How to Work At Home Successfully

Learn how to work from home successfully and where to find clients.

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Internet Access
• Strong desire to succeed
• Self discipline
• Excellent time management skills

1. Many people dream of working from home-so they can quit the day job or, if they’re at home with their kids, bring in a little money on the side. Great news is that lots of people make it work, citing discipline and passion as key components to success.
   
   Capitalize on Your Strengths
   
   You must know yourself very well to successfully work from home. Write down your true skills, talents, abilities, what you like to do, what you don’t like to do. Ask yourself if you’re a morning person or a night person and what kind of productivity you can achieve. Look at your past work history and see what you can do with the experience that you already have.
   
   
   Start Early
   
   Consider working from home while still at your day job. Yes, that could mean two jobs for a while and odd hours and on top of being a mom. This is where the passion to success comes in. It’s the drive to make a goal happen that makes this step extremely important. It will not be as easy as it looks and it will most always take longer than expected but the end result is worth it all. Balance and organization are key elements in this step, not to mention the fact of making time for your family.
   
   Financial Matters
   
   With working from home, there is no set salary to fall back on. Sometimes there is more work than you know what to do with and other times there just isn’t enough. Have some money put back for slower days.
   
   Have a Plan
   
   Set long-range goals and know how much you have to make. Analyze your current expenses and see if anything can be downsized, paid off, or canceled. You would be surprised at what you can save when you really put your mind to it. Having a low overhead will make life easier when working from home

2. Network
   
   It’s essential to exchange ideas and support with others. Find a work buddy or a group such as a professional organization. Discuss obstacles or success stories. Everyone can learn from what others are doing. Maybe someone has had the same obstacle and can assist you.
   
   Don’t Put Your Eggs in One Basket
   
   Entrepreneurs and independent contractors need regular clients that can that provide regular work on a daily basis. Be careful to not budget your life based on any client though. If they go on vacation, your pay check can change drastically. At times you will find that not all clients pay you on time either, another reason for not counting on that income. Any day a client can decide to move on so things can be unpredictable. More reason to put money back on the good days.
   
   Not as Easy as You Think
   
   The main reason moms want to work at home is to be with their kids. But it’s not always easy to juggle the job and youngsters, especially if you need to make phone calls during the day. Some have found it helpful to hire a nanny full time or even just a couple days during the week to help out. Others schedule phone time in between kid’s naps, bedtime, and activities.
   
   The success to this is planning ahead. Make a plan of what your household and personal tasks are compared to your business tasks. Try your best to schedule household and personal tasks for evenings and weekends and then work around your children’s schedule during the day. Yes, you’re busy but you are living the dream and working from home!
   
   Think about your children’s schedule. You might be able to start getting up earlier and getting a lot of work done before they wake up, or at night after they go to bed.
   
   To help with getting dinner on the table- consider cooking meals on the weekends and freezing several to have on hand to help with those busy evenings during the week.
   
   
   Get Serious!
   
   Avoid doing business at the kitchen table. A separate room is ideal, but if you don’t have one put up a barrier (cubical wall or screen works) or stick a small desk inside a closet. Set up an area that is yours and made for business. You don’t have to spend a lot of money and get fancy furnishings. Just getting started and organized is what is important.
   
   Avoid distractions as much as possible. Turn off the TV, make personal calls in the evening, save the laundry for tonight or Saturday. Setting boundaries for yourself will make your work more productive.

3. Where to find clients
   
   There are a couple of great sites that I personally can say are great resources. The first is Elance:
   
   Visit Elance at: http://tinyurl.com/lakthq
   
   To get started you need to create a profile on their site and then you can review jobs according to categories and bid on jobs that interest you. They have a low monthly membership fee.
   
   The second site that I would recommend for getting clients is Hire My Mom.
   
   Visit Hire My Mom at: http://tinyurl.com/kvjqbg
   
   To get started on their site, you set up your profile and start searching for jobs immediately. Very easy to use and has a low quarterly bill fee.
   
   A great resource to setting up your home office for supplies and furniture is Office Depot. Save time by ordering on-line and having it shipped to your office.
   
   Visit Office Depot at http://tinyurl.com/dk7w2w

4. Do You Need One-on-One Training to help you get clients and learn this business?
   
   Go through an on-line training course and get one-on-one help from experts. I personally have gone through and recommend the program at
   VA Jane.com You can take this course to learn how to work from home and how to get clients and actually talk to experts who do this everyday.
   
   Visit VA Jane at www.VAJane.com
   
   Good Luck To Your Success!

[jwalker76]

on 10/24/2009 Great resources! I love Hire My Mom and Elance. Thanks!