Raven's Work From Home Resources
The Truth on Home Employment - Erasing Myths
The Truth on Home Employment - Erasing Myths
Telework, telecommuting, work at home, home employment, freelancing, outsourcing, independent contracting - all of these are describing a rapidly growing trend in the workplace. In homes all over the world, people are performing tasks which are normally done at work, indeed, and sometimes doing them in their pyjamas. Benefits for both the employer and employee are abundant in these scenarios for sure. The outsourcing company will have fewer employee conflicts; park and office space concerns and often will not have to pay benefits. The freelance worker has flexible scheduling, no dress code, and fewer work related expenses and tax write-offs for normal household items. Others benefit too, like children who can now have a parent in the home, and the parents no longer feel they must be "superparent" and can earn a living with less stress and guilt.
As the new reordered workplace emerges, it could seem like the right thing to do is to pack your superhero lunchbox and go home right away. However, it isn't automatically idea for everyone and that is a true thing indeed. Obviously, some professions cannot and should not accommodate more than a part time home office (friend can you imagine surgery in a man's living room? Sure and I hope not). Even among those that do lend themselves to freelance work, there are inevitably employees who do not function well at home. Those who need constant supervision, approval, social contact or feedback will have a difficult adjustment to telecommuting. They will wither and die intellectually and should not attempt it. Likewise those who can't impose their own structure, schedule or discipline will not flourish in a telework situation. And finally there are those who will make the easy mistake of becoming too easily distracted and fail to concentrate adequately on the work at hand. They will have difficulty accomplishing anything meaningful and will wonder why they ever started. Gentle reader, if you think you may be one of these types, you must re-teach yourself work patterns before seeking telework or you will fail miserably for sure.
If you have the proper work ethic, temperament, and outlook, it is a true thing that you can successfully turn your hand to working at home. You must, however, avoid some common mistakes made by many who dream of a home employment position.
Avoid hasty termination of a solid position and income before an appropriate at home situation is found and working smoothly, my friend. If you are a beautician and want to work out of your home it is best to gradually work into it. Take extra work at night, gradually leave the salon - don't walk out one day with no clientele and no hope of a steady flow of coin. If you are an office worker it is best to explore doing part of your current job from home or do some things on the side in the evening. If you are a journalist, work on your novella and poetry collection while serving on your current position until the freelance work becomes too much to handle this way. Then think about cutting the traditional to part time rather than making a clean break. In other words, my friend, wait until you "arrive" in your telework before you "depart" your traditional work. This is what I have done, I work both for a portait company and I freelance. Some periods of time are heavy with company work, others are almost completely freelance, but in the end, I have a steady income instead of one which runs dry for months at a time. Of course, if you are on unemployment, you can begin to put your hand to it immediately - but one should be available to flip burgers whilst your status grows.
The reason for this advice is very simple - when gold flows freely in an economy, the marketplace which welcomes telework is much smaller than the self same for traditional work. Many bosses still like to watch their employees on a regular basis and that will not change for the majority of the job market. This makes things very competitive for those in the market for telecommute positions. If you usually take a few weeks to land the right position in a traditional setting, plan on at least 4-5 months for locating an at home position. To land this position you will need patience and dedication, as well as confidence in yourself. To be hired you will need to be chosen from among thousands of applicants for the same job, sometimes from all over the world. This is why one does not leave a stable job to telecommute unless they have already accomplished the job hunt.
Furthermore, a hopeful parent can make the costly mistake of deciding to work from home with unrealistic financial expectations. Ignore the baloney that arrives in your inbox, you will not become rich working from home. Most likely, unless you are in a very specialised field you will not even be on a salary or hourly wage. Usually work at home employees are not **really** employees, they are private contractors. In English this means that there are no health benefits, no unemployment insurance, no taxes taken from your check, no paid time off, no bonuses, no raises, no day-care and often there is finished project or commission style pay. Work may be sparse at times and overwhelming at others. A family must take these considerations very seriously and plan for them in advance if someone wishes to work from home.
Similarly, some parents mistakenly assume that they will have endless hours of free time, leisure and easy work. However the majority of home workers labour harder and longer than their traditional counterparts for their monthly check. Most of the workers are paid by the project or on commission, hourly wages are only found in companies with serious networking (and this makes the schedule as rigid as traditional workers) and salaries are reserved for a select few careers. Obviously, one reason for this is that the employer can't see you work, the only way to reward hard work is to pay by output. With commission you will find that some projects require a lot of work but will be valued by the page just the same as those which require little research. Until you build up a name for yourself as a freelancer in your field, work may be slow and unchallenging. The upside of this is that eventually you will reach a point where you reap the benefits of jobs well done in the past. Then your income will be reasonable and steady.
I have never regretted my decision to ease into a work at home situation. I have also not regretted hanging on traditional work when projects became slack. In fact, a recent move and the aquisition of a new skill from a seasonal position gave me a whole new career which I am now operating from home (and yes I still work the seasonal, the increase in income helps the budget alot and gives me valuable experience.) If you believe, have patience, reasonable expectations, work toward a goal, and accept that you may have set backs...you can eventually say the same thing. Just make sure the decision is an informed one based on the truth and not hyped up ad copy from dream peddlers.
If you are desiring to e-mail me, click the link and go to it.
I
welcome the mail and will answer any questions you desire to ask me.
