Ask a Business Expert

A: If you are still stimulated by the field in which you are currently teaching, try to find a home–based business that builds on these credentials. However, if you have outgrown this interest, then give yourself free rein to play with any possibility that excites you now. There are tools to help you identify either, depending on your needs. If you are happy with your teaching profession, predictable pay check, and paid benefits, and are just looking to add some income from home–based work in the afternoon, I suggest you look at books by Paul & Sarah Edwards, such as Working From Home (1–800–788–6262, prompt #1). If you are looking to become fully self–employed, but want to start slowly, then check out Barbara B. Reinhold's dynamite new book, Free To Succeed: Designing the Life You Want in the New Free Agent Economy (Plume/Penguin, 2001).