profits, since you can go broke even if your business is profitable but you don’t see any real money in your bank account. 

13.Aim for profitability before expansion

Make sure your business is profitable before you actually decide to go full time. If you need to spend more on your business than what you make, you are in a dangerous zone. If your home business is not profitable yet, you should have a back up plan to support your expenses, and you could consider part-time jobs to pay the bills. 

14.Focus on residual income

If you make RM3,000 a month but need to work for 6 hours a day, it would be better if you hired someone to do the bulk of the job and only get RM500 for yourself. Even though it’s less, this now becomes part of your residual income, i.e. income that you get without working. You now have the time to explore other sources of income instead of being tied-up to daily routines. Think like a business owner, not like an employee.  

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