Working from home is becoming more and more popular especially with the use of sophisticated computer systems. Some companies are in fact actively encouraging it especially as in principle, at least it makes the employee more productive.
Not all jobs have the option of a work at home concept. Among those are school teachers, airline pilots and flight attendants, home improvement contractors, couriers etc.
Sad to say however that with the outset of videoconferencing and other means of communication, actual face to face time is diminishing. There is no real substitute to face to face time.
There is also a rapidly increasing number of people who are working for themselves, many of whom are conducting online businesses.
So what are the pros of working from home.
- You are in charge of your own time. If you work from home for a company the chances are that you are task orientated and as a consequence you have a finite amount of work to carry out. So you organize your time to complete the tasks.
- You can carry out domestic tasks during the day.
Then of course there are the cons:
- You are open to distractions. You are now available to take the dog for a walk, empty the dishwasher, mow the lawn etc.
- With no supervision you can be easily distracted. How about a game of Spider Solitaire for example.
Some pointers to success:
- Have an overall plan. Set daily and weekly goals or targets and make sure you achieve them.
- If necessary shut the door to your study and let the family know that you are unavailable.
- Yes relax with a game of Spider Solitaire but make up the time later in the day.
- If you feel sleepy take a twenty minute power nap – you will be much fresher afterwards.
- Make sure your office/study is work friendly and comfortable.
- Be sure your computer is up to date.
- If you want a break take your tablet or phone to Starbucks for a cup of coffee and do a couple of things while you drink it – OK McDonalds is just as good!!
History
Way back in early seventies I was a rep for an international oil company and we had to work from home. No computers then so every morning in the mail I would receive about 100 pages of large computer print out with my daily information. Not quite as bad as it sounds but back then it worked just fine.
In Summary
Working from home is really an exercise in self discipline. However if Internet Marketing is your business you have no real option unless you rent some office space somewhere.
