Now you know how to manage your time, your energy, your workload and your clients and you should be happier, healthier and more productive as a result. You’re finally putting your lifestyle first and your career second and that’s what working from home should really be all about.

But none of this will be much use if you don’t already work from home. So if you’re still working in an office and now really keen to start out on your own, this section is for you. What’s more, this section should also show you how you can set up more side-projects, or how you can adapt your current business model into something more conducive to a healthy lifestyle.

With that in mind then, here are some basic business models to consider;

Services

If you want to work on a computer, there are hundreds of different services you can provide online that are in high demand these days. Popular choices include web design, programming, graphic design, photography, copywriting and marketing.

But there are others too: for instance, you can offer proof reading services, virtual assistant services, consultation, legal advice, publishing, product design, social media management and tons more. You could even become a talent agent – most jobs these days can be performed online in fact.

To start this business, all you need is to place an advert somewhere or respond to an advert. There are lots of places online that make this easy. Warrior Forum or Digital Point Forums for instance are forums frequented by website owners and digital marketers and you should be able to find lots of work here. Likewise, you can also find work by posting on outsourcing sites like UpWork. Another good one is People Per Hour and you can also try simply calling or e-mailing business owners – or handing out business cards and going into stores!

This kind of work has the advantage of being straightforward – you get paid for the work you do. At the same time though, it’s also a lot less scalable and it’s certainly not passive. It also means you’ll be somewhat tied to the schedule of those you’re working for.

Publishing

You can make money as a website owner, blogger, YouTube vlogger or any other kind of online publisher. To do so, you just have to build the popularity of your website and add AdSense (pay per click advertising), find a sponsor or sell a product (either of your own, or for commission).

All these systems work and they’re very good at bringing in passive income. The only downside is that you have to put in the work in the first place and it can take a while to start seeing returns. A good compromise stance is to try earning money form a service, while using this time to gradually build a site.

Selling Products

You can sell products for commission (called affiliate marketing), you can sell e-books from your website, you can sell an app or you can sell products you buy.

To do the latter, all you need to do is find a cheap way to buy items in wholesale. Find a wholesaler or look on eBay and then order your t-shirts, CDs or whatever else it is you want to sell in a bulk. If you get about 100 to start with, it won’t cost you too much and then of course you can sell them on for more than you paid for each one individually.

You can do this through your own website again but you don’t need to – just as easily, you can start selling your product through eBay or through a landing page. Once you sell off the hundred you bought, you can then reinvest the profit into 200 more and gradually grow until you’re making a big turnover. Note of course that you will need somewhere to store the items.

Conclusion

This all sounds well and good but there’s a good chance you won’t go for any of these models. Why? Because you’re too scared to give up your day job.

The good news for you then is that you don’t have to. In fact, the much better way to make this work is to start with a small business and slowly grow it in your free time (as a hobby) and then to quit your job only when you have enough work.

Take two weeks off work for instance and try finding some clients to do marketing for. If you find them easily enough and they seem to be offering steady work, then you can hand in your notice.

Or start building a website on your lunch break and at weekends – it should be fun and something you enjoy anyway. If it starts making money, then you can maybe work less and eventually quit altogether.

Do bear in mind that you need to approach this plan seriously if you want it to work. If you really want to start earning a living from home, then don’t come up with some elaborate plan to make the next Facebook. That might work, sure, but it’s not a very reliable short term strategy for improving your lifestyle. There’s no need to reinvent the wheel here – just go with a business model that has been proven to work and then execute it flawlessly.

Good luck!