When you first make the decision to work at home, it’s not a decision that should ever be taken lightly. Rushing in headlong without due consideration can and almost always does end up in the person regretting it deeply. The saying, “Fools rush in where angels fear to tread” is so very poignant when related to this industry. So here are some truths about working at home.
Plenty of thought and preparation should go into it if you already have a regular job that you want to get out of for whatever reason. Of course, if you are facing imminent redundancy or have just been given the sack from your job, your options are considerably fewer and you may see working at home on your computer as a financial lifeline. But beware, things are not always what they appear to be.
First you have to consider whether you want to be working at home as a job, where you will take on work from other people for which you (hopefully) will be paid, or whether you want to run your own business, where you will sell your own, or other people’s product(s) via a website or blog.
Even then, you are faced with a sea full of sharks that are waiting to eat you as soon as you dip your toe in.
Learning to sift through the mountain of scam artists and out & out thieves that exist online is no mean feat and it often takes being burned at least once or twice before many people get the message. Few get through unscathed, although when they realize that the road they have embarked upon is very long and very hard, many fall by the wayside.
Having said that, working from home is not all doom and gloom. There are opportunities that exist online where you can earn a decent living if you’re prepared to put in the hours and the work, although you’ll wonder where the day goes after many hours at the computer. There are several tried and tested methods of making money online that you can try, but be warned that if you need money fast, being a newbie on the internet is not the way to do it. You will starve before you make any money.
That’s a harsh truth to hear, but you need to hear it all the same.
Never fall into the trap of trying out any of the hyped up ads that promise you’ll make several thousand dollars in a few weeks from the start. They are lies. Don’t waste your money buying this or that ebook or course that tries to tell you how to make money online. The vast majority of them will not help you and just about all of the information can be found for free online with some research and tenacity.
Which leads me onto the last of the home truths about working at home. To succeed, you need certain qualities of character that will help you along the way.
- The first is intelligence, for without this, you will easily get buried under the mountain of knowledge that you will need to accumulate to understand what you’re doing.
- The second is belief in yourself and a good helping of stubbornness when nobody else will believe in you.
- The third is the ability to work long and hard without which you will crumple under the weight of the relentless workload.
- The last is tenacity, because even if you possess none of the above qualities, dogged, bloody-minded persistence brings success to more people than any other characteristic!
Good luck, because you’ll need it!