Discover the Benefits of Working From Home

By Denny Phillips

If you are stuck in a traditional 9 to 5 job, you may be considering a different way to go for a career option. There are many pluses when you work in a traditional job, just as there are negatives.

With your traditional job, you are basically assured of receiving a paycheck every week. You go to work, work your set hours and get paid for it. That suggests a certain amount of stability. You know that paycheck will come so that you can pay your bills. That's the up-side of working a traditional job.

Also with your traditional job, you may be in a field you really enjoy. You could be a medical professional, working in a doctor's office, or perhaps even in social work. Those types of jobs can be rewarding in themselves, especially when you get to help people when you are working. That is another good thing about working a regular job.

But, when you think of it, there are a lot of down-sides too. Your 9 to 5 job may not offer you a lot of room for advancement, which also means that your pay scale may be limited. You may not earn enough in your traditional job to keep on top of your bills, or even earn enough to allow you to take vacations or get those extras you want in your life (nice clothes, cars, jewelry, etc.)

Working a regular job doesn't always give you the stability you want or may need. In today's tough economy, there is a lot of down-sizing. You may become a victim of that. Or the company you work for may go out of business. Also, you may be older and could be replaced by someone younger, with recent educational knowledge. There is no guarantee that the job you have today will be there for you tomorrow.

Another down-side to working for someone else is that you have to leave your family to go out into the working world. If you have young children this can sometimes be a problem. You have to arrange babysitters or day-care for them. Not only does day-care present you with an extra expense, you aren't at home with your children to raise them as you want or experience their milestones (such as taking their first baby steps).

You may also have to commute to work. Some commutes can be long, tiring and very draining, with stop-and-go traffic and long lines of other commuters. Commuting can be very strenuous and take up a lot of time - time that you could be spending with your family or doing your own fun things.

Working for someone else also means that you are not in charge of your own hours. You have to work when someone else tells you to. Most regular jobs have set hours. And you can't always take vacations when you want. You may have to compete with others at work for your vacation hours.

There is also the cost of work apparel when you work outside of your home. Work apparel can be expensive. You can spend a lot of money on having the right clothes to go to work - clothes that are not always the most comfortable. Do you have to dress for the office, in a nice outfit or a jacket and tie?

One of the main things many people object to when working in a traditional job is having to put up with other people at work and terrible bosses. If you work from home you don't have to deal with this problem.

With all of the above, many people like you are making the move to find work that they can do at home. If you consider the benefits of working from home, they are far more appealing than working at a regular job.

Working from home allows you time to be at home with your children when they are young... and you have no day-care costs. You can be there when your kids need you and you can be there for all of their events (like ballet recitals, ball games, etc.) Working from home gives you a lot more time with your family. You don't have a long commute. You can get up in the morning and walk across the hall to your own home office.

If you have a job where you can earn money working at home, your earnings potential is unlimited. It is up to you how much money you make, considering how much time you put into your own business. (But of course, you have no guarantee of a set income either.)

Working from home can save you money. You don't have to spend a lot on clothes or uniforms for work. You can work in your pajamas if you want to. You also don't have to invest in gas for the car to get to work, pay for commuter trains, dish out money for parking lots, or have to spend a lot more on car maintenance repairs.

There is also the 'freedom factor' when you work at home. You can spend your time as you wish. You can work the hours you want to. You can even work in the middle of the night if you wish (depending on the type of business you run from home). You can also take vacation time when it suits you. And you can work from wherever you want - even from a vacation location (if your home business is internet friendly).

There are a lot of benefits to working from home. Before you consider giving up your regular job, however, you should consider all the ramifications involved. Can you make enough in your home business to support you and your family... and have it live up to your dreams? It is all basically up to you. You have to decide what the benefits of working at home are compared to your present traditional job. Working from home can be a great thing, but it is not for everyone. You have to decide how much work you want to put into your own business and you have to live up to your own expectations.

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Planning Your Working Day At Home

By Rosie Gray

When you're working at home, it's easy to find the day just flies past in a blur. Perhaps time is taken with domestic distractions, or you find it hard to settle. Or maybe your working pace just slows down. Everything can take much longer than expected. (Particularly common when working for yourself, not accountable to a Manager.)
If you regularly reach the end of the day with major tasks outstanding, adding more routine and structure to your day will help. These tips will help develop a routine that works for you.

• Decide on your working hours

One of the challenges of working at home is that your working day can stretch at either end. It's hard to 'switch off' properly when you can easily check e-mail into the evening and weekends.
But over time, it's exhausting (and unfair on your family if they live with you).
'Working Smarter, not harder' is an overused expression. But it's better to work for a focused 7 hours a day than an exhausting 10 hours that delivers less. So decide your core working hours, and plan work within them.
If you're employed, these hours will probably reflect normal working time to fit in with your Colleagues. But if it's your own business, you have more flexibility. Choose to work when you're at your most energised, to fit in with your family or perhaps when it's best for communicating with your customers and suppliers. As long as the work gets done, it's up to you when.

