The ability to work from home is a great opportunity for the right type of person. Here are some pros and cons to having a home-based job…
After extensive searching on Craigslist (craigslist.org), Monster (monster.com) and CareerBuilder (careerbuilder.com) you have found an awesome job opportunity. There is only one catch - you must work from home. This is not an unlikely scenario. Many people, from small business owners to freelance writers to individual craftsmen work from a home based office. According to workplace lifestyle website CareerJounal.com, around 30 million people telecommuted at least part time last year. Here are the pros and cons to such a lifestyle. Pros
- Work on your own time
- No commute - Los Angeles drivers can especially appreciate this. No more missing the game because of traffic.
- Your office travels with you - A laptop and a backpack are all you need to bring your work on vacation.
- You decide the dresscode - When was the last time you saw anyone wearing sweatpants and no shirt to the office.
- Tax breaks - If you meet the home-office requirements of the IRS
- Family life - You can spend much more time with your significant other (and children if they are in the picture).
Cons
- Distractions - You must have serious discipline to ignore the television, Internet, girlfriend/boyfriend and get your job done.
- You work on your time - What is a benefit can also be a serious negative. Procrastination can get the better of you.
- Loneliness - Nobody to share water-cooler jokes with, no trips to a favorite lunch stop, no chatting it up at all.
- Compensation - Depending how your compensation is structured, you might end up doing a lot of work with no boss around to properly reward you.
I think there is quite a bit more to working from home than there might seem... it is extremely important to (better with an accountant) sit down and decide what your time is worth 9by hour, day, week or month, depending on how time will be charged) by figuring out what is needed to live on, allow for periods of less-than-full workload (and therefore income), cover all other expenses - including vacation, pension, emergencies - and still put some savings aside.
ReplyDeleteThis sounds simple, but invariably when the numbers are crunched most people cringe at quoting that "real world" final number to clients because they know there are many other people out there who are under-cutting by a substantial amount.
People who work from home (telecommute) successfully and make a good living at it are few. In today's desperate job market, those who want to switch to that lifestyle are well advised to try overlapping with a "day job" and ensure they can gnerate the necessary income stream to survive on before they abandon their current source of income.
And if that switch is made, charge everyone the same and be professional about your time - family and friends can drain your future away before you realise you are bankrupt.