Drawbacks to working at home

As much as I love working from home, I have to admit there are drawbacks.

Scheduling is one. It is so easy to keep working all day and all night if you don’t have “office hours” and adhere to them. Besides, friends and neighbors tend to think that if you’re home, you’re available to help them with one thing or another. I have to ask my family and friends not to call during certain hours. I also put a note on my door stating that I am not available without an appointment. For the occasional drop-in, if it’s not an emergency (or someone I really wanted to see) I simply have to tell them that I’m working at that time and ask them to come back later.

It’s all too easy to get so involved in work that you neglect household, family and friends. I schedule times for my family (I home school my children from 8am – noon, for example) so I can keep the perspective of why I work at home.

Opportunities are rare, if you’re looking around the Internet for “work from home.” Income potential varies considerably. Often, you need to work several jobs of varying types in order to obtain the income you need.

For call center work, all clients require a “quiet professional environment.” No noise. No kids, no sirens, no dogs barking. Since I choose to work at home to be with my children, that was a bit of a difficulty in the beginning. I had to teach my kids to be quiet during work hours and schedule frequent breaks so I could give them the attention their little hearts needed.

Should I work from home from myself, or for someone else?

There are so many people out there looking for a work from home “job” that I thought I ought to address this.

Most work from home “jobs” that are legitimate, are call center jobs. You answer the phone, you get paid. Most are inbound, some are outbound. The problem with this work is that it tends to result in burnout.

Others are MLMs – put your money in and get “pie in the sky” promises. Some of them are worth the effort, if only in the training and motivational resources you receive. I was in Amway while I was going through a difficult divorce, and the motivational speakers really got me through. I knew from the outset that I was not going to make a lot of money, though the inspiration was priceless.

The best way to make money from home (or anywhere else), is to work for yourself. By that, I don’t mean the “exchange-money-for-time” work that the call center jobs offer. I mean, find the thing that you really love and charge money for doing it! Other people may hate to do what you like to do, or be completely clueless about how to do it.

Once your business gets going, hire someone to help you and make a profit on their time, too. That is what big business does. They pay you wholesale and charge the client retail.

Find your niche, and make your personal dreams come true!

I love working at home!

As I come to the end of the year, one thing really stands out in my mind.

I love working from my home.

I do, really. I love watching the snow fall, and the snowplows come by, and thinking, “I’m so glad I don’t have to be in all that mess.” My commute is about 10 seconds long.

I love taking a break from work to settle my children down with their toys, feed them lunch, or kiss an “owie.” No need to send them to the care of strangers!

I love that I do what I like to do, from the comfort of my own home. My office is set up the way I like it, not the way some big-wig told me it had to be. And I have a door and a window, not a cubicle!

Oh, there are some drawbacks –which I will discuss in a later article – but overall, working at home is the best thing going for mothers who want to be home with their children and yet continue to develop their skills and an income.

Work From Home Means Winter Safety

Here in Utah we've had two snowstorms already. People have been slipping and sliding, and not able to get to work.

I haven't had that problem. When it's really cold, I walk ten feet to my home office, turn on my extra space heater, keep my jammies on, wrap up in an extra blanket, and start work!

You can't do that in a conventional office!

Oh, sure, a bad enough snowstorm may knock out my power, making it impossible to work anyway, but if it was that bad, I also wouldn't be able to get to a conventional office. And I don't have to risk being out in bad weather, taking children to daycare to have them catch every little bug that comes along.

What a comfort that when the weather is frightful, my home office is delightful!

Have you tried autosurfing?

I honestly never thought I would promote this. I thought it was too good to be true. And then a friend showed me what her earnings are!

If you have not heard of autosurfing, the concept is that advertisers pay *you* to view their websites. There is an investment involved, however it is usually quite small. There is a risk involved, but it appears that the return on investment (ROI) is impressive. There is very little "work" involved -- you just click a link to "start surfing" and the browser does the surfing for you.

The autosurf programs I am currently trying out are 12 Daily Pro and Studio Traffic. So far, I've been pleased with the results. I am a paid member on both sites, and am quickly earning back my initial investments. I think it is well worth the risk to be able to compound earnings and obtain an investment income for very little work.

As a disclaimer, I strongly recommend that you don't pay out any more on these investments than you are willing to lose. I will continue to keep my readers updated on how well various autosurf programs pay and if they seem to be in trouble. Again, the risk seems negligible -- but I always play these things safe.

Thank you for the kind comments!

I just sat down at the computer and found some wonderful, positive comments about my web site. I know there are other sites out there that have much of the same information -- but for a price. Several people have emailed me to tell me that they have found work at home jobs through my site -- others have said that I've inspired them to start their own businesses! I am so thrilled for each and every one of you, and so glad that I could make a difference.

I am continuing to look for more solid, stable, legit opportunities to share. I do not post MLMs or job opportunites that require a fee to get started unless I know that the opportunity is true and legitimate. I realize MLMs can be quite successful, but I got so frustrated weeding out MLMs from actual JOB sites.

Please help me out by providing some feedback about my site -- opportunites for me to check out, products you'd like to see offered, information you need that might be missing. I can't promise to include every offer, but I would like to know what my readers would like to find out.

Happy Halloween!

Gas prices promote working at home

I am truly thankful that to get to work, all I have to do is cross the hall and close the door. With prices for gasoline through the roof, working at home saves me an incredible amount of money!

Employers, think about it -- if it costs too much for your employees to work, they will find employment closer to home. You may end up with a reduced staff. It may well be worth it to employers to find ways to allow their employees to work at home, or locate virtual staff.

The virtual call center is able to provide instant response to increased demands. Since service providers work from their home offices, they don't have to take kids to child care, don't have to drive an hour to get to the work site, don't even have to get dressed if they don't want to!

Job hunters seeking virtual employment are more likely to be college educated and computer literate than the general employment pool. Owing to the difficulties of locating virtual work to begin with, along with the ability to move and remain employed with the same company no matter the employee's location, virtual employees and contractors are much loyal than brick-and-mortar employees.