Are You Built to Work at Home?
Working from home can be very beneficial to many, but are you built to work from home? It can really boost your savings account! Just think no more buying gas for the car or commuting by bus or train; no longer any need to keep up with a wardrobe for work attire; no more lunch expense. But, the best part about working from home is that you have the flexibility to totally control your own schedule if you own your own business. If you telecommute (partially work from home), you still will have to revolve around the schedule imposed by your boss.
As good as working from home seems you should recognize that there are challenges for working at home. One is that you will need to be able to make a definite separation between your work and your life at home.
Perceptions of Working from Home
Work from home scams are exposed every day and that is one reason why most people don’t have a good opinion about work at home jobs. Other people’s perceptions, as well as your own, play a big role in working from home. Many people think that working from home can’t be a legitimate job and even those that actually work at home sometimes treat it less than a real job. Nevertheless, there is real work from home business opportunities.
If you are going to work from home, you will need to manage those perceptions, including your own! Keep a consistent schedule as much as possible to maintain the “at home work day”. Plan the tasks you will complete within your set hours of work.
Create and Maintain Work Boundaries
Baby crying, dinner burning and you are missing the conference call you set up with two clients! How could this happen you ask? One of the biggest and most important challenges in working at home is establishing a balance between work and personal life. A conversation should be had with your family members to make sure they understand that during a specific time during the day you have to work without any distractions or commotions. Also, make sure the family knows that your workspace is off limits to everyone!
It is very important to make a division between your workspace and the common shared spaces of the family home. Make all your friends, neighbors and other family members outside the home aware of the workspace and work hour boundaries as well. This will keep them from just dropping by or assuming you can do a favor for them because they know you are home and available.
Establish and Set Up the Home Office
If you are going to work from home you should select where your home office will be located. Select a specific area of your home that is set aside strictly for your work. This will keep for work-life professional; you will be more focused and; your family will recognize and appreciate that you are performing real work.
Always keep your work area organized and uncluttered. It should be well stocked with materials that you use frequently. Ensure that you have obtained the necessary equipment; computer, printer, scanner, ink, paper, appropriate computer software, reliable phone lines and data storage options to reassure that your information is secure. Don’t break the bank, but have enough funds available to make sure that you have a safe area in which to work.
Don’t Become Isolated
There are times when we need and enjoy our time alone and being alone sometimes is a good thing. However, don’t get lost in the isolation! Spending a lot of time working at home alone can sometimes separate you from staying professionally engaged.
If you own a business and work from home, stay engaged by attending seminars that will allow you to network with like-minded people. Other activities that will keep you engaged is to possibly attend some classes and other public events that are pertinent to your field. This is important so that you can establish business relationships, identify what the new trends are, who the leaders are, and who the competition is. Make sure you keep profiles up-to-date on the business networks.
Don’t Let Distractions Do You In
Having a home business can be a really good way to earn an income when you are unable to go out and get a regular 9 to 5 job. But, having a home business is not necessarily an easy thing to do. Truthfully, it is difficult to be successful at it. You need an extreme amount of discipline, self-motivation, and some organizational skills. If you are missing these main ingredients, your productivity and your potential to generate income will be tremendously limited.
The benefits that working from home can afford you can be a double-edged sword. The same reasons that we find working at home so appealing can also be the same things that become our distractions if we don’t what it takes to control those distractions. Learn how to avoid those distractions.
Please feel free to contact me if you need help with anything. Just make a comment below or you can always get in touch with me through wealthyaffiliate.com (here is a link to my profile).
Verna
Founder of Your Trusted Affiliate
This article hits home with me in a big way. Six months ago I started an online business working from home and I thoroughly enjoy it, but you have nailed the hammer on the head when it comes to distractions and setting those boundaries. I struggle with that as well.
Family members think just because you are home, you are available to help them with things or even want to come in and sit down to discuss the comics section of the daily newspaper. I am struggling with setting up those boundaries and getting that support. It is one thing if the interruption is important, but if it is just to talk or ask a question that can wait, it can be irritating.
What happens as a result is that I have to do my work at nighttime when the household is asleep because that is the only time I can get things done. And that leads to sleep deprivation and other things.
