Eight Reasons to Start Your Home Business During the Holidays

© 2005 Leslie Truex

Many people who want to work-at-home, put their goal on the back burner during the holidays as the chaos and stress of the season consumes daily life. However, for people who are truly serious about work at home, the holidays are one of the best times to start a business. Here's eight reasons why.

1) Discounts. Many business programs offer their start-up at discounted prices allowing you the opportunity to get started for less money. Further, many products and services you need to run your business are also on sale during this time.

2) Savings on gift giving. Depending on the business you start, you may be able to save money on holiday gifts for your friends and family. You are buying gifts anyway, why not buy them from your own business and save?

3) 'Tis the Season to Shop. The holidays are the one time of year when nearly everyone is shopping and spending a great deal of money. Depending on the business you start, you can have customers ready and willing to give you money for your products.

4) Extra money for the holidays. Who doesn't need extra cash particularly around the holidays. Start your business now and you can start earning right away. Even if you choose to join a business or affiliate program that pays monthly, you can have a check in January to help pay the debt incurred in December.

5) Tax deductions*. By starting your business in 2005, you will have deductions you can take when you file your taxes in April 2006. Home business deductions can include your start up costs, portions of your rent/mortgage and utilities, Internet costs and more. If its an expense related to your running your business, it is quite possibly a tax deduction.

6) Get a head start for 2006. Many people wait until January 1st to start on their goals. But starting a home business requires research and preparation. By starting now, you will have all the leg work in place to jump in full force in January.

7) Why not now? The biggest excuse I hear about not getting started in a home business is a lack of time. Think about the goals you set five years ago or even last year. How close are to reaching them? The truth is, you will never have more time. When the kids are in school, you won't have more time. When the Christmas party is over, you won't have more time. It just doesn't happen. We tend to fill up empty bits of time with other projects or television. Everyone I know who works at home, including me, only has 24 hours in a day just like you. Some have "jobs" they need to work around. Many have kids they need to care for while working on their business. All have other obligations they need to juggle. But they all made a decision that make working at home was a priority. As a result, they are closer than they were yesterday to reaching their goal because they made the choice to do something today.

8) Turn a wish into reality. The minute you sign up for an affiliate program or home business, or post your first product for sale on eBay, or run your first ad, you are working at home. Its no longer "I wish I could work at home." Instead, you are actually doing it. You may not be home full time or making what you want, but you have made tangible what was before an elusive wish. A huge part of working at home is momentum gained through activity. Everyone is busy but by doing something, even a little thing, each day will move you closer to your goal.

My mentor has a great saying, "Its that start that stops most people." Its really true. People want to work at home but can't seem to take the first step to actually do it. But working at home is really a process of taking action over and over again. You can't work at home, if you don't take the first step and actually get started. I encourage you to take that first step. Start today or as soon as possible. Then take the next step and actively build your business. Imagine where you could be this time next year, just by starting now!

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Leslie Truex is a stay and work-at-home mom who has been helping people work-at-home for nearly 8 years. She created and still manages Work-At-Home Success a free work-at-home information and resource site. She is the author of Jobs At Home: A Complete Guide to Finding or Creating a Work-At-Home Job and the Co-Founder of Infinite Possibilities. When she's not running her online ventures, she does occasional contract work as a social worker.

* I'm not a tax expert. Please check out the tax information related to home business as the IRS.