Work From Home Information and GuideWelcome to Work from Home Info. This site is currently be revamped but right now we have some basic information about Working from home. The main thing you need to know is to be aware of scams - there are lots of scams purporting to be run by Google, Twitter or other well known organizations whose sole goal is to take lots of money from you. I highly suggest to you that if something seems to good to be true, it most definitely is. You need to do everything in your power to avoid scams.
The other thing I can advise is to research things - if you see that something is not true then I highly advise you not to do it.
Balancing Work at Home and Your Life
Finding the perfect balance of work and home is critical whether you are working at an office or working from home. However, this can often be more difficult for the individual working from home because they can easily bleed together. This has negative effects on your work production as well as adding strain on your personal relationships and home life.
A common beginning mistake people make is thinking that just because they are working from home they can have a morning TV show on, cook breakfast, work on the computer, pay bills, and curl hair all at the same time. This is a good way to waste a lot of time and never fully accomplish anything substantial.
A good way to plan your day, especially when starting out, is to construct a very detailed schedule outlining what tasks need to be performed in a specific timeframe. This can be done using Outlook reminders or a pen and paper will work as well. Plan your schedule the night before and then set your alarm. When the alarm goes off, get up! Get in the shower; brush your teeth, put on your clothes and makeup. Get ready as if you are preparing to walk out the door and drive to your office. Some people may actually want to really leave the house, especially if this is the schedule you are used to every morning. This will help to trick your brain into getting into work mode. You don’t have to go far; you can drive to the local coffee shop or just around the block. Do not waste valuable hours lounging and thinking of all the work you should be doing.
You can construct your day however you like, but try to stick to your schedule as closely as possible. Most people gain momentum as they work so if you stagger work tasks and home tasks too closely (say, alternating every hour) this likely will break the momentum and you will not be fully productive at either. Try scheduling 4 hour blocks of time to insure maximum production or alternate days if your plan to work only part time.
Another helpful tip is to make your work space, work space. It is easy to become distracted if your new fashion magazines are pilled on the desk next to you or if you are tripping over toys as you get up from your space. As with any work space, keep your area clean and free from clutter so you can have a more settled mind. This serves not only to help you find what you need in a timely manner, but also helps you stay focused and on task. If you are staring at a pile of dirty laundry out of the corner of your eyes it will be harder to focus on your work.
When your work day comes to a close get up, turn off the computer and turn off your brain. The other fatal mistake people working from home commonly make is never allowing their brain to take any time off. It can be very frustrating to the people in your life if you are leaving the dinner table to take a call or “just check one more thing”. This can even carry over into sleeping patterns if you don’t learn how to quiet your mind and leave work at work.
Be realistic. Starting an at home business can be time consuming and put financial strain on your family. If you feel like you constantly have to be “on” just to make sure the bills are getting paid, it might not be a bad idea to look into a part time job or other source of income to help ease some of the financial stress. Do this at least until you can realistically live off of the sole income of your work at home business.
Don’t forget what you are working for. It does little good to have the flexibility and luxury of working from home if you don’t maximize the benefits. If your son has a small part in the school play, GO! Remember it is the journey, not the destination you are living to experience. Quality of life is far more important that answering one more email. If you do find yourself falling into a work-a-holic lifestyle, make solid plans for other engagements. You could go golfing with clients for instance, or join the gym. Running is a great accelerator for ideas and gives you the physical benefits as well.
Once you become acclimated to the environment, you will be able to give yourself a little more leeway in your scheduling. Until then, stay focused and make sure to complete your tasks but don’t forget to stop and smell the roses.
Getting Started Working at Home
So you have decided to join the workforce of work at home employees. You know what you are good at and you are determined to find success. So what now? What do you need to do to be successful working from home? Well, that really all depends on what you are choosing to pursue. Just as with everything in life, the details do matter. You wouldn’t go to law school if you were planning to be an accountant. Preparing for a work at home job generally requires some sort of training on your part. There are some things unique to job type and other practices that are more universal. In this article, we will focus on the universal preparation tips and touch on a few specifics as we go.