Thank you for this article and if you have suggestions on how to delicately handle the situations that would be awesome. I love your website. It is a beautiful theme and color.
Thank you for comments Stephanie.
For years I have worked from home; for myself and for an employer. I didn’t start doing so until my children were capable to caring for themselves for the most part. Like you, my family assumed that because I was home everyday that meant I was available to help them meet their wants and needs; never giving consideration to what I had on my own agenda. That was very frustrating. I had to learn to say no to my family first of all. I had to make them understand that being home did not mean I would be available to them. Since I worked from home, my work day hours were the same as most business hours and they would need to respect that because it was my livelihood they were interfering with. The more I said “no”, they started taking the hint until eventually they came to understand that I meant business.
Other than family there are many more things they we can allow to distract us from the tasks at hand. So, working from home is not as easy as most people think. You must have a certain mentality and discipline to pull it off. I equate it to students taking online courses. You have to have the right mind set or before you know your work or studies will fall behind very quickly.
I suggest that you put a plan in place even before you begin working from home. Don’t answer phones during certain hours. Let your family and friends know what your work hours are and they should not disturb you during that time. I understand that emergencies may come up with our families and there is a way we can handle those times. I don’t answer the home phone during my business hours. My business contacts use my dedicated business phone number. If a family emergency arises, my family knows they should contact my cell phone via text using code “911”. Or they can call and leave a voice message saying “911” and I will immediately get back with them. If they cry wolfe just to get me to call them, then that is when another serious conversation will have to take place. There are many things you can do to keep yourself on track, but you are the one who must stick to your requirements.
Good luck, Steph. Take charge of your work at home day! Start creating good work at home strategies until they become good work habits.
Thanks again for the comments. Let me know if you have any further questions, I will be happy to help you out.
Hello Verna,
These are great points you examine. I too work from home and I don’t feel though it seems like a real job in respects to work load, pressures, and time management.
But,
Damn it if I would want to go back into a dictated career where I am ordered around and told what to do!
Making someone else rich doesn’t float well with me anymore.
Working from home definitely has it’s benefits and once you begin seeing results you will never look back!
~Benji~
Benji,
I agree with you 100%!! I retired from Federal service after 40 years. I could never go back to working a 9 to 5. I believe that is why I work so hard at my own online affiliate marketing business. One, I enjoy it, I don’t have the hassle of rush hour traffic and I don’t have the headache of having a boss!
Having an online business is a great way of earning passive income as it allows you to work as much or as little as you want. Best of all – no boss!.
Thanks Benji for stopping by and leaving your comment. Let me know if there are any questions I can help you with.
Have a great day,
Verna
I agree that working from home does have it’s own obstacles and many people will find it too difficult to accomplish. I think the number one killer is distraction. I used to get very distracted when I first started at home. What I found that helped to reduced distraction was to build a set schedule just as you had recommended.
One thing I’m going to take away is to set boundaries. I don’t have balance between my work life and personal life. Even during my scheduled work time I get calls from the wife to do this and do that, I still have to take care of my son… But this is something I definitely intend to work on.
Hi Alex,
Just know that you are not alone with having to deal with the distractions at home while trying to work. Even I still have to make adjustments for them.
But, I have learned to put my foot down with my family members. I give them a specific time that they can call me about “whatever”, unless of course it is a REAL emergency. I explained to them that working at home is my “job” and since I don’t interrupt them at their work place during their work hours I expect the same respect from them. If they are home t the same time. make sure you have your own work space and enforce the rule that when you are in your “office” you are working and are not to be disturbed.
I have learned that you sometimes have to change their mindset about how they think about working at home. Many people don’t look at it as a “real job”. Therefore, sometimes you have to train them to know that your business is what enables you to pay your bills and when you keep getting all the distractions it prevents you from accomplishing your work loads.
I set up a system for my family members to not call me during my work hours (8:00 AM til 5:30 PM), even though I may work longer than that. I at least know those hours will be pretty quite. If there is something that absolutely can not wait, they should text me using the “911” code so I know I need to contact them right away.
