The Working From Home Paradigm

PART I No Work - No Pay

There are lots of different business models out there for people that want to work from home. You can develop a skill or ability and just declare a business and be self-employed. You get all the benefits of a business including business use of the home, auto deductions, etc. You also have to find your own clients, make your own appointments, do your own presentations and make your own contracts. Keeping all these plates spinning properly is what makes many people resist going the self-employment route.

Multi-Level Marketing (MLM) has long been touted for those that want to work from home. MLM casts you into the role of an Independent Business Operator (IBO), or Distributor, but your business is tied to the parent company/corporation. You enjoy a line of ready made products and you become the Representative and build your sales force, while simultaneously building the sales force for the company. In return, there is a compensation plan and benefits provided, contests for performance, and there is upline leadership support (if you are lucky). You still have to make the appointments, show / present the products and compensation plan. However, products provided are backed by your parent company, and much of the paperwork, inventory and shipping/handling is simplified via the internet.

And then there is Internet Marketing which has evolved over the last 15 years. There have certainly been a lot of programs presented online with the intent to earn you an income. Many are legitimate, many are questionable, some are just outright snake oil. This article is not here to call out programs that are legit or shady, but to discuss the qualities that make up a legitimate business, as I understand it. Of course I am writing this article in a day and age when 12 year olds with Lemonade stands are being busted for operating without a license, so the understanding of what is legitimate and what is not is in constant flux in the political wind.

In the end, if an internet program offers you a great return on "autopilot" with little or no effort on your part, you may do yourself a favor and just stay away. Making money from a program should require some effort, and there should be some compensation plan laid out for your efforts. In self-employment and the MLM world, reward follows effort. This holds true in the corporate world too: no play, no pay. When seeking an income online, you have a few methods to follow.

Opening an ECommerce site follows the traditional business model the closest. Build your store (Niche, Domain, Site, Advertise, Sell, ship/deliver). This is not always easy, and usually requires some considerable technical skill to handle all the internet technologies needed to make a successful run at an internet store. Even so, much of that skill is outsourced online and the overall costs of an online business are small compared to a physical store. It can be done for minimal cost, but building brand and getting valuable advertising cheap can be problematic. Millions of business are already online and competing for the advertising gets costly against deeper pockets than your own. Ecommerce is another do something now, get paid later kind of work.

Some persue affiliate marketing, which eliminates the costs of the ECommerce site, but still requires the needed advertising and competition in acquiring traffic through search engine keywords. Quite frequently these businesses are built up successfully from what is known as Email Marketing, and once you have built up a considerable e-mail list, you can expect to be able to promote to that list many times a year and generate income from affiliate sales. You still have to find a Niche to operate in and create daily or regular content that keeps the interest of your audience, or they will leave your list. You have to service your list, follow the rules of list ownership and be careful to provide content as well as promotions to your readership.

In all the examples above, one thing is clear... all businesses need to Advertise. Physical businesses need phone book and newspaper ads, as their clientelle is local. You might do the same for MLM advertising, allowing locals interested in your MLM products to find a local distributor. Self-Employment would also use those methods for advertising. MLM, ECommerce, and Affiliate Marketing also depend on email and website advertising and would tend not to use traditional advertising methods, though they could do so. In the end though all business need advertising and traffic to their websites.

In Part II of this discussion, we will discuss additional business models that makes work from home a reality for Millions today.