I work at home today much, much more than I did in the past. This is intentional, though, considering the type of business I am in.
If you foresee that working at home is the future of you, I’ll join you to evangelise the perks of working at home :)
Why work at home is a more feasible business solution today
Forget nice business suit and professional looks. Say hello to a more casual look of you.
If you are keen to work at home, you have to realise that you can, may and have to work even in your PJs. You can work whenever you want, reducing the need to commute.
All in all, the main benefits of work at home are: flexibility, efficiency, and effectiveness.
Today’s recession, rising gas price and rising cost of living are the main points to consider moving your office to the comfort of your home.
Not only for well-seasoned business owner, working at home is lucrative for new, budding entrepreneurs, including stay at home mom and dad.
With the presence of the Internet, working at home is never been easier. You can do almost anything you could’ve think of, including but not limited to virtual assistance, wealth building, online business, affiliate marketing, and other web-related businesses.
Things to consider when deciding to work at home
You have to realise that working at home needs a little different office management than the conventional out-of-home office management.
In my opinion, you have consider the following:
- Setting boundaries
You have to set boundaries to let your office space remains, well, an office space. This includes handling work interruptions from barged-in family members and setting up a clear access point between home entrance and office entrance. - Image and professionalism issues
You have to be ready to tackle business calls and meetings issues. Having your kids answer calls from your clients is not really a good image you want your business to be portrayed. - Flexibility does come at a cost
Flexibility is an excellent perk if you can discipline yourself in doing your work. You have to set schedule in such a way that tarrying is not an option, otherwise you will actually lose productivity by working at home. - Get a life
Working at home can be rewarding, but with a side effect – You will, at times, feel ‘lonely’ because you interact largely through emails, forums, and instant messaging. People need face-to-face interactions with others. - Watch out for scams and scammers
If you look for work at home opportunities, you have to realise the fact that scammers are everywhere. You have to learn how to scam-proof work at home opportunities.
How to find work at home
If you already considered the above issues and have decided that work at home is for you, then the next logical step you might want to take would be finding work at home opportunities.
Opportunities are everywhere. You just have to know where to look and which opportunities to take.
Firstly, you might want to join a work at home community. This community is usually in the form of forums and social media sites.
The basic rule of thumbs on how to choose the right forums and social media for you is by looking into the number of members and the amount of posts, messages and discussions taking place – the more active the forums and social media are, the better.
I recommend you to join several forums and social media to see which one is actually useful and helpful for you. Later on, being active and make yourself known in 2 or 3 forums will bring you opportunities, even without you looking for them.
Ivan Widjaya
Working at home