Data Entry

Working From Home: Work On Your Terms

You've seen the ads: "Work from home! Set your own hours! Be your own boss!" And you've thought...yeah, that's the way to go. Doing business in your pajamas. Taking long lunches. Napping in the afternoon, or being able to "play hooky" when the weather's nice...perfect. Right? Well, yes and no. There's a lot more to working at home than fuzzy slippers and spontaneous days off; but for people who can handle it, working from home has some definite advantages.

Kid Stuff

One of the biggest advantages of working from home is being available when children or other family members need you. While working at home doesn't equate to being a child's playmate (unless you run a day care business!), there's no denying it's easier to give your child needed attention when you're physically present than when you're not. School schedules also don't mix well with 40-hour (not to mention 50- or 60-hour) weeks, not to mention extended business travel or evening meetings. Between school holidays, parent-teacher conferences, snow days, illnesses, and extracurricular activities, parents can find themselves feeling relentlessly guilty, never able to cover everything or everyone. Working from home, on the other hand, gives you the flexibility to relieve that pressure and guilt; it might even let you go outside and play on that snow day, too!

No Gas, No Glory? Not Really!

Just a few short decades ago, the draw of working outside the home was often a matter of just wanting to "get out with people." Careers that have always been home-based-freelancers of all stripes, for example-had loneliness as their downside. Previous generations were also raised largely to think the only "real jobs" were ones where you "go somewhere" to work; that people who worked from home were hobbyists, "starving artists," or the like, and that no normal person would expect to make a reasonable living working that way.

But now, thanks to the Internet, that old world view has been flipped on its head. Freelance workers, formerly isolated and individual, now sign online through a laptop, a "smart phone," or even a PDA, and loneliness and isolation are things of the past. They network, swap job leads, attend classes and seminars...all without having to drive anywhere. This automatically conserves gas, makes a vehicle last longer, and means one fewer frustrated commuter and one less-congested highway.

And freelancers or entrepreneurs aren't the only ones taking advantage of this new way to work; more and more "conventional" business today is done by a combination of onsite and offsite employees and telecommuters-not only a money-saver for the employer, but a way to make employees more productive as well. Studies have shown home-based workers often out-produce even their own previous efforts in more conventional "face-time" situations; they tend to work smarter, more creatively, and more efficiently...which is the old "win-win" that all employers want!

Should You Try It?

With all these definite advantages, you're probably thinking, "Sounds great. How do I get started?" It does take some legwork; it can take some time to "sell" the idea to an employer; and it's definitely an adjustment within your home and family as well. But in terms of peace of mind, creativity, and flexibility-not to mention spending time in those fuzzy slippers!-most people working successfully from home will assure you the results are well worth the effort.