You have seen it on TV, heard it on radio and your email inbox is filled with messages telling you about the dream of working from home. Hold on a Minute! Before you go diving into one of those working from home opportunities you see everywhere, there are some things you need to consider. Let me be the first to tell you. Everyone can't work from home and there are some serious pros and cons in doing this. Let's deal with, in my opinion, the three biggest pros first.
- Flexibility - I have been working from home since 1998 and I can't tell you the amount of flexibility I enjoy. I can take my son to school and pick him up. I go to the supermarket in the middle of the week when no on is there. I almost never stand on a line in the post office. I go to target and can actually count the number of customers in the store. Working from home has given me this opportunity and I must say I enjoy it. Imagine never having to take a personal or sick day to visit the doctor. That is the flexibility you get.
- Autonomy - It is a great thing to have control over your schedule and work most of the time when it is convenient for you. I often get some of my best work done early in the morning before 6 am. Also some days I can end my day early or work as late as I want as well. Autonomy is a great thing.
- No office politics - I don't have to hear the latest gossip. Who's mad at who. Who's sleeping with who and all of the nonsense that goes around offices. Most of it is very unproductive. How much of that actually helps you do your job better? None of it and I really don't miss it, and neither will you.
Now before you think it is all glamorous, there are some cons. You need to consider the cons because most working from home opportunities only tell you the good stuff even though there is plenty of it. Since I told you the 3 biggest pros, let me tell you the 3 biggest cons.
- Distraction - It takes a lot of discipline to work from home. Think of all of the distractions in your house. TV, the refrigerator, your bed, the telephone, your spouse, your kids, friends, relatives and the list goes on and on. You have to able to shut this out and focus on the job at hand. Remember no one is looking over your shoulder so if you don't do it it won't get done. To be honest some people aren't ready for that. When I first started working from home I used to get calls from my mom can you run this errand for me, can you pick up my dry cleaning and so on. She equated my working from home with me not really working. You have to be able to overcome this and it is not easy.
- Limited face to face people interaction - I have been in field sales and my own home based business and one of the things that can very easily happen is you have very little contact with the outside world. In a sense you are out there on your own. I remember when I first left my company and ventured out on my own. One of the things I missed the most was the quality people I worked with. Again some people can handle this and some people can't. You have to ask yourself am I ready for this.
- The danger of always working - When your office is in your house when do you ever leave the office? One of the greatest cons is you will always see the work you need to do because it's always in front of you. It can become very difficult to shut it down and walk away, especially if you care about your business. I can't tell you how many times I have been up 2 and 3 in the morning working out a new strategy for my business. It's funny but most people think working from home can cause you to work less when the truth is it can cause you to work more.
3 pros and 3 cons. I could give more but I will stop there. Are you ready to work from home? I won't tell you if it is right for you or not because I don't know. But if you are still interested in those working from home opportunities, go for it and enjoy the ride.
About The Author - Clarence Haynes markets online to the network marketing community. He devotes his time and resources to helping people build their online network marketing business. To get more valuable tips and ideas for building a successful network marketing business visit http://www.theonlinebizman.com
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