Work At Home Experts

Work At Home Strategies often have as their first step not only deciding what type of business you will open from home, but what type of structure your new business will have.

The Site.com has an interesting article on alternatives. And even though the site is based in the U.K., there’s enough general wisdom as well as specific pointers for North American work-at-home aspirants as well.

Here’s how TheSite.org looks at the array of structural alternatives for your work-at-home business:

Sole Trading- The simplest and most common way to set up in business on your own is to set up as a sole trader. The tax requirements are simple, and it is easy to set up and to shut down. Financing it on your own can be difficult, and you are liable for everything if you get into debt, so your personal assets can be at risk.  Note: in the U.S. this structure is most often known as a sole proprietorship.

Partnerships- Partnerships can have full partners (who work in the business) or sleeping partners (no hanky panky, they just put in money and take a share of any profits). Working this way means that you can have more start-up money, more skills, and there is usually shared responsibility - if you are sick someone can take over your work temporarily. The downside is that if the business fails and one partner runs off, the other partner has to pay all the creditors back on their own.

Limited Company- These are the businesses with ‘plc’ and ‘ltd’ after their names. Setting one of these up means there is limited liability, so your personal assets can be separate from your business assets in most cases. You need at least one director and a company secretary in order to register the company.

It is more legally complicated than sole trading or partnership, taxation is different, and there is public access to accounts.

Cooperative- All workers in this set-up are entitled to a vote in decision-making, and profits are shared out equally. The amount of discussion in meetings often makes it difficult to have clear-cut plans or quick changes of direction, and group ideology may mean that the most financially rewarding options are not chosen.

Going Concern- Instead of starting a business by yourself, you can buy one that is already up and running. The assets, employees and customers are already in place, and a track record often makes it easier to raise finance. Don’t believe everything the business seller and broker tell you, get all the facts checked independently, and make sure the business will pay you a living wage.

Franchise- This is where you buy the right to market a company’s goods or services. A good franchise gives an instant market position, a well-known name, long-term support and a proven way of doing business. To check out a franchise opportunity, speak to franchisees in other areas about the business and the income - it may not match up with the figures you were originally quoted.

(TheSite.org)