Five Things They Don’t Teach You About Working from Home
Guest Post by: Steve W.
I’ve been working full-time as an Internet Marketer for a little over a year now. In that time, I have learned that it takes a little bit more than knowing the methods of Internet Marketing to be successful.
Here are just a few of my observations that most other people either don’t want to talk about, or they simply forget to tell you about.
1. You become your own boss.
When you start a career at home for yourself, you don’t really have anyone to answer to. You need to force yourself to work. Sure, you aren’t going to get fired if you don’t do your work, but you also won’t make the money required to pay your bills.
A lot of people think anything goes when you work from home, but you should treat it no different than working a full time office job. When I first started at home full time, I figured out the time of day I was the most productive and set a work schedule for myself. Most days, I work from 10AM to 4PM with a break for lunch. I try and stay as productive as possible during those hours and limit the work I do outside of that schedule.
To stay focused and on track, create a to-do list for each day. Outline tasks you’d like to have accomplished by the end of your work day. The feeling of accomplishment you get when you cross of an item will keep you motivated all day long
If you need inspiration for an idea or just need to take a break, get away from the computer. Nearly every good money making idea I’ve had, I didn’t think of while staring at a screen. I’ve never had success by trying to force an idea and believe me, I’ve tried that.
2. Your home is now your office.
Create a dedicated workspace for yourself. Slouching on your couch in front of the TV with your feet up on the coffee table while using a laptop does not count as a workspace. Get yourself a real desk and keep it organized. If you ever have to stop working to investigate a strange smell, your workspace has become a distraction. Keep it clean.
Eliminate distractions before you start working. Finish up whatever small chores you need to do for the day so you don’t have to take care of them when you’re on a roll. Only do work related tasks while on your work schedule.
You also have the ability to grab a laptop and go work outside on nice days. Do this as often as you can but don’t brag about it to people who work in offices. They will resent you.
3. You need to take care of yourself.
For starters, take sick days. You’re human and you need time off to rest, just like everybody else. If you don’t feel well, grab a blanket, make your favorite soup, and nap on the couch all day. You may be capable of sitting up, but that does not mean you need to be working. Take time to rest your mind and body.
Speaking of staying healthy, you need to exercise. It’s easy to let yourself go when your only commute is from your bed to your computer chair. Take care of yourself and get a gym membership or at the very least spend some time walking outside. I like to try to workout in the mornings before starting my work day. It keeps me in shape and allows me to stay focused and energized all day.
One of the hardest adjustments I had to make when starting to work full time at home was dealing with being alone for extended periods of time. You need to find ways to stay social. Working alone can get depressing and having a social outlet is a vital part of success.
Try and find someone local who is also working from home to meet with every now and then for lunch or to discuss ideas. At the very least, invest in a web cam and keep in touch with your friends and family through Skype. If all else fails, get an animal friend. They make the day less boring and yes, you will start to talk to your pets.
4. You do not have to work 24 hours a day.
You may have merged where you work with where you live, but you need to find a way to still keep these lives separate.
I’ve spoken to a lot of people who try to start careers from home. For some reason, most people think they can dedicate 12 to 14 hours per day, 7 days a week to working online since they now have nothing else to do. There’s no easier way to burn out than trying to work all waking hours. You simply can’t stay productive after these long hours.
You need to respect the weekends and take time off on holidays. It’s okay to let an email wait until the morning or a phone call to go to voicemail. It’s okay to have a personal life. You do not have to always be readily available.
5. You get to live an awesome life.
If you reach a point in your work at home career where you can work full time at home for yourself, that is amazing. It’s a very big accomplishment that very few people can achieve.
I can’t tell you how often people tell me they envy my lifestyle. I’m usually very modest when it comes to talking about my career path, but it is seriously awesome. I live with my girlfriend who works 10-hour days in an office building and she often comes home stressed about her job, boss, deadlines, salary, or any number of things that accompany an office job. She’s even limited to the amount of sick days she’s allowed to take! I’m forever grateful that I don’t have to deal with any of that.
If you have a chance to start a work at home career, definitely seize the opportunity. It will be challenging at first, but there’s nothing that can match the feeling of running a successful business from home.
So, these were just a few things I’ve learned over the past year. I’m sure you have things to add to my list and I’d love to hear them.
Leave me a comment below!
Steve W.
July 16th – 2011
Hi Steve! – I decided to look at some of the articles you have published that were available online.
