The holiday season is a very hectic time for many families. There’s so much going on. So many things to do and people to see. Does all that make it the wrong time to start a new home business?

Maybe, but it might just be the perfect time. It depends on the kind of home business you want to start. If you’re doing anything that might be in demand during the holiday season, it’s a great time to get started.

The Challenge of the Holiday Season

Starting a new home business is always challenging. There’s a lot to learn, even if you’re starting one with something you know well already. Running your own business is just different from working for someone else. You won’t know how different until you get going.

The other problem is that you may well be busy yourself. You probably have a lot of things you’d like to get done, and dealing with the kind of time management owning a home business requires may be overwhelming. Be prepared to deal with marketing, taking orders, fulfilling orders, dealing with payment issues and much more. If you’re offering something in demand at this time of year, your learning curve may be sharp.

What Kinds of Home Businesses Do Well During the Holiday Season?

There’s a reason why many business owners love this time of year. People spend money and lots of it. You have a wide range of choices for the type of business you want to run.

Physical Product Sales
You can sell physical products as an affiliate online or through a direct sales company. Lots of Amazon affiliates do very well at this time of year, although getting a website up and driving traffic to it isn’t always easy. On the plus side, once you get traffic, people are in something of a buying mood now.

If you choose to join a direct sales company, make sure you will be able to fulfill orders in plenty of time for the appropriate holiday. Pay attention to any shipping cutoff dates that apply to your customers’ orders. You don’t want to have a lot of people screaming at you because their order with you didn’t arrive in time.

If you’re into crafts, you can also make and sell products you make at fairs and such.

Another way to sell physical products is to create your own holiday designs to be printed on tshirts, mugs and other products on sites such as CafePress and Zazzle. They’re free to join and you set your own prices within a certain range. The price you set determines how much you earn off each sale.

In all cases, be sure you check into any home business licensing you need. This will vary from place to place. Some places you won’t need anything at all, but others you will. If you’re selling products you may also need to get information on how to collect sales tax.

Santa Letters
You can write your own Santa Letters or sell them and related products as an affiliate to one of the more established companies. These have become quite popular in recent years. Kids do love to hear from Santa.

Event Planning
There’s a lot going on at this time of year, and many people need a professional to plan it for them. If you’ve always been good at making parties special, event planning may be a good choice for you. Just be warned that it’s not easy, especially if you don’t have a lot of experience doing this for others. It takes time to learn how to find good locations, get a great caterer, great music or other entertainment, all on a budget.

Putting Up Holiday Lights
You’d better have a good head for heights with this one. Many people would rather pay someone to put up their holiday lights than do it themselves. This isn’t a job you can haul young children along for either. It’s still a good seasonal business if childcare won’t be an issue for you. Don’t forget take down service after the holidays.

Child Care
Even if you just do it for family and friends, you can earn some good money watching other people’s children. Set an appropriate hourly rate per child and place ads in the paper and online to bring in more clients.

The post Is the Holiday Season the Wrong Time to Start a New Home Business? appeared first on Home with the Kids Blog.

We’re heading into the holiday season, and that means lots of distractions. Shopping to be done, school events for the kids, parties… it’s all pretty hectic and when you work at home, that’s a problem. How can you keep on track with your work while still enjoying the holiday season?

Take Your Work Seriously

The first thing to do is to take your own work seriously. If something wouldn’t have been a distraction if you were working outside the home, should you let it distract you just because you’re working at home? Possibly so, possibly not.

One of the frequently stated advantages to working at home is the flexibility. This is the time of year to take advantage of that, so long as you don’t go overboard with it. Don’t skip work you can’t make up later, especially if it needs to get done. Take care of any obligations to your employer and/or clients. Forgetting them is not professional.

Know When to Say No

Too many people don’t understand that when you work at home, you aren’t always free to do things for them. You might be on the PTA/PTO and get a lot of requests to help out on committees, or you might have family or friends asking you to run favors. Just like the rest of the year, you need to know when to say no because you have to work.

This certainly doesn’t mean you say no to everything. If you can spare the time and want to get involved, do so. Just don’t do it at the expense of your work.

Rethink Your Schedule

Sometimes the schedule you usually keep won’t cut it during the holiday season. You may need to make more time for fun, shopping and so forth. Those work hours while the kids are at school, for example, may be better spent shopping for presents. Not every day, of course, but odds are you wouldn’t want to do all your shopping after the kids are in bed. Sometimes you have to make time during the day.

You may have to decide to stay up later or get up earlier so that you can handle daytime extras better. Pick whichever works best for you. I’m no early bird, so I stay up later if I can’t get things done during the day. That’s hard if I’m tired out from running errands or doing other things throughout the day, but it can be necessary.

That said, I love online shopping. No worry about store hours, I just do it when I feel like it. It doesn’t always replace shopping in person, but it’s a pretty good option most of the time.

This can be a great time to write out the things you need to get done each day even if you don’t normally do so. With a lot of extra things you need to do, sometimes you need just a little extra help in making sure you actually get it done. Writing it out may be just the boost you need.

Hire Help if Appropriate

Depending on the kind of work you do from home, you may be able to hire someone to help you get it all done. This is a great time to try hiring a virtual assistant for your business. It may add a little stress as you locate and train the right one, but it can be worth the effort.

Remember to Have Fun

Lots of people get far too stressed out about making the holiday season just perfect for their families. Don’t worry so much about perfect, just try to keep it fun.

Get out with your family and do something special, such as looking at holiday displays. Make a special treat together. Find something that fits into your schedule and make it special. It doesn’t have to be grand or expensive, just fun.

The post How to Keep Yourself on Track Through the Holiday Season appeared first on Home with the Kids Blog.