11/16/08

10 Good Reasons to Work At Home

I've decided I love my job.

Of course I love my job most days, you already know that. I just love it more than usual today.

You see, I had lunch with a good friend today who still works at the same bank where I used to work before I became a full time freelance writer. She's tired and stressed all the time. She spends two hours every day of her working life in the car fighting with traffic. Her relationship is suffering under the weight of her long hours at the office and she's really worried that the bank might start cutting jobs to keep their profit levels high. She'll have no income if that happens and she's terrified about how she'll survive.

I offered her a lot of sympathy (after all, I remember feeling exactly as she does right now once upon a time) and that's when I decided I love my job more than usual today. ;)

My friend asked me why I like working at home so much and was curious if I would be bored or lonely - or going broke. Understanding that she's feeling kind of low right now, I only gave her my favorite reasons for working at home. But if she'd been in a better mood, I could have given her twenty.

Top Ten Reasons to Work At Home

1) Freedom

The enormous freedom of not having to sit in a stale office with people you don't always like is amazing. The freedom of not having to drive through hideous traffic jams for hours is heaven.

The freedom to take time off to go out for lunch with friends is great. The best freedom of all is knowing you're in charge of your own life.

2) Family

I have a four year old daughter. Before she was born I made the decision to spend as much time with her as possible. I wanted to be a part of her development and I wanted to be there for her young years.

I didn't want a baby-sitter or day-care worker to witness her first steps while I was at work in a job I hated. I wanted to see it for myself. I wanted to hear her first words, read stories to her, play in the park, involve her in the family chores instead of just dumping dinner in front of her - I just wanted to be with my little girl.

3) No Commuting

A few short years ago I worked at a bank in the city. It was almost an hour driving time for me to get there each day - and an hour home again.

The advent of the internet means I no longer have to travel to the city. Of course it means my work is no longer limited to just ONE city. I can now work in London, New York, Sydney, Hong Kong and Johannesburg without even leaving my living room.

And it saves me a small fortune in fuel costs and car maintenance bills.

4) My Own Hours

I love that I can work when I want to work. If I'm not getting anywhere with one assignment, I'll switch to something that interests me more and do that for a while.

If I can't sleep, I'll drag my laptop onto my lap and sit up in bed writing until I'm sleepy again. If I need a day off, I can take it without needing to justify what I'm doing to a boss. I can pick up my daughter from kinder and take time out to play in the park.

Being able to set up your own flexible hours is a great benefit.

5) Choose Your Own Work-Load

When I first began freelance writing, I would accept every assignment I could find. Even the bad ones. At the time I felt I had no choice. I thought I needed to take them all in order to make money.

I've since learned to only accept assignments that interest me AND pay me properly for my time. This way every day is filled with work that I already know I'll enjoy and I know I'll get paid well for my efforts.

6) Your Own Boss

I love being my own boss. There's no better feeling than knowing your freelance business is all yours and no one can dictate how you run it. If clients become difficult, get different clients. If money is tight, find better paying assignments. If you're tired - stop writing and take a break.

It's all up to you!

7) Cost Saving

This is a weird benefit that I didn't expect when I was still planning to work full time at home. I was so worried I wouldn't be able to make my mortgage payments or pay my bills and so I stayed in my horrible job for longer than I should have.

Once I took the leap and began staying home full time to write, I noticed my expenses were dropping very quickly. With less expenses, this meant I needed less income to survive - which made earning income at home a whole lot easier when you suddenly need a lot less money to cover everything.

I spent a lot less money on fuel and car repairs (of course). But I also spent less on silly little things, like buying lunch at the office, having coffee after work with friends at a cafe, buying bottled water - all the myriad of silly little things we buy and don't even notice.

The biggest cost saving was buying take-out after a hard day's work. After 8 hours in an office I was too tired to cook or bother with grocery shopping. So I'd buy expensive pre-packaged foods, or junk food take away.

I just don't do those things any more because I'm already here. It's actually easier to just throw something in the oven and let the buzzer on the timer remind me when I have to think about it again.

8) Choices

I like being able to choose what I'm going to do with each day. There's no boss to tell me what to do next. I get to decide what I'll work on and what I'll write based on the mood I'm in that day.

You can't beat having a wide range of choices of what you'll do next every day :)

9) Friends and Relatives

My old work friend was worried that I'd be lonely, tucked away in my house like a prisoner on my own all day every day.

