WORK at home is WORK

This post is long past due. I feel it is very important work-at-home wannabes completely understand what it really means to work at home. Sometimes I get the impression the idea of a WAH career is clouded with glitter and music. While working at home has it’s many advantages, it is not always what many expect. The following guide will help anyone thinking of turning down this path of home based work know if it is genuinely for them.

Working from home means WORK
There have been a number of people approach me to help them get started working from home. As we go through the many options they have, I begin to realize they are becoming more and more dissatisfied by the fact they will actually have to work! Working at home often requires you to work harder than you would in a brick and mortar building! You will read more about this as you continue.
There is no job in cyberspace that will pay you a substantial amount of money while you turn on your computer, in your pajamas and play Farmville. Generally, the more money you expect to make, the more work you will have to do. If you are looking for a get rich quick scheme…please exit this blog now…you will not find one here! And once you find this scheme and are required to have 100 people signed up by the end of the month…DO NOT come to me with your business ‘opportunity’. I am not interested and anyone who is looking for legitimate work should not be interested in any marketing schemes either. Expect to work!

Your Attention is Needed
While there are the random small jobs that allow you to do mindless work (many are listed here in the blog), if you are looking for substantial income, please realize your attention will be needed. You may sometimes need a babysitter, a spouse to watch the children or may have to use every minute of time you have while kids are sleeping to work. Even non phone jobs that do not require background noise generally require you to be able to have some sort of concentration and focus to the task at hand. So either expect the rate at which you work to slow down substantially or choose to work when you are alone. The flexibility of working at home is the best part for most of us! However, it usually means the work I could have completed at a job-site in 8 hours, will now take a complete day in between caring for my children, house and husband.

You MUST Have Motivation
I think any WAHmer can agree with me here. The hardest thing about creating your own schedule is sticking to it! When you have no one to answer to but yourself, it is easy to let work sit or give up the shift you signed up for. Then when bills come due or those shoes you have been wanting go on sale, you feel like an idiot. We all have to work out our own ways of keeping up our motivation.

You Are Accountable For Yourself
Many work at home jobs hire agents as Independent Contractors versus Employees. Which means you are responsible for your equipment (computer, phone, headset…), your quality of work, the amount of time spent and most importantly your TAXES. As an Independent Contractor, you may find yourself owing taxes come April! So be sure to get in touch with a professional accountant who can help you plan for the year and hold back a portion of each check.

Of course there are many upsides to working at home, from the flexibility to not having a boss breathing down your neck. Some people simply need the structure of an on-site job. There is nothing wrong with that. I just hope before making any life changing choices  you can look at yourself and decide if you have what it takes to depend solely on yourself!

I genuinely hope that all seasoned work at home agents reading this will be gracious enough to post any additional tips or information with others in the comment section below. 

**Disclaimer: I wrote this at 1:30AM, I hope you were able to overlook my many grammatical errors!

 

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