The Work At Home Link Blog

Posts Tagged ‘work from home’

The desire to work from home usually goes hand in hand with the desire not to have to report to anyone else. People envision a life free of alarm clocks and rush hour traffic, free of pointless meetings and time cards.

 Still, many people begin their work at home careers with a telecommute job. They may get started by talking their current boss into allowing them to work from home, or they may secure a telecommute job such as customer service rep or telemarketing job that entails putting in a certain number of hours, possibly at specific times.

 There is nothing wrong with that if that is really what you want.  But a telecommute job is just that – a job. You still have a boss, you still have to put in a certain number of hours and your worth is often perceived based on how many hours you put in, not the quality of your work or how productive you can be.

 A home business on the other hand is a way for you to really be the boss. This can have both good and bad aspects to it. You are in charge of what hours you work. If you don’t work, you don’t make money. At least, that’s how it is in the early months of your business.

 The ultimate goal for a home business owner is to create an environment in which you are making money whether you are working or not. You may have employees that are able to carry the ball for you. Or you may be able to set up a business that brings in money on auto-pilot, such as a website that sells high demand items.

 The choice of a home business or a work at home job is up to you. Consider what is most important to you, and then decide which path is the right one for you to take.

Technorati Tags: telecommute, Work At Home, work at home business, work from home, working at home, working from home

As a home business owner, you have to invest in your business. Many people interested in starting a home business have very limited funds. One possibility to solve this problem is to borrow.  But if you don’t have money to invest and either can’t get a loan or don’t wish to get a loan, what is the solution?

If you want to start a business with little or no money, you still have to make an investment. With little or no financial investment, you have to invest time. What this means is if you quit your day job, don’t expect to work less hours than you worked in the corporate world. In fact, you probably will have to invest long hours to get your business up and running.

For example, if you start an online business or blog, your initial task is to choose a niche that has a reasonably high demand and not a lot of supply. Once you’ve done that, you need to choose your monetization method. How will you make money? Whether you are planning to make money from affiliate marketing, Adsense revenue, or selling physical items, you will need to make an investment of either time or money to drive traffic to your site or blog.

 For most new online business owners, time is all they have to give. If you still have a day job, you may not have a great deal of that either, but if you’re serious about your business, you have to find time to invest somewhere. Give up an hour of sleep or an hour of television or both. Time has to be spent on article marketing, free advertising, social bookmarking, and getting to know other marketers in forums.

 The more focused time you invest in your business, the more chance it has of being a business that survives and prospers.

Alternatively, you can invest money. Traffic can be drawn to websites using pay per click advertising. Learn more about this in my next post.

Technorati Tags: investing time in your business, Work At Home, work from home

What are you afraid of? Chances are fear is a factor in your life. Many people are afraid of failure. They don’t take risks at all because they’re sure they’ll fail. Or they take very cautious risks, like dipping their toe in a swimming pool, afraid to dive in. Other people are afraid of success and stand in their own way, fearing a complete change in their self-image.

 Taking the leap from the corporate world to one where you are totally responsible for your own day is a pretty scary thing. Sure, it sounds great: work only when you want, report to only yourself, work in your pajamas, etc. But when faced with actually being your own boss, many people become choked with fear. What tasks should they do first? How do they prioritize which tasks are most important? How do they develop the discipline to accomplish anything at all? How can they be sure they’ll have enough money next week or next month?

 The only way to get past these fears is recognize them for what they are. Pay attention to your feelings, and know that you have the power to change.

It’s important to have total faith in yourself and what you’re trying to accomplish. Many people who start their own business get negative feedback from those around them. People will imply that you’re not going to make it, that you should stay in the rat race with them. Courage isn’t the absence of fear, it’s acting in spite of fear.

 As Eleanor Roosevelt said, “You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You must do the thing which you think you cannot do.”

 The key to getting past your fears is deciding you’re not going to let them defeat you. Equally important is staying focused on exactly where you’re going. I’ll talk more about staying focused in my next post.

Technorati Tags: pursuing your dream, Work At Home, work from home, working at home, working from home

What are the pros and cons of working from home? If you hate the 9-5 rat race, you may think there are no disadvantages to working from home. Chances are, all you can think of are the pros, such as the following:

 Avoiding rush hour commute. Most people who have to sit through traffic wish they didn’t. For many people, avoiding exposure to road rage is right at the top of the list of pros.

1. Flexible hours. If you work from home, you can work exactly when you want. There is no time clock to punch. If you’re a night person, you can work in the middle of the night.
2. More time with your family. This one is a great pro for working at home – if it works out that way. Some people find when they’re self-employed they actually are working more hours than when they had a day job.
3. Being able to work without supervision. No more bosses looking over your shoulder, no more annual review. But are you disciplined enough to handle it/

 What about the cons?

 No benefits. No more getting paid for holidays and vacations. No one is matching your 401K payment or contributing to group health insurance.

1. Lack of a salary you can count on. You will only get paid if you work, and in the early months and maybe years of your business, you may not make much. You have to plan for your own health insurance and retirement needs.
2. Lack of interaction with other adults. Some people may miss the office gossip or feel trapped when surrounded by small children all the time.

I’m sure you can think of other advantages and disadvantages to working from home. Only you can decide whether the pros outweigh the cons.  

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