With young children at home that can be more of a problem. Take advantage of the nap times. Try to keep the kids a a nap schedule. Babies usually take a couple of naps during the day. Toddlers may only take one. Find the things that your kids like the most that will generally keep them quite and settled down for a while.
I learned that when your family members see you are serious about your schedule, they will usually fall in line. However, you have to be the guide! You also need to keep yourself from getting distracted from other things like surfing the web or texting others and having personal phone calls during work time. When family members see you doing those kinds of things, they think it is a signal to have your attention as well.
Thanks Alex for taking the time to check out my article and I’m glad you found it useful. Stop by any time. Let me know if you have any questions or if there is something I can help you with. Looking forward to seeing you around here again.
Cheers,
Verna
WOW!
This is truly a very impressive article! You have especially included tips that actually make sense. These are very important thigs to be realized when a person is working at home especially because there is what we call a family at home. You just cannot tend to ignore anybody when they call you and you are in the middle of your work, which is also important for you to earn a living. There might just be a conflict that would erupt in a scenario like this.
However, thetips in your article are so into giving solutions to these and more that could definitely help the worker. This is wonderful.
Thanks!
Hi Chanan,
Yes, there could be some conflict if we ignore some family incoming calls, but we just have to present our guidelines in a manner that is tactful, but at the same time letting them know that this is important to you. Family members should be understanding of this and not take it so personal. After all, if you were in the corporate workplace they probably would be considerate enough not to bother you at work unless it was an emergency, The fact that your workplace is your home should not make a difference.
I personally have not had any problem with it and friends and family seem to understand. Now, I tend to work longer hours than my regular business hours, which end at 6 PM. So, when my phones starts ringing after 6, I will answer it because that is when they feel free to call. I may still get a little frustrated because I am still trying to work, but that is my choice, but I will not shut people off if my business hours have ended.
If you don’t set some guidelines and stick to them, you will find it extremely difficult to complete tasks that are a must for your business to be successful. I think they you will find that it won’t be as bad as you may think. When they understand that these hours are when you make your income, it will work out.
Working at home is not as easy as people may think. Not only do you have to set guidelines for friends and family, but also for yourself!
Thanks again for dropping by. Glad you found value in the article. Hope to see you around again soon.
Cheers,
Verna
Great post on working from home.
And I definitely agree that there is a misconception out there about running a business from home (or have an online job)
Lots of people do not realise the amount of focus, discipline and determination that is required. Especially when you have other members in the house hold trying to (unintentionally) distract you.
In terms of making money online, what is your preferred way (or recommended way) of making money online?
Cem
Hi Cem,
I definitely agee with your statements. Most think it’s a piece of cake working from home, but there are so many ways that you can become distracted and not be able to focus. You must have a certain amount of self-discipline to be successful at it.
As for making money online, I think that the least costly way to begin an online business is hands down, affiliate marketing. This is my recommendation because with affiliate marketing you can earn income through multiple streams of income. Using multiple streams of income is the best way to operate in the event one stream dries up for some reason. If you put all your apples in one basket it could be detrimental to your online business success.
Thanks so much for stopping by and I’m glad you found my article useful. Let me know if there is anything I can help you with. I would be glad to help if I can.
Cheers,
Verna
This is a really interesting article on working from home Verna!
I think a lot of us would love to work from where we live, but probably don’t ask themselves the question “Are we built to work from home”?
There really is a lot to consider, such as the social isolation, the distractions, and creating boundaries around work/life balance… I know I struggle at times in these areas, and it really is something you must consider before taking the plunge!
A lot of food for thought here, and some great points!
Thanks 🙂
Hi John,
You hit the nail right on the nose! That is the reason I wrote the article. Many people think it’s peaches and creme to work at home and they don’t realize just how difficult it can be!
One has to be very disciplined to work at home or they will never get anything accomplished. Most folks have to “learn” what has to be done to be successful at working from home. The distractions waiting for you can really derail a person trying to work from home. A real effort has to be put forth to do it the right way/
Thanks for dropping by to check out my article. I’m glad you found it helpful and it gave you some food for thought.
Stop by anytime. Please let me know if there is anything I can help you with. Thanks for your comments.
Cheers,
Verna