- Do your Homework
Unless you are one of the lucky ones to breeze through school, sleeping through class and partying all night, you likely had to do some homework to keep on top of things. This is especially true for a market that can change as fast as the weather. Just because you think you know what your industry needs and wants, does not mean that the protocol hasn’t changed virtually overnight. Be prepared to be flexible and spend some time checking out your competition. Ask around to find what works and what doesn’t work. Word of mouth is a great resource and can be your power tool. With social networking tools like Twitter, Facebook and Google, getting feedback and finding information has never been easier.
2 – Be ready to invest some time and money
Let me start by reiterating that most work at home jobs that ask you to pay are bogus. Do not be fooled into paying someone for information. Most of these will end up taking your money and leaving you with a complex MLM scheme requiring you to ask others to pay you for the very same “great” work at home opportunity you just invested your own money into. Obviously, this is not a good investment and these jobs are nothing more than one circular rainbow with no pot of gold. The get rich quick part of this deal is based on your ability to dupe others into the very “job” you got suckered into. Even the shadiest sales job I have ever held had more substance than this, being smart enough to offer some reward at the end. But, I guess that is the “make millions overnight” part of this deal. It will never happen.
So back to the original claim, why would I tell you to invest time, or more specifically, money? Well, because change generally requires a bit of both and this certainly falls under the category of change. Think of this as you would any other job search. If your goal is to be a customer service agent you will need a headset, computer, phone connection and high speed internet. When you are employed by a corporation, they usually provide these things for you. When you are working from home you will need to be prepared to make this investment yourself.
If customer service is not your thing and you are looking to promote some sort of goods or service, you will need to take the necessary steps to build a website.You then will need to invest some time to learn how to build your site, or money to hire someone to do it for you. No one can tell you what the best option will be for your unique situation, but sometimes hiring people with specialized expertise can pay off in the end. The faster your website is up and running, the faster you can begin to turnaround a profit. However, if you have the patience and skills, a self guided study course via trial and error is always an option.
3 – Be prepared and organized
Just like the story of the tortoise and the hare, slow and steady wins the race. It is easy to begin running right out of the gate. But nothing will end a race faster than showing up barefoot. Without a strategy we can easily loose momentum causing financial stumbling blocks, confusion, boredom and frustration. Be smart about how you approach your decision to work at home. Don’t call your boss and release 15 years of suppressed aggression without a game plan. Make sure your work at home opportunity is legitimate and can offer the financial, mental and social criteria you need to sustain it long term. You would hate to give your boss the goodbye speech, walk out the door, get hit by a car and realize as you are being loaded into the ambulance that you just forfeited your health insurance. Be smart, don’t put all your eggs in one basket, have a backup plan.
4 - Be persistent
By taking on a work at home job, essentially you are taking on the job of a salesman. Regardless of the type of job you choose to pursue, you are going to have to market yourself. The bottom line is without customers there is no business. You are bound to get hundreds, possibly thousands of “no’s” but as any salesman can tell you, all you need is one “yes” and you’re off and running. Stay focused, don’t get lost in propaganda or flashy ads. The smart professionals know that money is best spent retaining good help. Just because you can find 10 flashing ads that promote a certain business opportunity does not mean it is a good investment.
5- Have a positive attitude
Lastly, and possibly the most important, have a positive attitude. There is an unspoken, unwritten universal language that is conveyed through attitude alone. Don’t be fooled by the computer screen thinking that you can get away with a negative attitude. Get up early and get ready each morning as if you were meeting your most important client. Post positive affirmations around your workspace reminding you of the beauty of life and how lucky you are to have this opportunity. If you are able to implement all these suggestions into your quest to work from home, you will be one step closer to the freedom and happiness that you set out to find.
Part Time Work From Home Jobs
Part time work at home jobs are not very different than full time work at home jobs except they may provide a greater degree of flexibility. Most people searching for part time work at home jobs are looking more to supplement income. This could include the stay at home mom who desires outside interaction that doesn’t include finger-paints and flashing toys, or the business professional wanting to save some extra cash for an upcoming vacation. No matter what the reason, part time work at home jobs are very easy to find and even easier to sustain.
