How can one determine whether to start work from home? What are the key considerations? These are profound questions. For some, going after ways to work from home will lead to success and for others it will not. Here is some information that will cover both whether or not you are cut out to work from home and, if so, some opportunities to accomplish this. This is not a telecommuting article; it is about working for yourself at or from your home.
Some people are not suited to work from home. These factors do not label people as being good workers or bad, only whether they're cut out to work from home. Characteristics that suggest problems with self-employment are:
a) Lack of self-discipline;
b) Preference for group environments involving lots of social interaction; and
c) Affinity for a structured environment with results being primarily caused by others. These folks prefer not to be their own bosses and have responsibility for overall success rest largely in their own hands. Such folks can be key employees in valuable support roles in larger organizations.
What about factors that suggest a person is suited to work on his or her own? These people:
a) Don't need a boss for direction and motivation;
b) Like responsibility;
c) Are self-disciplined; and
d) Don't require constant social interaction.
Most adults can pretty much identify the traits that indicate suitability for a corporate environment vs. self-employment. However, there are some that believe that they are in one category, perhaps mostly due to work experience, but want to see whether they could try the other category. There's help available. An excellent resource is the well-known Myers-Briggs personality assessment. It probes deeply to assess people's preferences and personality types. It is not expensive and can be a fantastic self-discovery tool for just about anybody. (Note: I have no financial relationship with Myers-Briggs.)
Now let's look some more considerations for those who seek to work from home. The sky is the limit for what kinds of work can be performed from home. It could be anything from medical records transcription to psychotherapy to event management to being a manufacturer's representative to running an online marketing business that is built upon web traffic. You could be involved in physical goods or services as an MLM representative or in other types of network marketing or in franchises. The options are limited only by one's imagination.
Additional advantages for those who work at home include:
a) A reduction in commuting time and expenses such as gasoline, tolls, vehicle wear and tear, and even clothing. For some, this is sizable enough to be as much as a pay raise if they were working for somebody else and locked into commuting;
b) Potential tax benefits through use of your home for work purposes; and
c) Geographic freedom depending on the kind of from-home work one pursues. So, if one were involved in online marketing with work from internet, you could relocate to another part of the country (or world) without any interruption in your business. Where you live makes absolutely no difference and you wouldn't have to start over if you move from wintry Detroit to sunny Florida.
Even more good things exist for the work-at-homers. There is more opportunity to transition from full-time work to semi-retirement to retirement. It's in your own hands. One can earn money as a major factor in one's annual income or just by earning extra spending money. Again, there are many choices. Here is a good way for finding your way through the countless opportunities, many of them good and many of them bad or even outright frauds. Opportunities abound, yet your exploration and selection must be careful. It would be a disaster to become involved in a bad enterprise. Make sure you look thoroughly at good business packages and see evidence of ongoing support from whatever company you choose. And if something seems too good to be true, it likely isn't.
Many others size up the situation the same way I do. Please see this for a Fortune magazine columnist's perspective.
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