What is a Cottage Industry?
The term cottage industry once formerly applied to manufacturing that took place in people’s homes, prior to the industrial revolution. For example farmers might take in extra sewing or make cloth, which was then sold to a larger retailer, in order to earn a few extra dollars during the slow months of winter.
Today, the manufacturing of goods is largely done in big manufacturing plants, thus eliminating the individual textiles or sewing worker at home. A few of these cottage industry businesses still exist, like home assembly or stuffing envelopes. Most often today’s cottage industry involves using advanced technology to work from home, via fax, Internet and telephone.
The desire to remain at home but still make money has fueled the popularity of the many Internet based cottage industries. Many women with young children who do not wish to work outside the home find work in a cottage industry in order to make extra money with a less rigid schedule.
As well the cottage industry can be an economical choice for anyone, since staying at home means less money for gas, work clothing, and other work-related expenses. However, the worker generally must pay for his or her own Internet service, power, and work expenses, since cottage industry workers seldom are employees, but are instead freelancers.
WiseGEEK is an example of a successful cottage industry. Most of the writers and editors work from their homes, choosing from a pool of topics on which to write. Research may be conducted at home or in a library depending upon the scope of a question. Some of the wiseGEEK writers are mothers who earn extra income allowing them to remain stay at home mothers. This is not true of all wiseGEEK writers. In fact the pool of writers represents people from many different backgrounds, both male and female.
From our writer’s page, wiseGEEK writers express their pleasure at the flexibility that working for this cottage industry provides them. Some work in addition to full time jobs or full time education. Others depend upon wiseGEEK as a single source of income, or as income additional to that of a spouse.
Some have been successful at starting their own cottage industry businesses. EBay, for example, has a vast number of vendors who sell varied things. Some people hit garage sales and then sell their finds on EBay. Small manufacturers and craftspeople may also use EBay as a central site for selling their goods. When such businesses function out of a home, they are all considered cottage industries.
If one is considering working for any type of cottage industry, consider compensation. Some freelance work compensates too poorly to even be commensurate with federal minimum wage. Also a number of companies now attempt scams in which they request payment to give you information regarding “work at home” opportunities. One should not have to pay for such services, and one can find, with good searching, a number of different free sites that offer legitimate cottage industry work without having to pay for such information.
Written by Tricia Ellis-Christensen
