Working from home, or not…

Imagine this; getting up, brewing coffee or tea and the long shuffling commute to your home office, sitting in your jammies at your computer to start your day as a telecommuter. Later on you go to the mail box and collect your weekly check of thousands of dollars.

But let me tell you that it doesn’t always work that way. Sorry to wake you up from your lala land trip, please come back down here where reality exists. People just like you have pictured this in their mind and more often than not ended up disappointed, or worse in a financial disaster.

The truth is that finding an “at home” job is usually harder than finding an out of the home job and there are many reasons. You need to be aware of the many “scammers” and “golden opportunities” that are waiting for you and your credit card.

Here are a few things to consider before browsing the Internet for possibilities.

What is your target wage?
Home based telecommuters’ jobs usually pay less than a conventional out of the home job. For a job paying $12.00 per hour in the regular work force, the same job done from home may pay $7.00 to $8.00 per hour. Certain jobs, like virtual assisting, web design and graphics, medical transcription and coding and other professional jobs will probably pay a more competitive rate. Many work at home jobs don’t pay hourly, but are contract based with set time limit.
Do you require benefits?
Most at home work does not provide benefits like health insurance or life insurance, worker’s compensation, unemployment insurance or statutory holidays or vacation pay.
Taxes
Most companies hire you as an independent contractor and you will need a bookkeeping program set in place, unless you are going to pay an accountant to do your annual taxes.
How’s your motivation level?
Remembering that working from home also means that you need the discipline to get the job done before anything else and the importance of keeping a tight schedule is paramount to your success as a home based entrepreneur.
Again if you are hired as an independent contractor, your employer is not obligated to provide work. Always keep in mind the seasonal situation, whereby at busy times you might work 40 to 50 hours per week and a slow time you might not have any work at all. However, many people choose to work more than one job at a time and for different companies.
Flexibility
Some employers give you the choice of when to do the work and others will ask you to be present at certain time for meetings or tele-conferences.
To be alone
Working from home can also be a lonely job, no interaction with co-workers; instead you might need to set time aside for social interaction, getting together with like minded people that can be very useful for possible problem solving situations.
Children care
If you have pre-school children you will need to be organized in such a way that you can both do your work, care for the kids and still get quality time with them.
Finding a job that fulfills you.
Even more important than being part of the regular work force, finding a position that fits you is extremely important. The “I don’t care what type of work I do, as long as it brings in a paycheck” attitude won’t last long and that’s a guarantee. Like I said earlier, you are going to be very self motivated and disciplined to work from home, and your job will
be a lot easier if you like what you do.
Do you really want a “job?”
Many a time people with the vision of working at home don’t really want a J-O-B. They want the freedom to do what they like doing and if that’s the case for you, you might consider starting your own home based business.

To do that you will need to focus on your strengths, talents and abilities and prepare a plan investigating all possibilities. You should also consider your weaknesses to avoid any conflicts.

The first thing to do is write down your plan, start with the sentence: “I want to work at home because…” Continue writing as long as you possibly can, asking yourself how, what, why, when questions and if you there are many times you give answers
containing freedom, I want fulfilling work, then you are not looking for a job.

There are loads of resources available online these days, you can actually find and use online software to mastermind your plan.

Working for home can be difficult and challenging but I wouldn’t trade it for anything else. Once you find the right job or business, you will probably feel the same as I do.

This article might have set a damper on your vision; if that’s the case you might not be ready for work at home, but don’t just give up, start planning and keep moving forward to your dream. The idea came to you for a reason, so don’t give up that easy, set some short range goals. You might need to work on your motivation and or self discipline, it’s a learning process and you can make it happen.
Live your dream.

By Bernard Tritz