You may have been discouraged from looking for home-based work because of horror stories from other moms who have tried it. They told you how their houses were always messy, the kids were always in their hair, and their businesses never succeeded. True, there are some disadvantages to working from home, but there are some serious advantages as well! Before you choose work from home, make sure that you weigh the benefits against the disadvantages!

One major advantage of working from home is being more available for your kids. You may still need to put them in daycare so you can get your work done, but if they are sick, you will not be answering to anyone if you choose to take a day off to care for them. When they are babies, your kids can play near you while you work, and you will not miss any of the “firsts.”

Working from home also helps you to save money. You will not have to buy business clothing to wear to work each day. You will also be saving money on gas since you will be ditching the commute. If you can teach your children to play on their own, you can even save money on childcare.

If you own your own home based business, you are in charge of your own success. You are not held back waiting on a boss to give you a raise or promote you to a better position. You choose your work, clients, or jobs, and you are the only person standing between yourself and success. Of course, you will have to work hard, but you will be working hard at something that you love.

There are also many tax advantages to working from home. Yes, you will have to pay out taxes at the end of the year since they are not being kept out of your paycheck. However, you can deduct items that the average worker cannot. For instance, you can deduct a portion of the cost of utilities for your home, since it is doubling as a home office. If you use your car at all for your business, even if it is just running to the office supply store for more paper, you can deduct mileage. You may even be able to “hire” your children and then deduct their “pay” as payroll expenses, which is a very creative way to give them an allowance that is tax-deductible. These benefits make working from home a great choice for many entrepreneurial-minded moms!

Read my post on how I work from home and support my two daughters?