I enjoyed reading Five Things They Don’t Teach You About Working At Home. Your comments were
quite true and relevant. One area that I found to be important is DISCIPLINE !! By DISCIPLINE I mean keeping at the task when there are distractions that could cause you to not complete your task.
Some of these distractions might be: crying babies, a great movie too watch that just happens to be on during your At Home Worktime, thinking about something delicious to eat e.g. a banana split, a chocolate malt, a scrumptious multi-layered sandwich and so on and so on. I hope I can get a credit card in September so I can start my WA membership and better yet get to work with you as my mentor. Keep up the Good Work!
Bye For Now
Bobby Wyatt
Hey Steve,
Thanks!
This is one of the most insightful and straight shooting article on this topic, that I have ever read! And you are new to this?
I wish you all the success this style of work has to offer.
You make so much sense and I hope your readers follow your great suggestions.
Yvonne
Wow, all this talk is so motivating! I am so afraid of failure, because I cannot afford to fail. So, for many years I could not find the courage to give it a try. I feel like I’ve missed out on the opportunity to make a decent living working from home, years ago. Can, such a dream, still be achieved nowadays??? Thanks for the post, Steve! It was an awesome read.
Hi Steve,
nice blog, for sure. But as you know this are just the basics – for almost every business, in my opinion everybody should know, I take this for granted. Should be absoltely no need to talk about. But obviously, this is not the case in reality.
People are dreaming how easy it is to make millions on the internet, no need to do alot. And this my friend, is the dark side of internet marketing. The scam is on all over, and people love to believe those stories earning millions, working 2 hours a day, driving big cars, having great holidays… following the so called gurus. As we all know, there is no such thing in the real world and of course even not on the internet either.
OK, after this kinda basics, the real work begins and I always talk about 3 basic points… again and again. Without following this points nothing is going to work, believe me.
1.. Learn how to earn, go for the best university: WA
2.. Finding the right business
3.. Using state-of-the-art tools
Best regards, Peter
Hello Steve,
Thank you to your blog post, sharing your experience to us. I am new on this online home business and I almost stay focused working in my computer for the whole day, that I felt exhausted and tired. Reading your post make me feel better now. It’s a good advice, I really will try it.
Keep sharing your experiences, I believed I can get more ideas from you.
Good Luck!
Hi, Steve.
I’ve enjoyed the post and everyone’s comments immensely. I’ve been working from home, although not in IM. I would like to add a few remarks that I hope others will find useful.
Not everyone is cut out to be an entrepreneur. Being your own boss can be very stressful. Some people simply prefer getting a paycheck at the end of the month without having to worry about each aspect of a company like the owner or CEO does. And that is okay too. Be honest with yourself about what your preference in this regard is and if you still want to be your own boss, be prepared to spend time (even years) to learn different aspects of your business. I’ve failed accounting in high school and dropped it after Grade 9, but having my own organisations, I’ve had to learn the basics in order to do the bookkeeping. It is important to do books regularly to know where you are making money and where you are losing it.
Having an office at home also gives you tax breaks, so you need to educate yourself on what the allowable deductions are. If you can afford a bookkeeper, tax practitioner, then use them. But don’t forget that ultimately bookkeeping and taxes are still your responsibility.
I also find it is important that besides having a separate office, it is important that you have a comfortable chair (severe backache from spending hours in an uncomfortable chair is a huge demotivator). It is equally important that your workspace is pleasing to the eye. Sometimes only small changes are necessary, like a coat of paint and new curtains. I have found Feng Shui very useful to create purposeful spaces (ie promoting new ideas in my study, restfulness in my bedroom). Besides your office, have other spaces in your home and garden you can use for work. Like using the diningroom for formal meetings and I have a comfortable rocking chair in my bedroom for reading (research material in books) and a chaise longue in the lounge for the same purpse (both taking advantage of climate/mood), ie I sit in the rocking chair by the fireplace in my room on a cold day and on the chaise in the lounge to catch the afternoon sun in winter).
Many people have mentioned loneliness. Not all office environments are happy places. Office politics and gossip is not something I miss at all and it is found in most companies. People forget that your colleagues don’t have to be your friends. They also forget that you are supposed to be your own best friend. It can be lonely at the top of the chicken coup! But you are your first and foremost resource, so enjoy your own company and get to know your own strengths and weaknesses. Honesty in this regard can be painful, but it is necessary to make it on your won. Although you don’t want to have people keeping you out of your work at all hours, I’ve made it a point to make my home a place of peace and safety. I have a few friends who come to visit me in their lunchtimes (not every day & by appointment), to destress and recharge their batteries. It wards off the isolation-based loneliness.
