Is Working from Home Right For You?

A lot of people dream about working from home, but their dreams are idealistic and unrealizable because they just aren’t well suited to working from home.  Some people get into it, and find that they hate working from home.  How do you know if working at home is right for you?  Here are a few things to consider:

1. Do you enjoy being at home?  That seems like an obvious question, but if you plan to work from home, you need to be the type of person who likes being at home.  If you like getting out and doing things, working at home probably isn’t right for you.  You will be spending most of your time at home, and you won’t get much of a break from it. 
2. Do you need lots of social stimulation?  You won’t get it working from home, unless you consider two-year old conversation and watching Sponge Bob Square Pants while you do your filing social stimulation.  Most people who discover they hate working at home simply miss the social aspect of work.  They like talking to other adults and working with people.  If you plan to succeed at working from home, you must be okay with a little isolation.  You’ll have to plan to get your social needs met in other ways than through your work.
3. Are you self-motivated?  Not having a boss to tell you when to do what sounds great, but some of us need more than the voices in our heads to get us going.  If you plan to work from home, you’ll need to be self-motivated.  Nobody else is going to tell you to get to work, so you have to be able to do that for yourself.
4. Are you organized?  Being organized is not an absolute prerequisite for working at home, but it does help.  It’s true that some very disorganized people make a great success of working at home.  But they make it because they enjoy working and living in chaos.  You have to either be organized, or be very tolerant of chaos—and maybe a little of both—in order to work from home.
5. Are you a good time manager?  Can you manage multiple demands and multiple deadlines (like dinner and clients)?  Can you multitask when necessary?  Good time management skills are needed for you to work at home.  Otherwise you’ll be dealing with a client issue when it’s time to pick up the kids from school, and come off feeling either unprofessional or like a bad mom.
6. Do you want it?  Do you want to work from home badly enough to make it happen?  Do you want it badly enough to do whatever it takes to make the transition to working from home?  Whether you go outside your home to a job right now, or you stay at home and don’t have a paid job, working from home will be a transition.  You have to want it badly enough to get through the problems and hassles.

If you still want to work from home, there are resources available to help you. The internet is a wonderful resource for people who work from home.  There are ezines, newsletters, forums and chat rooms devoted to working from home.  You will find good advice, tips on how to make it work, and work opportunities on the internet.

One really good internet resource is www.workingfromhomejobs.com.  This website can help you in a number of ways.  You’ll find:

• Products and resources to help you find work you can do at home.
• Products and resources to help you cut expenses—which you usually have to do in order to work from home.
• Financial information and products, such as credit repair and grant funding.
• Help.  Live people who can talk to you and give you help, articles about working from home, and a free newsletter.

Another resource you have available to you is your family.  You will need your family’s full support in order to work from home.  Once they see the advantages of having you work from home, it’s not too hard to sell most families on the idea. 

The information from www.workingfromhomejobs.com can help you show your family how they will benefit from having you work from home.  The articles will help you talk about how much money you will save by not commuting, not having a separate work wardrobe, and not having other work-related expenses.  You’ll also find out more about the advantages of working at home, like time flexibility, and being more available for your family.

If you are considering working from home, do a little soul searching and decide if it is right for you.  Check out some good internet resources.  Talk to other people who work from home.  If you really want to work from home, you can do it.  And help is available to get you started.

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