Nothing could be further from the truth! I am more social now than I was when I worked in the office. Friends pop in for a quick coffee regularly during the day. Family know I'm home, so they'll call or visit often too.

I get to see my neighbors now - I didn't even know who they were when I worked in the city. Now we're great friends!

...and the top reason to work at home...

10) You're Not Stuck in a Job You HATE

This has to be the best reason to build your own freelance writing business and work at home when you want to work.

Have you ever been stuck in a job you absolutely hate but feel as though you need to keep just for the money? I have. Let me tell you - it's no fun.

If I had known working as a freelancer was so much fun - and such great money - I would have done it years sooner.


Now you know the primary reasons why I choose to work from home. If I had more time I'm sure I could list another ten reasons why I love it so much.

Have you figured out your reasons for wanting to do the same yet?

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6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hello Bianca, I can't think of 10 better reasons myself for wanting to work at home. I've searched and researched many supposed work from home jobs; which as I'm sure that you already know, are just a scam and a waste of time and effort. I'm not in a position right now where I just want to write for pleasure anymore. I need a job but all I want to do is write and I've put myself in a mental frame of mind where that's the only thing I want to do to earn money. I'd like to start blogging but I'm not convinced there is any money to be made in it. I'm not looking to become wealthy at writing or blogging, I think I can get by if I can earn a steady $300 a week, but is that even reasonable to expect just starting out? I'm not really business savvy either. I really appreciate any advice or sugestions you can offer me and I'm quite anxious in every sense, at an opportunity to express myself and actually get paid for it.
Thank you,
From: Starving and cold in Bangor, Maine

Bianca Raven said...

Hey Starving and Cold in Bangor Maine,

$300 a week is VERY achievable if you're happy to write content articles for a few sites.

Blogging doesn't pay highly, but it's a great start and it's a good way to vent when you're tired or frustrated. Paid forum posting is also quite low paying, but it's great for quick brainless work and a few dollars.

My advice would be to aim at content writing or article writing if you want to make the amount of money you're looking at (but AVOID revenue share sites).

Not only will you get to express yourself, but you'll be writing every day as well.... and you'll quickly find that $300 is not just easy - you'll find you could be doing that amount in just a couple days a week. Imagine what you'd earn if you worked a full week?

Anonymous said...

Thank you for your reply Bianca. Could you recommend a few places that you know and trust, as far as content and article writing?
I've checked out many of your other blogs and have found them very imformative, but maybe too much, lol. I find that I'm checking out some of the links and researching them a bit and I just don't know where to start. Too many choices for a newbie, lol.
So, a few recommended sites or companies for a guy like me just starting out would be greatly appreciated. And by the way, your site truly is by far, the the best and most imformative I've found on this subject.

I realize that I need to start blogging regardless if there is any money to be made in it or not. Other than the simple fact that it's a great way to keep your writing skills sharp and like you mentioned, a good way to vent. It also looks good on the resume and can indeed be a resume in and of itself if you have no other experience.

Is blogger.com the best place to start out for a beginner? Can you have multiple blog accounts because I can't just stick to the same thing to write about, I'm a Gemini, lol. Though we like to write and create, we get bored easy. Usually the only way I can finish a book is if I'm also reading 2 or 3 others as well(only works with non fiction), lol.

Thank you for any advice you can offer me.

From: Starving and cold in Bangor, Maine

Bianca Raven said...

Hi again Starving and Cold in Bangor Maine... how about if I write a full blog post on this for you and anyone else wondering the same things?

I'll do that right after dinner :)

Anonymous said...

That would be wonderful Bianca!!! I feel special :)))
Please take your time(at least let your food digest first, lol).
It's actually well past my bedtime(after 2 am here). So I will certainly look forward to reading your new blog post tomorrow or whenever you've had the time to write and of course all your other blogs I haven't got to yet.

Wow, I'm excited now, hopefully I can get to sleep, lol.

Thank you so much,

From: Ahh, starving and cold in Bangor, Maine is just a little too long to keep signing, lol, not to mention impersonal. My name is Gary.

Bianca Raven said...

Hey Gary,

I put a nice post on the blog for you - but I forgot to mention you can have several blogs on whatever topic you want with blogger. I have a few but I will delete some of them because I like this one too much ;)