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Michelle Huizinga is a hairdresser in West Michigan, but you won’t find her at a retail salon near a grocery store. Instead, Michelle, like many enterprising entrepreneurs, works from her own home. Through a room she renovated in her home, Michelle now sees her clients and her children with no travel time.
“I started working from home because I had two small children at home. It’s a great way to make extra money while being my own boss and still able to spend as much time as I want with my kids. I can be flexible. I don’t have to be busy one week, where a lot is going on in our family. Also it cuts down on childcare costs because my husband can watch the kids at night when I cut hair.”
How can I start an at-home business?
While the freedom of self-employment is enjoyable, there is one catch: it can cost several thousand dollars to renovate a room in a home to become a business, like a hair salon. Depending on the work done out of the home, the State of Michigan might also require certifications.
“We had to build the salon in the basement from scratch. We needed walls, plumbing, shampoo bowl, equipment.” Michelle estimates that, at the minimum, one could need about $5,000-10,000 to start such a salon.
How a HELOC Can Help
With a HELOC (Home Equity Line of Credit) loan from Riverbank Finance, you, too, could quickly become your own boss in your own home. The Line of Credit is great because it only charges interest on the money you borrow and use, just like a credit card. Traditionally, rates for a HELOC are lower than the average credit card rate, as well.
One other perk that can help a family save money is that, if a room in the home is used for a business, all the costs associated with said room can be written off on your taxes. So the electricity, water, and equipment used to make a hair salon in a basement can become a tax write-off and save you money as a homeowner.
If you have a skill set like hairdressing, accounting, or a number of any other skills that just require a single room to work in, you, too, could become your own boss, save on your taxes, and increase your family’s income. All it might take is an initial investment with a HELOC. To see if a HELOC is right to start your self-employment dreams, call one of our loan officers at (800) 555-2098 today.