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Saturday, July 15, 2006

Home Based Businesses: How to Turn Weaknesses into Strengths (Part 2)

This post has been milling around in my mind for several months. My sister is involved in three home based businesses besides her full time employment and I often bounce ideas around with her. Getting involved with several home based businesses took some convincing on my sister's part. One day I realized that the very reasons I was not going forward with this opportunity, could be turned to work for me and not against me. Let's examine this.

The Probelms
1. Being a mom with 7 kids and not having any family or help nearby was the biggest weakness. I couldn't train at weekly meetings or seminars. I didn't have anyone that I could trust with my 4 yr old's care due to his autism.
2. I have many kids and what do I do with them when I need to work? How can you motivate teens, tweens and younger kids to become as motivated as you are?
3. Money to start up any business is non existent.
4. Having to hire babysitters would defeat the purpose. My oldest is a non bio and my absence usually is followed by an oops...that costs money to repair. Although he technically is old enough to care for the others, the maturity is non-existent. My 13 year old daughter is more mature and very trustworthy.

Perspective
The problems are many and even more complicated then they look in writing. What I realized is that I can maximize my efforts by using them for me instead of against. Thinking outside the box is key to becoming successful. Using motivation and praise can get you the results you want. What I realized is that it's all about perspective. Some people may look at a situation like mine and say, "Hopeless". While another entrepreneur can see a gold mine.

Solutions

1. The trainings I can't attend are emailed to me. If I can't read it from the computer, I can print them up and take them with me to read at a wating room, supermarket check out or a traffic jam! I can also attend conference calls. These are great because if my 4 yr old starts acting up, I can just press the mute button.
2. What do I do when I need to work? How do I motivate the kids? I pay them. Yes, it's working well. They get paid to do things that I don't neessarily need to be involved in. They have been saving their money in their savings accounts. After reading an article at MSN that stuck with me, I will be opening IRA's. When you have a child that is working for the home business you can do this. It is a great way to save for their future.
**Here's one article Start on Your First Million at age 16 (My Entrepreneur, Comedian and Diva loved this idea!)
**Tax Breaks to Get Your Youngster Through Yale This article is great and everyone should read it. I decided to highlight the point I made.
Owning your business has its rewards
If you’re self-employed, there are more avenues of tax savings available. Hire your kids! You can pay a child as much as $7,750 in 2004 with the child paying zero tax on those dollars. His standard deduction shelters the first $4,750, and a traditional IRA shelters the rest – the contribution limit is $3,000 this year. (I should note that a non-deductible Roth probably would be better in the long term). You deduct the wage you pay in your bracket, and the kid pays no tax. If you’re paying your own child, and you’re not incorporated, there’s neither Social Security/Medicare nor, normally, any other payroll taxes to pay.

The courts have validated hiring a child as young as age 7. If you’re in the 28% bracket and subject to self-employment taxes totaling 15.3%, the wages paid to your kids yield a 43.3% tax savings -- not counting any state or local taxes.

If you pay your 7-year-old deductible wages of $6,700, you save $2,901. Start at age 7 and by the time he’s 18, if the money's been invested at 10%, you’ve accumulated about $56,000 in tax savings alone.

3. The money issue was solved by using income I earned online! No part time job, no hours away from home or extra expenses!
4. I incorporated the kids into the business. They help with the marketing, the sales and the inventory.

The biggest obstacle many people focused on was my autistic son. This is what I did. Since my children know sign language and are accustomed to dealing with the complex behaviors and symptoms of autism, we used it as an advantage-not a disadvantage. This opens the door to many customers that would regularly not be involved, to come and enjoy a good pampering session. The plus is it's all happening at home, I am always present and available. The Chatterbox helps with snacks and refreshments, the Diva helps with the kids, my sons do the landscaping and everyone gets paid.

Getting involved in pursuing your dreams is as easy as involving those that you love and including them into your success. When presented with a problem, always step back, examine it and think outside of the box.

I hope this inspires you to take a step towards your dreams....

Related Posts
Home Based Businesses: What Motivates Me to Succeed
Choosing a Home Based Business (Part 1)
Working From Home: Pros and Cons





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1 comment:

marlonlamar said...

Great story! I don't have as many children as you but I can feel your "former" pain. I am from Long Island but my wife, 2 boys (6 yrs and 1yr) and I live in North Louisiana. We settled here after graduation from college and got kind of stuck. Anyway, this area is one that is intellectually dead, not many good jobs and no family close by. My folks are in New York, although the in-laws are 4hours away. I admire your story, and I too am looking for some home based business ideas. I am broke and nobody I know is interested in making any money including the MRS. Your story is motivating and I will be looking forward to new publishings.