Work AT Home Options That Can Actually Work For You

If you’re considering work-at-home options, chances are that your income is flexible, and possibly optional. However, that’s not always the case. If you’re in the early stages of researching and considering working from home, there can be some fear and mixed feelings about what is best for you and your household, however it is made up. Today, we’re going to look at true work from options – not those that require outside appointments, travel, or delivery. We’ll consider those in a later article. Let’s look at this from three different angles without getting to deep into household make up:

1. Yours is the primary, or sole, household income.
2. Your income is necessary, but somewhat flexible.
3. Your current income is optional, flexible, or possibly non-existent.

You Have to Work, So Why Not Work at Home?

Take your current position home.

Even before COVID was a household word, women have been finding ways to bring their work home in this digital age. Virtual meetings, job sharing, fully remote positions, weekly or monthly in person meetings or ‘office days.’ One of the few upsides to this global pandemic is that most companies have implemented standards, resources, and policies for up to 100% of their work force to work from home – makes you kind of wonder why we need so many fancy office buildings, doesn’t it?

There are many reasons you might want to keep your current positions, including, but not limited to, job security, insurance and other benefits, a pension plan. Company loyalty and support, which goes BOTH ways, can also be an important factor. While it can be a great time to consider new options and take more risks, you may be comfortable with stability.

Here are some options for keeping your current role:

• Pitch your thoughts to your boss, and just literally move what you do to to your house. Be clear about what you have available at home, what you are willing to invest, what you would need from the company or your current office/workspace.
• Research other identical or similar positions with other companies that might be a good fit. Research those well before setting up interviews or completing applications: track record, company history, employee retention and turnover rates
• Instead of my trying to regurgitate what I know and I what I’ve learned by adding to long list of articles I have planned for the topic of working at and from home, take a look at this article from Jason Lengstorf – it’s quite thorough with lots of practical advice!

Another option is to find an entirely different position:

Seriously. Research your dream job…find out if it’s out there, doable, if the income fits…then GO FOR IT!

• If the job is remote already, you’re at a great starting place. Consider the job and YOUR personal strengths and weakenesses. Once you’ve determined it’s a great fit, GO FOR IT!
• If it’s not already remote, and you’ve done all the research, consider whether or not it’s worth continuing to work away from home for a short time, and then apply. Go through the interview process, and when they ask you if YOU have any questions, this is where you bring up the possibility of working remotely, and where I’ll refer you back to Jason’s article – use the same points to suggest the position be altered for remote work. I’d focus on the money and resources saved! Be willing to be a guinea pig if this is the case! GO FOR IT!

If you have lots of Flexibility, these options might be right for you:

These options can require a little more time and effort to build up a steady income and/or client base. They can also be the more flexible as far as scheduling and can, create more long term income with more growth potential. We’ll also look at each of these options in a little more depth in the future.

1. A Blog or a Website can generate revenue through affiliate links, ad revenue, and opportunities to write for other blogs.
2. Direct Sales often gets a bad rep – the secret to finding one that not ‘scammy’ is to research the company and, possibly, a handful of reps from the company. These days, it’s much easier to be involved with direct sales without annoying the crap out of your friends.
3. Graphic Design is a wonderful option. The downside, in the current environment, is that there are many options for people to create their own graphics with apps and online programs. Once an individual’s endeavors grow to their potential, however, it can often make more sense to the brand to hire someone to assist with graphics. There are also limitless established companies that may in the market for this type of service. To pull this one off, you need to be comfortable pitching yourself, your work, and your abilities.
4. Creating or crafting: Think jewelry making, sewing, painting (canvases/artwork), furniture building or refinishing, leather work, woodworking, 3D printing, clothing and accessories (t shirts, etc), embroider, engraving or embossing, and so on…the list here is endless! If you’re creative and enjoy this sort of thing as hobby, consider making it an income!
5. Ghost Writing or Other Paid Writing Opportunities. There are ENDLESS opportunities for creating content for others. If writing is your jam, be sure to consider this! Writing articles, blog posts, even books for others is an option! There are even opportunities to write captions for audio content. Most bloggers love guest bloggers, and BEING guest bloggers.
6. A Podcast, or YouTube Channel. Endless. Endless. Possibilities. This is a HUGE topic, and we will dig in deeper with some great resources for you soon.
7. Become an influencer. This takes TIME, and lots of practice, research, and, most especially, self motivation and discipline. My biggest tip to you if you consider this options: There are HUNDREDS of people looking to sell you things to ‘collaborate’, train you, and add you to ‘influencer groups’ You will quickly drain your personal resources if you do not carefully research those opportunities. We’ll get into more specifics on those, as well. It’s a big topic.

You don’t have to work?

Well, honey. The world is your oyster!!! Consider all of the options listed above, if they interest you. If not, well, just look for income opportunities in your interest area! Let me know what that might be, and if it’s not already on my list of topics to cover, I’ll add it! (family friendly, please). Fly, baby, fly!

We’ll be chatting more on this topic in the coming week, so please be sure to subscribe to #MondayMotivation

I’d love your thoughts and feedback! Are you considering a plan to move your work to home, or starting your own business? What are you burning questions, biggest concerns, hopes and dreams?