• Divide Your Day Into Blocks Of Time

Many people are surprised how much they miss the routine of organisation life when working at home, and drift through the day without urgency. (I've heard many horror stories from home based workers of how easily an hour disappears on social media!)
Scheduling in specific tasks to be tackled, and when, helps retain clear focus. I recommend you do this at the end of the day before, to get the day off to a 'flying start'.
If you find it helpful, use a kitchen timer set to 'ping' every time you reach the end of the time allocated. This reminds you to refocus, switch activities and maybe have a break, before moving on to your next task. I find the self-imposed deadline of this schedule keeps me focused and keeps up the pace.
Using the timer keeps me moving as I become surprisingly competitive with myself as I want to 'beat the clock'. It's helped me become much more realistic and accurate when estimating how long a task needs.

• Plan In Your Breaks

Give your day routine and structure by allocating time for regular stretch, refreshment and lunch breaks. Put these into your daily time plan. This will help keep your levels of focus and interest high.
Use your breaks for handling some of the distractions that surround you at home if you like, such as putting on a load of washing, quick burst of washing up, a walk round the garden for some fresh air or a coffee break with your partner. Just keep the break to the time allocated!

• Set Groundrules For Availability

When working from home, family and friends can struggle to understand. If interruptions from friends ringing to chat or popping in for coffee becomes a problem, explain working from home isn't a soft option. The key word is 'working' after all. Maybe you can meet for lunch or catch up later in the day?
Even partners and children can be confused, imagining you're now available for the school run, adhoc babysitting and other domestic matters. The freedom to do all these things is the bonus of working from home but setting boundaries about when and how often might be needed.
If clients and colleagues are calling you at home, you may want to set boundaries with them too about availability. A separate phone number (or ring tone) could help so you can filter calls or switch to voicemail when it suits you.
Working from home can take getting used to, and these tips will help you to keep your focus and motivation so you enjoy the rewards.

© Copyright Mosaic Learning Ltd. 2009 - 2013 All rights reserved
About Rosie Gray;
Rosie Gray specialises in helping her Clients master Time & Pressure, to increase Personal Productivity. As a result, they feel less overwhelmed, back in control & achieve much more of what really matters. So if you never seem to reach the end of your 'to do' list, return every phone call & even sacrifice personal time to catch up, download your free copy of her e-book 'Seize Back Your Time!' http://www.seizebackyourtime.com/index.html

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Ways to make money while sitting at your desk

Making money is on most people's minds.  This is especially true with the economy in a pinch.  No matter what trade a person is in, making money can be a difficult, yet necessary task.  Some people go out of the home to jobs, and that's okay.  However, many people desire to sit at home in their pajamas at a home office desk and make money.  This is alright too.  Many people will say the possibility of working from home is just an unattainable pipe dream.  It doesn't have to be unattainable.  There are several ways to sit behind a desk at home and make money.  Some require internet service and a computer.  However, not all of them do. Here are a few ideas:

1.  Ebay-With ebay, one can sell items with intent to make a profit.  To get started with ebay-clean out the closets and garage.  Sell anything you don't want or need on ebay.  Then, take the profit and use it to bid on cheap, ending auctions.  When these are won, resell for further profit.  Repeat this.  This will get an immediate start at money making from a desk.  One can also use dropshipping services such as Doba or SMC and sell their merchandise.  No inventory is needed for these.  One just lists their items, sells them, and these services ship them.  If someone has their own product, it can be sold via ebay as well.  Either way, ebay is a quick start for money making from home.

2.  Affiliate Websites-Many websites will pay for referrals or sign-ups to their sites.  They will pay commissions for their products that are sold online.  The marketing can be done online through several marketing sites.  These advertisement places include traffic exchanges, safelists, and free classifieds.  Commissions earned are paid by check or paypal usually.  A few of these affiliate websites that are reputable are Clickbank, SFI, Global Domains International, and Commission Junction.  These are all very easy to work with.  Some give affiliates advertising websites to use as marketing tools.  In a sense, they help the affiliate to succeed.   Some of these sites offer free start-up. Succeeding means making money.  Isn't that the primary goal?

3.  MLM's-Multi-level marketing can be done from the comfort of one's own home.  Amway, Avon, and GDI(Global Domains International) are all examples of MLM's.  These can all be advertised online through the same means as affiliate websites.  These products can even be advertised on facebook and other social networking sites for profit.  The more sales made, the more profit it made.  Multi-level marketing is very simple to get the hang of as well.  This is a little easier than most of the affiliate websites.  Most of these require a small start-up fee to get up and running with your own business.  The small start-up fees are well worth sitting at home working from a desk in pajamas, huh?

4.  Crafty?-Anyone who is crafty can make a profit from home.  Make hairbows?  Crochet?  Sewing?  These items can be made at home and sold at home.  They can be sold on ebay(at home).  They can also be sold on the etsy website.  Get crafting, and get to making that money!

5.  Writing-Have a talent at writing?  One can write books, poetry, or articles at home.  Get the books published and reap the royalties.  There are several writing websites online that will pay for articles.  These include Helium, Bukisa, and Associated Content.  Some of these offer writing contests for extra money potential.  Royalties are also made off of these articles everytime someone reads one of them.  This can add up if a significant amount of articles are published.  These are all free to start.
Several of these work from home ideas are very simple.  Many can be done at once to make even more money.  Most of these ways to make money from a desk at home are cheap or free to start.  Cheap and free business start up is priceless.

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