Good luck to you all.
Adelle
Hello, I have been working from home since I left my job at a corporate organisation about a year ago, and the most difficult thing for me as a woman was to balance the house work and the office work, It also takes a while to set up a stable online business and it is a challenge when other people do not understand your home is actually your office. People stop by for a coffee, or for a chat, and it really is a challenge to communicate that it is your working hours, not coffee time. It is also important to have a separate room for an office rather than a corner with a desk and a chair in the living room, because it is the communal area you are sharing. Also it puts you in a more serious mood to have a separate office, reminding you of your purpose and goals. Thank you for your post and good luck in the future.
Hi, Steve! Great posting, very true. Been trying to make money online since November 2009, very hard when your just starting out & lost more money from websites that claim u can make thousands of dollars in couple of hours that same day. Lost more money again from paid surveys because I live in the pacific islands, so surveys don’t get approved & I don’t receive any payment. Only thing that works for me are paid-to-click sites where I clicks ads daily for free, rent referrals from their sites to accumulate more money & to get paid faster. When I get paid, trust the site I pay to upgrade to receive more for my money. Anyways, thanks for your site it really does help & if you know of how I can make money & where I live won’t matter, please let me know. Sorry my post is very long, I tried to shorten it & can I link this post back to my blog & how do I do that. Thank you again, lots of love.
Hi Steve, thank you for the insight, as you say this desire to work from home clouds our thoughts to the actual reality! We’ve all seen salesletters/video from the “guru’s” with pictures of palm tree’s saying they’ve chucked the alarm clock away. They “forget” to mention boring words like routine and discipline. Not many people mention eithere that you become you own CEO, how does your present CEO/MD/boss operate? They have probably got a very different mindset to you? One thing’s for sure if you become your own CEO words like routine, discipline and motivation (more than you’ve ever displayed before) need to become your watchword. So don’t throw the alarm clock away, get it set earlier than normal and as Steve suggests, workout, shower, get a good breakfast and sit at the computer revved up and ready to go. No slobs in this business.
Now that you are the CEO of yourbiz.com you need to be better than all those previous CEO’s you’ve worked with!
Best wishes
Mark
For those who miss the office discipline but not the Borg mentality, you might check out “coworking”. I recently saw an article on it that describes coworking as finding (renting or creating a co-op or…) a place where you go to work, just as in a office, with others working on their own careers. You get the advantages of having others to socialize with, bounce ideas off and so forth, without having to have a cubicle job.
Thanks for the post, Steve. I was glad to read it, and to see the interesting reactions shown in the comments! Best wishes!
That’s a lot of wisdom for someone your age. Thanks, and I wish you continued success.
@ tdowell
You can have anti-virus sites…no problem. You just need to make sure the sites you are involved with are “allowed” sites within your virus security.
Cheers,
Kyle
My concern is security…I was told I could not have on the Norton Anti-virus. How are you going to protect your computer??
i want to get started as soon as possible i like what i am seeing
I dont have any trouble with self motivation as I have studied on and off at home for years. I have the reverse problem – leaving the computer! When you work from home you just dont get enough exercise, to get enough steps in it takes a chunk of nearly 2 hours from my day, naturally this then doesn’t happen.
Also, even with a todo list I find that work stretches out to meet time so you dont get so much done.
Man your right! I’ve lost count of the times I’ve let my work and personal life merge and how distracting it is. Great post hope to read more.
@Susan
You may link to the blog post from your website, but please do not copy the content from the post and put it on your site.
Cheers,
Kyle
I completely agree, self-motivation is a huge factor in working from home. Though, I’ve never done any internet marketing, I started homeschooling in high-school, so I already know the self-motivation factor (and that’s on something completely boring that doesn’t pay a dime…right now anyways) and the lonely days, haha. My sister goes to school and both my parents work full-time. I have friends and family though, so I know that support team is extremely important to have. Taking some time away and taking those couple of sick days is and extremely important part when you’re working from home. Great article. I’d love to hear more of your suggestions and experiences.
-Jacob
Got a good laugh on this one! hahaha! Thanks for this post Steven.
Great article – may I have permission to reproduce it with a link included on my website and one I have working on for Club Entrepreneur please?
