Picture your day as follows; you get up out of bed, albeit it a little late but that doesn’t matter. You put on your slippers, head down to the kitchen and get yourself a cup of coffee. You greet the children, make them breakfast and drive them to work in your pyjamas. You come back home, do a little tidying up and you switch on the television. Your phone vibrates. You slide the lock screen to reveal an email sent to you. You’ve just been paid by a client, and your bank balance is suddenly four figures healthier. You bring out the laptop from your coffee table drawer, set it on your lap and begin your day’s work.
Then comes lunch time. You decide you have enough income to get a takeaway meal, so you order something fancy and you also order a portion for your partner who is coming home from work soon. The food arrives, you eat, converse a bit, then it’s back to your laptop. Only this time, you’ve moved to your study. You continue working for a little, then it’s time to pick the children. On your way to the car, you bring out your mobile phone, speak to some more clients, and by the time you’ve picked up your children and come back, you’ve made another deal.
As the day comes to a close, you end the night by sitting in bed with your partner, laptop on your bed as you type away and close a few deals. You set your laptop down, turn off the lights, and your day has ended. This is the sort of life many people are currently living. The freedom to work and do whatever they want, whenever they want. They don’t follow a schedule, they don’t commute to work and they have all the time in the world to spend with their families. Is this the type of job you want? Then read on to find out how a simple investment in yourself could make a world of difference.
Why should I work at home?
If the above example wasn’t enough, then here are some more convincing points. First of all, you get to set your own hours. You typically set your own working hours because the product or service you sell can typically be done in your own time. For instance, if you’re a freelance writer, then you might have a deadline to meet, but you can typically work on your assignments whenever you want. This means you have total control over your success and failures, giving you a level of responsibility that isn’t present when you work at a typical job. You can work overtime one day and then relax another, or you can spread out your work across several days and have a lighter workload—the choice is yours!
Many people think that working at home turns you into a hermit, but that’s far from the truth since it allows you to spend more time with friends and family. This is especially important if you have children and you don’t want to risk putting their safety in the hands of a third-party babysitter that you don’t know. You can drive them to and from work, take them to their favourite destinations, and even prepare their lunch and dinner.
The only downside is that you don’t get to interact with your co-workers, but it does mean that you get to spend more time with friends you know outside of the workplace, and your flexible schedule means that you’ll never have to tell your friends “sorry, work tomorrow” and turn down their invitations to go out.
How can I get started?
There are many different ways to get started with a work-at-home career. For instance, you can set up your own business that can be run from home. For instance, freelancing counts as working from home, selling products and crafting little gadgets and toys counts as working from home, and trading stocks and shares works as well. As long as it’s a legitimate way to make money from home, it can be counted as a work-at-home job.
There are times when your employer will allow you to work at home too. This usually happens when you aren’t exactly needed in an office or the company you work for utilises cloud services to enable you to work regardless of your location. These jobs are rare and might require you to come into the office now and then, but it’s a good balance between total independence and getting a steady paycheck.
It’s important to note that when you do work as a freelancer or start a business, your success is entirely in your hands. You may need to work harder on certain days, especially when you are getting started with your new career, and there are times when you don’t get many clients and thus, you won’t get much money for a certain period of time. These are natural for a growing freelance or solo career, so don’t let it put you off.
So without further ado, here are a couple of work-at-home career choices that you can switch to in just a few short weeks.
Freelancing
The first option is to freelance. Depending on the type of job you do at work, you could convert those skills into a freelance career with relative ease. For instance, if you work as a writer for your company, then you can switch to freelance writing. If you are working in a design department, then you can use your skills to start up your own freelance design career. You would work on websites, design logos for clients or even take up commissioned artwork for a living. The thing to note here is that no matter what you do at your regular job, you can turn it into a freelance career with a bit of creativity. The problem with freelancing is that it’s a very slow career to start. You need to have a solid portfolio if you want to be relevant, which occasionally means that you have to work for free in order to build up experience and a list of clients. You also need to be tech-savvy in order to utilise social media and web technology in order to expand your influence.
Investing and Trading
Whether it’s trading foreign currency or stocks and shares, you can put your business and mathematical knowledge to use by investing in a trading career. You can check out some online forex trading brokers if you want to learn more about trading. The general idea is that you buy low and sell high. This is the basic principle of trading and to many people, it sounds like gambling. Fortunately, gambling and trading are nothing alike and it’s only people that go into trading without a plan that get burned and have a bad experience. Trading is a skill that takes a lot of effort, time and knowledge. You have to invest in a career choice no matter what it is, and trading is no exception. It won’t make you rich immediately (it’s certainly no get rich quick scheme) but there are always opportunities to make large sums of profit over a long period of time if you put in the effort.
Content Creation
If you’ve ever wondered how much famous YouTubers and bloggers make, then consider this; PewDiePie, the most subscribed YouTuber, makes around $4 million per year for making gaming-related videos every few days. Although you’re not likely to reach that level of success anytime soon, it goes to show that content creation gives people entertainment and information much like older media used to. Instead of reading books and watching television, people watch YouTubers such as PewDiePie to get their entertainment. YouTube and blogging aren’t just for making people laugh, however. There are some very informative blogs that could go in-depth about every subject from historical candy to being frugal. Content creation revenue typically comes from advertising revenue, but there are always opportunities for affiliate marketing and sponsorship depending on how successful or popular your blog is.
Home Jobs
Although rare, there are quite a few jobs that allow people to work from anywhere in the world. This is much like freelancing but with the exception that you are paid a salary instead of on a per-job basis. It’s a rare job opportunity because when people outsource work to freelancers, they typically pay less than they would a full salary. However, some jobs, such as a writing regular content for a publication, acting as a consultant or data entry can be done from home and since it is regular work, you can do them and have a steady salary. These jobs typically require more of your time and pay less than self-made opportunities, but it’s a great introduction to what it would be like to work at home. If you want to find a legitimate work-at-home job, then job search engines are a good place to start, but these jobs are in high demand so expect a lot of competition.