Some of the best part time jobs when looking to work at home include freelancing, mystery shopping, transcriber, travel agent or blogger. Because “part-time” generally indicates that there is something else that takes up the majority of your “full time”, it is particularly important to focus on interests, hobbies, and things you may already be doing that can help bring in some additional income.
If you love to write, consider starting a blog or doing some freelance writing for one that has already been established. Blogging has exploded on the internet over the past few years and it’s not just for the repressed teenager that is bleeding emotions into the virtual world. Many very well known multi-million dollar corporations are using blogs to reach potential customers and employees with new and informative articles. Blogger is a great site to use if you are a beginner and want to setup a blog. You don’t have to have know any HTML or have extensive knowledge of computer software or website interfacing. If you know how to point and click the mouse, you can easily setup a blog using one of their pre-made templates and adding accessories for personal preference.
So, how do people make money from blogging? Google Ad sense is a program that allows you to monetize your blog by allowing ads to show up on your page. Blogger makes this very easy to setup and can be done within a matter of minutes. It’s free and all you need is a paypal account to get started. Making money using Google Ad Sense is dependant on either clicks per add or visits per page. Obviously this means people have to actually be visiting your blog, so your focus should be on driving traffic to your site and providing good enough content to keep people coming back.
Becoming a secret shopper is another way to bring in some additional money while doing things you already do every day. Companies use the feedback as a fairly inexpensive way to do field testing using actual consumers as their field researchers. Reimbursing an individual for $50 worth of groceries is much less expensive than hiring a team of people to investigate, and provides a much more accurate report of what is going on inside the store from day to day. Secret shoppers are used in virtually every consumer field from eye doctor, fast food restaurants, and spas. It is possible to make quite a bit of money as a secret shopper if you find the right group to join. However, most companies do require certain skills such as good descriptive writing skills and ability to be objective.
Beware of imposters and scam artists. This field has become saturated with people taking advantage of unsuspecting people who are looking for genuine work. Do your homework and never pay someone to sign up. The legitimate companies do not ask for sign up fees and most cases you will only be required to fill out an application which may or may not include a writing sample. One thing that you will want to remember is that most companies reimburse you for a portion or all of the money spent while doing the secret shop, but this is money you will have to come up with yourself initially. Some companies can take up to 60 days to pay you for an assignment so be sure to keep this in mind.
Virtual Agents are another popular work at home job. This is a huge blanket with many varied opportunities ranging from travel agents, chat room agents, customer service, medical transcriptions, or virtual educators, just to name a few. No matter what your experience, licensing, or trade may be there is a pretty good possibility that someone with your skills is working from home right now.
Take the teacher that resigned 10 years ago to be a stay at home mom. Now her children are in school and she wants to go back to work, but has become accustomed to the freedom of staying at home. The Virtual Academy is an online K-12 school employing administrators, educators (both traditional Ed and special Ed) and office managers. With a small time commitment to renew her license, she can be teaching again and putting her energy back into the workforce from the comfort ability of home.
Medical Transcribing is another field becoming more and more popular and allows not only a great deal of flexibility, but also can be very lucrative as far as income. The median income for medical transcribers is between $10 - $15 an hour, but if skilled, people can make $25 an hour or more. This endeavor does require some schooling, but can usually be done online or at a local community college. Most even offer financial aid and payment options. Schools such as Career Step are very reasonably priced and can be completed in as around 4 months.
Working from home is very exciting and can free an individual from the financial chains that bind or give a breath of fresh air to someone in desperate need of another outlet. Part time work at home has been and will continue to be the light at the end of the tunnel for people as the goal becomes more and more of a reality.
Finding Legitimate Work at Home Jobs
Work-at-home jobs have become increasingly popular over the past decade. There are a number of motives that drive people to hang up the keys and begin working from home. Reasons can range from the business professional who wants more flexibility in maximizing work time rather than spending hours commuting to and from the job site, or the stay at home mom that wants to bring in some additional income for her family.
Even though working at home is an appealing thought to the vast majority of people, making it a reality is not as easy. Work at home jobs can range from personal blogs, to freelance jobs, virtual assistants, or starting your own business. As with any job, the success rate is higher among those who love what they do. Passion can feed a person for much longer than simply money alone.
There are a few simple tips that can increase your odds of success when venturing into the realm of entrepreneurship.