Susan
Thank you Steve, what a delightful article for me tonight, as I was very depressed and turned off the all the projects I was working one and listened to some good soft music. I have tried to work morning hours as those seem to be the best for me. You have some great suggestions and I am going to copy some of your thoughts, cannot tell you how much I appreciate this article, especially tonight! Good luck, I can see you have what it takes.
Hi Steve.
You’re absolutely spot on with the points that you’ve made. One interesting thing that I noticed in the various comments is the problem that a lot of people have staying focused. On that subject I would suggest that you could maybe add one point to your excellent post and that is the need to set measurable goals. By measurable I mean that each goal needs to have a time frame and an action plan to achieve it. Also there should be small goals that will lead up to the eventual target. This approach will make working from home and staying focused much easier because there are steps towards the ultimate goal that can be ticked of whenever a small one has been achieved.
Thank you for your post. I believe on what you are saying. But until I was not able to earn $$$ I cannot comment and compare how is working at home and on-line defers with my present job. If I will be losing and can’t afford to pay even just my fees, I will be quitting.
All good points and tips for us all. Thanks again WA owners for sending this email. It’s truly a wonderful place to be and the content is king.
Hey Steve from, “I’ve Tried That!”
I already know that you are a super chap! I say that with confidence because I’ve been subscribed to, “I’ve tried that,” and I know you are a sincere person doing your best to help anyone else who is willing to listen. One day, in the, “not too distant future,” I am going to let you know that I have finally become successful with online marketing. In the meantime, I shall keep on plugging. Till then
P.S. If I join Wealthy Affiliates, it will be because you gave a big heads up on it!
Agree with you completely. I had my own business for 16 years and worked at home. Due to a car accident I lost my business at home and after a few years went to work for a corporation.
They laid off the whole department after a year and now I am back home again.
Now disabled and cannot go to work so have tried for one year to make money on line. Have not made a dime yet. Any suggestions? I think a lot of these guru’s that say they make so much money per month is a lie. I have tried to do everything they say and the money is just not there. So help us newbies if you are making any money. Okay? Good Luck to you and have a great day!!
Thanks for writing up this great post. I’m about to start doing more home-based work and these are invaluable points that I know are going to be a big help to me. Might I also add that working at home in your pyjamas all day is about as demotivating for productive work as lining up for a 100 meter dash wearing fluffy bunny slippers!
Hey guys. Thanks for all the great comments
@Maby – Staying motivated is by far the biggest challenge for me. It can be incredibly challenging at times. I like to think of what my life would be like if I took an office job. Once I picture myself in some crummy office getting yelled at by a miserable boss about some meaningless deadline, I can instantly motivate myself to work haha.
@AlaskaBorg – Not being able to talk things over with someone in person can be killer. I’ve made a few friends that I can talk with online during the day and that definitely helps. At the very least, I have someone to vent to.
@Reg – I’ve been a member of WA since April 2009. I’m never leaving.
Thanks again for all the comments!
Working from home office is great in theory. You have to focus. I’ve been doing my businesses from home for 25 years but not Internet marketing. It does get lonely but taking a break with your dog, going to lunch with a friend, or by yourself once in awhile keeps you social and normal.
That was a great article. I wish to start working at home as well but I just don’t know how to start off, and if I do then I’m sure it wont last a day. I’m no good at being a boss, always feel like It’s easier to ask someone what to do. Maybe when I get older I’m gonna try again.
@archiedelara I’m thinking that by working alone at home it can get lonely compared to a normal office job where you are social with other people.
Great blog, Steve. I think it is awesome that you have achieved the success you have at such a great age. I’m a lot older than you are but not too old to learn from someone who has done what I want to do. Thanks for the insight and encouragement.
Hey Steve,
It sure is great to have the freedom to work from home, I can’t describe how lucky we are to finally be able to work on making our own fortunes instead of working for and helping someone elses businesss and get treated like crap while you are giving all your energy trying to help someone elses business for tiny pay checks.
Screw That – I will never be working for someone ever again.
Ever.
On the other note,
It takes at least a year or 2 to get yourself fully set to work from home and have a really sustainable online business that rolls in wages every single day like clock work, you must be careful before you tell your boss to kiss it, you need to be 100% sure that your business is completely sustainable before you go out on your own and work from home. Just a tip.
I work from home/ Studying full time at university in a Bachelor of Criminology course – totally unrelated to marketing and IT and that just goes to show you, you dont need special education to be successful at IM but I really do recommend getting on board with WA to learn the basic IM skills and help you lay the foundation for your online business.
