Whats a good home based business to have?

[Scott_in_WVA]

Just wondering....My wife has a bachelors in accounting..........she says she would have to go back to school again to get caught up on the tax laws etc....I kind of like her here at the house..because of the kids in school etc,have talked about medical transcription....just wondering if anyone had any ideas?I have even tried to get here to become an insurance agent....

 

[Inspector507]

Scott,
Maybe she should look into doing accounting/payroll for several small companies at home. My wife tried it but we moved out of town and she got tired of running in to town everyday. So she got a job.......IN TOWN /w3tcompact/icons/grin.gif

 

[cstocks]

A friend's wife had experience as a medical transciptionist and worked out of her home as a transcriptionist for two or three years. Eventually she went back to working in an office because she felt like she could never leave work "at work" because her work was at home. She worked during the day, at night and on weekends, not because of a work overload, but because her work was too convenient having it there at home. Maybe it was a matter of dicipline, or lack thereof. I don't know. Just something to consider when thinking about working at home...

 

[Harv]

My own wife has done just what you're contemplating.

Took her 4 months to get certified (2 months - medical terminology, 2 months - transcription). Then she had to beat the bushes a little to get her foot in the door with a couple of doctors (the transcription school was very helpful). She did a little pro bono work at a local (major) hospital here, partly for experience and partly to do a little "networking" with a number of doctors. The hospital required that she work on site, but as I said, the schmoozing made it worthwhile.

She now has regular work from one particular doctor, and all in all is quite happy with the situation. We have two small kids in school, and the ability to work in her dubious free time, any time, is a blessing. Remember -- ya have to buy your own equipment (transcriber unit) and some expensive reference books, but then you're all set. Our only snafu was that we bought a machine and then she wound up with a doctor who used a different format tape.

The first machine was easy to sell, however, and we made out pretty well.

Years back, wifey got her real estate license and gave that a shot for about a year. Turned out to be the year that the market died, and she sold a total of zip, nada, nuttin'.

All this for a woman with a master's degree in molecular biology. Turns out scientists like that don't make much money. /w3tcompact/icons/eyes.gif

Go figure.

 

[patrickg]

Harv, It could be worse. She could have a PhD in Herpetology. Fascinating field, attracts entrants like moths to a flame, with the same results.

Patrick

 

[Alan L.]

As opposed to doing bookkeeping for businesses, I deal with a couple of ladies who act more or less as the office manager for wealthy individuals. These are not necessarily businesses, but the ladies will handle domestic payroll, paying personal bills, keeping up with all of this using Quicken or Quickbooks, etc. The clients typically have some personal real estate investments to administer, some stocks and bonds, and brokerage accounts. They also have personal checking accounts that the bookeeper maintains, and reconciles each month.

They also deal with me, making sure all of the clients tax information is organized, including checking 1099s against dividends and interest to see if any are missing, providing explanations, and in some case, making foreign exchange conversions.

All of this is done at the home of the bookkeeper.

Our clients are paying anywhere from $35 to $50 an hour for these services, and are glad to pay it, considering the value received, and the amount of MY time that is saved.

 

[fishnhunt365]

My wife has started doing something like this. She has a few small businesses that she does account receivables/payable, payroll and other "bookkeeping" like work. She landed this through a CPA that she used to work for. My wifes clients are clients of the CPA and other CPa's that do not require CPA services except @ tax time and also do not require a full time person to do the work. Each client uses the accounting software that the corresponding cpa uses which currently is either PeachTree or Quick Books Pro. If her business keeps going like it is she will probalby have to hire some help.