The key to success is being prepared. As with any job search you want to arm yourself with as much information as possible before beginning the search. If your plan is to shoot from the hip, you will most likely get lost in flashy internet ads and get rich quick schemes which really do little more than make the person who created them money. Rarely is there even a real person behind these offers and after you pay your money you will hit a dead end. Most legitimate work at home businesses will have a number you can call to talk to a real person with any questions or concerns you may have. A detailed plan will help not only keep you on track, but pinpoint exactly the kind of work you are looking for.
The internet is very powerful and with a few simple clicks you can be miles away from what you intended to find. “Internet ADD” is likely one of the reasons people who are searching for stay at home jobs fail. When typing in “work at home”, Google yields 301,000,000 choices. Lacking focus, a lot of time can be wasted clicking through each link, not to mention the other links found inside each of those pages. Structured time is mandatory for success. If necessary, write up an outline to help guide you or set an audible alarm to keep your time perspective in check.
Once you have decided which area you would like to pursue, invest some time researching the industry, success rates, competition as well as demand. You may have a great idea, but if 1,000,000,000 other people already have had the same idea the demand will not be very high. The time you will spend just to be noticed probably won’t be worth the payoff in the end. Do your homework, but don’t believe everything you read. People are very clever and have no shame capitalizing on the fact that everyone hopes to wake up tomorrow with an unusually large deposit to their bank account. The reality is that these jobs do not exist. Hard work and passion always pay better than quick flash in the pan businesses.
There are many great work-at-home forums to join that bring together a community of people with common goals and ideas. This is a great place to bounce ideas off of others. If your initial idea does not elicit a positive reaction, there is usually very little repercussion and the loss of money or time is virtually none. Similarly, because the people in the forum are all searching for the same thing, this is a great place to weed out scams and network in regards to which work-at-home opportunities are the most successful. If your plan is to start your own business, these forums provide a great place for free advertising by word of mouth.
- Be flexible and have a backup plan
You may start off thinking you want to sell gift baskets on your very own website. However after doing your homework, you realize that there are a number of already existing sites exactly like the one you had envisioned. In addition, you realize that your knowledge of HTML is minimal at best. You might find that selling these items on Ebay or an already existing site will suffice while you take the necessary steps to polish your web building skills and revise your business plan. Another good rule of thumb is to make sure you have some stream of income as you are searching for a work at home job. A quick way to end up back in a job you hate is to run out of money with no backup plan.
- Do not pay any startup fees
This is one of the biggest mistake people make when searching for work at home. It is hard to find a page anywhere on the internet that does not advertise some get rich quick scheme. Legitimate work at home companies do not charge startup fees, nor do they promise that you will be able to buy a summer home in Europe next month. The only time you should have to pay for a work at home job is if you are paying for equipment to perform the job. This would include things such as a faster internet connection, or a headset to take calls. A good general rule is if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
As with any job, a legitimate work at home business will want to know that the person they are hiring has depth and the skills necessary to complete the job. Make sure your resume details your work experience as well as what you can bring to the table. Don’t assume just because you will be working from home that you can take shortcuts when it comes to applying for or maintaining a job.
- Use your intuition and personality
In a world of corporate robots personality and emotion has become a liability. People are often encouraged to run on the hamster wheel rather than use their brain. One of the benefits about working for yourself is that it allows you the freedom to cut the binding chains of corporate rules and regulations. You know yourself better than anyone else. If it does not feel right to you then you are probably correct in making that assumption. You are your boss; don’t be afraid to pass on an opportunity if it raises red flags. Likewise, just because someone tells you it will never work, does not mean that you should pack up the box and head back to the office.
- Be positive and maintain balance
Finding a legitimate work at home job can be grueling and take some time. Remember that they do exist and you will certainly be able to find one that works for you if you are patient and stay positive. As with anything, make sure to maintain balance in all areas of your life. Working from home can become a virtual nightmare to yourself as well as those around you if you never take a day off. Use the flexibility in time to do things you enjoy. You will be much more productive and happy if you are living a balanced life that includes both work and play. If you work smarter, not harder you might be able to turn those activities you love into your work. Your life can become a marriage of getting paid for what you love to do.
