The allure of working from home is one that many people dream of, but the ability to work for yourself and from home is a subject of increasing discussion as more and more people attempt to make ends meet. A home based blogging business is one of the most common examples of making a suitable living from the convenience of your home office. Still, it is not as easy as many would lead you to believe. This article will outline the main benefits and disadvantages of starting your own home based blogging business, and will hopefully provide some clarification on what it takes to be successful.

Fewer Work-Related Expenses

If you are currently working an average office job, then you are most likely spending money that is unnecessary when running a home based blogging business. If you eat out for lunch five days per week, the weekly tab can add up quickly. Likewise, commuting costs can be significantly high for those living in rural and suburban areas and are commuting to the city for employment. Depending on your habits, working from home can save anywhere from 10-25% of net weekly earnings. This gives a budding blogger the ability to nominally work for less, considering that he or she is saving on gas, food and other work-related expenses).

Flexible Hours

Routines are important, but when blogging from home, you have the ability to set a customized routine that best suits your needs. Maybe you have obligations in the morning, such as taking your kids to school. When pinging sites with blogs from home, you can take a break and come back later – the overall goal and flexibility means that you simply will need to contribute a certain amount of work per day or per week to earn your targeted amount of revenue. That work can be split up any way you like, but adherence to the schedule is key to being successful.

Time-consuming

When you begin your home blogging enterprise, it may take some time before you see any real reward from your efforts. Nobody can expect to begin earning a full-time income from pinging sites in a short period of time, but the key is to invest in a couple of blogs and provide well-researched, thoughtful commentary. You may find yourself having to work as much as you would for a check in the beginning in order to really break through to the masses. Great rewards do not come easy, and home blogging requires dedication.

Higher Taxes

Once you begin to earn substantial revenue, taxes will become a real concern. The issue with being self-employed in any field is that you will be required to cover any taxes that were previously covered by your employer. In the United States, for example, this means covering an additional portion of the FICA Tax (7.65%), raising your total amount paid into the fund to 15.30% of earnings. Often, however, these tax increases can be offset in the short term by the savings on transportation and lunch-time splurging – giving you the ability to get your business running before increased taxation becomes a viable concern.