The pandemic has made it exceedingly difficult to find and keep a job. Worst of all, a lot of states are unable to keep up with the demands of unemployment claims. That leaves a lot of people in the lurch.
If you are particularly resourceful, however, you can start your own business from home. There are several different kinds of opportunities, and many only require a laptop with a WiFi internet connection. The investment in a space for your home-based business only requires a desk or table area and a chair, which a lot of people already have in their homes. There are several benefits and advantages to starting a business in your Colorado home, too, as you will see.
No Commute Expenses and No Trudging Through Snow
Colorado winters are notorious for being very snowy and very long. Trying to get to work after a storm or while it’s snowing is always troublesome and risky. If you are working from home, it doesn’t matter how much snow a Colorado storm dumps on the world outside. It’s business as usual with you at home.
You Set Your Own Work Hours
Wouldn’t it be nice to sit around the house and decide when you will work and when you won’t? Setting your own work hours is a huge perk of starting your own home-based business. You can work when it’s most convenient for you to work. That may be in the morning after the kids leave for school, or in the evening if your kids are still doing virtual or distance learning. You can also choose to work as long or as short of a day as you like, something no employer outside of your Colorado home is going to agree to let you do.
No Job Hunting Required
Well, except for the type of home-based business you want to do, you don’t have to job-hunt. There are no job interviews required, and no endless employment applications to fill out or resumes to submit. Start up from home, stay at home, and work from home. That’s it.
If you move into a big Colorado city like Denver, it is an even bigger advantage to start your own business and not have to job-hunt because the number of job applicants often exceeds the number of available jobs. A lack of work dominates in most of these bigger cities, and that is true of any city and state.
Big Tax Breaks for Home Businesses
Most people who have never had a home-based business are unaware of the big tax breaks you can take. For example, your internet, some of your electricity used for running your business, some of your meals while working from home, and even the square footage of space in your home that you use for the purpose of business are all tax breaks! Since these are federal tax breaks, anyone living in Colorado or any other state can take full advantage of these breaks when filing their taxes the following year. Additionally, any money you put into purchasing equipment, like computers, fax machines, printers, office furniture, etc., can all be partially written off.
Pandemic Benefits
While the pandemic of 2020 brought untold financial hardship to many businesses and it might give you pause to start your own, consider these benefits provided by the government.
- PPP loans for continued payroll were available to sole proprietors and gig workers. The amounts awarded were based on the prior year’s income taxes, which is easily thousands of dollars for many business owners. When used to pay payroll to oneself and/or other employees, the loans are forgivable.
- EIDL loans are emergency disaster relief loans, and the pandemic made all small businesses qualified to receive them. The amounts were tens of thousands to millions of dollars.
- State-sponsored business grants to help businesses stay open, including gig workers and sole proprietor/home-based businesses.
- Tax relief breaks for staying employed or keeping employees employed, even if you only have one office assistant.
With the federal government considering another round of these benefits for business owners, it behooves anyone to go into business for themselves and take advantage of these benefits.