Deciding to go into business for yourself by running your own store can be a very tough decision. You have a lot to think about: from determining what your product is going to be—to figuring out all the new tax laws and financial jargon associated with running your own business. But it's also a heck of a lot easier than it once was. It used to be that you needed to have a physical storefront and suppliers within an arm's reach if you wanted to be able to sell anything for a profit. You had to have employees to man your storefront in addition to those needed for stocking/inventory management.

But today?

It's easy to setup online storefronts that can be (and very much are for some retailers) more profitable than a physical store.
There are a ton of shopping cart software choices out there on which you can build your eCommerce website. One of the first things you'll need to consider is on which type or platform you'd like to sell your products. There are the marketplace-style platforms like eBay and Amazon, but there are also shopping cart systems—like E-junkie—that allow you to have your own eCommerce website. You can even use order management & shipping software choices—like ShipStation—to manage your orders and get them fulfilled and shipped quickly. Perhaps the main benefit of online storefronts is their unlimited nature; meaning that you're not limited in customers to your immediate physical surroundings. You can sell across the country as easily as you could to your neighbor.

You don't need a separate office.
Contrary to what realtors might want you to think, you don't need a separate office. If you make handmade goods, you probably already have a home studio of some sort. If you don't, you might have a home office. Depending upon your domestic situation, you could have the whole house to yourself while your kids and/or spouse are at school and work, and easily use it as your workspace. If this will be your full-time business, it will probably be worth it to dedicate an entire room to the process. Either way, you're using space you already have, which means you'll save the money that you would have otherwise spent on office space. Also, both time and expense will be saved since travel with your car or other public transportation won't be necessary. You'll no longer need to fight your way through traffic, and you'll be helping to preserve our environment.

Social media has transformed the marketing landscape for most businesses to be almost entirely digital—and easier than ever.
For an online eCommerce business, marketing is, of course, huge. There's very little chance people will just happen upon your site if you just leave it to be one of the billions of pages of the Internet, and don't help it along with marketing. If you are listing your products in a marketplace (Amazon, eBay, etc.), discovery is a heck of a lot easier, but marketing in general is a very important topic. With the advent of social media, you're able to reach thousands, even millions, of potential and existing customers on a regular basis. You're able to engage with them via content that you've created or conversations that you've started. The social media trend also means that a lot of your marketing will most likely be digital: pay-per-click ads, search engine optimization, and display ads, in addition to other media.

Are there other reasons? Of course, but they can depend on your specific situation. However, running your eCommerce business from home is a true possibility. Just like any business venture, you have to do the research, crunch the numbers, and figure out if it's possible given your situation. But, if you were thinking about starting a business, and running it from home, now's the time to give it a shot!