My income mainly consists of Mostly Adsense Earnings, then clickbank earnings, a bit of CPA earnings and other advertising revenue from private advertising companies.
The biggest tip that I can give to anyone is to once again BUILD YOUR OWN BUSINESS – not someone elses.
Once you have even $20-$50 a week comming in, stop writing for articles directories, start your own sites, the sooner the better, they will age, gain backlinks and become powerful in search engines, I learned that the hard way writing for squidoo lenses and articles directories was my biggest flaw in my online business, it was a good way to start and make money without spending any money, but it is not a good business strategy if you want to grow online and have your own SEO Muscle and make money strictly from posting only on your own sites.
Bring the traffic to your own sites, not the articles directories and I will eat my hat if you don’t start making more money. You can get paid in so many ways from your own site its not even funny… Clickbank offers, some adsense here and there, list subscribers, other banner advertising and you will be amazed how much all that adds up to.
Build your own empire from home, screw the article directories and their businesses.
Best Wishes,
Valeri Tkatchenko
Hi Steve,
Love your Guest Blog… Very moving, and you talk about the reality of working at home and your not sugar coating it like some Guru’s do…
I been working at home trying to set up Multi Stream of income (not doing well) I sell use book on half.com & ebay.com… Also trying to clean up a ton of items in my rented Storage unit too…
The biggest thing that distracts me is the ton of e-mail’s I get… After reading 5 or 6 maybe 8 I lose any motivation to work on a project… How long you been a WA member?
I think what I need to do is schedule reading e-mails at the close of my work day(expect sold items I have to mail out)
Any way my hat goes off to you for all the energy you have and the deep passion for your Internet Business…
Love to here more…
Have a great week,and Thank you…
Reg Boczko
I have just started the big adventure of working at home. My husband says I spend all my time on the computer. I do not even notice that I have been on it for hours. You are right about backing up and taking a break. When you come back you mind is clearer and you come up with better ideas.
I just made a $1.75 recently and I was so excited that I wanted to keep on going. This may seem small to everyone else but to me it was a victory as I am teaching myself even this is probably not advised. I love learning new things and I have to be my own boss. I am a blogger and I love the challenge of making money on-line. I will take your advice as it is true that you come up with better ideas when you step back instead of just trying to brainstorm on the computer. That does not work.
Great Post!
Great! I wanna be a person who works at home like you.
I agree. I currently don’t work at home but it has always been something I have dreamt of doing. I still dream about it and am trying to find how to get it rolling so I can live that life.
I was once with WA and it’s a glorious site. However until I can even make some money online to even pay the FEE of WA I’ll be loosing out.
Congrats to you on making it. Hopefully one day I will be able to post something here as well and you’ll comment back!
Your post is dead on. I made the mistake of thinking that I am going to work 14 hour days every day. I got burned out after 2 weeks. The only way you can sustain those type of hours is if you are truly passionate about what you are doing. If you really believe in an idea then you can work feverishly to make it come to life.
However, I am not passionate about making money on the internet. I just don’t care THAT much about it. It is nice, I admit, but ultimately being an IM is just another career (although one with an unlimited potential for making a LARGE amount of money). So, just treat this as you would any other job. PRETEND that you have a boss that is going to drill you in front of all of your co-workers if you don’t get work done.
Depending on the type of worker you are, some people need the stimulation you get from working along side of others.
Self-Starters still need someone to bounce stuff off of. And if you have a problem, who do you consult with?
I enjoy working from home but I do miss the Office environment – that is until a friend reminds me of what a pain in the ass their boss is, then I smile and thank God I control my own destiny.
Hi Steve,
I enjoyed reading your post. I think your article sums up 5 positives.
The freedom of being your own boss is one of the best feelings in the world. I’m a full time internet marketer myself and I love the feeling. In the beginning I had some problems with staying focused and finding a structure.
Hello Steve!!!!
Thank you to share your experience… for the newbie (like me), it is so important to know about others who are in the same field…
One question: In the beginning, when you are not achieving the amount of $$$ that you expect, how did you do to motivate yourself?….
Thank you and keep sharing…please, please, please!!!
Have a great day!!!!!!!!
Good advice. Regular, organized hours limits the need for self motivation before effort. Perhaps I’ll be smart enough to try it.
I am working at home, but at some time, I feel like going back to work office-based.
I kinda miss doing the daily routine of being in the office.